RSMUS.comSage Intacct users will likely be giving the latest quarterly release two thumbs up. In fact, at least one of the latest upgrades came directly from the Sage Intacct Community, where users can make suggestions for improving the cloud-based financial management system. Regardless of where the ideas were generated, however, Sage Intacct 2021 Release 2 is packed with time-saving features that will make a real difference to daily, weekly and monthly workflow.
Here are some highlights:
Project Invoicing Enhancements
In the product module, you can now tag billable credit card charges, which you could not do before. This feature is something all my clients can use. Before this, we had to do a workaround, which was very convoluted and took a lot of time to get the same results. Users are especially excited about this invoicing update, which they have wanted to see for a long time. It was suggested in the Intacct Community.
Bank Reconciliation Updates
Enhancements have been made to Intacct’s bank reconciliation. Previously, when setting up rules for matching criteria, the rules had to be set for each individual account. Now those criteria rule sets can be applied to multiple accounts at one time, such as all of the accounts from the same bank, for example. So if you had 50 accounts, you could give all of them an identical rule set at once. This timesaver will help get your company’s bank reconciliation completed a lot faster.
Another improvement to bank reconciliation gives users the opportunity to make line item corrections when a previous period is reopened. Before this release, reopening a closed period meant resetting the whole bank reconciliation and starting over from the beginning. That could create issues with duplicated entries. Now, if an error is discovered, the bank rec can be reopened and you can just cross out something that was wrong. After deleting the mistake, you can fix it by writing in the correct amount or description.
Improvements to Month-End Close
A recent release introduced a checklist for month-end closing tasks that can be viewed from a user’s dashboard. Intacct 2021 Release 2 adds a higher-level visibility for these tasks that can help streamline the closing process. Now, a report can be added to the dashboard so that controllers and CFOs can see where employees are at in the closing process.
As team members complete their assigned month-end tasks and check them off, their controller or CFO can see the status of each assignment. For example, the report might say Entity A is still open, Entity B is still open, but Entity C is already closed out because everybody completed their tasks for that entity. When it looks like everything has been completed, the books can be closed for the month. Another new report that can be added to an Intacct dashboard shows what’s closed and what’s open in a company’s subledgers for each of its entities.
An existing Intacct report shows actuals by the different dimensions that Intacct tracks. Intacct 2021 Release 2 added functionality to this report. Now, companies can use the report to show actuals and the budget, so that comparisons between the two can be clearly seen. Clients have been looking for this comparison, which was previously only available by creating a custom report in Intacct.
New Opportunities for Intacct Training
Another update that’s part of 2021 Release 2 is a small change that will make a big difference. Intacct users no longer need a separate user name and password to access the Learning Center, which features a collection of free videos that help new users get acclimated to Intacct, as well as paid classes. Now, users can get to the Learning Center when logged in to their main Intacct environment.
Since the login process has been streamlined, clients will have an easier time getting to the Learning Center and taking advantage of the available training. In addition, an on-demand Intacct fundamentals class that you used to have to pay for is now free. You work at your own pace and you complete it on your own timeline. Plus, it gives you continuing education credits.
Want to find out more about how the new features of 2021 Release 2 can help your business be more productive? Schedule a call with one of the experts at RSM today.
