MoneyWorks blog

Newsletter December 2023

In this newsletter …

… but, before we get into the exciting nitty-gritty of MoneyWorks, we would like to wish you all a safe and happy festive season. Here in New Zealand we are also wishing for some good weather, as we didn’t seem to get a summer last year. Let’s hope 2024 is better for everyone, everywhere!

MoneyWorks 9.1.6

MoneyWorks 9.1.6 was released earlier this month. As well as the usual reliability and performance enhancements, this update contains a number of new features:

Multiple Transaction Lists

Multiple transaction list windows

Multiple transaction list windows.

In MoneyWorks Gold/Datacentre, it is now possible to have more than one Transaction List window open. To open a new Transaction list window, simply press Shift-⌘-T (Mac) or Ctrl-Alt-T (Windows). Similarly you can use Shift-option-⌘-T (Mac) Ctrl-Shift-Alt-T (Windows) to open a new Detail Line Items list window.

Due dates at end of several months

The end of month changes in the 9.1.5 release have been extended to allow for the due date to be set at the end of more than one month. Setting the terms to 31st day of the month following will set them to the last day of the following month; setting them to 131 will be the last date of the month following that, 231 to the last day of the month after that, and so on.

Temporary Unlocking of Periods

Exemption to Lock option

An administrator can now temporarily override period locking, something that is especially useful when end of year adjusting entries have to be entered. To do this, the administrator simply turns on the new “Exempt me from locked period restriction” in Command>Open/Close Period. Single user mode is not required. The exemption only applies to that user for the current session.

Better Dragging Support from Windows Outlook

Dragging a pdf from Windows Outlook to another application has always been problematic (and not just for MoneyWorks). There is now a “Drag and Drop Outlook attachments” option on the Documents tab of the MoneyWorks Preferences that enables new code to support dragging of attachments out of Microsoft Outlook. Note that attachment dragging works with “real” Outlook. Avoid using “New” Outlook, which seems to be a toy version of Outlook and doesn’t really support any interoperability.

Windows Support for Chinese and other non-latin character PDFs

Windows 10/11 users can opt to generate PDFs using “Microsoft Print to PDF”, which has the advantage of having full Unicode support (Chinese, Japanese etc) instead of just the limited roman alphabet supported by the MoneyWorks PDF generator. The downside is that you will lose the ability to embed http links in the PDF. The option is turned on in the General tab of the MoneyWorks Preferences. While we were at it, we also added unicode support for MAPI mail.

Note that the option is only necessary on Windows—macOS has fully supported this for many years.

IMPORTANT note for Mac MoneyWorks Datacentre administrators

In macOS, the option to specify any location for the Documents directory was removed some time ago. 9.1.6 will now reset the configured location to /Library/MoneyWorks/Documents. If your data files are located elsewhere, you must move them to this location. Then apply permissions by opening the Datacentre Console app.

For a complete list of changes, see the MoneyWorks 9.1.6 change notes.

Singapore GST Rate Increase

A reminder that, on the 1st January 2024, the GST rates in Singapore will increase from 8% to 9%.

Handling a rate change in MoneyWorks is simple, and is outlined in Changing VAT and GST Rates. Essentially, for each affected tax code, you just need to set the changeover date to 1st Jan 2024 and the Rate2 value to 9% (and Rate1 to 8%). Users should check IRAS website to see what other actions they might need to take.

Upcoming Training Courses

You don’t know what you don’t know! So why not start the new year by finding out, and boosting your productivity, with some MoneyWorks training? We have scheduled the first training for 2024 on Tuesday 13th February in our Auckland training room. For more details, or to book your place, see cognito.co.nz/support/training/

We can also do targetted on-line training, normally using zoom. If you are interested in organising a one-on-one or group session please email info@cognito.co.nz.

Holiday Support

Most of the MoneyWorks support and admin team will be taking a much needed break over the holiday period. It is theoretically summer at this time of year, so people in this part of the world will be heading off to beaches or camp sites, where they will huddle under rain sodden tents and have a good time.

Phone support will be unavailable after 5:00pm on Thursday 21st December NZDT, and will resume on 8th January. Support will be available by emailing support@cognito.co.nz, but with a longer turn around time than normal.

