This document provides an agenda and guidance for year-end planning tasks in Sage 500, including closing out 2018, preparing for 2019, disaster recovery planning, physical inventory processes, vendor 1099 payments, pruning old data, updating fiscal calendars and inventory calendars, integrating with Sage Fixed Assets, reviewing security groups, and best practices. Key areas covered are closing modules, taking backups, updating contacts and recovery procedures, testing backups, completing physical inventory counts, filing 1099 vendor payments, reducing database size safely, setting up new fiscal years, and reviewing user permissions.

1. Year-End Planning
for Sage 500
To Join the Audio: 1-877-309-2071
Passcode: 246 801 933
Doug Hart
RKL eSolutions, LLC
December 12, 2018

2. AGENDA
Closing 2018
 Disaster Recovery Plan
 Physical Inventory
 Vendor 1099 Payments
 Pruning Data
Preparing for 2019
 GL Fiscal Calendars
 Inventory Calendars
 Sage Fixed Assets
 Security Groups

3. Basics of a Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP)
 Update Emergency Contacts
 Update Recovery Tasks Checklist including responsible party
 Identify Threats and Consequences
 Prevention, Detection, Correction
 Confirm replacement hardware is readily available offsite
 RKL’s Infrastructure Team can work with you to design a DRP that’s right for you
SQL Considerations
 Test (!) your backup/recovery procedures
 Database Recovery Model (Simple, Full, Bulk-Logged) will determine the process to restore
 Offsite Backup Media (Tape, Files)
 SQL Install media and product keys
 Passwords and encryption keys
 Resources -- Paul Randall: https://bit.ly/2QQQMZC , Brent Ozar: https://bit.ly/2L8kGD4
Disaster Recovery Plan

4. Selecting Items to Count
 Lots of Filtering Options (Item Type, Status, Zone, Bin, Bin Location, Item Class, Purchase
Product Line, Sales Product Line, Last Count Date, Count Cycle, Rankings)
Count Documents
 Count Cards (One per item/Bin) vs. Count Sheets
 Add Blank Cards/Lines for Items/Bins not in the batch
Entering Counts
 Show Frozen Qty? (Risk/Reward)
 Show Counted, Uncounted, or Both
Physical Inventory

5. Entering Counts (continued)
 Using the Grid
 Export to Excel (Import with Data Porter)
Missing Count Cards
 If you want to use this, do NOT use the Set Uncounted to Zero option in ENTER COUNTS
Reconciliation Report
 Transactions posted for items frozen during the count process
Discrepancy Report
 On-hand Quantity variance % > Maintain Inventory’s MAIN tab Tolerance % field
Physical Inventory (continued)

6. Change for 2018 to IRS 1099-DIV form
 Box 5 “Section 199 A Dividends”
 Requires an update to Aatrix integration (Sage’s target release date is w/e 12/21)
 See https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-1099-div
Review RKL’s blog post for details on the Aatrix integration
https://www.rklesolutions.com/blog/1099s-sage-500-tax-yr-2017/
 Aatrix service level options
 Sage 500 supported versions for Aatrix
Vendor 1099 Payments

7. The IRS filing deadline for 1099-MISC with Nonemployee Compensation in box 7 is January
31, 2019. For Other 1099 forms:
Paper: February 28, 2019 Electronic: April 1, 2019
Electronic filing via IRS FIRE (Filing Information Returns Electronically)
 Required if 250+ returns of any one form (Misc, Int, or Div).
 File form 4419 thirty days before 1099 form’s due-date to get approval
 IRS Instructions can be found at:
 https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099msc
 https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099int
 https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i1099div
Vendor 1099 Payments (continued)

8. Processing 1099s in Sage 500
Editing 1099 payment amounts
 Edit Voucher 1099 Data (changed the vendor’s 1099 status mid-year)
 1099 Beginning Balances (1099 payments were made outside of Sage 500 B.O.Y.)
Standard Explore Views are a good start, but :
 Explore Vendors is missing Last Payment Date and useful 1099 Type
 Explore Vendor Payments does not have any 1099 data
Email Support@RKLeSolutions.com for custom 1099 Explores offered @ $200/ea or $500/set
 Three-Year Vendor Payment History
 Vendors w/Missing 1099 Payments
 Vendor List w/1099 Type & Last Payment Date
Vendor 1099 Payments (continued)

