
In many aspects of life, it pays to be prepared and one step ahead of the game. As such, it’s always a good idea to have a First Aid kit in the back of your car. This way, if you’re ever in a minor or major car accident, there are some rudimentary gauze and wraps to tend to the wounds until help can arrive. Sometimes, this kind of forward thinking can truly make all the difference.
People should also be this forward thinking, however, when it comes to finances. To that end, you never know when an unexpected expense is going to arise. That’s why you should always carry blank checks with you in your wallet. Or, alternately, you could always have your checkbook on you. Either way, it’s always a nice feeling knowing you can make any emergency payment you need should the situation arise.
Why is your credit score important
Here’s why your credit score is so important; it helps determine whether you can get credit cards, car loans and mortgages, and what interest rates you will pay.This can affect your personal and your business. Having business checks to use with your company is great to use, but if your a Personal Guarantor, you need to make sure your credit is as good as it can be.
The three major credit bureaus may report different credit scores to characterize your creditworthiness because they have different information in their files and they use different models to calculate the scores. Credit Scores are generally between 300 at the low end and 850 at the high end depending on which bureau you get the score from.
Lower scores are associated with higher risks of defaulting, so banks and other lenders demand high interest rates for taking risks in offering loans to these “subprime” customers. With higher scores, loans and credit cards are easier to get at lower interest rates because they are associated with successful repayment.
Personal Credit Scores – Your Credit History in a 3-Digit Number
If you have a business and need a personal guarantor, you will need to make sure you have good credit. Along with using your business checks, need to make sure your personal credit is good. I have some helpful information here to help to improve your personal credit, that will in turn, help your business.
Improving your Personal Credit Score takes money – so you’ll need a game plan to identify sources of cash. This means that you may have to cut your spending, withdraw from your savings and maybe even sell off assets.
Evaluate savings account vs. credit card interest rate
Compare the interest rates on your credit cards with the interest rates you earn on your savings accounts. It is likely that interest rates on your credit cards are higher than those on your savings accounts. If that is the case then the interest you are paying is more than the interest you are earning. This could mean that you consider withdrawing from your savings and paying off your cards.
Consider money in your current account, money market accounts or certificate of deposits which could be used to pay off your higher cost debt.
Reduce your spending
Experts say that most people spend 20% more than they think they do. The only sure way to understand your spending and manage it is to track it over a period of time. You could try writing in a notebook or use a money management software package such as Quicken or Microsoft Money. Analyze your budget and expenses to identify categories where you can cut expenses.
Here are a few examples of small steps that can start you off:
Use the Home Budgeting Calculator to understand where your money is going. By entering your income and monthly expenditures, you will get a break-down of where your money is being spent.
Make structural changes to your life
Sometimes you have to take severe actions to get out of debt. When you earn less than you owe and when your debt spirals to a level that you do not have resources to pay for it, you need to make structural changes to your life and elements that drive those expenses.
Introducing Peachtree by Sage – Quantum 2010
Peachtree by Sage – Peachtree Quantum 2010 is designed for businesses that have large data
requirements and multi-user access needs. Peachtree Quantum is the top-of-the-line accounting
solution in the Peachtree family that provides all the features found in Peachtree Premium
Accounting, plus access for up to 40 licensed, named users1 and advanced security to ensure
that work is done securely. And for businesses needing the ability to centralize all your business
functions into one collaborative solution, our new Order Process Workflow feature helps you keep
track of all the moving parts of your order process, so nothing gets missed and everything moves
along as planned.
Peachtree Quantum offers over 140+ customizable reports that give you the data you need–the
way your want it–the way you can really use it to recognize opportunities, to steer your business
and to help increase profitability. It also gives you even more advanced analysis capability with
Crystal Reports® 20082, the industry leading report writing tool, allowing you to create your own
specialized reports.
The following is a list of all reports available in Peachtree Quantum 2010:
Do you need “Void” pantograph on your business checks?
All business checks has a lot of different security features. One unique feature that is on the checks free of charge is the “VOID” When you photocopy a business check, it will have VOID, on the copied check. That way it will reduce fraud and increase the security for your business checks. Its a wonderful thing to use and to have.
The VOID is widely available, but not on all styles.
