Addsum Business Software, Inc.

No More Pennies: cash back implications for point of sale systems

2026-06-06T02:53:22.875-06:00

The US one-cent coin, i.e. the penny, is the fundamental unit of U.S. currency. Children learning about money are often taught how to count starting with the penny. An estimated 18 million cash only (or primarily so) retail businesses in the United States plan to continue to operate in that same way, and therefore have an ongoing need to make exact change (or in some cases to provide cash refunds). Without a penny supply, however, those businesses will have to adapt with either different pricing strategies, increased reliance on other payment types, or implement updated point of sale software.

But the implications of the cessation of the production of the US one-cent coin initially received relatively little fanfare. With some 250 billion pennies still in circulation when the last one-cent coin was minted in November of 2025, businesses processing cash transactions were not terribly worried.

But now, mere months later, the situation has changed.

Recently, we were contacted by a point of sale user in Washington state who indicated that their bank can now no longer supply them with one-cent coins.

So what are retailers (including food service providers) that need to "make change" for cash payments supposed to do?

Round. But "rounding" leads to more questions. Round up to the next (higher) five cents? That approach may be available in some states but is generally frowned upon. A number of states have already passed laws, including Washington state, that requires symmetrical rounding. While there may also ultimately be federal legislation, a common principle that has evolved (for the 45 states plus the District of Columbia that have statewide sales taxes) is that you cannot round off sales tax, and that the exact amount of sales tax based on the original sales price must still be calculated and collected.

There is also a bit of a catch-22 problem since in point of sale (POS) cash transaction handling, you don't know whether a cash payment is going to be involved (and hence potential cash back) until towards the end of the transaction when the customer tenders payment.

In eliminating production of the penny, Congress was not consulted, and while the decision ultimately might have been the same, this was more of a unilateral decision by the U.S. Mint following a directive from the White House due to the high cost of producing the penny. But that analysis failed to consider consumer and business impacts of this decision which now will require somewhat unintuitive software logic changes (and related upgrade expenses by businesses), and also because different states could end up having different rounding requirements that software publishers will have to provide within their POS software. This then leads to higher consumer prices.

In solving the issue for POS applications in our accounting software program, we have spent an unfortunate amount of time on what seems like a very simple problem. The total, after tax, has to be rounded either up to the next five cents or to the closest five cents (depending on what is allowed) but without making any change to the taxable sale amount since sales tax has to remain unchanged.

To avoid making more invasive changes to the system (which in the case of our system could also change the sales order module programs because POS transactions when posted in our software become part of sales invoice history) and to avoid adding any changed data structures (such as a new "total only" adjustment field which could operate sort of like the highly unpopular gas fuel surcharge for sales invoices which have had a resurgence), we decided to automatically add a line item adjustment (marked as non-taxable to avoid any sales tax changes) that represents the difference between the actual total and the rounded total. This allows us to maintain the normal internal logic whereby the total of line item extensions equal the POS ticket's subtotal plus tax (and in the case of sales orders, freight). By making the penny adjustment of +- 0.01 to +-0.04 as a line item, the taxable basis for sales tax remains unchanged and allows any cash back (which is where the real problem is) to be calculated based on the "five-cent" rounded amount (and hence no pennies required).

Unless cash back (or a cash refund) is involved, then nothing changes; the forced line item and rounded total only comes into play if cash tendered is greater than the sale amount (or the transaction involves a cash refund). Some technical details as to the conditional rounding calculation is contained below (although that doesn't get into most of the in-line logic required within the POS application itself, but rather just the "rounding" calculation). The end result is that:

$10.01 or 10.02 rounds down to $10.00
$10.03 or 10.04 rounds up to $10.05
$10.06 or 10.07 rounds down to $10.05
$10.08 or 10.09 rounds up to $11.00

If the sale involves a return and the refund is made using cash, then the retailer may want to also round the negative sale to avoid having to use any one-cent coins. In that case, there is cash "out" but not necessarily "cash back" as it may be classified in some POS software (including Advanced Accounting) even though cash is being given to the customer in both cases. This may then result in some slightly different conditional logic that then comes into play when there is a cash refund as a result of a return, pointing again to the fact that eliminating the penny has more potentially complex consequences than might have been fully recognized.

This new logic will now be incorporated as standard in Advanced Accounting's POS-A ("Run POS Register") option going forward. The end user will need to input a new non-inventory item called PENNYADJUST under "Enter/Chg Inventory" and use a general ledger (GL) sales code linked to either the over/short GL code specified in POS-J (POS configuration setup) or any desired income or expense GL code. Older users that utilize sales orders for point of sale activity will have to manually enter the adjustment.

Technical details concerning five-cent rounding (included here mainly for programmers or for those who are curious to know more about a fairly boring topic):

As indicated above, the trigger for rounding happens only if (a) there is a cash transaction and (b) cash back is required due to an amount tendered that is more than the sale. Nothing changes with a credit/debit card, ACH, or check payment.

When the initial request we received (in connection with the penny shortage) was to always round up to the next "nickel" (something, that as it turns, out isn't evolving as the standard approach), we first turned to the CEIL function, which has existed in the TAS Professional (and newer) programming language for a very long time. In version 4.0 (1992) it was called CEILING. Then, in TAS 5.0 through TAS 5.1 (1995 to 1996 releases) it was changed to simply CEIL. Those were all 16-bit versions. In the newer 32-bit version, we continue to have a CEIL function (which is also a Delphi/PASCAL function). The rarely used CEIL function returns a whole number that is the closest value equal, to or greater than, the field value of interest. Because 1/20 = 0.05, the "trick" is to multiply the CEIL() result of the desired field by 20 and then divide that result by 20. In the TAS language, this is represented by:

define newtotal, oldtotal type N size 14 dec 2
newtotal = CEIL(oldtotal * 20)/20

The above approach however, does not satisfy the symmetrical rounding concept which is the more equitable approach and is favored by states and other authorities (and in some cases required legislatively).

A Dephi function that does this is:

function RoundToNearestNickel(const AValue: Currency): Currency;

var
TotalPennies, Remainder: Integer;

begin

// Convert currency to total integer pennies
TotalPennies := Round(AValue * 100);

// Get the modulo 5 to identify the trailing digit
Remainder := TotalPennies mod 5;

//Apply symmetrical rounding rules
case Remainder of

1, 2: // Round down to the previous nickel

Result := (TotalPennies - Remainder) / 100;

3, 4: // Round up to the next nickel

Result := (TotalPennies + (5 - Remainder)) / 100;

else // Already ends in 0 or 5 (no rounding needed)

Result := AValue;

end;

An equivalent TAS Professional/Premier function follows:

define TotalPennies, Remainder type I size 5
define newtotal, oldtotal type N size 14 dec 2

func RoundNearest5 oldtotal

TotalPennies = Round(oldtotal * 100)

// Get the modulo 5 to identify the trailing digit
Remainder = mod(TotalPennies, 5)

// Apply symmetrical rounding rules
//(verbose approach to match the Delphi version)

select Remainder

case 1 // Round down to the previous nickel

newtotal = oldtotal-(Remainder*0.01)

case 2
newtotal = oldtotal-(Remainder*0.01)

case 3 // Round up to the next nickel

newtotal = oldtotal+(0.05-Remainder*0.01)

case 4
newtotal = oldtotal+(0.05-Remainder*0.01)

otherwise // Already ends in 0 or 5 (no rounding needed)

newtotal = oldtotal

endc

ret newtotal

//A more concise way to write the above select/case/endc section
//inasmuch as the TAS case statement does not allow more than one //parameter follows:

if remainder=1 .o. remainder=2
newtotal = oldtotal-(Remainder*0.01)

else_if remainder=3 .o. remainder=4
newtotal = oldtotal+(0.05-Remainder*0.01)

else
newtotal = oldtotal
endif

In the TAS 7ix samples folder, we have added a program that performs either of the foregoing calculations:

File system error 65535

2026-05-11T01:19:00.002-06:00

Recently one of our users experienced the error above.

This error is not an internal error generated by our software nor is it a Btrieve nor PSQL/Actian Zen error message (even though the file name referred to above to is in fact a PSQL data file).

It is instead a Microsoft file system error that is discussed here:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2434660/unable-to-create-file-with-file-system-error-(6553

Should you receive this message, IT support should be immediately engaged to investigate potential causes.

Zen 14 error 27555 when installing to Windows 11

2026-05-06T15:39:00.003-06:00

Recently a customer experienced the above error message when trying to install a Zen 14 client on a new Windows 11 client PC.

The solution is described here:

https://communities.actian.com/s/question/0D5f300005ytV6yCAE/internal-error-27555

Creating a local admin account and then logging in using those credentials led to a successful install.

This issue could occur when installing to a Windows 10 client as well.

Make an image-level backup to protect your Actian (Zen, Pervasive, PSQL) license

2026-04-14T16:22:00.005-06:00

The newer versions of what was once called simply Btrieve (BSERVER on client-server Novell systems) later became Pervasive, with newer engines also referred to as PSQL and more recently as Actian Zen. These more modern engines will be collectively referred to here as PSQL.

After the 16-bit Btrieve 5.10a, Windows versions first in 16-bit and then 32-bit versions were released by Btrieve Technologies, Inc. over the 1982 to 1995 time frame. With a corporate name change to Pervasive Software, Inc. there were versions 7, 8, and by 2006, version 9. Unlike with older pre-Pervasive versions, these newer versions required unique licenses. The PSQL licenses were eventually linked to CPU or other installed hardware in versions 10 and 11. But that was changed starting in version 12 to be tied to solely the computer (server) name and that continues to be the case through the latest version, Actian Zen v16.

So these newer PSQL licenses which since v12 are solely tied a computer name can only be active on one computer at a time. Both workgroup for smaller installations and server class licenses are available (more recently both "enterprise" and "cloud" versions are options in newer versions). It is mainly server type licenses that are being referenced below but could also relate to workgroup licenses that can be configured to support small client-server networks.

