The AccuBuild Calendar Year Notes are now available.  Please click the link below to watch a quick video tutorial on how to start payroll for the new year.

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CLICK HERE: to watch the Year End Notes video

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AccuBuild Mobile is now available on IPads, IPhones and Android Devices!  

In this current construction market contractors are looking for ways to save time and do more with fewer resources. To help meet the growing demands of our customers be more profitable, we are excited to announce the release of AccuBuild Mobile.

AccuBuild Mobile helps you make faster and better decisions by providing on-the-go 24/7 access to AccuBuild Construction Software, increase the speed of Daily Field Reporting requirements, reduce Payroll preparation times by up to 90% and more … 

We have prepared a quick 2 minute Demo Video to explain how AccuBuild Mobile may benefit. your company.

This year is shaping up to be a great conference and we are very excited to meet face-to-face with AccuBuild customers once again.  If you plan on attending there are only a few days left to register, so don’t delay.  If you have any questions please email auc@accubuild.com  

Hope to see you there!

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER: http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/?eventid=985351

The 8506 Blue Update for AccuBuild was posted on the website today for download.  This update includes the following enhancements and corrections:

Purchase Order – BUG FIX

• The Copy Button on the PO Module was copying the receiver quantities into the master Item Record and the Master Accumulators of the PO Master Records were not set to zero.  This issue has been corrected.

Job Cost – New Phase Master Template

• A new Phase Master Template called “PhMasGC8” is now available in the Samples\MastrLst Folder under the AccuBuild Program Folder which contains all of the February Codes for 2011 – 6 digits and 2 decimal places.

PO Module - Enhancements

• The line items for purchase orders and stock orders have been updated with a new “Non Taxable” checkbox which now allows both taxable and non-taxable items to be included on the same purchase order.

• The MAR PO Forms and associated data pipes have been updated to include the new “non-taxable” flag on the forms:

·         Order1PO.101 – MAR PO Form

·         Order4SO.116 – MAR Stock Order Form

• The Entry Screen for PO Vendor Invoices has been enhanced to handle both taxable and non-taxable items for a single vendor invoice.  The sales tax amounts are now only pro-rated to the taxable items and new ‘Override Fields” have been added for both paid and accrued sales tax on each line item for handling any rounding issues for the sales tax distribution amounts.

PO Module – New MAR Reports

The Purchase Order Detail Reports have been converted to MAR and should now run faster than the traditional versions of these reports:

• PORep02.683 - Purchase Order Detail Report - Open Orders
• PORep02.684 - Purchase Order Detail Report - Closed Orders
• PORep02.685 - Purchase Order Detail Report - All Orders 

Job Cost – Committed Cost Report Update

• The data pipes for the MAR Committed Cost Report now include sales tax in the “committed cost amount” for purchase orders based on the new changes for handling taxable and non-taxable amounts.  Prior to this update, the sales tax amounts were only included in the cost amounts which would show as an overrun of the committed amount.  

Payroll – Bug Fix

• When the “Time Cards” Button was pressed on the Void Payroll Checks screen, a lock up would occur if the Job List table was not open.  This problem has been corrected.

Inventory Module – New MAR Reports

Two new MAR Inventory Reports have been included in this release:

• Ivrep03.715 – Inventory Balance Report – This Report will compute inventory balances for any date in the current fiscal year or future fiscal year and includes drill down inventory transactions from the start of the current fiscal year to the report cutoff date.

• Ivrep03A.715 – Inventory Reconciliation Report – This Report is similar to the Inventory Balance Report but includes stock order vendor invoice amounts in the inventory transactions with balance subtotal comparisons between the inventory system balance and the General Ledger inventory account balances.  This report can be used to reconcile the balances between the General Ledger and the Inventory System.

Project Management Report Updates

The document drill down links were not working properly for  the RFI Status and Submittal Status Reports which have been corrected in this update:

• PMRep01.791 – RFI Status Report – ALL Items
• PMRep01.792 – RFI Status Report – OPEN Items
• PMRep03.798 – Submittal Status Report – All Items
• PMRep03.799 – Submittal Status Report – Open Items

Payroll – Certified Payroll Change for Voided Checks

• The posting process for voided payroll checks has been changed in the method of how certified payroll transactions were handled.  When a payroll check was voided and then a new check was issued with the same check number, the MAR Certified Payroll reports were not showing the void and replacement check amounts correctly which meant the report would have to be exported to another format and corrected before being submitted.  These new changes to the posting process will make sure that all voided checks that are done after this update has been installed, will appear correctly on the MAR Certified Payroll Reports.

Note: This fix does not correct voided check entries that were posted prior to this update being installed.