If you ordered a solid color (blue, green, or burgundy), more than likely its not on there. If you orderd Marble, Wave, Lattice, or Linen, it will be on the check more than likely. On the business checks, where the signature line it, you’ll see “ORIGINALDOCUMENT” as one line. its a nother securey feature. All business checks go through alot of tests to make sure its FIDC and CHECK 21 compliance.
c u s t o m e r s u c c e s s
Gone are the days when spectacles were pure function. Consumers now demand glasses
that also look good. Today, fashion forward eyewear is a fast-growing market, led by
companies like Etnia Barcelona. Etnia Barcelona’s handcrafted European eyewear is sold
through exclusive optical boutiques across the United States, Canada, and Latin America.
Each frame is produced in multiple colors, ranging from a conservative tortoise-shell to an
electric pink. As Etnia Barcelona stakes its place in a highly competitive marketplace, it relies
on Peachtree by Sage Quantum for the business information it needs to compete, grow, and
succeed.
“I was referred to Peachtree by a colleague,” recalls Juan Carlos Mazaira, president of Etnia
Barcelona. “I downloaded a demo from the Web site, and saw what a complete business
solution it was. It has features that more expensive products don’t have; I bought it the same
day.”
Look Ahead To The Next Step
Etnia Barcelona started using Peachtree Quantum last year when the company’s transaction
volume and number of users dramatically increased. “When I spoke to Sage Software about
it, they recommended I implement Peachtree Quantum because it’s designed for growing
businesses like mine,” says Juan Carlos. Peachtree Quantum includes powerful distributionrelated
features, plus it has significantly faster report generation, batch posting, and
transaction-save times over other software packages in the same class.
“We have been very pleased with Peachtree Quantum,” notes Juan Carlos. “It’s an incredible
value for a very complete package—we absolutely love it.”
Keep an Eye on Inventory
Juan Carlos praises the comprehensive inventory management features included in
Peachtree Quantum. Using the information the software collects, he is able to see which
products, in which colors are selling well, and which may not be. “I always look at the sales
figures for each item to help me determine how much to reorder,” he notes. Purchase orders
to maintain adequate stocking levels are generated and e-mailed to vendors from within
Peachtree Quantum.
Etnia Barcelona Sees Clear Value in Peachtree by Sage Quantum
Having a business is great. How well do you have your website designed? When your looking for an ecommerce, ask for sample stores, demos, and trials. That way you can see how easy it is for your customers to navigate through the store. Easier it is, the higher chances you’ll have to make a sale. Make your site simple, but professional. Not too colorful. Have search bar. Easy colors on the eyes, but professional, with one main picture for your product is great, but have thumbnails for more options.
When your customer finds out what they are looking for, how easy would it be for them to add it to the shopping cart and check out? Does your site offer One page Check out. Surveys have shown that a one page check out really entices the customer to make a purchase easily, with out page after page of info, before they can put in their credit card. Does your payment processor offer business checks, or E-checks for payments? That will help you to get a good start for selecting your website design. Some allow you to downlaod your transactions directly to quickbooks or peachtree accounting software.
(CNNMoney.com) — Chrysler and GM employees are on the edge of their seats, waiting to find out what will be left standing after the dust settles. Meanwhile, a vast network of companies outside Detroit are bracing for impact.
Ready or not, the thousands of dealerships and suppliers to the auto goliaths are going to feel the aftershocks of the industry’s titanic shift. But the owners have mixed feelings about what the future holds for their companies. This will even affect their accounting department that uses business checks and accounting software
Caught between the bankruptcy of Chrysler and the bankruptcy of General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) is Patrick Berrang of Waynesboro, Va., one of the nearly 800 dealers who received a note from Chrysler saying that his dealer agreement had been severed. Before he received the letter, 70% of Berrang’s business was Chrysler vehicles and the remainder was GM brands such as Pontiac, GMC and Cadillac.
“I hope the judge is sympathetic,” Berrang says of his petition to remain a Chrysler dealer. “I didn’t see this coming at all. Now, they’ve only given me three weeks to shut down, but if I had sent in an application to become a Chrysler dealer, it would take more than three weeks for them to get back to me!”