In a normal situation where the production server is operating, when migrating to a new server (or setting up a backup PC for a "just in case" scenario), you would want to install from your original downloaded media and leave the PSQL software in an unlicensed state (a temporary license will automatically be installed and its expiration date can be viewed in the PSQL License Administrator) on that new server. It will then operate in a temporary license mode (the periods have changed over time, with older versions it normally has been 30 days but could be shorter such as two weeks; the trial version for v16, the latest version, is apparently for just one day) that gives you time to test the new server and verify that everything is working. Then when finally migrating you would deauthorize the license on the production server (via the installed PSQL License Administrator which can be accessed either separately or via the PSQL Control Center; take a screen shot before deauthorizing) and apply the license on the new server. Internet access is required when deauthorizing and then also when authorizing on the new server. There used to be a limit as to how many times you could authorize/deauthorize but currently that appears to no longer be the case.

But, as previously mentioned, only one server can be authorized by any one PSQL key at any one time. (The only away around that would be to buy a second license and they are not inexpensive; inexpensive compared to Oracle and perhaps Microsoft SQL, but not cheap.)

In case of the situation where the production server goes down and cannot be brought back to life, that is when it is critical to have an image-level backup for the Zen/Pervasive install (which is not installed in the same folder as the Advanced Accounting or other TAS-based system and is completely separate; the image-level backup for the accounting software would have to then be supplemented by a recent file level backup as well as any programs that have since been changed via ongoing updates as well as for any custom modified programs). Without the image-level backup with which you could restore the PSQL license in the event of total failure of the production server, in the past you would simply contact Actian (formerly Pervasive) to get around the problem of not being able to deauthorize the license. In the last few years however Actian has taken a reversal in their approach and now requires an expensive tech support contract instead of a free, simple support ticket.

See for example this warning on the pricing pages at Goldstar:

https://www.goldstarsoftware.com/prices16.asp

Goldstar now includes that cautionary language on versions going back to v11 (although the image-level backup would only help starting with v12).

Passwordless email delayed for now but Oauth2 is coming

2026-03-31T16:44:00.007-06:00

Originally SMTP AUTH basic authentication (see our February 2017 GMAIL blog) was going to be phased out by Microsoft as early as March of 2026 (see this April 2024 Exchange Online blog). That has since been rescheduled for Dec 31, 2026 (January 2026 Exchange Online blog).

Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365, which is Microsoft's cloud-based email, calendar, and contacts service) uses Exchange Online.

Microsoft 365 will still allow for app specific passwords (see our February 2017 blog referenced above which discusses app specific passwords in the context of using GMAIL) as long as multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled. The intention is however to ultimately eliminate that option.

So what is behind this change? OAuth: an abbreviation of "open authorization" that provides a way to authorize permissions between applications. Essentially it eliminates the use of passwords and therefore is considered to be more secure. (More information: What is Oauth?)

OAuth has been in use since late 2006, starting with its development for Twitter's API, with the first public version (OAuth 1.0) released in December of 2007 followed by the now more common OAuth 2.0 in 2012, which significantly expanded its use for apps and devices beyond web browsers. Oauth 2.0 is a redesign of Oauth 1.0 which was designed for websites. OAuth 2.0 is also referred to as OAuth2 (there is also an OAuth 2.1 on the horizon which is a different product).

Google Workspace apps including GMAIL have required OAuth2 since March of 2025 but as noted also still allows app specific passwords as the only allowed password method for sending emails.

The most popular email providers currently are GMAIL, MS Outlook (formerly Hotmail and including Office 365, now Microsoft 365) and Yahoo. These providers have been implementing OAuth2 on different schedules.

Yahoo for example hasn't announced a specific date regarding the elimination of app passwords but may no longer be using it for new accounts; instead, they are pushing users towards newer, more secure methods such as account key (passwordless sign-in) for their own apps, while app passwords remain necessary for many older third-party email clients that don't support newer security methods, with some reports suggesting that Yahoo removed them for new accounts but still supports them for legacy users. App password generation may become available for individual new accounts after a period of regular use.

Local IT providers will likely follow suit but may continue to offer traditional SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) services.

Note that you do not choose between SMTP and OAuth 2.0; you use OAuth 2.0 for authentication within the SMTP connection for secure email delivery, especially as providers phase out older, less secure methods.

So why do we care? Desktop applications that send emails will have to support OAuth2 if their end users rely on utilizing Microsoft 365 after December of 2026 (unless delayed again) and in the future with other major email providers.

Users though will still have other options that may be available through their website provider or via SMTP relay services such as https://www.smtp2go.com which already provides OAuth2 support.

So there is currently no reason currently to panic. We have been anticipating this change and have been closely monitoring the likely need to add OAuth2 support to Advanced Accounting's current email capability and have already identified several options. Meanwhile we do plan to stay with our current email solution which for now works with all email providers.

Creating or adding text to sales order header notes

2026-02-15T20:28:00.004-07:00

Advanced Accounting has extensive support for notes. A single note can be up to 5,000 characters in length and attached (i.e. linked) to a number of different types of accounting software data including: customer codes, vendor codes, inventory (aka product or item) codes, sales order headers (the main record associated with a sales order containing the customer code, billing and ship to address, terms, etc.), sales order line items, posted invoices (via after invoice maintenance), quote headers, quote line items, purchase order line items, employees, general ledger codes, journal entries, and also in the time and billing module where they are used extensively. Notes can be accessed through a variety of options and reports. And in sales orders, quotes and purchase order entry, existing notes attached to those line items can be automatically retrieved and attached as sales order line items, and then edited as necessary (since they then exist separately as a new, cloned note).

While most notes also can be printed on various documents (for example, notes attached to sales order line items), some notes are mainly for internal reference (but all notes can still be viewed via the UT-E Notes Report option). Sales order and quotes "header" notes are examples of notes used mainly for internal review.

For special customized applications, it may be desirable to automatically assign (i.e. "populate") note instructions into the header field. The following examples are for programming reference should this type of customization be required and would generally apply to any type of note in the system provided that the appropriate "where from" and link code is provided. This approach does not require the tas_notes option nor loading the wbknotes program into memory (which happens in the initial_setup call including in almost all Advanced Accounting programs) nor use of the special user defined commands that are included in the ADV60.LCY (encrypted ADV60.LIB) file as normally used when processing notes in other programs.

Example #1: add a header note to sales order that has no current header note

#lib addsum

(* has the chk_open UDF *)

define bksycbnt_hndl type i size 5

(* the add word reset after "size 5" if used within the accounting software environment and the program has an initial_setup UDC i.e. user defined command which has already opened the notes file*)

(*defines for bksymstr_hndl and bkarinv_hndl should already in the file definition file, otherwise they need to also be defined *)

define note_num,so_num type R size 9

define where_from type A size 3

//start: label here if the #FORCERWN compiler directive is used

(*if initial_setup has not been included in the applicable program then open the notes file *)

openv 'bksycbnt' ext 'c'+co() fnum bksycbnt_hndl lock o
bksymstr_hndl=chk_open('BKSYMSTR','R',true)
bkarinv_hndl = chk_open('BKARINV','r',.f.)

where_from='SOH'

(*get the next note number - or replace with bkar.inv.note# if in SO-A*)

(*get the applicable BKARINV record, if bkar.inv.note# is zero, assign a note # *)

//where so_num is the desired so_num with the header note to update

//or you could scan the entire file using the SCAN command

so_num = 123456

findv m fnum bkarinv_hndl key bkar.inv.sonum val so_num

if flerr(bkarinv_hndl) <> 0 then quit

// and then a ret after the quit depending on program type

if bkar.inv.note#=0
inc bksy.next.note#
note_num=bksy.next.note#
save @bksymstr_hndl nocnf
endif

bkcbnt_note='Desired header note text'
bkcbnt_code = trim(str(note_num),'l')
bkcbnt_who = 'SOA'
bkcbnt_whr_frm = where_from
bkcbnt_date = date(
bkcbnt_time = time()
save @bksycbnt_hndl nocnf

(*bkar.inv.note# should be set to note_num and then save the BKARINV record *)

bkar.inv.note#=note_num
save @bkarinv_hndl nocnf //and probably a noclr

Example #2 -retrieve existing SO header note and add some text to it

define code type A size 25
define where_from type A size 3
define so_note type A size 5000

where_from='SOH'

(*get the bkarinv record similar to the code in example #1 with error handling then exit or quit if bkar.inv.note#=0 *)

note_num=bkar.inv.note#
code=trim(str(note_num),'l')
findv g fnum bksycbnt_hndl key cbnote_key val where_from,code,0,0

if flerr(bksycbnt_hndl)=0 .and. bkcbnt_code = code \\

.and. bkcbnt_whr_frm = where_from
//found it
else

msg 'Could not find the desired note.'
quit

ret

endif

so_note=bkcbnt_note
so_note=trim(so_note,'t') + ' now add some additional text'
bkcbnt_note=so_note
save @bksycbnt_hndl nocnf

//the header note has now been updated with the additional text

Postscript: the SOH "where from" value stands for sales order header. In quotes, we instead use QUH for the quotes header note reference.

2026 payroll system updates

2026-01-13T01:35:00.004-07:00

Software updates for the payroll module of Advanced Accounting version 8 are now available. These include changes that address federal and state withholding changes that are now in effect as well as some internal required changes in our e-filing interface* (which has passed a required testing phase for both W-2 and 1099-NEC forms). Our first two e-filings for 2025 were made this past Saturday (one of which was for an end user of the software).

Payroll updates for federal 2026 payroll changes that include all of the updates described in the latest IRS Publication 15-T are included including an updated tax table.

No tax on overtime and tips: This federal provision has caused considerable confusion and as worded on tax forms and in the media has been very misleading. These items are still fully reportable and subject to withholding (including social security and medicare taxes and their match) as in the past, i.e. from an employer's point of view, nothing has changed. And employees will not notice any changes in their net paychecks (absent their making W-4 changes).

