With the new year upon us, it's time to think about closing your books or in AccountEdge terminology: 'Start a New Fiscal Year' and 'Start a New Payroll Year'. With changes we've made over the last couple of versions, those processes are easier, more convenient and simpler than ever. The biggest change is the ability to start a new payroll year before printing W-2s (US) or T4s (Canada), an enhancement that many, many customers requested. We also added the ability to load new year tax tables before actually using them. Plus, we've made the upgrade process less daunting by copying the contents of your AccountEdge folder (which includes folders for Custom Forms, Custom Reports, Graphics, Letters, and Spreadsheets) so no more searching for this folder. We know these year end processes are nerve wracking and since they are done so infrequently, even our veteran users feel uneasy about 'pushing those buttons'. We listened to your feedback and hopefully with these year end process changes, you'll find it less stressful, and even a pleasure.

Coming (very) soon:
As announced as part of our 2014 release, we're on the verge of releasing two huge new services - AccountEdge Cloud and integration with Shopify. AccountEdge Cloud is our rebranded Time Tracker service that lets you record Time Sheets and Activity Slips in the field. Now we're adding a Sales module, to allow you to record Item, Service, or Time Billing sales for Quotes, Orders and Invoices.
Shopify is the gold standard in e-commerce, which now gives our customers 2 great solutions to sell online: Enstore and now Shopify.

We have a few quick updates for you:

US customers who are enrolled in the AccountEdge Full Service Payroll plan, are entitled to a free upgrade to AccountEdge Pro 2014. If you are enrolled and haven't already received your free upgrade, contact Customer Care at 800.322.6962 to get your download.

We changed the registration procedure for Payroll Forms Service. Now, when you renew your subscription to Payroll Forms Service, you'll receive an email with a link. The subject of the email is: AccountEdge Payroll Forms Order. Click the link in this email, which will take you to a web page. On this web page, enter your EIN, and indicate this is a Renewal purchase. Once confirmed, you'll immediately get your Payroll Forms Service registration code. Use this code to register Payroll Forms Service in AccountEdge Pro. If you encounter problems, don't hesitate to contact Customer Care at 800.322.6962.

You can request a free copy of AccountEdge for your accountant. When your accountant has a copy of AccountEdge, you'll be able to share your files easily and efficiently saving you both time and money. To qualify for this benefit you must be on the most current version of AccountEdge and your accountant must be licensed with one of the following professional designations: CPA, EA, CA, CMA, or CGA. To request a free copy of AccountEdge for your accountant just complete the Free Accountant Copy request form.

Newer versions of AccountEdge Pro have a feature that allows you to attach documents to records in your company file. As part of your regular maintenance, you make backups of your company file. You can include 'all data' in the backup, which means the backup will include your custom forms, spreadsheets, letters, and graphic attachments. Backups do not include the Attached Documents folder, or its contents. So, you may want to create backups of this folder, if you use this feature. The attached documents are located in a folder named AccountEdge Documents. Information about this feature, folder, and folder location is available in the Attached Documents.

On the subject of creating backups, for a few years now, AccountEdge has been creating backups in a .zip archive format. AccountEdge no longer uses the Stuffit (.sit) format. If you have archive files in a Stuffit format, and for more information on .zip archive format files, check the Compressed / Zip Archive FAQ.

When you upgrade to the latest version of AccountEdge, you can select Migrate Previous Version from the Company File Maintenance menu, which is located in the lower, right-hand corner of the AccountEdge Welcome window. This feature will copy your custom templates (forms) from an older version of AccountEdge to your 'Custom Forms, etc.' folder of your new AccountEdge installation. This feature dramatically reduces the effort required to locate and upgrade templates. Here are links to FAQs with more information:
Custom Forms folder
AccountEdge Pro 2014 Upgrade

If you are enrolled in the Payroll Tax Service, you should have loaded the latest payroll tax table updates. If you haven't and you are enrolled in this service, do it now. The Latest Payroll Tax Table Updates FAQ has information about payroll tax table updates, and the Can't Load Tax Tables FAQ has information about what to do if you are enrolled in the service, but can't load the latest tables.

This time of year, upgrading is one of the tasks US AccountEdge customers have to address: installing the new version of AccountEdge Pro, and upgrading company files. Although we've made significant improvements to reduce the effort required to upgrade, occasionally customers run into problems. If you are having difficulty locating your company file on the hard drive or on the network, here are links to a couple of FAQs offering tips to help you find the file:
Can't Find File
File Greyed out

Before you start your upgrade procedure, you may want to check the Company Data Auditor (Command Centers > Accounts > Company Data Auditor) in the old version of AccountEdge. This window displays the name and location of your current company file. And, if you click the link, you'll open a window of the folder where the company file is located. (This feature is available in newer versions of AccountEdge Pro.) Sometimes after upgrading, you need to check some old transactions. So, you need to restore from a backup. Easy enough. But it's often the case, the backed-up file needs to be upgraded after restoring from backup. This Restoring from Backup FAQ covers the steps required to restore the file, then refers to an Upgrading File FAQ for the upgrade procedure.

Hopefully the information we provide in our AccountEdge Tips and Tricks Newsletter is helpful and useful to you. Each month we present articles that are timely, interesting and informative, to help you use AccountEdge more effectively. Be sure to check the FAQ links included in the newsletter to view more in-depth information about the topics covered. This newsletter will not be used as a sales tool. We invite you to send us your thoughts.

Customer Service: 800-322-6962
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