A new update is now available on the AccuBuild Website (8506 RED). Use the following link to access the AccuBuild Downloads Page and refer to the Update Notes below for changes included in this update 

 http://www.accu-build.com/client/downloadtemp2.php

 8506 RED – Update Notes

 Payroll – BUG FIX

• The payroll system was not allowing two users to add new employees at the same time.  This problem has been corrected.

• The new MAR Payroll Report entitled “Employee Address and Phone List” was updated to fix a cosmetic problem where the employee information was split between two pages on each page break.

Project Management Changes

• The new COR Breakdown Screen has been modified in the way INTERNAL Change Order Requests are handled.  The Contract Amounts (Owner’s Portion) and Contract Markup amounts are now automatically set to zero for INTERNAL Change Order Requests since these changes are internal only and are never reflected to the owner / bill-to customer.

• The option to Delete a COR from the PM Log will now test to see if associated COR Breakdown items exist before allowing the COR to be deleted.  All associated COR Breakdown items must be deleted before the master COR record can be removed from the system.

• The totals in the Master COR Record will now be set to zero whenever all supporting COR Breakdown records are deleted in order to keep the roll up totals correct.

• The COR Linking Screen for COR Price Breakdowns now includes an optional G/L Expense Account field which can be set up with any new estimated cost changes on a COR Breakdown Item to take advantage of the new 3 Tier Job Cost Capsheet Reporting which includes Job, Phase, and GL Account line item totals for budgets vs. actual costs.

Payroll – New MAR Payroll Report for handling 2011 FUTA Taxes

• Prrep17c.644 – New MAR Payroll Report – 2011 FUTA Tax Liability Report – recaps the FUTA Rates for first six months of calendar year 2011 at 0.8% and the last six months at 0.6% along with any over/(under) accrual amounts.  This new report should be used for making any FUTA Tax deposits for payroll run during the 2011 Calendar Year.

Important Notice Regarding FUTA Tax Change effective July 1, 2011

The Federal Government has failed to extend the current FUTA Rate of 0.8% which expired July 1, 2011 and therefore the rate has dropped to 0.6% for all wages paid on or after July 1^st 2011.  Based on our research of this topic, there still seems to be some uncertainty of the final outcome of this ruling before the 2011 Calendar year is up, and therefore the Federal Government could still revert back to the original 0.8% rate before the year is out.

Our recommendation is that you leave your rate in the Payroll Properties set to 0.8% as it always has been for the remainder of the 2011 Calendar Year.  This will mean that the Employer Burden will accrue at a slightly higher rate than you will be paying, should the lower rate remain in effect. 

WARNING – FUTA Tax is a year to date calculated rate in the AccuBuild System, so if you change the rate to 0.6% it will adjust all prior calculated FUTA tax amounts to 0.6% for the calendar year which you do NOT want.  If you have changed the rate to 0.6% and already processed a payroll, just change it back to 0.8% and let the system adjust again during the next payroll posting process.

Wages paid from January 1^st thru June 30^th of 2011 will still be paid at 0.8% and wages paid from July 1^st thru December 31^st will be paid at 0.6%.

In this newest release “8506 RED”, we have included a new MAR Payroll Report entitled “2011 FUTA Tax Liability Report” which will help you make the proper tax deposit amounts when they become due.  This new report will recap the FUTA wages and taxes for any reporting period and detail out the following amounts:

·         FUTA Wages – Wages Subject to FUTA Tax for the reporting period

·         Accrued FUTA – This is the FUTA Tax Amount that was posted as the “Accrued FUTA” tax expense amount.

·         Actual FUTA – This is the Actual FUTA Tax that is due based on a tax rate of 0.8% thru June 30^th, and a tax rate of 0.6% for wages paid on and after July 1^st.  This is the actual tax due based on the NEW tax rate and should be used to make any FUTA Tax Deposits.

·         Over/(Under) – This amount will be the difference between what has been accrued as an expense and what is actually due.  If you leave the FUTA Rate at 0.8% as instructed above, you should end up with an over accrual amount.  At the end of the calendar year for 2011, if the new rate is still in effect, you can make a journal entry to clear out the over accrued amount and offset it to your payroll burden expense account.

Note: You may need to use the Properties Button to set the Security Settings of this new MAR Payroll Report if you do not see the new report in the MAR Reports menu after updating your AccuBuild Software to version 8506 RED.

It’s time to ask all AccuBuild Users’ to Save the Date for the Fourth Annual 2011 AccuBuild Users Conference October 5^th, 6^th and 7^th at the wonderful RIO All Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.  