When starting a new business, not only do you need to obtain your business checks, but you need to have a Credit Card Processor. Having a credit card processor is very easy to look for. You need it so you can obtain the customers visa, discover, master card, E-check or American Express. You must have a business checking account so your funds can be deposited to the acct.
By offering more choices for shipping and payment options, including Pay-Pal, it will offer more chances of you getting a sale. One huge thing is how professional your site it. Low prices, easy naviation will always lead to check out, and you’ll get a sale. Receiving a sale and seeing your company grow on a monthly baises is always nice to see
Business checks are used just as much as personal checks. You can customized them both. Its good to have your business vs. personal checks separated. Its good because you’ll be able to separate the business from the personal and easier for tax time. When ordering, take a look at what you really want. What kind of style, or what color do you want.
Business Checks are used alot more than personal checks. You can copy a cleared check vs seing a cleared debt transaction. Keeping a copy of your check records are great things to have in case of a legal dispute. Theirs so many ways to customized a check and make it personal or professional looking. Either way will stay more about you or your company.
| Accuracy | Peachtree 2010 | QuickBooks 2009 |
|---|---|---|
| Internal Accounting Review | Up to 15 checks of your data are performed by the Internal Accounting Review2 process in Peachtree. These checks look for suspicious transactions and common accounting mistakes and give the user advice on correcting the transactions. | Similar functionality does not exist in QuickBooks. |
| Conditional Alerts | Alerts can be displayed within Peachtree or sent by e-mail to customers, vendors, or employees when certain conditions are met or events occur. Peachtree can automatically notify certain employees through e-mail when certain conditions are met. For example, if a customer’s balance exceeds a preset amount, an e-mail alert is generated. Or if inventory levels fall below a certain amount, an e-mail can be sent to the proper employee(s) to reorder. | Similar user-defined notifications cannot be set in QuickBooks. |
| General Ledger (GL) Access | In Peachtree, you always have access to how your transactions are posted to your General Ledger accounts. Features like ‘Accounting Behind the Screens’ allow you to view the journal entries associated with transactions while you are in transaction screens, such as sales invoices, receipts and purchases. This gives you visibility into how a transaction is being posted on both sides of the GL, and allows you the ability to change any of the GL accounts that the transaction is posting to. | In QuickBooks, you can see journal entries behind transactions from a report that does not allow modifications. Accounts can be selected on purchases, but accounts cannot be selected directly from sales orders, invoices, or purchase orders. |
| Analysis | ||
| Peachtree Business Analytics | In Peachtree, you can see how your company is performing compared to other companies with the new customizable company dashboard! Get instant access to view up-to-date key financial trends in order to compare items such as Total Revenue, Gross Margin %, Days Sales Outstanding, and much more. Use this tool to improve your business’ financial health and make critical decisions.3 | QuickBooks no longer ships with the Expert Analysis tool which provided similar functionality and the tool (ProfitCents by Sageworks) is not available as an add-on on the Solutions Marketplace. They do not have similar functionality built into the product. |
| Security | ||
| Password Security | Secure your company’s data from unauthorized access with increased password security options. Strengthen your password security with new customizable options such as automatic password expiration, multiple incorrect password attempts lockout, no repeat passwords, and masking passwords from other users in Peachtree. Maintenance is easier giving users the ability to change their own passwords without relying on the admin, and requiring strong password compliance. | QuickBooks does mask passwords but only the Admin can set them. Password strength is recommended but not enforced. |
| User Security | Peachtree multi-user products provide you with screen-level and report groups access control. Administrators can select from over 100 specific areas to give add, edit, view-only, or no access to each user. | Security settings in QuickBooks multi-user products (other than QuickBooks Enterprise) allow access of only 10 major functional areas, but not at screen-level and report group access level. |
| Control | ||
| Assembly Revision History | Peachtree manages the revision history for the customer so that you can see the entire history of the assembly item, with an audit trail showing who changed it. | QuickBooks will allow you to change the components of an assembly inventory item at any time; however, a revision history is not maintained. |
| Purchase Orders | Peachtree will automatically create purchase orders based on minimum stock levels, re-order quantities, and quantities on sales orders. | Purchase orders can be created manually or from individual sales orders in QuickBooks, but not automatically and not based on stock levels. |