Tips for email support

When emailing for support, it is better to include as much detail as possible. Our support team is good, but doesn’t yet have any clairvoyent powers. For example, an email along the lines of “Help, MoneyWorks won’t start” (and we do get emails like this) won’t get a quick or meaningful response. With that in mind:

  • Include your Support-ID and PIN number in your email. These are available under Help>Get Support in MoneyWorks 9.1 and later.
  • If you do not have a Support_ID, tell us your company name and serial number where available (found under Help>Enter Serial).
  • Be sure to include details of the MoneyWorks version you are using (e.g. MoneyWorks Express 9.1, MoneyWorks Now), as well as the version of your operating system (e.g. Windows 10, macOS Sonoma 14.1.1).
    • On Windows, the MoneyWorks version number is available under Help>About MoneyWorks
    • On Mac, the MoneyWorks version number is available under MoneyWorks>About MoneyWorks
  • Outline what the problem is, and if you are getting an error message of some sort, tell us exactly what it says.
  • Where appropriate include a screen shot or two. For details on making screenshots see the March 2019 Newsletter.
  • Use a descriptive subject line — support tickets in a queue with a subject of “Help” or “MoneyWorks question” are not very informative, and as such are less likely to get the timely attention of the right person.
Posted in News | Comments Off on Newsletter December 2023

Newsletter September 2023

In this newsletter …

MoneyWorks 9.1.5r2

MoneyWorks 9.1.5 was released earlier this month. As well as the usual reliability and performance enhancements, this update contains a number of new features:

Sidebar colour

Sidebar Colours

Coloured sidebars will help distinguish which file you are using.

If you have several MoneyWorks files, it can be difficult to know at a glance which one you are working on, even though the file name is in the title bar of the transaction window, and the company name is displayed in the Navigator. The new colour picker on the Fields tab in the Document Preferences allows you to set the window sidebar colour for that document, making it easy to visually distinguish between different company documents.

It has actually always been possible to set the colour with a script; if you have been doing this, the colour set in the script will prevail (on the next restart).

Due dates at end of month

Where your debtor terms are set to “Next Month” and the day of month is greater than the number of days in the month following, the calculated due date will now be no more than the number of days in the month (i.e. the last day of that month). Prior to this, 31st of month following would be 1st of the subsequent month if the following month only had 30 days (not to mention the mayhem of February).

Overpayments handling

New Overpayment Setup

Overpayments were originally intended to handle small overpayments on invoices made by your customers. As it turned out, they are also quite useful in handling advances and deposits.

To better facilitate deposits and advance payments, you can now optionally record debtor overpayments as a debit/credit note pair. As well as being somewhat clearer in that there is a separate credit transaction entered, this also lets you record GST/VAT for these transactions, and can also be used for foreign currency invoices.

To avoid recording unnecessary small overpayments, see the tip du jour below.

Journal Balancing

Instead of typing in the balancing amount for a general journal, you can now just click in the footer total and a balancing line will be added (or, if the last line has debits and credits of zero, inserted into the last line).

Changing Unposted Receipts to Invoice Payments

When you import transactions using Load Bank Statement or bank feeds, you may not have set up a rule to automatically allocate the payment/receipt to a customer/supplier. Now, when you open an existing unposted receipt, you have access to the Payment on Invoice tab, allowing you to convert the transaction into an invoice payment (no need to delete and re-enter the transaction).

If the transaction only has one line item, and the customer/supplier has outstanding invoices, the Payment on Invoice tab will be selected automatically. Otherwise, if the transaction was actually for an invoice payment, you can select the Payment on Invoice tab. To restore the original line(s), just click on the original tab.

Saving custom list views

List collection toolbar

Being able to customise your lists to show just the information you require has long been a feature of MoneyWorks. However, often the data you need for one task is different to that for another task. The new Columns toolbar button allows you to store multiple customised list views and recall them from the list toolbar. See Customising Your List in the manual for more information, and the tip du jour below.

There is actually a lot more in this release—for a complete list of changes, see the MoneyWorks 9.1.5 change notes.

New Support Services

A big “thank you” to those who have registered their MoneyWorks document and enabled the new Support-ID, allowing for much faster resolution of support issues. If you haven’t yet done this, please see MoneyWorks Support and Support-ID for setup details.

macOS Sonoma

As far as we can tell, there are no issues with MoneyWorks 9.1.5 running on the newly released macOS Sonoma.

Tips du Jour

Overpayments versus Write Offs

What do you do when a customer pays you slightly more than the amount on the invoice they are paying? For example, you receive a $55.00 payment for an invoice of $54.99, a discrepancy of one cent.

When you make your receipt for $55.00, you can:

  1. treat it as an overpayment by leaving the allocation against the invoice as 54.99. When you click OK you will be asked to record the one cent as an overpayment, which means you have to deal with it at some stage in the future.
  2. Overpayment entry
  3. treat it as a “write off”. Technically you now owe the customer one cent, but you can just write off that debt now and forget about it. To do this, first click the “W/O” checkbox. This allows you to allocate a greater amount to the invoice than its value, so you can enter the $55.00 actually received into the Pay column. When you click OK, you will be asked to what general ledger account you want to allocate the one cent.
  4. Write off entry

The big advantage of the write off option is that the issue is done and dusted immediately. In the unlikely event that the customer subsequently complains about the one cent, just take a deep breath and make a one cent credit note.

You can also write off amounts if the customer underpays. In this case just enter the amount received and click the “W/O” check box. Note that write offs are controlled by a user privilege.

