Using Work-Arounds To Find Solutions

Work-arounds are solutions that are not normally achievable by accounting software without a bit of knowledge, experience and thinking outside the square. But they are possible in most cases.

I would create work-arounds on a regular basis for business owners to get what they need from their softwares.

Having worked with accounting software since 1993 I have seen a few things and had to find solutions when a solution was not obvious.

I think the most work-arounds I had to create was when I worked for a vending business (back in 1996) that repeatedly purchased bulk amounts of vending machines and the owner wanted to get reports for all sorts of variables – by product, by machine, by filler, even by who the machines were bought from. It started to become quite a matrix of information. By using the different fields within the screens and reviewing which report would give me the information which was outside of the normal use of the reports. Then we had to calculate commissions of the sales and create a RCTI for a purchase, which back then was not available in the softwares. Let alone the use of Identifiers and Custom fields etc.

I always loved the challenge of finding a workable solution with what we had.

Even just getting Inventory quantities and unit values back to the correct amounts is a mixture of inventory adjustments and journals to inch our way back to a correct starting point.

We can use the export and import functions to find solutions. Another client I used this method for wanted to replicate the sales information in one MYOB file as purchase information in another MYOB file. By creating a procedure and manipulating the information exported, tweaked it then imported it into the second file. This saved the user 5-6 hours a few times a week due to the volume of transactions. The export came out as Item invoices and the import went in as Service invoices.

So if you have a problem that needs a solution call Katrina from Accounting Software Specialists on 0414 823 862.