| Master/Sub-Stock items | Peachtree will automatically generate your sub-stock items and maintain them as a group. This is useful when you want to create an item, such as a shirt or hat generically, and then use the attributes of that item (Color, Size, etc) to automatically generate the sub-stock items to produce a line of products. | QuickBooks only allows you to use item classes as ‘sub items’ which is similar to Peachtree master stock items, but does not support true sub-stock items. |
| Work Tickets | Peachtree allows the ability to build an assembly as a work-in-process. As each piece is complete, that task is marked off the work ticket. When it is finished, an assembly item is generated as “ready to sell”. | QuickBooks does not have work tickets. |
| Costing Methods | Peachtree lets you choose from Average, LIFO, FIFO, and Specific-Unit costing methods. | QuickBooks offers only Average costing method. |
| Order or Sell Using Vendor Part Numbers | For each item in Peachtree, you can store an internal part number, UPC/SKU code, and vendor part number. You can include these numbers when printing inventory reports from Peachtree. | QuickBooks tracks internal and manufacturer part numbers that can be printed on forms, but manufacturer part numbers cannot be printed on reports. |
| In-Product Advisor | The Advisor will assist you in pointing out better ways to accomplish common tasks in the program. Learn the best way to work within Peachtree by leveraging our in-product user tips. These tips will help you discover functions or features that will assist you in learning other areas of the product quicker | Advisor-like functionality is not available in QuickBooks |
| Serialized Inventory Tracking | You may assign serial numbers to specific individual inventory items when creating transactions in Peachtree, and maintain detailed records for tracking, recall, and warranty purposes. Also track the actual cost of each serialized item for more accurate profit measure. | This capability does not exist in QuickBooks. |
| Access | ||
| Multiple Contacts | Store a virtually unlimited number of contacts per company in Peachtree!4 The “Contacts” tab in the Customers screen allows you to keep track of any specific details you want regarding multiple contacts per company. Track more details like multiple contacts titles, phone numbers, e-mail address and specify the ship-to contacts | Only offers 2 contacts per customer. |
| Customer Management Center | Create a customizable dashboard view of your customer’s information such as their converted and unconverted quotes, invoices, receipts, time tickets, aged balances, items sold, and much more. Drill down to the detail and quickly take action. | QuickBooks takes you to one place but still requires multiple clicks to find the data you need. QuickBooks places you on one screen with 2 tabs and only 1 transactional module on each. You have to change settings on the fly to view different sets of information. |
| Open Multiple Companies | Get your work done faster by being able to open multiple companies within Peachtree at the same time! Open all of your companies at the same and toggle to the company you need without closing your current company.5 | QuickBooks only allows one company to be open at a time |
| Payroll | ||
| Tax Table Modifications | While both Peachtree and QuickBooks offer tax table update subscriptions, Peachtree users who do not subscribe to the service are still able to modify federal, state, and local tax calculations in user-defined tables. | QuickBooks users do not have the ability to manually set up or modify tax tables requiring that updates be made exclusively through the QuickBooks tax update service. |
| Solutions for Expanding Businesses | ||
| Industry-specific solutions | Peachtree offers feature-rich solutions for companies in industries such as: Manufacturing, Distribution, Construction, Nonprofit and Accounting. These industry-specific solutions are designed to help specialized companies better manage operations by handling their specific functionality and reporting needs without sacrificing the strength and flexibility of a robust accounting solution. | QuickBooks offers industry solutions for Manufacturers, Wholesalers & Distributors, Nonprofits, Retailers, Professional Services, Contractors, and Accountants. |
| Better Performance, Lower Cost of Ownership | Peachtree Quantum includes key features and benefits for those customers looking to expand their business. With our exclusive SmartPosting technology, you can experience 2X better performance.6 Peachtree Quantum also offers options for a 10, 15, 20, 30, or 40 user versions allowing customers to expand the number of users as their business needs grow.7 And with cost effective pricing, Peachtree Quantum is the ideal solution for companies that want the lowest total cost of ownership. | QuickBooks Enterprise does not have SmartPosting technology, and the head-to-head performance testing shows that Peachtree Quantum outperforms QuickBooks Enterprise by 2X performance speed. For more details see the performance test criteria.QuickBooks Enterprise only has the option to expand up to a 30 user version.