Preserving Column Widths in Saved Lists

When you add columns to a custom list view, the columns are added at a default width. If you want to preserve your column widths, there are a few more steps:

  1. Set the columns you want in Customise List View and click OK (without saving)
  2. Resize the columns in the list to what you need
  3. Go back into Customise List View and click the Save button to save the columns and their widths

Similarly if you have a saved collection that you wish to tweak (add, remove or resize columns), choose the collection from the Columns toolbar icon, make the changes, then choose Customise List View and save the view with the same name as previously used.

Posted in News, Tips | Comments Off on Newsletter September 2023

Newsletter June 2023

In this newsletter …

MoneyWorks 9.1.4r1

The current MoneyWorks version is the newly released 9.1.4r1, and we recommend that you update as soon as convenient.

Included in this release are enhancements to Items, where you can specify override tax codes for each item. If an item has an override, it will be used when purchasing or selling the item. We have also tightened up on who can enable and disable MoneyWorks Services (you now must be an Administrator), and have added a Get Support item in the Help menu, to outline your support options (see below for more information on this).

The update also reintroduces separate print settings for each list. In some situations a list might be scaled incorrectly the first time it is output directly to a printer. In this case, start to reprint the list, but do a Page Setup in the Print List dialog settings before clicking the Print button.

For a complete list of changes, see the MoneyWorks 9.1.4 change notes.

New Support Services

Support details for New Zealand

The Help>Get Support window in MoneyWorks 9.1.4 lists the contact support information for your locale (in this case New Zealand) as well as your support history.

With the 9.1.4 release, we have taken the opportunity to implement a new support service. Although prompted by the pending demise of the New Zealand 0900 service (which, as a reminder, ends 30th June), we anticipate this new service will greatly streamline support and help keep costs down for MoneyWorks 9 users everywhere.

MoneyWorks 9 users can now register for support under Help>Manage Services. If you do this and lodge a credit/debit card, you will be issued with a support ID and PIN number. Quoting these numbers on a support call or email will allow us to identify you, recall your recent support history, and automatically charge for support used.

The Support ID and PIN, along with contact details for support, are available under Help>Get Support in MoneyWorks 9.1.4 (or Help>Manage Services in earlier versions of MoneyWorks 9). This also shows any prior support lodged under this support ID.

Organisations that need a lot of support, or don’t have access to credit cards, can apply for a support account (but still need to register under Manage Services).

When you register for support, you can also specify whether you need to supply a Purchase Order number. You can even require that a specific order number be supplied, enabling you to control who can access support.

UK Training Course

We have a MoneyWorks training course scheduled to be held in London on Tuesday 18th & Wednesday 19th July. For more details, or to book your place, see cognito.co.nz/support/training/.

MoneyWorks Price Increases

Somewhat sadly, and for the first time since MoneyWorks was released in 1992, we are having to raise prices for MoneyWorks products and subscriptions. From August 1st, MoneyWorks prices will increase by approximately 10%, depending on product and jurisdiction. This will affect new perpetual licences (and software maintenance on existing ones), MoneyWorks Now, and MoneyWorks subscriptions.

The charges for MoneyWorks Services (e.g. Shopify link, mwPOS) and support will not be increased at this time.

macOS Sonoma

Apple have announced that a new version of the Mac operating system (Sonoma) will be shipping later this year. As usual we will be ensuring MoneyWorks operates correctly with the new OS, but in the meantime Mac aficionados should resist the temptation to adopt Sonoma as their production machine. However if you are playing with a pre-release version of Sonoma and find any issues with MoneyWorks 9, please let us know.

Tips du Jour

1. Advanced Replace

Speaking of price increases, you can easily increase or decrease prices for a range of products by using the Advanced Replace facility in MoneyWorks. For example, to increase the price of products by 10% you would:

Advanced Replace to increase prices by 10%

  1. Highlight the affected products in the product list
  2. Choose Select>Advanced Replace
  3. In the Advanced Replace window that opens, set the Set Field popup to Sell Price
  4. In the formula box type sellPrice * 1.1
  5. Click Replace (you will be asked for confirmation)

The SellPrice values will be increased by 10% for the highlighted products (in the screenshot, we are just updating the Chrome products).

Note that there is no Undo for a replace like this, so proceed carefully! In practice do a File>Save, do the Replace and check the results. If something has gone wrong, rollback the file (choose File>Rollback)

2. Managing Image Size

The ability to store a digital image against a transaction is really useful for helping to make your office more paperless. This might be a PDF that has been emailed to you, or quite often it might be a paper document that you run through your scanner to get a JPEG (preferred) or a PDF. For scanned documents JPEG is preferred because it is directly viewable on all platforms, and also easier and much faster to recompress if that should be required.

It is worth being aware of the storage requirements of these images though. With inappropriate scanner settings, they may be far larger than they need to be. If you have access to DPI settings on your scanner, we highly recommend that you scan transaction documents at no more than 150DPI, which will provide sufficient quality and readability for record-keeping. Scanning lunch receipts at super high quality 2400DPI that take up multiple megabytes will result in unnecessarily hefty storage requirements on your server.