With 2 ½ days of intense AccuBuild training on a variety of topics and a private all inclusive reception on Wednesday October 5^th  at the  Voodoo Lounge  we invite you to come learn, have fun and network with other AccuBuild users . 

Registration will open in the following weeks, but if you would like to RSVP early and reserve your spot please email auc@accubuild.com  with your tentative reservation and number of attendees.

See you in Vegas!

A new update is now available on the AccuBuild Website (8505 GREEN). Use the following link to access the AccuBuild Downloads Page and refer to the Update Notes below for changes included in this update.

http://www.accu-build.com/client/downloadtemp2.php

8505 GREEN - Update Notes

 MAR Report Update

•  Jcbill1a.211 - New version of the AIA Preprinted Form for MAR.  All alignment of fields were cosmetically change to line up better with the pre-printed G702 & G703 AIA Forms.

Project Management - Bug Fix

•  Fixed a bug on the COR Breakdown Screen where the Copy Button  routine was causing the accounting link field to be copied into the new records.  This was causing multiple breakdown items to be linked to the same job cost detail which needs to be unique for each COR Breakdown Record.  The detail item field will now be set to zero (unlinked) for any new breakdown items that are copied from an existing breakdown item.

Job Cost Enhancement

•  The estimate import feature has been enhanced to allow G/L Expense Accounts to be linked to specific columns of a spreadsheet for various expense categories such as labor, material, equipment, etc.  This new feature used in conjunction with the new MAR Capsheet Report by Cost Phase and G/L Account will make it much easier to get complete breakdowns of  cost and estimate to cost variance on multiple cost categories within a cost phase.

http://www.accu-build.com/client/downloadtemp2.php

8505 TEAL – 06/01/2011

MAR Report Update

A new data pipe “JobInformationList” is now available for the Accounts Receivable Customer Statements report in MAR

 Enhanced Error Checking on Alphanumeric Key Fields

Enhanced data validation was added for tables that contain alphanumeric key fields to insure that single quote characters are NOT included in the key fields as this can cause problems with SQL Script commands that access these fields.  The following tables and key fields will no longer allow single quotes in the field contents:

Job List – Job Number

PO Master List – Purchase Order Number

Equipment List – Equipment Number 

Inventory Master List – Inventory Part Numbers

Accounts Receivable – Traditional Report Fix

Arrep01e.rpt – The accounts receivable aging report in customer order would not produce subtotals for customers that had multiple outstanding invoices with the same amounts.  This problem has been corrected.

Project Management Log – COR Breakdown Screen

The Accounting Links for COR Breakdown item that had category numbers that contained values past the decimal point were not able to be linked to the accounting system.  For example, a breakdown item for Category 11.0 would link correctly, however a breakdown item for Category 11.20 would not work.  This problem has been corrected.

Internal COR breakdown items can now be linked to accounting when the billing phase is zero.  Previously, both the job cost phase and the billing phase had to be non-zero before they could be linked, but with internal change orders, this should not be a requirement, so the business rules have been changed.

A new update is now available on the AccuBuild Website (8505 RED). Use the following link to access the AccuBuild Downloads Page and refer to the Update Notes below for changes included in this update

http://www.accu-build.com/client/downloadtemp2.php

8505 RED - Update Notes

PM Category List – Bug Fix

•                    The Category List on the Project Management Log was not deleting a category correctly when a client number was assigned whose client name field was blank (unused client number).  The Delete Key will now correctly remove a blank client from the category list and the drop down for the client name on the category will now include the client number in addition to the name.

PM COR Breakdown Screen

•                    Two new columns have been added to the grid of breakdown items in the COR Breakdown Screen which include the job cost phase and the billing phase in order to make it easier to see the associated phases without the necessity of scrolling to each individual breakdown record.

MAR Report Enhancements

Two new job cost reports have been added to the MAR Report Library for reporting on job cost detail transactions using the transaction cutoff dates.  These reports will now supplement the existing detail transaction reports which are based on the actual posting date.

•                    JCRep2d0.516 – Job Cost Transactions – Trans Date

•                    JCRep2d1.516 – Job Cost Transactions – Trans Date / Contract Totals

Payroll – New Feature

A new feature has been added for changing the payroll period dates for payroll that have already been posted to make it much easier to correct a payroll when the payroll period dates are wrong but all of the other information is correct.  This new feature is located on the Batch Log Screen under the File|System Administrator menu – refer to the following information for more details:

•                    A new button entitled “Change Payroll Period Dates” has been added to the Batch Log Screen which allows users to correct payroll period ending dates for payroll batches that have already been posted.  This option is automatically enabled for any type of payroll batch including automatic, hand-written, and voided payroll checks.  All of the period ending dates will be changed in the timecard, prchecks, and cprdetl tables and the transaction descriptions in the gldetail, jobdetail, and eqtrans tables will be updated with a new WE Date in the transaction description along with an asterisk ‘*’ at the end of the transaction description to indicate that the dates were changed.