Employers do have new reporting requirements. While these provisions are effective retroactively for 2025, there is no specific requirement to report them on W-2 forms (yet employers are still required to provide the applicable amounts to employees, even though there won't be any penalties for failing do to so; starting in 2026 the applicable overtime amounts will have to be reported in W-2 form Box 12 with a new code TT).

Employees will be able to report qualified overtime and tips "deductions" on Form 1040 Schedule 1-A.

Not all overtime pay is "qualified" overtime. Qualified overtime must first of all meet all of the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA); in other words it must be compensation for over 40 hours in a week that is paid at 1.5 times the employee's normal rate and that is paid to non-exempt employees. In other words, the following types of overtime are NOT qualified overtime:

(1) Overtime amounts paid to exempt employees;

(2) Overtime for hours less than 40 in the employer's defined week;

(3) Overtime compensation that is paid at a rate of more than 1.5 times the employee's hourly rate.

If all of an employees overtime compensation meets all of the above criteria, then the employee would be able to claim an amount on Form 1040 Schedule 1-A that represents their total 2025 overtime pay divided by 3. In other words, only the overtime "premium" is subject to the deduction credit. So if an employee is paid $10 per hour and receives overtime at $15 per hour, $5 is the overtime premium subject to an individual tax return deduction (and in total is also subject to an overall limit). So it is not the full $15 overtime payment amount but rather only one-third of that rate, all other things being equal.

If an employer has mix of overtime rates or made overtime payments that weren't all for hours worked over 40, qualified overtime will require manual calculation.

For Advanced Accounting, in order to meet the reporting requirement for 2025, we will default the qualified overtime compensation amount in Box 14 for employee reference with the abbreviation QUAL OTC; however that amount will need to be carefully reviewed to ensure that it meets the criteria outlined above (the accounting software program allows for individual review and for changing the OTC amount). How this will be reported in 2026 will change as also previously noted.

The following link may be of some additional assistance:

https://mrsc.org/stay-informed/mrsc-insight/november-2025/no-tax-on-overtime

Reminder re: form W-2s (in effect since tax year 2024): Employers filing 10 or more information returns, including Forms W-2, must file electronically (absent having received a waiver by the IRS). Information returns include commonly filed 1099 forms. Many states have similar requirements including some that are more restrictive than the federal requirements.

Reminder re: employee withholding forms: Employees do not have to fill out a new W-4 each year (unless they are claiming to be exempt). Employees that make changes must however use the newer form W-4 and there must be on the 2020 and later federal income tax withholding system. Most states with state income taxes have their own equivalent form and state withholding tax logic more often than not depends on the options selected on that form. So an employee may need to fill out a new state form without necessarily changing anything on their existing W-4.

Social security limit changed for 2026: The social security limit has increased from $176,100 to $184,500 (our payroll update will make that change automatically or it can be manually updated for each payroll division in Advanced Accounting's SY-D Enter/Change Payroll/GL interface option).

State income tax withholding changes: While there are nine states with no state income tax withholding, of the remaining states at least 27 states have made changes for 2026 for their state income tax withholding rates and/or related logic.. See also State Tax Changes Taking Effect January 1, 2026 (which outlines changes beyond just payroll withholding changes).

As of the date of this blog, we have made changes to Advanced Accounting 8's payroll tax tables and/or internal logic and tested those changes in the following states:

California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Vermont

During this review process we have also picked up changes made mainly during the last of of 2025 for:

Ohio, Utah, Virginia, and West Virginia

It should be noted some states may parallel the federal "no tax on overtime and tips" changes at the state level, an example of which is the state of Michigan (effective also retroactively) and so employees may be able to claim a state income tax deduction.

A separate payroll-only update is now available for Advanced Accounting 8: These 2026 payroll updates will be included in the final Advanced Accounting 8 rel. 14 which will be the subject of a separate blog, however, we now have a payroll-only update that is standalone and does not require any other prior updates nor the rel. 14 update which can be implemented immediately to accommodate these changes. Contact us to arrange for installation of that update.

*For tax year 2025 W-2 forms, the employer's email address, contact name and phone number are mandatory requirements but only for electronic submissions to the Social Security Administration (SSA). The employer name and address of course are also required.

2025 payroll updates

2024-12-31T21:35:00.018-07:00

As we wind down another very active year of program development including special end user modifications and support as well as generic system-wide changes for the latest version of Advanced Accounting, we are now again devoting our attention to upcoming payroll changes; in additional we have been preparing for 2024 W-2 and 1099-NEC e-filings and have already passed the W-2 testing phase and will be ready to submit those as soon as they will be accepted on federal and state levels.

In terms of 2025 changes, we have payroll updates for all of the federal 2025 payroll tax changes (which can also be implemented by end users based on the rates on page 11 of IRS Publication 15-T which was released on December 9, 2024.

Reminder re: form W-2s for 2024: Employers filing 10 or more information returns, including Forms W-2, must file electronically (absent having received a waiver by the IRS). Information returns include commonly filed 1099 forms. Many states have similar requirements including some that are more restrictive than the federal requirements.

Reminder re: form W-4: Employees do not have to fill out a new W-4 each year (unless they are claiming to be exempt). Employees that make changes must however use the newer form W-4 and there must be on the 2020 and later federal income tax withholding system. Most states with state income taxes have their own equivalent form and state withholding tax logic more often than not depends on the options selected on that form. So an employee may need to fill out a new state form without necessarily changing anything on their existing W-4.

Social security limit changed for 2025: The social security limit will be increasing from $168,600 to $176,100 (our payroll update will make that change automatically or it can be manually updated for each payroll division in Advanced Accounting's SY-D Enter/Change Payroll/GL interface option).

State income tax withholding changes: Nine states (Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, and West Virginia) have reduced individual income tax rates effective January 1, 2025. See State Tax Changes Taking Effect January 1, 2025 where it is also indicates that some 39 states will be making notable tax changes in general.

In working through these changes, we have noted so far inconsistencies in the new changes (examples are Louisiana and West Virginia) which have made implementing these changes far more difficult than they should be.

Louisiana: Louisiana has changed to be a flat rate tax however the new rates are based on three options:

a. Taxpayers Not Claiming a Standard Deduction.

b. Single or Married-Separate Taxpayers Claiming the Standard Deduction ($12,500)

c. Married-Joint Return, Qualified Surviving Spouse, or Head of Household Taxpayers Claiming the Standard Deduction ($25,000).

Options (b) and (c) are the same standard deduction amounts as before even though the rest of the tax logic is different. But how does an employee "not claim" a standard deduction? The Louisiana L-4 withholding form still refers to "exemptions" but those don't exist any more. Until this is clarified, we are unable to update Louisiana's state withholding logic (although we have made some initial changes to reflect the flat tax rate and standard deduction changes).

West Virginia: There was one bill in August and another passed in October that made changes to the prior bill (SB2033). But the language of that bill isn't fully in sync with West Virginia's withholding form nor are their percentage method tables published in October 2024 consistent with SB2033. The heading categories do not match and the rates for "Two Earner jobs" (which also is inconsistent with the newer bill) do not match the SB2033 rates.

The former TWO EARNER/TWO OR MORE JOBS category for "Married filing jointly, both working/individuals earning wages from two jobs" as described in supposedly updated percentage method tables is not the same thing as married filing separately as outlined in SB2033.

And the OPTIONAL ONE EARNER/ONE JOB category formerly for "Single, head of household or married with nonemployed spouse" in the percentages tax tables is also inconsistent with SB2033's category which says nothing about a "nonemployed" spouse. Until this is clarified, updates for West Virginia are on hold (we have however gone had and made changes based on SB2033).

Other states with changes:

California: tax table changes only (extensive)

Michigan: dependent deduction ("personal exemption") increase

Missouri: tax table, logic and supplemental pay changes

Montana: tax table changes only

New Mexico: tax table changes only

Oregon: extensive internal logic changes (normal table approach doesn't work for Oregon)

Vermont: withholding allowance update and tax table changes

Virginia: standard deduction changes that were effective 4/1/24

(this blog will be updated as additional changes are identified and clarifications become available)

TAS Premier 7ix release 18 published

2024-07-31T03:39:00.001-06:00

We are pleased to announce release 18 in the TAS Premier 7ix series. This release contains updates to the runtime and development system programs through July 31, 2024.

Release 17 was published on June 7, 2023 building on prior release 16 published on July 10, 2021, which was the first "7ix" release. These updates continue to build on our initial 2004 TAS Professional version 7 release followed by TAS Premier 7i in the fall of 2005.

Some of the new features include a new REMOVE_DIR() function, REGREADLOCAL() now supports REG_DWORD key types,a new form screen position (ScreenPos) option that may be useful in dual monitor environments as well as incorporating underlying VCL changes in the event of TMonitor.GetBoundsRect error responses (also a potential issue in dual monitor situations), /runprg parameter changes that will ignore the limit runtime setting if set and that will also no longer load the license file, message box changes to ensure that those error messages will appear "on top" when internal errors occur with the grid object, report program loading issues when a space character is included in the runtime path (resolved), important documentation additions, maintain database changes when editing array fields, and more.

See the "Addsum Premier 7i features" under the topic "What's new in TAS Premier 7i" in the help files for more information as to all of the updates provided in this release.

Future releases of Advanced Accounting 8 (and 9) will use this newer 7ix runtime.

TAS Premier updates

TAS Premier 7ix download (new installs)

TAS Premier 7ix release 17 published

2023-06-07T16:06:00.003-06:00

We are pleased to announce release 17 in the TAS Premier 7ix series. This release contains updates to the runtime and development system programs through May 1, 2023.

Release 16 came out on July 10, 2021, and was the first "7ix" release. These updates continue to build on our initial TAS Professional version 7 release in 2004 and then TAS Premier 7i in the fall of 2005.