And the cost of upgrading to a 30-user QuickBooks Enterprise is more expensive than upgrading to a 40-user version of Peachtree Quantum. |
| Order Process Workflow | Keep track of all the moving parts of your order process so nothing gets missed and everything moves along as planned. Have one centralized place to keep track of all process statuses, or just your own tasks and improve daily efficiency of your business with the new Order Process Workflow system in Peachtree Quantum. You can also notify the next person in the process, with a status and specific notes as needed. | QuickBooks does not offer workflow functionality |
| My Dashboard | Based on the user’s security access, customize screens in Peachtree Quantum to only show things you do on a regular basis like managing Aged Receivables, or Aged Payables, or Payroll and much more. Mix and match from various functions or make another view that shows only the tasks you need on a weekly or monthly basis – you choose! | QuickBooks currently does not have a user-based, customizable dashboard |
| One solution provider for those with even more powerful needs | Peachtree Quantum provides a high-performance option for your growing business with support for up to 40 networked users. As you continue to grow, you have the option to remain in the Sage family with an easy transition to Sage MAS. | QuickBooks Enterprise supports only 30 simultaneous users. |
Growing your business with Peachtree
For entrepreneurs to successfully grow their businesses, they need to have the right tools to meet their changing needs. One common challenge that many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) face is establishing a sound and scalable IT infrastructure and how they are going to use the peachtree checks
For example, many SMBs meet their software needs on a piece-meal basis. Such band aid solutions can be detrimental to their business because they cannot adequately support their rapidly expanding fundamental business functions such as accounting.
Sage Software recognizes this issue and, with Peachtree 2008, provides a scalable software solution that businesses can grow with, once a sound accounting foundation has been laid.
There are some common factors as to how companies outgrow their current software:
Geography
As a business expands, multiple offices or warehouses may be added. This requires additional network infrastructure to accommodate the new locations.
Users
More employees may need access to the software. Adequate software licenses often need to be added and security controls need be able to limit access on an individual basis.
Functions
New features may be needed to accommodate business growth. Procedures like advanced job costing, inventory management and product customization may need to be added as functions.
The software challenges that many businesses face can be resolved easily. SMBs can properly prepare for their growth by anticipating their accounting needs. Initially, they must ask themselves:
• Where will this business be in a year? five years? ten years?
• How many people will be employed?
• How many locations or offices will there be?
• Will functions like payroll be in-house or outsourced?
They also need to follow accounting best practices at all times. Businesses need to become familiar with basic bookkeeping practices and standard sets of financial statements and reports. This will help monitor the health of their business.
SMBs should also consider hiring an accountant at the early stage of their business. An
©2008 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. The Sage Software logo, Peachtree, the Peachtree logo are the registered trademarks of Sage Software, Inc. or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
accountant can provide expert advice as to which reporting configuration is best and will be able to forecast future accounting needs.
Once the foundation is laid, a scalable software like Peachtree 2008 can be implemented to accommodate growth. The software provides an account reconciliation feature, detailed security settings and data backups on a daily basis.
Thanks to its scalability Peachtree has proven to be a preferred accounting solution for many growing SMBs. Even when a business outgrows the Peachtree software, accounting records can be easily integrated into other Sage Software Enterprise solutions. As customer’s requirements grow, Sage Software offers solutions to grow with them.
Read Budgeting: A lifeline to growth
©2008 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. The Sage Software logo, Peachtree, the Peachtree logo are the registered trademarks of Sage Software, Inc. or its
affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
The tax man’s exacted his pound of flesh and spring is in the air, which can mean only one thing. It’s accounting software season. Peachtree 2010 represents Sage’s annual embellishment, and while it comes with a few welcome tweaks and adjustments, it’s pretty much the same, reliable Peachtree program of the last few years.
If 2010 were a new model car, it would feature improved wheel bearings. Of course, bearings are important to a vehicle, but their addition won’t rev you up with excitement. This criticism isn’t solely leveled at Peachtree. The company’s competitors, including Intuit’s QuickBooks, have also been running on empty in recent yearly upgrades
![]() The Dashboard provides a first-rate overview of your business and a means to access graphs, reports and other key information. ( |
This year, Peachtree offers “expanded capabilities around customization, access and control.” And there are new features that help you refer to industry and company information, better track inventory and customers and to apply stronger security.