If you are the server administrator wrestling with very large images and hence very large backup files, you can encourage users to use appropriate scanner settings, or, failing that, you can look at Image Recompression.

Posted in News, Tips, Uncategorized | Comments Off on Newsletter June 2023

Newsletter March 2023

In this newsletter …

Announcing MoneyWorks Point of Sale (POS)

The MoneyWorks Point of Sale (POS) system is a simple but functional point of sale system for retail, hospitality and the like. Because it is a component of MoneyWorks, there is no need to run separate systems, with all the data-transfers and maintenance that this requires. Whenever a sale is entered in the POS, inventory levels and appropriate ledgers are automatically updated.

MoneyWorks POS main screen.

The MoneyWorks POS home screen.

Key features:

  • Visual display for PLU codes
  • Barcode scanning
  • Parked transactions (e.g. for bar tabs)
  • Weights, length and quantities
  • Handles tips and split payments
  • Capture customer details for loyalty schemes
  • Optionally exchange data with a master file running on a separate MoneyWorks Now or Datacentre system

MoneyWorks POS runs on MoneyWorks Gold, either as a stand-alone system or as a client for MoneyWorks Datacentre or MoneyWorks Now. The latter options thus allow for multiple stores and/or multiple-tills.

MoneyWorks POS is a MoneyWorks Service, and can be enabled under File>Manage Services.

For more information, download the MoneyWorks POS documentation.

MoneyWorks 9.1.3

The current MoneyWorks version is the newly released 9.1.3, and, as usual, we recommend that you update as soon as convenient.

End of macOS Sierra Support

To keep MoneyWorks running and up-to-date on the latest Mac systems, we need to use the latest Apple development tools. Recently Apple dropped Sierra from its supported platforms, and hence we can no longer build MoneyWorks versions that will work on Sierra. MoneyWorks 9.1.3 and later will not run on Sierra.

Support for new IRD protocols (New Zealand)

New Zealand users must update to MoneyWorks 9.1.3 to continue using IRD Connect (see below).

For more information see the MoneyWorks 9.1.3 change notes.

Changes to GST Filing (New Zealand)

The IRD have been revamping their backend technology, and this has imposed changes on how MoneyWorks and other systems communicate with them. MoneyWorks 9.1.3 uses the new protocols, but older versions do not. After the old protocols are deimplemented later this year, older MoneyWorks versions will no longer be able to file GST directly using IRD Connect.

End of 0900 NZ Support Service

Spark have advised us that the entire 0900 service in New Zealand is being shut down and will not be available after 30th June. We have used the 0900 service as the primary means of local phone support for over 25 years, and it has proved an efficient way to provide quality support at a low cost. We are working on a replacement support system, and will advise details in our next newsletter.

Upcoming Training Courses

Pandemics and floods permitting, we have training courses scheduled as follows:

  • Auckland (Tuesday 30th May)
  • Auckland (Wednesday 14th June)
  • London (Tuesday 18th July)
  • London (Wednesday 19th July)

For more details, or to book your place, see cognito.co.nz/support/training/

We can also do targetted on-line training, normally using zoom. If you are interested in organising a one-on-one or group session please email info@cognito.co.nz.

Recording Time and Viewing Reports from your Phone

A reminder that there are a couple of handy web apps available for Datacentre and MoneyWorks Now users. These run on most modern browsers, allowing access to some MoneyWorks functions from your smartphone.

The Reports app allows you to run any (authorised) report on your phone, so is great for keeping an eye on things while travelling.

MoneyWorks Timer

The MoneyWorks Timer.

The Timer app allows users to log time and materials used on jobs (so great for tradies, accountants, lawyers and others charging out time).

In essence the Timer app displays a list of active jobs from MoneyWorks and allows a timer to be started. This will run until it is stopped, or until another job’s timer is activated. The time can then be submitted back to MoneyWorks, where it will appear in the Job Sheet list. Similarly items can be requisitioned for a job, and these are recorded in the Job Sheet list. Billing for the job is done in the normal manner through the Bill Job facility in MoneyWorks.

For more information, see MoneyWorks Timer App.

Tips du Jour

    get Infor button

  • If you are trying to work out who entered a transaction, or when it was entered, or if a payment has been reconciled or an invoice paid, click the blue info button in the transaction toolbar. This opens a window displaying audit information about that transaction.
  • Did you know that previous newsletters back to March 2018 are archived on the MoneyWorks Blog (in fact did you even know there was a MoneyWorks blog)? If you are hunting for an old tip or story this is the place look.
  • With the end of the financial year almost here for many companies in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, it is a good time to review your end of year processes.
Posted in News | Comments Off on Newsletter March 2023

Newsletter December 2022

In this final newsletter for 2022 …

And, just in case you don’t read the entire newsletter, we’ll take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy, safe holiday and a successful 2023.