Some of the new features include a COPYTOCLIPBOARD() function; a new third parameter in the SENDKEYS() function allowing developers to target an external windows/application; improvements relating to the TRANSX command; changes to the default behavior of the internal ASK button; the ability to upload files using FTP protocol over TLS/SSL (also known as FTPS, not to be confused with SFTP i.e. secure shell file transfer protocol) using an external executable that we developed written in the same language as the runtime; reenabling the FASTMM4 memory manager; and adding exception handling to the TLLFC() function.

Documentation updates are many including a new topic with respect to using colors in RUN programs, updates to reserved words primarily for legacy programs, adding documentation for the RTOD() function previously missing, plus documentation for new or improved features.

The older FTP function remains available but is not capable of sending files using FTPS protocol. The newly provided executable can upload files via both secure and insecure methods, supports options for the port number, connect tries, connect/read/transfer timeout settings, TLS options (require vs. explicit vs. implicit), transfer types, and passive mode. Any number of profiles can be established which can then be called from the TAS environment after being tested.

OpenSSL changes are expected later this year which will require changes both in the sending of secure e-mail (supported in Advanced Accounting) as well as FTP secure protocols, but we decided not to wait for those changes in order to provide FTPS capability now, which has not previously been available.

We previously had enabled the Borland replacement memory manager in an earlier runtime version, but we had a few users report harmless error messages sometimes when exiting the runtime, so we removed it. Based on some extensive testing, however, we have found that the use of that replacement memory manager is critical in Windows 10 and 11 operating systems when loading DLLs using the TLLFC() function, and so we have reenabled that memory manager in all executables where it applies. And the runtime executable still works just as well under prior Windows releases as well. We thought that exception errors that started to be encountered when using TLLFC() related to adding QRCODE() support in the prior (release 16) version, but in fact, it related to memory management issues in Windows 10 and now 11 (which reenabling FASTMM4 seems to resolve).

See the "Addsum Premier 7i features" under the topic "What's new in TAS Premier 7i" in the help files for more information as to all of the updates provided in this release.

Future releases of Advanced Accounting 8 (and 9) will use this newer 7ix runtime.

TAS Premier updates

TAS Premier 7ix download (new installs)

MS Server 2012 and 2012 R2 nearing end of life

2023-05-17T11:51:00.002-06:00

Inasmuch Microsoft Server 2012 and 2012 R2 will no longer be supported after October 10, 2023 (no more security updates being the primary concern), users are starting to plan migrations to Server 2019 or Server 2022. These migrations will not require any program updates from us (for Advanced Accounting, for example) but users that are running the Actian Pervasive (PSQL) 11.3 (SP3) release on those systems may have to upgrade to a newer version.

Goldstar Software, who specializes in providing Pervasive (and later referred to as Actian Pervasive and now as Actian Zen) software has recently published some very helpful charts that includes officially supported engines on various operating systems:

https://www.goldstarsoftware.com/version-quick-reference-chart.asp

See the second chart with the subtitle, "Supported Operating Systems by Actian Zen/PSQL Product Versions."

So while v11.3 might work on say 2019 Server, only v13 (and v14 and v15) are officially supported. And for Server 2022, only v15 supports that operating system.

When upgrading to v15, there are some discounts (at least for a while) are available for users of older versions. See:

https://www.goldstarsoftware.com/prices15.asp

and scroll down to "Actian Zen v15 Enterprise Server Upgrades From PSQL v13 or Older (WHILE SUPPLIES LAST)."

Because of their technical expertise and the fact that they focus solely on "Btrieve" products, we do recommend that users obtain pre-sale information and product updates from Goldstar.

When migrating to a different server without purchasing an upgrade and with the intention of using the existing license on the newer server, the older installation has to be deauthorized.

For testing and for use in some migration situations, a 30-day v15 trial version is available.

New federal W-2 and 1099 e-file threshold drops to 10 forms

2023-03-07T12:58:00.004-07:00

On February 23, 2023, new requirements went into effect for calendar years beginning after 2023 that mandate electronic filing of certain employment returns from the current 250 threshold down to just 10 forms, which involves an aggregate count of all W-2 and 1099 forms to be filed in a given future calendar year.

The Federal Register publication can be found here:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/02/23/2023-03710/electronic-filing-requirements-for-specified-returns-and-other-documents

While the old rules apply for 2023, we would recommend that employers begin the transition to file their returns electronically in 2023 if they have not been already doing so.

E-filing options are already available for W-2/W-3 forms as well as for 1099-NEC in the latest releases of Advanced Accounting. For other 1099 forms, the IRS is making a portal available to file those forms (which can include form 1099-NEC as well) which will be available for filing 2023 forms:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-opens-free-portal-to-file-information-returns-new-electronic-option-can-reduce-millions-of-paper-forms-1099-estimated-to-be-filed-by-businesses-in-2023

This change does not impact 941 and 940 filings although those can come into play in determining whether corporate tax returns (form 1120) have to be filed electronically.

This change has been anticipated for quite some time and in part consistent with changes states have been making for many years. There are many advantages to filing in this manner and while it will be a change for some users, in the long run, it will be advantageous not just for the government administration but for business efficiency as well.

More information from our e-filing interface partner:

https://www.nelcosolutions.com/e-file-threshold-sd/

E-file 1099-NEC forms from Advanced Accounting

2023-01-27T16:41:00.008-07:00

The IRS due date for form 1099-NEC (introduced in 2020 replacing what used to be handled by form 1099-MISC) is January 31 (unlike form 1099-MISC which has different deadlines). The form is used to report nonemployee (such as an independent contractor) payments of $600 or more. These forms can now be e-filed from Advanced Accounting.

This form can also be used to report direct sales totaling $5,000 or more of consumer products for resale anywhere other than in a permanent retail establishment. Instead, that can be "reported" informally by providing the recipient a letter with that information along with commissions, prizes, etc. Or 1099-MISC can be used to report direct sales as well.

Historically the requirement to file electronically at the federal level has been 250 returns (forms), but proposals are pending to reduce that number.

Many states have their own requirements for reporting nonemployee income paid to residents of a given state.

States with 1099-NEC requirements

The nine states that have no state income tax do not, of course, have a 1099-NEC requirement:

Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming

Two additional states also have no 1099-NEC requirement:

Illinois and New York

As a general rule, if you withhold any state taxes from an NEC-type payment, filing in that state is required. Many states only require a 1099-NEC state equivalent filing if there was state withholding on the NEC payment.

These states include:

Arizona

Arkansas (or if the payment exceeds $2,500)

Colorado

Georgia

Idaho

Indiana

Iowa

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maryland

Minnesota

Mississippi

Nebraska

North Carolina

Ohio

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Utah

Virginia

West Virginia

States that generally require 1099-NEC filings whether or not any state withholding was involved are listed below. Normally the rule also is that only residents of the state providing service in that state require a state 1099-NEC equivalent, however, there are exceptions:

Alabama - has a later deadline if there was no state income tax withheld

Delaware

California - but not required unless the state income amount is different than the federal amount

Connecticut - must file electronically if 25 or more forms

D.C. - must file electronically if 25 or more forms

Hawaii

Kansas - electronic filing is required for 51 or more forms

Oklahoma - requires a filing if the payment is greater than $750

Maine

Massachusetts

Missouri - if over $1200, unless reported elsewhere

Michigan

Montana

New Jersey - if over $1000 or state withholding; electronic filing is mandatory

North Dakota - must be filed electronically if more than 10 forms.

Oklahoma - over $750 or state withholding

Oregon - electronic filing is required if more than 10 forms

Pennsylvania

Vermont - electronic filing if more than 25 forms; forms issued to nonresidents providing services in Vermont have to be reported

Wisconsin - must be issued to nonresidents as well as residents providing services in the state

NOTE: The above information is in flux so please check with your local state agency or tax practitioner to get the latest information

Advanced Accounting 1099 form history

The first Advanced Accounting (Adv) program to produce 1099 forms was completed by Business Tools in September 1992 and released as part of the Adv 4.0 series.

We first started to make programming changes to that option in December of 1994 to provide a "magnetic media option" for a customer in North Dakota that needed it, working also initially in Adv 4.03 (TAS 4.0) which not long thereafter was migrated to Adv 5.0 (TAS 5.0) during the first half of 1995. We converted the program to version 5.0 in Dec. of 1996 and then to Adv version 5.1 (TAS 5.1) in 1997, along the way making changes for ever-changing IRS requirements as well to improve the functionality of the program such as adding a "review" option in 1998 and adding support for the 1096 transmittal in 2006 along with annual reviews and updates.

More recently, in 2020 we updated the program for the 1099-NEC change and in 2021 to print those to three, rather than two, per page.

2023 latest changes

The magnetic media option that we first added in 1994 had long since fallen into disuse. But we have now implemented an interface with our e-filing partner (Nelco Solutions) that provides the ability to file electronically not only federally but also in any state. In the course of doing that, we have added support for:

Direct sales indicator

Federal (backup) withholding:

Multiple state income, state codes, tax ID's, and withholding amounts

Account number for the vendor if missing (since this is a required element)

Numerous other new features have been incorporated.

These new options are available via an "adjust" option that provides for on-the-fly entry that has been considerably enhanced.

The 1099-NEC adjust/change screen

When completed, the import file is uploaded to the same branded site that is used for e-filing W-2 forms (and the W-3 transmittal) and to accomplish state filings as well.

This option can be provided now to existing Adv 8 (and 9) users for 2022 e-filings and will be incorporated into the next update releases.

Why file electronically if it isn't required?

Filing electronically reduces the time and hassle associated with manually preparing these returns. It more securely provides the information to agencies without having to put confidential taxpayer identification numbers in the mail, and the information is more quickly and accurately processed.

Further, it obviates the need to purchase any forms. While you still have to mail the recipient a copy (printed from a provided PDF that is generated as a result of the e-filing), that is a service that can be performed by our e-filing partner. As a result, the minimal per employee filing cost is reduced even more.

So even for users with just a few 1099-NECs, there are many reasons to file electronically even if not required. In short, it saves time and frustration.

Adv 8 r11 includes 2023 payroll updates

2023-01-08T00:35:00.008-07:00

Advanced Accounting 8 r11 is now available and includes 2023 payroll updates.

