Tips

Accounts  

Backup up your data

It’s easy to take a backup of your company data and it’s a good idea to do this on a regular basis for each company.  How often you do this depends on the amount of data you enter and how often you access you Sage.

Backing up does not take long but if you have a large amount of data this can take a little longer.

To create a backup

  1. Open the required company, click File, then click Back up.
  2. Note the suggested file name or edit the name as required, please note the file name must end in .001.
  3. Click Browse, choose a location to save the file to, click OK.
  4. If you want to back up other files such as reports and layouts, select them from the list or choose Select all file types to include in backup.

We recommend that you back up data every day, you can backup other files and we have included below a list of each file type and when you should back it up.

Transaction Attachments – when you have added new attachments.

Report Files – when you have customised a new report.

Layout Templates – when you have customised a new template file such as invoices or statements etc.

Record Attachments – when you have attached new documents to customer/ supplier records and/ or saved new bank reconciliation PDFs.

Image Files – when you have added any new images to Stock Records.

Company Archives – when you have added a new company archive.

Email Database – when you have added new email data files (this feature is rarely used and is not available by default unless enabled.

HMRC Submission – this includes details of submission information of VAT Returns, EC Sales List and CIS Monthly Return submission data.

If you would like help backing up or need any other help with your Sage Accounts please contact us

Accounts  

Checking what Customer invoices are due

Knowing what you are due to be paid each week can help you to manage your cash flow.  In Sage 50cloud Accounts you can run the Outstanding Customer Invoices By Due Date report to see exactly when invoices for each customer are due to be paid.

  1. On the left-hand menu click Customers, then on the top toolbar click Reports.
  2. In the left pane click Customer invoices.
  3. Click Outstanding Sakes Invoices By Due Date, then click Preview.
  4. Enter any criteria if required, for example, you may want to see invoices due in a certain date range, then click OK,
  5. If required, from the Preview window you can print, export or email the report.

The report appears showing the transactions, grouped by customer and sorted by the due date, if a customer has gone past their due date you can chase them up.

If you would like further help with this report or any other report or need any other help with your Sage Accounts please contact us

Payroll

Correcting personal employee information

If you have submitted an FPS and then you find an employee’s personal details are incorrect in Sage 50cloud Payroll, there are various things you need to do.

  • If the employee’s personal details have changed, for example surname or address, they might have moved house, you must advice your employee to contact HMRC to report the change, it is their responsibility to do this. You can enter the correct employee details into their record for submission on your next FPS when they have reported the change to HMRC.
  • If the error relates to the date the employee started work for you, DO NOT change the start date on your next FPS as this results in duplication of the employee’s record on HMRC systems, which will cause massive problems. If you need to correct this error, contact HMRC.

NOTE: If you enter the new details in your software, but do not report the changes to HMRC, the new details don’t update on the employee’s record at HMRC.  This might result in a query from HMRC.

If you would like help setting up new employees or correcting/changing details for an employee or need any other help or advice with your payroll please contact us

Accounts

Checking to see if sales invoices have been sent or updated

It is very quick and easy to check for customer invoices which haven’t been emailed out, printed or posted to the ledgers within 14 days.

To do this

  1. On the left navigation bar click Transactions then click at the top of the screen Accounts audit.
  2. Select the Identify invoices not updated and/or printed within 14 days check box then click OK.
  3. Enter the date range you want to check then click OK.

The Accounts audit window displays any invoices that haven’t been emailed out, printed or posted to the ledgers within 14 days.  You can then investigate and send or post any missing invoices are required.

TIP:  You can send the results to Microsoft Excel, click Send to Excel – where you can then further sort and investigate the list.

If you would like further help with customer invoices etc or need any other help with your Sage Accounts please contact us

Payroll

How the new National Insurance thresholds work

The National Insurance threshold from the 6th July will increase to £12,570, which means employees must earn £12,570 per year before paying National Insurance.

Sage 50cloud Payroll V28.02, has the new thresholds added to your Legislation Settings and automatically applied correctly based on your process date and employee status.

Employees

The new NI thresholds are automatically applied on all payrolls with a process date on or after 6th July 2022. The date employees are being paid for are not relevant to the NI thresholds, instead, it is the process date that decides which thresholds are used.