MoneyWorks 9.1.1

The current MoneyWorks version is the newly released 9.1.1, and, as usual, we recommend that you update as soon as convenient.

Singapore users must update to MoneyWorks 9.1.1 to remain compliant with the IRAS reporting framework (see below).

Note that, because of changes in the underlying MoneyWorks database, files opened in MoneyWorks 9.1.1 cannot be opened in earlier versions.

For more information see the MoneyWorks 9.1.1 change notes.

Singapore GST Changes

On 1st January 2023, the GST rates in Singapore will increase from 7% to 8%, with another increase to 9% on the 1st January 2024.

Handling a rate change in MoneyWorks is simple, and is outlined in Changing VAT and GST Rates. Essentially, for each affected tax code, you just need to set the changeover date to 1st Jan 2023 and the Rate2 value to 8% (and Rate1 to 7%). However there are transitional rules which may affect you. For example, if you are using overpayments in MoneyWorks as prepayments for invoices, and the full payment is received prior to the changeover date but the invoice after, GST on the invoice should be 7%.

Singapore has also introduced new requirements for GST reporting. These have been incorporated into the MoneyWorks 9.1.1 release, and are outlined at Singapore GST Changes and MoneyWorks.

If you need any clarification of the GST changes you should ask your accountant.

To meet IRAS reporting requirements, Singapore users must update to MoneyWorks 9.1.1.

Purchase Order Matching

Matching an invoice with a purchase order

Differences in items, quantities or prices between the original order and the received invoice are displayed.

If you are using purchase orders (POs) in MoneyWorks, and also importing purchase invoices (such as with eInvoicing, PDF scanning or some other form of EDI), you can’t use the standard MoneyWorks “Receipting Goods” process, as this will also create a purchase invoice and result in a double-up.

The “Purchase Order Matching” MoneyWorks Service offers a way to not only manage the order from an imported invoice, but also to highlight any discrepancies in items, prices and quantities ordered and invoiced. When a purchase invoice is opened for review, if there is an existing PO to the same supplier with the same PO number, a “Match to PO” button appears on the invoice screen. Clicking this will open a window which displays any differences in items, quanitities or prices between the invoice and the original PO.

Assuming you are happy with any discrepencies, clicking the “Post and Update Order” button will post the invoice and update the received quantities on the original PO. If the order is completed it will be moved to the “Bought” tab, so there is no need to process the PO with “Receive Goods with Invoice”.

Purchase Order Matching is a MoneyWorks Service, and can be enabled under File>Manage Services.

Microsoft Outlook and Drag-and-Drop

Most email programs support dragging attachments directly as files from an email message into other applications, for example into the image attachment icon in a MoneyWorks transaction to archive an invoice PDF or JPEG. The exception is Microsoft Outlook, which won’t directly deliver a file when you drag an attachment’s icon. However there is a workaround:

  • On Windows: This Outlook extension fixes Outlook’s drag functionality to allow attachments to be dragged to any application, including MoneyWorks.
  • Expose icon

    Hover over file name to expose icon.

  • On Mac: To copy an attached image file to a MoneyWorks transaction, double-click the attachment — this will open it in Preview. Now click on the small icon in the Preview window title bar and drag that into MoneyWorks and drop it on the Image attachment icon of the transaction entry window. In recent versions of the macOS, you need to hover over the file name in the title bar to expose the icon.

Holiday Support

Most of the MoneyWorks support and admin team will be taking a much needed break over the holiday period. “Taking a break” at Christmas in New Zealand means beaches, barbeques, boats, eating far too much, and generally relaxing (at least it will mean that if the weather improves!).

Phone support will be unavailable after 12:00pm on Friday 23rd December NZDT, and will resume on 9th January. Support will be available by emailing support@cognito.co.nz, but with a longer turn around time than normal.

Tips for email support

When emailing for support, it is better to include as much detail as possible. Our support team is good, but doesn’t yet have any clarivoyent power. For example, an email along the lines of “Help, MoneyWorks won’t start” (and we do get emails like this) won’t get a quick or meaningful response. With that in mind:

  • Be sure to include details of the MoneyWorks version you are using (e.g. MoneyWorks Express 9.1, MoneyWorks Now), as well as the version of your operating system (e.g. Windows 10, macOS Monterey).
    • On Windows, the MoneyWorks version number is available under Help>About MoneyWorks
    • On Mac, the MoneyWorks version number is available under MoneyWorks>About MoneyWorks
  • Outline what the problem is, and if you are getting an error message of some sort, tell us exactly what it says.
  • Where appropriate include a screen shot or two. For details on making screenshots see the March 2019 Newsletter.
  • Use a descriptive subject line — support tickets in a queue with a subject of “Help” or “MoneyWorks question” are not very informative, and as such are less likely to get the timely attention of the right person.
  • Tell us your company name and serial number where available (found under Help>Enter Serial) in case we need to verify your details.