Payroll:

In addition to the usual federal changes and new OASDI maximum, over 60% of states that have state withholding taxes have made changes to their rates or withholding logic.

States with changes that have been updated within the latest versions of Advanced Accounting as well as retested include:

Alabama

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Georgia

Indiana

Lousiana

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

New Mexico

Oklahoma

Oregon

Utah

Virginia

Some of the changes only involve withholding rate table changes (New Mexico). Some solely relate to allowance increases (Alabama).

Some of the changes that needed to be made go back to 2022 (Arkansas made changes effective October 1, 2022; Louisiana made changes effective January 1, 2022, that may have not been published until much later).

Other are much more involved including the many states that have relatively complex formulas.

In retesting these states, we have also added new logic to the "calculation" option contained with the PR-B Enter Pay Info option.

In re-reviewing the withholding instructions for each of these states, some major logical changes had to be made (such as for California and to accommodate Arkansas's unusual negative adjustments included in their tax tables).

Some of the changes still relate to the fallout caused by the 2020 federal government W-4 changes. While the new federal form no longer uses the longstanding withholding allowances that we were all used to up until that time, many states still do (calling them dependent allowances in some cases) as well as in some states also providing for "personal allowances" or in the case of California additional "estimated deduction" allowances that have different rates associated with them. It seems as though some states are still grappling with the 2020 federal changes which have in turn caused a lot of confusion for seemingly little gain and have imposed yet more burden on businesses and taxpayers in general.

While employers are required to implement these changes as soon as practical, the overall effect is often small despite the effort it takes to maintain and update them. As we reviewed 2023 test cases and in our testing in general, it seemed on balance that federal changes resulted in slightly lower withholding amounts, and that states tended to make changes that also reduced their withholding, which seemed somewhat surprising given rising costs in 2022.

We also noted that in several states, the highest brackets were changed to a lower percentage than in the prior year and that changes to those highest brackets in some cases made little intuitive sense.

Some new hints have been added in PR-A Enter/Change Employees for Colorado, California, and Arizona. Arizona is another unique state where the employees elect one of seven percentages unless claiming to be exempt, which is applied to taxable wages for its state withholding. In Colorado (going back to January of 2022 when first effective), the number of jobs needs to be entered in the state allowances field. In Arizona, the percentage multiplied by 10 needs to be entered under state allowances. In California, the number of additional allowances from estimated deductions needs to be separated and placed in the SSEx field rather than in the state allowances field. In some states, dependency credits are entered in the SSEx field. County taxes for Indiana continue to be handled as in the past but those rates have changed for 2023.

There are indications of 2023 changes in other states other than those we have specifically reviewed thus far (including Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, and Washington DC). We will review and provide updates as time allows and based on our users processing payroll in those states, but we did not wait any longer to put out these other updates that have now been completed.

Payroll related programs changed:

PR-B Enter Pay Info as indicated above and see below

PR-D Print payroll checks - first day next pay period issue when batch posting

PR-G Print W2s and W2 History has been enhanced to remember settings previously used when submitting an e-file. Also when e-filing, an employee control number which consists of the year and employee number is now included for reference. Note: the e-filing portal is open, we qualified for the required annual testing toward the end of last year, and we have already made one e-filing for 2022.

PR-K Maintain tax tables option has been updated for federal and state rate changes along with the corresponding extensive changes to PR-B

SY-D Enter/Chg PR/GL interface ensures that the new OASDI max is validated when updating or adding a payroll division.

Non-payroll updates:

Adv 8 r11 includes a variety of non-payroll program updates made in November and December of last year:

SY-K-C When changing many product codes from an import file, a new clone option has been added for special situations. So when using this option the existing code is left intact.

AP-I Print Vendor General Info has been modernized and a new tab-delimited export feature added.

AR-I-A (Customer reports) Sales by Month now includes the option (as elsewhere) to use the salesperson when the invoiced was posted, which is the default, or as currently assigned when limiting to a salesperson.

IC-C-C (Product Sales/Purch Info) Top Products Sold Analysis also has the option to use the salesperson when the invoice was posted (the default) or as currently assigned when limited by a salesperson.

SO-G Post invoices now updates billings for jobs based on the invoice subtotal rather than the total that might include tax or freight (applies only to job costing)

AR-R-D Unapplied credits Report: the total of the unapplied credits generated by the report is now included.

AR-B Enter/Change Vouchers: the check fiscal function was still being limited to five years past instead of six years past as everywhere else

AP-M Enter Recurring (AP) Vouchers - building on rel. 10 enhancements and because the mouse/cursor position can inadvertently default to a different menu option than previously selected when editing a voucher in this legacy program, this option now asks whether the voucher type needs to be changed when editing an existing recurring voucher.

AP-N Generate Recurring (AP) Vouchers - building on rel. 10 enhancements, the ability to override the invoice description and invoice # (which in the past has been internally assigned by the software) in manual check/ACH situations has been added, along with a new option to limit the generation to a single vendor code (which can be used instead of or in combination with the selection code range).

For more details or to schedule an update, contact us at support@addsuminc.com or call 800-648-6258.

Advanced Accounting 8 release 10

2022-10-26T20:47:00.000-06:00

Since the Advanced Accounting 8 r9 release, the following updates have been made to the system:

AR-C - Record Payments/Credits

Maximum number of invoices per payment session updated (was not recognizing that value set in SY-A-B)

In a negative payment situation, the amount remaining could be set to zero when not applied to anything and depending on which type option was chosen and the sequence edits.

Export paths

Based on our observations of users struggling with where to place export files and since the usual preference is the user's desktop, the default path for export files has been changed in numerous options including:

AR-F - Print Aging

AR-H - Print Cust General Info

GL-E-C - GL Account Summary View with Drill Down

GL-Q - Export GL Transactions

IC-I - Print Price Matrix

UT-J - Export

UT-J-B - Inventory values export (analysis and web suboptions)

UT-J-C - Export customer e-mail address

AP-D - Pick Vouch/Inv to Pay

Prevent user from pressing the up arrow beyond the first field entry on the E-transfer screen

AP-M - Enter Recurring Vouchers

Clarify option C and new option O added:

C - Manual Check (or ACH/Paypal/etc.)

O - A/P Voucher Other Vendor is Payee

AP-M: revised option C

AP-M: new option O

AP-M new screen related to new option O

AP-N - Generate Recurring Vouchers

Adding the Recurring AP vouchers report that already existed in AP-M to this option

New enter check/payment screen for option C (manual check/ACH/other) type recurring vouchers. When choosing the bank account, it now defaults to the account set in AP-M. After entering the check/reference number additional validation. It also no longer defaults to the next check number associated with the checking/bank account number (set in AP-M), nor does it update the next check number field.

Other vendor is payee logic corresponding to option O in AP-M implemented.

AP-N screen when entering a recurring payment (type C in AP-M)

SO-A Enter/Change Sales Orders

Past due logic changes for cash accounts when the SY-A-B "S/O Past Due Acct Notify" option is selected.

SY-M Credit Card Setup

New option to disable pre-authorization processing in SO-A (for users of the integrated credit card interface)

E-mail

Attachment path setting issue in the event user had specific a fully qualified path for attachments resolved.

Encrypted e-mail

Spaces in passwords as well as in other options are now being handled appropriately

Customer/vendor/inventory lookups (AR, AP, IC, PO modules):

The hide/unhide inactive items when looking up inventory items was not working as intended (resolved).

Customer/product queries set focus back to the grid, and resolved problem of clearing the query when the "hide" option was in effect for customers or products.

Global file lookup (under File) now follows the same setting for hiding or unhiding inventory items as in the standard inventory lookups (previously it was also set to hide inactive items)

SO-I - Recurring S/O Entry

Show the date last generated and clarify that the order date is the start date. Cosmetic screen changes plus add the customer order number field. Report updated to include last generation date

SO-J - Generate Recurring S/O

This option is now recording the date last generated (which is now shown in SO-I on screen and on the expiring SO report).

PR-D - Print Payroll Checks

Additional checking for potentially duplicate check numbers.

POS-H - Post cash out transactions

AP vouchers were still being created with the old logic in terms of saving the GL distributions associated with the vouchers.

UT-G - Addsum utilities

Accounts receivable section:

Unpost AR payment - extensive additions to handle undoing payments with discounts, and adding warning if the payment being reversed involves cash terms and the related invoice has been unposted (since if it has, the payment has already been reversed and does not need to unposted).

Adding two additional utilities one of which cross-checks payroll master values with payroll history (under new Payroll section), and another used in special support circumstances to restore missing line items under Sales Invoices.

General ledger section:

Balance AP and AR to detail option updated for type "C" (Credits) logic relating to respect to AP aging

Help file formats have been updated.

Abbreviation Legend

AR= Accounts receivable

IC= Inventory control

SO= Sales order

POS=Point of sale

PR = Payroll

SY = System maintenance

UT = Utilities

Splwow64.exe bad image error when printing

2022-10-14T23:41:00.019-06:00

A long-time Advanced Accounting 7i user today experienced the following Windows error message when trying to print (immediately after a Windows 10 update):

This error message was triggered when trying to print any report (including sometimes when generating a report screen preview before trying to even output the report to a printer). This error causes the application to halt, forcing use of the task manager to end the running instance.

Prior to the Windows update (which caused a forced reboot), the user was printing to the same printer without error. The user reported having to update his Epson print drivers as well, as part of the Windows update.

The same error occurred when trying to print text out of Notepad, i.e. it was not specific to the accounting software application.

This is not a Windows error message that we have previously encountered, but apparently is one that has been around since the 64-bit versions of Windows 7 through to the present. As outlined here by Microsoft with respect to 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Window Server 2008 R2:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/splwow64-exe-process-doesn-t-end-after-a-print-job-finishes-in-the-64-bit-version-of-windows-7-or-windows-server-2008-r2-c6a0c299-66d2-7d8c-0877-6ced0836269b

Splwow64.exe is "used to translate the [print] driver model of a 64-bit operating system and a 32-bit program."

