From one Accountant to another

xTuple is an excellent tool for accountants. From a multi-segment chart of accounts to a financial report generator, xTuple is a powerful tool that can easily meet all of your accounting needs. One great example of xTuple's accounting functionality — monthly closes can be completed nearly simultaneously with month end. Just think, financial reports for last month on the first day of the following month!

And those reports can be customized to meet your specific needs — your choice of how to group, total, summarize individual accounts from the COA, as well as row and column layouts which can easily be copied to create new reports.

So how else does xTuple specifically assist the accountant in their job? The various xTuple modules are fully integrated with the accounting functions on a single platform. Manufacturing transactions are posted to the general ledger, sales and shipping transactions recorded as they occur. Accounts receivable are recorded and tracked, and invoices from vendors are all managed within xTuple. All the while, debits and credits remain in balance as your organization goes about conducting business. Thanks to the reporting functionality you can immediately review the real-time state of your business. The accountant can be a superstar utilizing many of the controls and tools available in xTuple.

I will attempt to highlight some of these tools in this blog and also in a series of Web-Based Training classes entitled Advanced Tips for Accounting Professionals. The first is this Tuesday, Jan. 18, from 4-6 pm.

Now first things first, a business transaction is only good if it ends with you getting compensated for your goods and services. And yes, a lot of your customers want those goods and services on terms. xTuple has tools to help you manage those terms. The credit management features of xTuple allow you to establish various standard terms for conducting business. Terms can be net 30, net 20, cash on delivery, due on the 15th, due on the 30th even due last week if you want. You have lots of flexibility. Now once you have the terms set up and you have begun selling your services, how do you manage collections?

I have seen many credit practices set credit limits per customer. Let's say you establish a customers credit limit to $5,000. And they purchase from you $3,000 worth of services. Terms required payment within 30 days, net 30. Now the customer has not paid you in 75 days, but since the credit limit has not been exceeded you might accept an order from this customer. With xTuple you can implement a feature that also would apply credit management based on age of receivable in addition to just credit limits. Credit status with xTuple can be In Good Standing, Credit Warning and Credit Hold. Customers can be automatically placed on and off Credit Warning based on state of the credit limit and age of receivable. Existing orders can be placed on credit hold if the customers credit status changes. With permissions you can determine who can enter orders for customers on credit warning or hold. Credit management features within xTuple assists the accountant in managing credit with your customers, making sure that you get paid for your valuable goods and services.

A good business practice is the establishment of operating budgets. xTuple is capable of recording budgeted activity by accounting period. Then with the powerful financial reporting system the accountant can efficiently report actuals against budgets. The financial reporting feature allows the accountant to create relevant financial reports for the business. Monthly, quarterly and yearly trend reports are easily configured. Actual results compared to budgets, last year or previous periods also easily configured. With the real time posting of transactions, it is possible to have financial reports immediately at the end of a period, within minutes if you like not the days and weeks that we have all experienced before. Information which is timely is of greater benefit than information which is old and stale.

One caution I must throw out is the ease of creating financial reports is related to the structure of you chart of accounts and how many different ways you need to analyze your business results. To learn more about this and all of the topics touched on in this blog, join me for Advanced Tips for Accounting Professionals. This web-based training session will be a deeper dive into xTuple accounting to include a preview of the New Project Accounting!

So join us tomorrow and bring your questions:

• Tuesday January 18 — 4:00 -6:00 pm/est
• Cost $125.00
• 2 CPE Credits Available
• Register and pay for Advanced Tips for Accounting Professionals Web-Based Training