Wishing you a safe and healthy festive season
The MoneyWorks Team

Posted in News | Comments Off on Newsletter December 2022

Singapore GST changes and MoneyWorks

On 1st January 2023 there is both a GST rate increase to 8%, and new reporting requirements for GST. A further rate increase to 9% is set for 1st January 2024.

For details on handling the rate increase see Changing VAT and GST Rates in MoneyWorks. But also be aware that there are transition rules that need to be followed.

The new reporting requirements, which incorporate a reverse charge tax, are available in MoneyWorks 9.1.1. The F5 form and IRAS Connect require the use of the following tax codes to fill the designated boxes.

Box 14: Did you import services subject to GST under Reverse Charge?
LVRC A Reverse Tax which applies the claimable amount of the service only, and should only be used on purchase transactions.
LVRC- This applies to the non-claimable amount of the service, and should be set up as a normal GST tax at 0%.
Thus a purchase of a $200 service under reverse charge where 90% is claimable would be entered as:
MoneyWorks LVRC entry
Box 15: Did you operate an electronic marketplace to supply remote services subject to GST on behalf of third-party suppliers?
EMREM This is a normal GST code set up for 8% GST on or after 1st January 2023. It should only be used on sales transaction.
Box 16: Are you a redeliverer or electronic marketplace operator supplying imported low-value goods that is subject to GST?
LVRED This is a normal GST code set up for 8% GST on or after 1st January 2023. It should only be used on sales transaction.
Box 17: Did you supply imported low-value goods that is subject to GST?
LVOWN This is a normal GST code set up for 8% GST on or after 1st January 2023. It should only be used on sales transaction.
The net of transaction lines that use any of the above codes is also included in Box 1

You will need to set up these codes (under Show>Tax Rates) manually if you are affected by these new reporting requirements and your file was created in a version of MoneyWorks earlier than 9.1.1. Be sure to set LVRC as a Reversed Tax, and not to GST or VAT.

Posted in News | Comments Off on Singapore GST changes and MoneyWorks

Newsletter October 2022

In this newsletter …

Announcing MoneyWorks 9.1r2

The current MoneyWorks version is the newly released 9.1r2, and as usual we recommend that you update as soon as convenient.

Date Picker

Date Picker on Mac

The update includes quite a number of significant enhancements, including:

  • Improved Build capability to better handle serial and batch/lot numbers.
  • Optional date picker, for easier date selection (see tips du jour).
  • Improved handling of changes in transactions imported from Load Bank Statement.
  • Option to keep new modal windows on same screen (Windows only).
  • Folder creation/reveal capabilites (see Simple Document Management below).

For more information see the MoneyWorks 9.1 change notes.

macOS Ventura

Ventura, the next revision of the macOS, is expected to be available in October. As usual Apple have made some breaking changes, so we strongly advise updating to MoneyWorks 9.1 before you install Ventura. This is particularly important if you are intending to upgrade a Mac hosting the MoneyWorks Datacentre server, as Ventura breaks the MoneyWorks updater (you will need to reinstall Datacentre in this case).

Simple Document Management

Folder Button

If you are an engineer, accountant, manufacturer or similar you might have a folder of files that pertain to a particular product, client, job or similar. Enhancements in MoneyWorks 9.1 allow you to open such a folder when you are looking at a customer/product/job etc in MoneyWorks. For example, when looking at a product record, you can just click a button to open the folder containing the product drawings, costings, specifications, notes and whatever other information you have stored. For more information on this, see Simple Document Management

Remote Warehousing

Stocktake on an iPhone

Stocktake on an iPhone.

With MoneyWorks 9.1 we have also significantly enhanced the warehousing capabilities in MoneyWorks, allowing the following to be done from an iPhone/iPad (but not, before you ask, Android).

  • Inwards Goods: Receipting inwards goods.
  • Outwards Goods: Picking outwards goods.
  • Stock Requisition: Requisition items for a job.
  • Item Transfers: To a different stock location.
  • Quick Stock Take: For specified items only at a location.
  • Stock Take: Full stock take at a location.

If your items are barcoded you can use the camera on the device as a scanner. Serial and batch/lot numbers are fully supported.

Remote Warehousing will be available in late October as a MoneyWorks Service, and will use an enhanced version of MoneyWorks Go. If you want additional information or to be advised when it is available please email info@cognito.co.nz.