The cause of the error as earlier reported by Microsoft was that splwow64.exe was staying in memory longer to increase system performance after the print job had finished. But that was not the case here. The user had rebooted his PC more than once, yet the error persisted. It was not a case of splwow64.exe remaining in memory after a print job.

Checking the user's installed printers, we noted that a second identical printer referencing the same Epson model was present (but oddly named, as if installed by something automatically). The user had not noticed it before. We switched the default printer to this other/duplicate installed printer driver, and everything started to work again. It was as if the update had corrupted the drivers of the printer that was previously the default.

There are various potential solutions to fix this problem should it arise in your environment. The first one to try (and even though we did not use it, nor were we aware of it until today) is to determine whether the Windows 10 (or 11) printer/printing troubleshooter will fix the problem. Press the Windows key + R to open the Run box and type:

ms-settings:troubleshoot

and click on OK. Then click on Printer, and run the troubleshooter. Select your printer from the list, and wait for the scan to complete. If it shows up after the scan, click on "Apply this Fix" and then restart your PC.

If that doesn't fix the problem, there are other possible solutions including updating the printer driver or uninstalling/reinstalling the printer driver; rolling back the last update may be another temporary solution. If the message pops up after a print job (which wasn't the case in this situation), restarting the print spooler under Services and/or adding a registry key for the splwow64.exe timeout value may help eliminate the error.

The error message received today by our customer included the unfortunate (and highly confusing) instruction to "install the program again" yet this issue had nothing to do with the accounting software program nor its internal report designer. Never attempt to reinstall or restore our software without contacting us first.

Advanced Accounting 8 release 9

2022-06-21T17:34:00.008-06:00

We are pleased to announce the availability of release 9 in the Advanced Accounting 8 series as we continue to develop, support, and enhance programs included in this software package. In addition, we have recently updated and enhanced its signature capture capabilities.

Some of the updates include (see legend at end):

AR-E statements: resolved issue involving batches when using non-encrypted settings and adding troubleshooting information in the send e-mail program for non-encrypted e-mail.

AR-J Print customer labels: resolved issue when specifying dollar thresholds

Consistent handling of type "C" vendor credits in AP-B, AP-D and in the Addsum synch customer/vendor transactions utility

New IC-B-B customer special prices report option. (Print price list is now IC-B-A.)

IC-J global price changes - add support for also changing special prices plus record locking improvements

PO-B print PO's - when saving preferences, the preview option wasn't being set if changed, resolved

Multiple PO prepayment handling in AP-B and PO-D (which now can handle multiple prepayments per a single invoice received in PO-D) improved

POS-J configuration: clerk list wasn't refreshing when new clerk added; resolved

PR-D payroll check posting has an additional validation to prevent duplicate check numbers from being processed

Direct deposit (PR module) enhancements (standard support included in the program but requires some special setup); e-mail notification program updated

SO-A improving price matrix decimal precision regardless of end user settings (same issue addressed in IC-A)

SO-F/N print invoice - multiple copies (with different invoice header verbiage that is user defined) and also e-mailing at the same time is now possible

SO-F/N print/reprint nvoices - new option to show tax rate

SO-I recurring SO entry - adding support for a recurring order generated every 3 months (SO-J not required to be updated to support this change )

The help file formats have all been updated (PDF version is now 614 pages long).

Legend for module abbreviations above:

AR = Accounts receivable

IC = Inventory control

SO = Sales order

PO = Purchase order

POS = Point-of-sale

PR = payroll

In addition, and building on some past work incorporating signature capture in the POS module, we have integrated this option into the SO module (not as a standard feature inasmuch as it requires a separate hardware purchase plus both our software and software from the manufacturer of the device).

Topaz T-LBK462-HSB-R and our interface via the SO module of Advanced Accounting

Signatures are associated with invoice numbers and can be retrieved via SO-N invoice reprints.

Adv 8 year end updates and introducing Adv 9

2021-12-31T18:10:00.002-07:00

In our August 2021 blog post, we mentioned proposed IRS regulations that would lower e-filing requirements for W-2/W-3 forms and a possible aggregate approach involving other forms including 1099-NEC. Those proposed changes have not been finalized, and so the pre-existing rules still apply for 2021. Nonetheless, the writing is on the wall as to a continued reduction in e-filing thresholds coupled with the fact that many states have very low minimum requirements making it more convenient to simply file W-2/W-3 forms electronically at both the federal and state (where required) levels. Submission in this manner is generally more secure and it also allows your employees to potentially file their personal returns quicker.

Meanwhile we have remained very busy updating both the Advanced Accounting 8 version (and now 9 - see below) as well as with custom programming work.

By August we had completed Adv 8 releases 6 and 7 (almost none of which related to payroll issues). Rel. 6 included further enhancements to customer product cross-references first introduced in release 5 (at the end of 2020) and many other system-wide changes. Release 7 included the integrated report designer and some 20+ report layouts that end users are able to directly modify (via a new Utilities option R, i.e. UT-R). In Adv 8 release 8 that has just been completed, we have provided the changes for the new 3-part 1099-NEC as mentioned in the earlier blog but also a new load sheet option from both the sales orders and point-of-sale modules, a new remittance option when making e-payments from the pick to pay program (AP-D), and more. Plus, Adv 8 rel. 8 (released today) includes the federal tax table update for 2022. As state changes are announced and as we go through the states that make 2022 changes, further updates will be made in the next release which will be made available on an advance basis for anyone that needs them and that has Adv 8 r8 (or Adv 9 r1) installed. We have fairly extensively tested those rate changes and for most people, they will result in at least slightly lower federal withholding, although the potential number of combinations for any given employee has become fairly complex as a result of the January 2020 federal changes. We have also completed the required W-2 e-filing testing, and the Addsum-Nelco portal will be available for federal and state e-filings as of January 10, 2022.

In addition and as also indicated in an earlier blog, we have expanded employee "other deductions" (UOD) that allow for either pre- or post-tax options from six to nine, which overall increases the number of available employee deductions from eight to eleven per employee overall. This change ended up being so significant to the payroll module affecting almost every option (over 26 individual program changes plus a new data file and four restructured data files and seven report layout modifications) and because most Adv 8 users are happy with the current number of deductions or may not use the payroll module, that we decided to preliminarily make the expanded payroll deduction the starting point for Advanced Accounting 9. Eventually we plan to move all users to the Adv 9 version, but for now we will continue to develop both versions simultaneously so that they will have have the same overall features and since the payroll changes can be fairly well isolated, and because both versions are otherwise highly compatible.

We look forward to working with our new and long-term customers in the new year as we all continue to do the best we can under less than ideal circumstances.

Year end expected 2021 changes (and planned AP/PR module enhancements)

2021-08-31T15:51:00.006-06:00

In IRS regulations proposed on July 23, 2021 (see Federal Register publication), e-filing thresholds for W-2 filings have been recommended to be reduced from the longstanding 250 count down to 100 effective this year (i.e. early 2022 filing for 2021). For 2022 (filings in early 2023), the threshold is proposed to decrease to 10.

There is currently a comment period to the proposed changes that will end on September 21 and it is expected that thereafter, this change will be implemented in final regulations.

Many states have already had requirements of much less than 100 state income tax forms and some are already at 10 (plus a few that require e-filings only). It makes sense to finally streamline some of these requirements so that the federal threshold is at a similar lower level and that should provide for much more efficient processing.

In determining the 100 (and soon 10) thresholds, note that the proposed regulations now for the first time requires that you aggregate ALL of certain forms you will be filing (1042-S, 1094 series, 1095-B, 1095-C, 1098, 1098-E, 1098-T, 1099 series, 5498 series, 8027, W-2G, W-2, 499R-2/W-2PR, W-2VI, W-2GU, W-2AS, 1098-C, 1098-Q, 3921, 3922, 1097-BTC) in determining whether the threshold has been met, with possible fines for non-compliance.

So for most accounting software users, the forms that will factor into the threshold determination is the combination of 1099-NEC and W-2 forms. These forms are often prepared by different departments or individuals within the same organization. Form 1099-NEC are for non-employees (which last year replaced prior 1099-MISC reporting), i.e. your service type vendors or similar outside consultants and the like. You do not issue a 1099-NEC to an employee. Accounts payable transactions are often handled by a different person than the staff member handling payroll within a given organization. There will have to be communication between these staff or between different departments to see if the threshold is met, especially this year, rather than considering them as separate, standalone filings. As the threshold then drops in the future, companies should just plan on e-filing going forward even if their state doesn't have an e-filing requirement because it is faster and easier than ever, and because it may offer greater security, and because if you are in a state that does require filings, chances are that you may need to e-file to meet those requirements anyway.

The 2021 1099-NEC form has also changed to a 3 parts per page form rather than a 2-up form. For those still planning on printing these in 2021, we will be accordingly updating the "Print 1099 Forms" program in Advanced Accounting. These forms will be available from our forms supplier (Dynamic Systems, 800-782-2946) who also supplies compatible Advanced Accounting check and other forms.

We already have had a solution for the past several years with respect to the e-filing of W-2 and related forms (both for IRS and for all states that require them). We are looking at adding 941 and 1099-NEC e-filings as well, through a common interface involving the same integration partner and through a similar web site interface.

In addition we are planning on expanding the number of employee deductions in the payroll (PR) module from the current limit of eight (six of those global as established in the enter/change payroll GL interface, i.e. SY-D) to eleven (nine global).

Windows 11 is coming: what you need to know

2021-07-17T18:27:00.015-06:00

As announced in late June, Windows 11 is expected to be released later this year (possibly as early as October, 2021) .

Meanwhile, Windows 10 support is scheduled to end in October of 2025 (which has always been the planned life cycle end date by Microsoft for Windows 10).

The interface is similar to Windows 10 involving a mashup of Chrome OS and Mac OS in appearance.

