Keeping track of important dates for media, i.e., space close and materials due, is a daunting task. Make it easier by using the Client Media Calendar report. It lists buys by client, then by the accounting period. Also listed are the space close and materials due dates. This provides a great overview of upcoming buys. To zero in on a specific date range, print either the Space Closings or Materials Due reports which list upcoming buys by individual media buyer allowing them to pinpoint close and due dates for the buys they placed.

You’ve finished another billing cycle; billings are out the door. You can review what’s just been billed in detail or summarized depending on your needs. To review billings with each task’s details, choose the A/R Journal report. To review summarized billings without the individual tasks, choose one of the A/R List reports. Enter the date range you want to review. (Choose Accounting > Accounts Receivable. Choose File > Print A/R reports. From the Print Reports menu, select Lists or Journals.)

The quickest way to determine the last time you used a vendor is to print the Vendor Last A/P report. It lists each vendor within a date range you enter by the date of their last invoice. If there’s a current year-to-date total, it’s listed as well as the current unpaid balance. Another benefit of this report is it can be used to determine vendors no longer used. You can update their vendor files to a status of Inactive suppressing them from the Vendor Lookup List. (Choose Accounting > Accounts Payable. Choose File > Print A/P reports. From the Print Reports menu, select Misc.)

If a client’s estimate for a particular job should be sent to a different address than usual (their president on vacation in Maui), you can change the address for that job without affecting other jobs. When the estimate is printed, it gets the address from the job ticket, not the client file. (Choose Production > Job Tickets. Find the job. Choose Edit > Edit Job > Estimate Options. Type the different address.)

Sometimes you need to print an aging that matches prior financials. For example, if you’re applying for a business loan, the bank may need to see first quarter financials with matching vendor and client agings. A current aging won’t match. With Clients & Profits, until you close your fiscal year, you’re able to print any prior aging. In the Aging window, click the “show balances through” pop-up menu to select the period of your choice.

Looking for each job’s scheduling information in an easy-to-read format that shows estimated hours vs. hours remaining, scheduled staffer, and whether or not a task is finished? The Snapshot production reports are the answer. These reports are used by traffic managers to track a task’s schedule if the staffers aren’t marking their own tasks as finished. To print these reports, choose Snapshots > Production then click on the Schedules/Work To Do category. Enter the task status as 0 through 999 to select all tasks, then enter a range of start dates or due dates, then click Print.

To make estimates and A/R invoices easier to read for clients, create groups. Groups help to better organize printed estimates and A/R invoices by listing together all tasks belonging to a group and by subtotaling amounts by group. Examples of group names are: account service, production, creative, and media. Each group can have any number of tasks belonging to it.

When working from a printed time report, the fastest way to find a time entry to edit it is by number. Yet when you go to the Find window in Timesheets, the pop-up menu is usually set to find by staff. Of course, you can click the pop-up menu to instead find by number. (Or if your shop wants to change the default for finding time, the Find by: setting is found in Preferences in the General window.)

Sometimes relationships with vendors are rocky. A vendor can be placed on temporary hold so POs, A/P invoices, or checks can’t be added for them. A brief explanation can be included which will appear if someone tries to add a transaction for the vendor. When the situation is resolved, find the vendor’s file and simply deselect the “On-hold” checkbox. The vendor is now free to be used.

If you want to include your account number on every check you remit to a vendor, you don’t have to type it each time. Chose Setup > Vendors. Click the Acct Info button. Type your account number, and any other information you’d like printed, in the Check memo area. From now on, each check for the vendor will include this information.