MoneyWorks Customisations

The customisation abilities of MoneyWorks allow you to do much more with MoneyWorks than just the listed feature set (for example the Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce services are essentially just customisations that we have made available as MoneyWorks Services). Here are some examples of customisations implemented by MoneyWorks users that we are aware of:

  • Price Books: Extending the MoneyWorks pricing levels to handle special pricing requirements. For example specific prices/discounts for products for a particular customer (or category of customer), often for a limited date range and/or minimum purchase quantities.
  • Manufacturing and Work Orders: Addition of work orders to the standard MoneyWorks lists. Work orders are essentially bills of material for bespoke manufacturing, allowing the costing, scheduling and management of production work orders. The final step of the work order management is the creating of the finished stock in MoneyWorks based on the actual items used in production (which can vary from the original plan).
  • Purchase Order Consolidation: Allowing multiple purchase orders to be combined into one invoice, which generally corresponds to one or more containers being shipped from that supplier.
  • Contract management: For builders, a single MoneyWorks screen to manage contracts, including variations. Budgets and actual costs are displayed in a single management window.
  • Weighbridge recording: When trucks, generally with scoria or similar, are weighed on the company weighbridge, the weight and job information is automatically recorded in MoneyWorks for customer billing.
  • Trucking:Taking information from MyTrucking.com and automatically generating invoices based on a special pricebook in MoneyWorks that caters for type of vehicle and container, kilometres/zones travelled, fuel surcharges and specific customer charges/discounts.
  • EDI:Receiving and/or sending transactions such as invoices or orders in electronic format. EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is a term, not a standard, so companies have developed their own formats, each of which must be specially catered for. MoneyWorks does of course support the international PEPPOL standard for eInvoicing in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK.

If customisations such as these might be useful to your organisation, or you have bottlenecks that you think could be overcome by some sort of automated process, please contact us.

Enhanced Build Command

In MoneyWorks 9.1 we have enhanced the Build command so it better handles components with serial or batch/lot numbers, as well as finished goods that may have serial/batch numbers. Essentially when you build an item and MoneyWorks detects that the item or its components require serial/batch numbers, the items are displayed in the Build window and the serial/batch numbers can be entered directly. Components will have serial/batch numbers already recorded in MoneyWorks (these show in red), finished goods will need new serial/batch numbers to be allocated (these show in blue).

For example, the item “SERIALISEDITEM” requires a serial number. It has a bill of materials that includes (amongst other components) three SER2 (each of which will have serial numbers) and 1.5 of item BATCH (which has a batch number). If we are building two of these we would have the following enhanced Build screen:

Build with serial numbers

Serial and batch number entry on enhanced build.

Tips du Jour

Quick date entry: A quick way to type a date that falls in the current month is to just type the day number. When you tab out, MoneyWorks will fill in the month and year for you. If the date is in a different month in the same calendar year, enter day/month (or month/day if you are using American dates), and tabbing out will fill in the current year. This works with and without the date picker.

Date Picker If you prefer not to use the Date Picker, turn it off in Edit>MoneyWorks Preferences>General. MoneyWorks Preferences are specific to each computer, so turning this off will not affect other users.

Windowing Issues: If your windows get too wide for your screen (this can happen when, for example, you have a lot of custom columns and move to a smaller screen) you can reset them as outlined in this article. Also for Windows users, MoneyWorks 9.1 has an option “Always open new windows on the main screen” under the Windows menu (so all new windows and alerts will be together on the screen in which the MoneyWorks frame window is located).

Posted in News | Comments Off on Newsletter October 2022

Newsletter March 2022

2022 is something of a milestone year for us, as February marked thirty years since the first release of MoneyWorks. Just for fun we’ve included some screen shots from the (almost) first version.

What’s in this newsletter

Remembering MoneyWorks 1.0.2

Today’s MoneyWorks is a vastly different product to the original, with features that were inconceivable “back in the day”. But it is built on the very solid architecture and foundations of the original MoneyWorks 1.0, which shipped on a single 420K floppy disk in February 1992. MoneyWorks 1.0 was for Mac only, Windows 95 being but a twinkle in Bill Gates’s eye. PC users had to wait until 1998 and MoneyWorks 2.1 before they could use MoneyWorks (and oddly, there are still people out there happily using MoneyWorks 2.1 on Windows!).

Below is a brief retrospective overview of MoneyWorks 1.0.2, which, at the risk of sounding like David Attenborough, is the oldest extant version that we know of. These are courtesy of Andrew from Capistrano Beach in California who, somewhat incredibly, has a functioning Mac SE from the late 1980’s.

MoneyWorks 1 finder view

The MoneyWorks 1 disk in the Finder (the Mac SE is running System 6.0.8). It is astonishing how small the screens were on the original Macs.

MoneyWorks 1 transaction list

The original MoneyWorks transaction list was a representation of a filing cabinet. Unfortunately the screen shot has no transactions, but the basic metaphor has been used ever since.

MoneyWorks 1 names list

The names list from the sample tutorial file, which was based on a hypothetical school. Schools were a big user of MoneyWorks (and indeed, still are).

MoneyWorks 1 customer/supplier entry screen

The original entry window for customers and suppliers. Now there are many more fields and options (email for example didn’t exist in 1992), which are organised over different tabbed panels.

MoneyWorks 1 preferences

The preferences window. Life was simpler in 1992!

MoneyWorks 1 account enquiry

The account enquiry screen. Presumably it didn’t have drill down capability in those days.