The important thing about this update however is not aesthetics nor new "app" options but rather a significant shift in how security is handled, i.e. hardware enforced security. But that's where currently there are questions in what will be supported and whether your current PC may be able to update to this newer operating system. (Updates from Windows 10 to Windows 11 on compatible PC's are expected to be free.)

General requirements are outlined as follows:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-11-specifications.

The critical consideration is what type of chip is installed in your computer. The new hardware enforced security relies on trusted platform modules (TPM). New PC's purchased since 2016 should have some TPM version included. However Windows 11 may require a high level of TPM that has only been included with even more recently purchased new PC's. In essence, Intel's 8th generation processors that didn't start to be generally be available until late in 2017 may represent the minimum for upgradeable PC's (although that could change by the time Windows 11 is released).

Supported processors are outlined here:

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/design/minimum/supported/windows-11-supported-intel-processors

So for example, if you acquired a Surface Pro in 2017, it most likely has a 7th generation chip that won't be compatible.

PC's however with generation 6, 7 or 8 processors running Windows 10 may nonethless be able to take advantage of the new security features as along as they have been fully updated to the October 2020 Windows 10 update. On those devices, you simply need to turn device security on in the BIOS, and you will have the same enhanced hardware security features offered by Windows 11, and so you won't have to worry about Windows 11 compatibility (until October 2025 when Windows 10 support ends) even if it has an older CPU.

For PC's with even older processors running Windows 10, add-on chips for desktop PC's may be available to support the hardware enforced security.

Your new PC purchases going forward should involve the latest generation of CPU processors to ensure potential compatibility with Windows 11 (and also until the dust settles as to what exactly will and won't be supported).

Note that Windows 11 only supports 64-bit processors. If you are running a PC with a 32-bit processor (as some of our users are to support legacy applications), you will not be able to upgrade your current PC to Windows 11. Note also however that 32-bit applications are all still expected to run under Windows 11 exactly as they have been running under Windows 10 with 64-bit processors (by far the most common configuration). Accordingly we are not expecting any problems with TAS Professional 6, TAS Professional 7, TAS Premier 7i nor the recently released 7ix runtime systems, including applications based on those versions (Advanced Accounting 6, 7i and 8 for example) to have any problems migrating ultimately to Windows 11. Our preference however is always to wait until the first major update of any new operating system before planning a migration to that new version.

TAS Premier 7ix release 16 published

2021-07-10T19:00:00.016-06:00

We are pleased to announce the next release in the TAS Premier 7i series.

This release perhaps could have been referenced as TAS Premier "8" but that would have led to changes in executable names, documentation files, etc. and so for simplicity and to make it easier for users to update to this next release, we decided to retain the existing executable names, icons, help files, etc. referring to this instead as release 16 in the TAS Premier 7i series. In light of some of the significant features relating to exporting data and other enhancements, however, we are also now referring to development system as the TAS Premier 7ix version.

Releases 14 and 15 both came out in 2019. Not long after the October 31, 2019 publication of release 15, we added support for QR codes, first in a private/custom standalone executable where it was needed but then we added it to the development system/runtime environment and since then we have continued to make changes and updates to the system that are finally now being released.

The new QRCODE() function can create images (which can then be picked up on the fly in reports, for example, as with any image file). QR code technology was first developed in 1994 but widespread use came much later. We first looked at generating them in 2012 but did not have anyone expressing a need for them; that did not happen until late in 2019. Because of how much information that can be stored in a QR code compared to say a conventional bar code, they seemingly could be used in many inventory type applications.

A QR code PNG image with 13 characters (byte size: 204) generated by the 7ix version

There are different versions of QR codes. The most standard type, Module or Version 2, is what we are supporting starting with the TAS Premier 7ix release 16. The amount of information that can be included depends on the type of characters (string vs. numeric) and also based on the margin and pixel size of the generated image. While some sources indicate that they can hold up to roughly 4,000 characters of text, or about 7,000 numeric characters, in our tests we were able to generate a maximum size of 2,930 characters using a margin size of 4 with a pixel size of 75. Readability of the code and the intended distance from which it may be read are other factors to consider in the design of a QR code. If the code will be read by a smart phone, the code should be limited to fewer overall characters (under 300). For smart phone readability, they should not be smaller than 1" x 1" and equal to at least 1/10th the desired scanning distance.

A QR code PNG image with 2,930 characters (byte size: 6,259) generated by the 7ix version

More recently we have added export features such as EXPORTGRID() that exports current visible rows of the TTASDataGrid object (a string grid descendant) into a great number of other file types including XLSX. This feature has been added to the Maintain Database and Maintain Data DIctionary options as well.

Two new utilities include an option that can Read XLS or XLSX files into a string grid that also includes a number of output options similar to EXPORTGRID() as well as a utility option that can load a delimited text file into a string grid and that also has the same export output capabilities. These utilities can be used in runtime environments even though they are not currently embedded into the runtime engine. The Read XLS/XLSX option can even be used to automatically convert and XLS files to the XLSX format without end user interaction. We intend to add more options like these in future releases. We have also been using custom modified versions of these tools to meet specific customer requests.

Some 14 pages of additional documentation have been added (the PDF version of the help file is now up to 794 pages) in connection with both new and existing capabilities of the development system. The report designer now has a separate end user document tied to it which can be substituted with a similarly named PDF allowing it to be branded/customized for use with a specific runtime system. The provided PDF however contains information that may help end users in making with aesthetic changes to reports and/or may be of interest to developers, and is in addition to the normal help files provided with the development system.

See the "Addsum Premier 7i features" under the topic "What's new in TAS Premier 7i" in the help files for more information as to all of the updates provided in this release.

Future releases of Advanced Accounting 8 will use the 7ix runtime.

TAS Premier updates

TAS Premier 7ix download (new installs)

Advanced Accounting 8 r5 release

2021-01-01T19:24:00.007-07:00

Release 5 in the Advanced Accounting 8 series is now available which includes recently announced 2021 federal withholding and other payroll module changes. Advanced Accounting 8 was originally released in September of 2019.

While new releases in the Advanced Accounting series have typically not coincided with calendar year payroll changes, it just worked out that way this time.

Some of the new features included in Adv 8 r5:

Sales order/quotes/inventory control/point-of-sale:

Special customer parts (price and customer part number) feature added to programs in five different modules:

AR-A (accounts receivable maintenance), IC-A (inventory maintenance), QC-A (quote entry), SO-A (sales order entry) and SO-I (recurring sales order), and POS-A (run POS register).

In AR-A and IC-A, there are new options for special customer pricing and customer part codes (see option "U" under the Customer options button in AR-A and the Inventory options button in IC-A. Pricing logic as implemented in those options are then used in sales order entry, quotes, recurring sales orders and point-of-sale.

The purpose of these options are two-fold: (1) despite the many existing pricing options that exist, provide a way to provide special customer pricing that is unique to that customer; and (2) provide a cross-reference to customer part codes.

Enter/change customer part codes - Adv8 r5

While input on the same screen, the customer part code facility can be used without providing any special price to the customer (or vice versa): just leave the price and discount fields as zero.

An effective date and expiration date related to the special pricing can also be optionally used but those two dates can also be unassigned so that the pricing remains in effect until changed in this option.

Special customer prices (and a special discount can also be used) take precedence over any other pricing for a given product code relating to a specific customer.

The customer's part code can be looked up in either AR-A or IC-A under the "U" option. A customer's special parts pricing can also be printed under that option in AR-A.

Customer part code list and lookup - Adv8 r5

General ledger:

GL-E-A - in the re-designed print detailed trial balance option, there was an issue with balance forwards on systems with non-calendar dates which has been resolved; progress bar enhancements added.

GL-K Bank reconciliation - if users attempt re-finalize a bank statement, the prior saved PDF version will not be overwritten and will be append by adding a, b, c, etc. at the end of the file name.

Bills of material:

BM-A enhancement to display/find components lacking an internal line number (mainly an issue with older systems that update to the newer versions)

Accounts payable:

AP-A - new electronic funds transfer (EFT) default flag; related changes to AP-D to default a vendor that is flagged as EFT to be paid electronically and warning in AP-F (print checks) if a check is attempted to be processed for an EFT flagged vendor

Payroll:

PR-G and SY-D changes for the new FICA max default and payroll tax table and related updates.

Existing Advanced Accounting 8 users should simply get in touch with us to arrange to have this update installed.

Payroll tax withholding for 2021

2020-12-28T15:53:00.002-07:00

Federal withholding tax changes for 2021:

The IRS released tax tables for 2021 on December 8, 2020 (Publication 15-T). Compared to the changes implemented in January of 2020 (see 2020 federal payroll changes create confusion), the 2021 changes will be easier to implement since they build on the changes made last year. There is also an updated W-4 form for 2021 which appears to be exactly the same as its 2020 counterpart.

As of today and for businesses that have already processed their last paychecks for 2020, updated tax tables are available for Advanced Accounting 8 which includes our normal annual payroll update which checks all payroll divisions for the latest social security limit maximum, which for 2021 has increased from $137,700 to $142,800 (see the SSA's COLA information page).

Versions prior to Advanced Accounting 8 are not compliant with the latest federal withholding logic for the reasons indicated in our February 2020 blog.

All of the federal ("US") tax codes have been updated including the new codes added last year i.e.:

Legacy tax codes (employees still using a pre-2020 W-4 form): USS, USM and USH.

New tax codes (2020 or 2021 W-4 form): UST, USN and USI.

We have tested all of these codes with the updated tax table, and they appear to all be working as expected.

Note that while employees are not required to submit new W-4 forms each year, if an employee wants to make any changes to their withholding or is first hired on/after January 1, 2020, they must use the newer W-4 form.

State withholding tax changes:

We also anticipate logic and/or table changes for at least 14 states. So far we have already made updates for California, Michigan, Oregon and South Carolina with more to follow.