Purchase Order – Document Folders Fix

•                    The Documents Tab on the Purchase Order Screen contained a bottleneck where the folders were taking a very long time to display when folder templates were set up on the purchase orders.  This problem has been corrected and the folders should now be created much faster.

MAR – Payroll Workers Comp Reports Enhancement

•                    A new datapipe entitled “JobInformationTable” has been added to all of the MAR Workers Comp Reports in order for user to customize the reports to link job related fields such as job description, job site addresses etc.

A new update is now available on the AccuBuild Website (8505 BLUE). Use the link following link to access the AccuBuild Downloads Page and refer to the Update Notes below for changes included in this update

http://www.accu-build.com/client/downloadtemp2.php

8505 BLUE - Update Notes

PM Log Enhancements

• The RFI Log Entry Screen now displays the spec section description in addition to the spec number in order to avoid confusion with a separate field entitled “Title or Section of Work” which is not related to the spec number.

• The Submittals Log Entry Screen now displays the spec section description in addition to the spec number in order to avoid confusion with a separate field entitled “Title or Section of Work” which is not related to the spec number.

• The Correspondence Tabs for RFIs, CORs, & Submittals now work correctly for multiple parties and multiple contacts.

MAR Enhancements

• A new data pipe is now available for RFI, COR, and Submittal Forms in MAR.  This new data pipe is entitled “PMFORMSCORRESPONDENCELIST.ADT” and contains all of the correspondence flow, status description, and contact information associated with each RFI, COR, or Submittal.

Project Scheduling Enhancement

• The Import Option for project schedules now sets the default constraint on each task to “as soon as possible”. Previously there was no constraint set up on the tasks (“do not level”).

• Fixed a problem where an exception error was generated when the Reschedule Button was clicked after making changes to task information that had not been saved to the job schedule.

New MAR Forms

• New forms have been added to the MAR Library for Project Management and Contract Billings:

o PMRFI3.300 – RFI Out for Answer Form – Correspondence Info
o PMRFI4.300 – RFI Response Distribution Form

o PMSBMTL5.361 – Submittal Request Form – Correspondence Info
o PMSBMTL6.361 – Submittal Approval Form – Correspondence Info
o PMSBMTL7.361 – Submittal Status Form

o JCBILL1C.211 – AccuBuild Schedule of Values Billing Form

A new update is now available on the AccuBuild Website.
 
Release Notes:  Please be sure to read the Release Notes (AccuBuild Help Menu) after installing this update in order to get more detailed information on what is contained in this update.
 
Update Version:  Version 8505 – Posted April 22, 2011
 
Release Highlights:   Random rounding issues for California DE9C have been fixed, a new feature has been added to enable MAR Accounts Payable Checks, and several improvements were made to the Change Order Request (COR) Price Breakdown Screen.
 
Download Page Link: 
 
http://www.accu-build.com/client/downloadtemp2.php
 
Installation Instruction Video Link:
 
If you are not sure how to install a software update, please click on the following link for detailed instructions. 
NOTE: You may need to Click OK past the first error message before viewing the video.
 
http://www.accu-build.com/Downloads/UpdateInstallInstructionVideo/Untitled.html
 
 
Sincerely,
 
Your AccuBuild Support Staff

An update was posted today to the AccuBuild Website to correct an issue with the payroll posting process where the posting process was taking too long to complete.  A new feature was added in the 8504 BLUE release last month for enhancing the equipment cost reporting features in MAR by adding database links between in the historical transaction files for time card, job cost, and equipment transactions.  This new linking process was causing the payroll to post very slow and causing it to appear as if it was hung up.  This issue has been corrected in the 8504 GREEN Update dated 04/06/2011.  Note: The 8504 GREEN Update is cumulative and therefore includes all changes for the previous 8504 RED and 8504 BLUE Updates.

We have developed a program specifically for AccuBuild Construction Software that will automatically backup your data while the program is in use. This program can be automatically executed for Multiple Company Database(s) several times a day.

Click here to view the video and customer testimonials:  http://www.accu-build.com/ablive/ABliveBackup.htm

The following link is to the Year End Payroll Process Instructional Video.  This short video will answer all your questions as well as give you step by step instructions for starting payroll in 2011.  If you have any further questions regarding the Year End Payroll Process please call AccuBuild Technical Support at 800-728-6853 option 2 .