Will these new features make your business life easier? Probably. But the bigger question is: Are you getting a lot for your upgrade money? That’s more of a perhaps.
Business analytic’s offer a great new feature that lets you view current financial trends and compare how your company is performing against others by weighing total revenue, gross margin and more. The tool can potentially provide you with key data to assist in your decision making.
A new transaction history lets you see just about everything that’s related to a particular customer or vendor at any point in the sales or purchase process, even letting you view forward from a quote to a receipt or backward from a payment to a purchase order. The convenient Customer Management Center compiles and displays client information in a single place and lets you look up customers by any shard of contact information and filter the results by date.
An intuitive, customizable dashboard displays key customer information such as invoices, converted and unconverted quotes, receipts, time tickets, aged balances, items sold and more. And you can drill down and view underlying data as well as export customer information to Excel for further analysis. A new “Item Sales History by Customer” report helps you analyze what customers are buying.
You can now store an unlimited number of contacts per company and a handy new Contacts tab tracks details on multiple contacts within a company. There’s also a new field for recording notes to track unique information about each contact. Peachtree now lets you open multiple companies at the same time and toggle back and forth between them ‑‑ a great feature for larger organizations.
This Peachtree software upgrade accommodates additional employee data that includes: emergency contact information, performance reviews, hiring dates and more. You can also set alerts to remind you of key events such as reviews.
Password security has been improved with customizable options that include automatic password expiration and lock-outs after multiple incorrect password attempts. It’s easier now for people to change passwords without bothering IT. There’s also a convenient new backup feature that lets you create a schedule and automatically backup data. And Peachtree doesn’t even need to be running to accomplish this.
There’s so much that’s good in Peachtree. The program displays an intuitive snapshot summary that displays key business information such as balances, vendors with open balances, customers who owe money, graphs and more. And from here, you can easily call up financial statements and generate reports.
A couple of areas stand above those found in other accounting programs. Peachtree’s time and billing feature offers lots of flexibility to track billable time in detail and easily apply it to invoices.
Another traditional Peachtree strength lies with inventory. The program lets you track up to ten price levels and monitor bills of materials through assemblies. For businesses that manufacture goods, Peachtree is a clear choice among the accounting programs in its price range. You can now search on inventory data in sales or purchase descriptions as well as note fields. Data entry has been streamlined to let you set default item classes that are based on common inventory types (stock, non-stock, service and more).
Peachtree thoroughly covers the business bases with online banking, as well as with payroll features that range from using the program to “do it yourself,” or subscribing to Peachtree’s payroll service that, in addition to printing checks, takes care of all of the complicated taxes and deposits (extra cost). The program does a great job of integrating data with Microsoft Office as well as Sage’s own ACT.
Peachtree does a great job of walking you through the initial setup. After installing the program, Peachtree asks you to choose a type of business from a generous selection, make a few choices, for example, select between accrual and cash, set sales tax and more, and it automatically creates the detailed chart of accounts.
Peachtree offers a range of editions beginning with First Accounting, a good starting point for sole proprietorships in simple retail and service businesses. The Pro, Complete and Premium versions go beyond with QuickBooks conversions, quotes, sales and purchase orders, payroll, Microsoft Office integration and job and project tracking.
The Complete and Premium versions add Microsoft Outlook-based contact synchronization, online banking reconciliation, online bill paying, multi-level security, audit trails, ability to track inventory sub items, pricing levels, time and billing and the fixed assets tracking module.
The Premium edition also offers unlimited budgets, serialized inventory tracking, departmentalized financial statements and Crystal Reports. Peachtree by Sage – Quantum is the most comprehensive application in the Peachtree family. Designed to accommodate 10, 15, 20 or 30 licensed and named users, it’s faster and comes with one year of unlimited support, updates and upgrades. Peachtree also offers industry specific versions for accountants, construction, distribution, manufacturing and non-profits.
A venerable accounting stalwart, Peachtree is a great program that offers lots of capabilities and features and is easy to use. It often lies in the shadow of Intuit’s QuickBooks, but it has its advantages, particularly for manufacturing, and if you’re in the market for accounting software, it’s definitely worth considering.