No W-3/W-2 form changes:

There are no required W-3/W-2 form changes for 2020. W-3/W-2 forms can be obtained from any number of suppliers including the official forms supplier for Advanced Accounting, Dynamic Systems. (Dynamic Systems also can provide the new form 1099-NEC and updated 1096 transmittal that replaces 1099-MISC handling for non-employee compensation. We released an update for printing to that form in late March of this year as a part of Advanced Accounting 8 r3.)

E-filing for 2020 is now also available:

We have re-tested and been approved by our e-filing partner to begin processing forms through our portal for federal/state e-filing of W-3/W-2 forms for 2020. Filings can be initiated as early as this week if you have processed your final paychecks for 2020.

February 1, 2021 is the deadline to file forms W-2/W3 with the SSA:

This due date is the same for all filings, i.e. whether paper or electronic.

How to obtain payroll tax updates for Advanced Accounting 8

Please contact us via support@addsuminc.com or https://www.addsuminc.com or call 1-800-648-6258.

TLS protocol changes can cause encrypted e-mail to fail

2020-11-30T17:37:00.008-07:00

Advanced Accounting has supported encrypted e-mail since February of 2014 (background details). In the ever-changing world we live in, nothing stays the same. Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols are widely used over a wide spectrum of web communication services ranging from e-mail to web browsing to file transfer protocols (FTP) and more. Web sites with the https prefixes use these protocols, sometimes referred to as "secure" http (and similarly secure FTP for file transfer). Web socket calls used in securely communicating with web servers also utilize these transport layers. TLS is the more modern version of what was called SSL (Secure Socket Layer) which had the same goal of providing cryptographic protocols for securely connecting across computer networks. When sending e-mail, most Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) providers now require secure communications using TLS.

TLS first came out in 1999 as an upgrade to SSL. TLS 1.0 continued to be the standard for a very long time. TLS 1.1 came out in 2006 with then 1.2 (2008) and 1.3 (2018). Mail and browser providers however have continued to support TLS 1.0 (until recently).

In October of 2018, Microsoft announced that it would be ending TLS 1.0 and 1.1. support in some of their browsers. This was planned for the first half of 2020 but has since been delayed, in part. Meanwhile other providers have started to end their support of TLS 1.0 and 1.1.

In August of this year, we had a custom project that was making secure HTTP socket calls in connection with which users suddenly started to receive messages that we traced to HTTP 1.1 426 upgrade required. The components used in part to make the secure connections were the same tools we use in other projects requiring secure communications, yet this was the first report of any issue and the custom application had previously worked continuously without issues.

At first, the web server provider of the application we were communicating with indicated that they had not made any changes. Based on some posts we had seen related to the plug-in components we use to make the secure calls, however, we realized that this was happening probably due to their dropping TLS 1.0 (which they later admitted was the case). While our program settings indicated that if one layer protocol failed then proceed to try the next available layer, it turns out that the third party component was failing after a refusal of TLS 1.0 to connect, and then would simply stop trying. The solution was to change the internal handler's SSL options to start with TLS 1.1 and then continue trying from there, which did solve the problem.

Other providers have since also started to drop at least TLS version 1.0. We realized this could happen when sending e-mail within standard Advanced Accounting, so we updated our encrypted e-mail "send" program with a change similar to that made in the custom project that brought out this issue in August. That update was made available in September and included in Adv 8 rel. 4 (see our prior blog where we also described this issue). E-mail can suddenly stop working for a variety of reasons typically related to issues such as required changes to passwords, or the requirement that the sender e-mail address match the authentication logon ID which is now typically the case, and these changes are often made by providers without any advance warning. This is also the case if a mail provider suddenly drops TLS 1.0 support: encrypted e-mail will then stop working.

While we've had almost no additional reports of this issue from our users so far, and while they don't manifest themselves always in the same way in terms of an error response, earlier this month we had an Advanced Accounting 7i user suddenly experience a problem sending e-mail and it turned out to be, in part, this issue. While Advanced Accounting 7i isn't being formally updated, we were able to solve the issue for this user using the newer components that are used with Advanced Accounting 8.

More information

Advanced Accounting 8 releases 3 and 4

2020-10-31T19:36:00.032-06:00

Since its initial release in late September of 2019, there have been three additional Advanced Accounting 8 releases. Release 2 in part dealt with the rather significant payroll changes that went into effect in January of 2020, but also included all of the updates made to the software since the initial release. Release 3 was completed by mid-May of this year and several of its features were mentioned in a pre-release blog published in March. Release 4 is being officially released today, October 31, 2020.

Here are some of the new features and enhancements included in releases 3 and 4:

Support for new IRS form 1099-NEC and the revised form 1096 as previously announced (with a related update to vendor maintenance, i.e. AP option A; rel 3)
Inclusion of a report editor (new option UT-R) allowing end users to edit certain report layouts (more details below) with changes to all programs where end user report editing is now possible (rel 3)
Related in part to the above, the print AP checks program (AP-F) includes support for MICR encoded check printing with the ability to have different custom modified check formats for each company that has been established (rel 3)
Allowing more flexibility in some commonly used options to allow other programs to be topmost (rel 3)
New Salesperson Payment Detail Report (PR-I-B) which provides the details behind receipts for a given salesperson both currently assigned or when invoiced and for any desired data range including an outline of issues associated with receipt tracking (rel 3)
Dashboard and SY-A changes to allow for monitoring of inventory balances
Encrypted e-mail send enhancements (rel 3: if e-mail failed to send, wasn't providing an end user response in the Adv 8 version and then also allowing for a second attempt; rel 4: updated for newer underlying components, and also overcoming an issue whereby if an ISP stops supporting TLS 1.0 the next supported server SSL protocol is then used, otherwise a STAT DISCONNECTED could result)
Sending encrypted e-mail involving customer codes with illegal file creation characters such as a slash could create GPF's when creating the RTF file (resolved, rel 4)
Cancel button in the backup option changes to "exit" when complete (rel 3)
Zero amount checks were being printed if discounts/credits were involved in creating the zero amount (this has been the case in every prior version until now - rel 4)
Sort option H (Product code/Ship City/Order Date) under print open S/O list (SO-B) wasn't allowing access to the from/thru product code ranges as it was in the last Adv 7i releases (rel 4 - resolved)
New feature in part documented under UT-F (Global Startup Options) allowing you to use an environment variable to load a company on startup so that you can have different users startup with different companies with a single installation of the software; the software now supports four different startup methods (rel 4)
New Transfer Cust Balance option (AR-K) added and available for the first time which allows for easy transferring of invoices or credits from one customer to another (rel 4) (somewhat similar to the option to transfer vendor balances that has existed in the software for many years)
Implemented a restriction that already existed in the sales order quick report (SO-M) into the sales invoice reprint option (SO-N) option based on the security permission SY-C-C for sales orders entitled "Allow user to print reports showing other salesperson numbers?" which has also been clarified in the SY-C-C Maintain User Permissions option (rel 4)
Added the optional Emp/Slsp # associated with user logon codes in the SY-C-D Security Permissions Report (rel 4)
List salesperson issues in AR-A and SO-A resolved (rel 4)
New Open/Save/Paste Text option under Tools along the top menu bar (rel 4); while the existing "Clip" option has a somewhat similar function, this new option also allows you to directly open and save text files and also provides the ability to change the font size
In the generic export (UT-J-A), allow older style type V overlay fields to be exported; screen enhancements re: key field from/thru ranges (rel 4):
In the export option under Print Customer General Information (AR-H), add customer class (start date and last date were added in rel 2) and improve the export output (rel 4)
The full details of an AR voucher (AR-B) can now be viewed from the Customer options button and then Vouchers in Enter/Change Customers (AR-A)
All three help format files updated throughout the course of releases 3 and 4 - the PDF version now consists of 611 pages

New UT-R Report Designer option (rel 3):

No prior version of Advanced Accounting has allowed for end user modification of report layouts. Custom modifications relating to report layouts were typically provided by us or a third party developer. Prior to the Windows versions, custom formats could only be changed by also changing the source code. The ability to provide an integrated report designer option that could be used to modify report layouts in standard menu options wasn't possible until we added that capability to the underlying development system in September of 2005 (TAS Premier Rel. 1). The report designer is the same tool that is used in the development system itself. There were a number of reasons why however we still did not include it with the accounting software. One reason related to the fact that we encrypt report (and screen) layouts, and we had to come up with a solution for that (which we have). Another reason is because we had users who did not want the software to be capable of being changed from outside of the software (which it can't be without our encryption tools). Another reason related to being able to more flexibly deal with custom report layouts in a way that they would not conflict with future updates (that issue we dealt with long ago in provide custom report layout changes, but only as directly controlled by us). And more.

At the same time, users may want to on their own initiative delete non-essential language or add their own or change the way labels or other text appears on certain business essential documents. Or add include images, or make position changes, etc.

Starting with release 3, there are some 26 report formats relating to 12 different options that can be modified by end users including all of the essential types of documents that fall into the category of the most likely layout that users might want to change including sales orders, sales invoices, quotes, AR statements, point-of-sale tickets, AP checks, purchase orders and pack slips. As additional options are identified, they will be added.

Adv 8 r3's UT-R Report Designer interface

Documentation for use of this option is included in the updated help files, but we would encourage users to contact us so that we can jump on your system and provide some additional guidance.

Previously too when custom report changes were made, those changes would be in effect for all companies established in that installation yet often in multi-company situations, the desired change was really intended only for one of those companies. Further, also for the first time in standard Advanced Accounting, we support MICR encoded checks which have to be specific to one company. So not only do we rename the standard report layout to a different name (in part to resolve any chance of a future update conflict) but we also place that layout in your company's data folder where related programs using the layouts currently available for modification now look, so that any changes will only apply to that company. Previously changed layouts can be edited/updated or even deleted at any time but only by users with assigned access rights to the new UT-R option. The software remains protected from edits made from outside of the accounting program.

Depending on interest and demand, we may provide additional training materials specific to this option in the future.

Advanced Accounting updates are installed in succession and each builds on the last. So a system on release 2 would first have release 3 installed and then release 4. For standard system users and those we have modified, we install these updates remotely and at no additional charge.