HMRC require that NI for employees is calculated period by period rather than as a year-to-date calculation.  This means that NI values calculated using the new rates are not affected by any NI calculated prior to 6th July 2022.

Directors

The new NI thresholds are applied differently for directors depending on their status.

  • Pro-Rata (Table) – NI for directors who have a Pro-rata status is calculated using the new Primary Threshold each period from 6th July onwards. This is then re-calculated in a year to date calculation using the Directors Primary Threshold, either at the end of the tax year, or if the director leaves during the tax year.
  • Annual (Non-Table) – The new Director Primary Threshold is correctly applied in the next period as soon as v28.02 is installed, even is the process date is before 6th This may cause a re-calculation of NI liability if the director has already exceeded the original Primary Threshold, as the annual calculation will use the new Director’s Primary Threshold.

Re-process pay Periods

Once you have installed v28.02, when you re-process a pay period the NI threshold used depends on the employee’s status.

Employees and Pro-Rata directors– If you reprocess any periods before 6th July the old thresholds are used.  If you re-process any periods with a process date on or after 6th July, the new thresholds are used.

Directors

  • Annual (Non-Table) – The NI calculation for any period you re-process in the tax year uses the new Directors Primary Threshold.

If you would like help with the new National Insurance thresholds or need help installing Sage 50cloud Payroll V28.02 or need any other help or advice with your payroll please contact us

 

Accounts

Customer Activity

This shows the trading history between you and your customer.  It shows the customer’s credit limit, the balance owed, as well as the total they have paid and the turnover for the year.

Each line represents a transaction such as an invoice or a receipt.

To view the activity, click Customers, either highlight the required customer and click Activity at the top of the screen or double click the required customer record Activity.

Viewing the Customer activity

A/C  – This shows the customer account reference.

Name  – This shows the name of the customer.

Credit Limit – This shows the credit limit entered in the Credit Control tab.

Balance – The current balance of the customer account.

Amount Paid– Total payments made by the customer.

Turnover YTD – The year to date turnover value for this customer. This value is net of VAT.  The YTD figure is taken from the Sales tab and clears when you run the year end routine.  You can manually amend this value in the Sales tab.

O/s Only – If ticked, the window will update to display outstanding transactions only. Untick to show all transactions.

No – the number of the transaction.

Type – The following transaction types may appear:

SI  =  Sale Invoice

SR = Sales Receipt

SC = Sales Credit

SA = Sales on Account

SD = Sales Discount

SP = Sales Payment

Date – The date of the transaction.

Due on – The transaction due date.

Ref.  – The transaction reference.

Exchange Rate  – The exchange rate of the transaction (will not show if foreign currency not set up)

Details – Any details entered for the transaction.

Amount – The value of the transaction.

O/S – The amount of the transaction that is still outstanding.

TIP – *=Transaction is fully outstanding. P=transaction is part paid.

Debit – If the transaction represents a debit, its value appears here.

Credit  – If the transaction represents a credit, its value appears here.

 

Viewing transactions

Show details – opens a window breaking down any selected transaction into its component parts.  For example, a sales receipt is broken down into the invoices it paid off, and a sales invoice lists any receipts allocated against it.

Hide Details Closes the window showing the detailed breakdown.

View transaction – To view the full details of the transaction, select the required transaction then click View transaction or you can double-click the transaction.

View item – If the transaction was created from an invoice record, to see the related invoice, select the required transaction then click View item.  Alternatively, you can double-click the transaction.

View Bank charges – If you use the bank charges feature, to view any bank charges associated with the customer click View bank charges.

Amending or removing transactions

Edit transaction  – To amend a transaction while in the activity window, click the transaction then click Edit transaction.

Unallocate transaction – If you have posted a receipt or credit against an invoice in error, you can use the Unallocate  transaction option to unlink the transaction.  A sales receipt (SR) becomes a sale on account (SA) when it is unallocated, then it can be allocated against a different invoice.

Delete transaction – To delete a transaction while in the activity window, click the transaction then click the Delete transaction.

Aged balances – At the foot of the window aged balanced appear, broken down into boxes according to the ageing method chosen in Settings > Customer Defaults > Ageing.

If you would like further help with the Customer activity screen or need any other help with your Sage Accounts please contact us

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