Year End Payroll Process Instructional Video

http://www.accu-build.com/Downloads/YearEndProcessForPayroll.wmv

The President has signed the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, H.R. 4853, on December 17.  This measure reduces the employee portion of the social security tax from 6.2% to 4.2% for one year (2011).  The employer’s social security tax rate has NOT changed and remains at 6.2%.  AccuBuild will have the necessary tax update changes ready in the 8.5.0.3 Release which will be posted on our website during the last week of the 2010 Calendar Year.

The 2010 Year End Notes are now available on the AccuBuild Website and we strongly recommend that you download a copy of these notes and get familiar with the new tax changes and the year end closeout process for payroll so that you can experience a smooth year end transition as we move into 2011. http://www.accu-build.com/Downloads/CalYearEndNotes.pdf

Please note that AccuBuild will be closed on Friday, December 24th for Christmas Eve and again on Friday, December 31st for New Years Eve.  We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year and we thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Your AccuBuild Support Staff

Its tax form season again!  To help answer some of your tax form questions one of our preferred forms provider, Dynamic Systems, has put together an informative 2-minute video reviewing how to order your tax forms.   Clicking on the hyperlink below will take you to Dynamic Systems’ website.  Their website has been designed to make ordering these forms easy and convenient.  Plus, if you order through their website and use the discount code TAX2010

To view the informative video and/or place your 2010 Tax Form order, please visit:

Thanks for your continued support!

Do you use Microsoft Word or Excel? How about Outlook? If you answered yes then you should consider attending our free webinar this Friday, September 3rd from 11:30AM to 12:00PM central time. During this short webinar you will learn how the AccuBuild Microsoft Office Add-in will not only save you time and money but will also ensure all emails, excel & word docs are stored in one digital database, and guarantee important documentation is never lost.

We only have room for 25 attendees so don’t delay sign up by emailing john@accubuild.com

See you there!

AccuBuild 2010 Users’ Group Conference

Only 23 Days Left To Register!
All Attendees Must Register By 09/17/2010

When?
September 29th - October 1st, 2010

Where?
Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino
Las Vegas, Nevada

Who Should Attend?
Owners, CFOs, Controllers, Accounting Staff, Project Managers, Estimator,
or any who uses AccuBuild

What Are AccuBuild Customers Saying About The Users’ Conference?
“After using the AccuBuild system for over twenty years, I’ve gotten used to doing things the same way. You could say I had tunnel vision when opening AccuBuild. By attending the Users’ Conference, not only did I learn about new features but, I learned more easy and effective ways to accomplish everyday tasks I’ve done for the last two decades. Either myself, or someone from our company will definitely be in attendance at the 2010 conference.” -Steve Robinson of Rancho Pacific Electric.

Visit www.accubuild.com/ugc for Pricing, Registration, Class Topics, and Schedules.
Or Call 800-728-6853 Ext. 802

Hello Accu-Builders,

The 3rd Annual Users Conference is only 2 months away! We are so excited to share all the new features inside the AccuBuild system with you. Be sure to register today and save with the early bird discount (early bird discount expires in 5 days!). We are holding the conference at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino this year which we hope will be our best location yet!

You can take a look at our class schedule as well as register by visiting http://www.accubuild.com/ugc

SEE YOU IN VEGAS!

-The AccuBuild Team

Hello Accu-Builders,

The 3rd Annual Users Conference is only 2 months away! We are so excited to share all the new features inside the AccuBuild system with you. Be sure to register today and save with the early bird discount (early bird discount expires in 5 days!). We are holding the conference at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino this year which we hope will be our best location yet!

You can take a look at our class schedule as well as register by visiting http://www.accubuild.com/ugc

SEE YOU IN VEGAS!

-The AccuBuild Team

Hello Accu-Builders,

The 3rd Annual Users Conference is only 2 months away! We are so excited to share all the new features inside the AccuBuild system with you. Be sure to register today and save with the early bird discount (early bird discount expires in 5 days!). We are holding the conference at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino this year which we hope will be our best location yet!

You can take a look at our class schedule as well as register by visiting http://www.accubuild.com/ugc

SEE YOU IN VEGAS!

-The AccuBuild Team

Hello Accu-Builders,

The 3rd Annual Users Conference is only 2 months away! We are so excited to share all the new features inside the AccuBuild system with you. Be sure to register today and save with the early bird discount (early bird discount expires in 5 days!). We are holding the conference at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino this year which we hope will be our best location yet!

You can take a look at our class schedule as well as register by visiting http://www.accubuild.com/ugc

SEE YOU IN VEGAS!

-The AccuBuild Team