9. Processing 1099s in Sage 500 (continued)
Print/Generate 1099s from Insights > Report > 1099 Reports menu
 1099 Forms (Pre 2016) – phasing out; requires maintaining Crystal reports and 500 code
 1099 Forms (2016+) – new online service through Aatrix
If 1099 processing has all become too cumbersome for you, pay 1099 vendors by credit card
 CC Payments are not reported by the Payer (you)
 CC issuer reports on Form 1099-K Payment Card and Third Party Network Transactions
Vendor 1099 Payments (continued)

10. How can I safely reduce the ‘footprint’ of my database?
 Check for pending batches in each module’s Post XX Batches task (where XX is the 2-character Module ID: AP,
AR, GL, IM, etc.) and delete unneeded batches.
 Confirm each Module’s Maintenance > XX Setup > Set Up XX Options Data Retention tab (Transactions, History,
and Log Retention)
 After all year-end data has been entered, but BEFORE final period-end processing, take a special year-end
backup of your database
 In General, avoid any Purge XX Data option (found in Process Period End tasks and as separate tasks on the
Activities menus)
 Order of Closing: IM, AP(PO), AR(SO), CM, MC, then GL
Pruning

11.  Some things are safe to purge within 500 (Older Than ## Months)
 Purchase Order – POs, Receivers/Returns, Requisitions
 Sales Order – SOs, Quotes, Shipments/Returns/RMAs
 Manufacturing – Completed Work Orders
 System Manager – Activity Log (Period End, Module Purge, Security Changes, Suspense Postings,
etc.)
 Contact us for suggestions on:
 Deleting Inactive Users in both Maintain Users and SQL
 Deleting Demo Data companies (‘SOA’, ‘COA’, etc.) or at least change their color code in Maintain
Companies – added in v.2016
 Pruning specific SQL tables (tciDBActivityLog, tsoPickList, WRK tables used for printing)
Pruning (continued)

12.  Change GL accounts’ Status field (added in v.2017) for any Inactive/Deleted accounts;
checkbox in Maintain Natural Accounts to Apply to all associated GL Accounts
 Budget Planning
 Maintain Budgets > Copy Budget to update one account/period (changes are immediate upon
save)
 Revise Budgets > All GL Accounts to update a range of accounts (changes require a
Register/Post)
 Review Inventory Replenishment defaults to update Methods, Formulae, Purchase
Requirements, etc.
 Review PO Vendor Performance Report (by Vendor, Warehouse, Item, etc.) to negotiate
contract renewals
 Review Manufacturing Costs including overhead rates, variances and BOM Cost Roll-up
Journal
Best Practices

13. If you have not already done so, take a backup before proceeding
 Inventory Management > Maintenance > IM Setup > Set Up IM Options > Miscellaneous
 After adding a year the recalculation step can take a while so consider running this over a
weekend or when no users are active.
 End Date
 Work Days Replenishment’s Demand & Safety Stock Formulas
Inventory Calendars

14. If you have not already done so, take a backup before proceeding
General Ledger > Maintenance > GL Setup > Set Up Fiscal Calendar
 Verify which years are defined using the Fiscal Year drop-down
 Use the Add Year button to create the next fiscal year
 You will receive a message indicating Beginning Balances will be calculated (NOTE: If you
have type BB Beginning Balance postings this can cause issues!)
 Confirm the End Date fields
 Toggle the Lock AP, Lock AR, Lock CM, Lock IM, Lock MF, or Lock/Unlock All fields as
needed.
GL Fiscal Calendars

15. Is FAS is integrated with Sage 500 AP/PO modules?
 For each 500 company, confirm in AP > Maintenance > AP Setup > Set Up AP Options Integration
tab.
 If Fixed Asset Accounting field is checked and the Database and Company fields are
populated, 500 is integrated with FAS for the company.
 Integrated  check your 500 version’s Compatibility Guide for supported version of FAS
 NOT integrated  upgrade to the most current version
Sage Fixed Assets (FAS)

16. Menu Upgrade Utility
 Ad new tasks to your 500 menus.
 Fairly well hidden under the 500 Client folder’s Managed Applications sub-directory
C:Program Files (x86)Sage SoftwareSage MAS 500 ClientManaged ApplicationsAccounting.Framework.MenuUpgradeUtility.Exe
Review current 500 users’ roles and responsibilities
 Add permissions for new tasks
 Revoke permissions for tasks they should no longer perform
Note: 500 permissions are inclusive. For example, if a user is assigned to two Security Groups, and
the same task is Excluded in group 1, but is Display Only, Normal or Supervisory in group 2, the user
will be granted the higher permission level from group 2.
Security Groups

17. Thank you and Happy Holidays!
Contact us for pricing, compatibility, and consulting
needs for your business management solutions.
Sales@rklesolutions.com
717.735.9109