Announcing MoneyWorks 9.0.8

The current MoneyWorks version is the just released 9.0.8, and as usual we recommend that you update as soon as convenient. For more information see the change notes.

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Support for Multi-Jurisdiction Tax Filing

With the explosion in on-line sales over the last few years, many countries are requiring that you (as a supplier) collect and pay GST/VAT for on-line sales into their country, even though you might have no physical presence there. For example, you must register for Australian GST if your sales into Australia exceed $AU75,000 per annum (for New Zealand the threshold is $NZ60,000).

In MoneyWorks 9.0.8 we have made managing offshore GST/VAT handling much easier. Offshore businesses selling into Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Singapore and the UK can use the built-in MoneyWorks Guide forms to prepare their returns, and for the last three of those countries, the returns can be submitted direct to the tax authorities using the MoneyWorks electronic GST/VAT filing. For more details see Paying GST/VAT in Multiple Countries.

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Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce support

If you are operating a web store based on one of these platforms, a direct connection from MoneyWorks Gold/Datacentre is now available as a MoneyWorks Service. In essence, you just click a button in MoneyWorks to download your latest sales/orders. For more information see the notes on Shopify, BigCommerce and WooCommerce.

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Singapore on-line GST filing

We’ve been working with IRAS over the last few months to bring on-line submission of GST Returns (F5, F7 and F8) to MoneyWorks. This is part of their ASR+ Digital Products initiative. We anticipate this will be ready in late April, once it has gone through the final step of IRAS’s very rigorous approval process. For information on how this works see Singapore On-Line Filing.

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It’s time to reinstall TeamViewer QuickSupport

If you have used our telephone support, you will be aware that during calls we use TeamViewer to access your screen. A problem we are encountering is that many of you are using ancient versions of TeamViewer, and these will shortly stop working.

The next time you need to use Teamviewer, start it in the normal manner by choosing Help>User TeamViewer QuickSupport. In the confirmation dialog box that opens, hold down option key (Mac) or the shift key (Windows) and click on the “Use TeamViewer” button. You will then be invited to install the newest version (after the installation is done, you need to choose Help>Use TeamViewer QuickSupport again to start the session).

Some tips on using TeamViewer

  • When you first run TeamViewer on a Mac you will need to give it access to Screen Recording and Accessibility (it will prompt you, but you may need to go into System Preferences>Security & Privacy>Privacy and specifically enable these for TeamViewer).
  • Always start TeamViewer before you phone, as this will save you money (and us time).
  • When you give the password, please “describe” the letters (e.g. “f for freddy”, “s for sally”). Often we cannot distinguish the spoken letters, especially if the line is a bit noisy.

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Supported Mail Clients on Mac

You can send emails from MoneyWorks using your local mail client only if the client supports Mac automation. These are the supported clients:

  • Apple Mail
  • Microsoft Outlook 16 (2022) (not in “New Outlook” mode — this mode does not support automation)
  • Microsoft Outlook 2016
  • Microsoft Outlook 2011

Unfortunately Thunderbird and “New Outlook” cannot be supported as they have no provision for automation.

Top

End of Financial Year

With the end of the financial year approaching in a number of jurisdictions it might be timely to review this resource topic: What should I do at the End of Financial Year?.

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Tips du Jour

If you are operating on a computer with more than one screen, you can occasionally “lose” a window–you open a Window and nothing appears to happen. This is usually caused by some physical reconfiguration of your screens, so MoneyWorks is opening the window on a screen in the last place you left it, but that screen is no longer there. Depending on the type of window, here’s how to fix it:

  • If the window is non-modal (so you can still access the menu bar at the top of the screen), choose Window>Cascade Windows, and all open windows should appear cascading down your screen.
  • If the window is modal you will not be able to access the menu bar. Instead press the escape key (esc) on your keyboard to close the window (it is still open somewhere, but you just can’t see it). Then hold down the shift and ctrl keys and re-open the window, which should open it in the default position on your main screen.

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Posted in News | Comments Off on Newsletter March 2022

Newsletter December 2021

After more than 100 days of lockdown here in Auckland we’ll be very happy to see the end of 2021. At least we are now coming into summer, and can look forward to a much needed summer holiday. As is usual over the holiday period, our support services will be operating on reduced capacity (see Holiday Support).

The MoneyWorks Team would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy and safe Christmas, and to thank you for your support over what has been a very long year.

What’s in this newsletter

MoneyWorks 9.0.7

The current MoneyWorks version is the just released 9.0.7. This is primarily a bug fix, and our recommendation is that you update as soon as convenient. The more information see the change notes.

New things you may have missed

Since the release of MoneyWorks 9 over six months ago, we have been progessively adding new features and capabilities. Here are some that you may have missed:

Drag and drop budgeting import

You can now drag and drop a suitably structured text file onto a cell in the budget editor to import a budget. The first period for the budget is determined by the column into which the text file is dropped, and the type of budget (A or B) is determined by the current budget being displayed. The text file must be tab delimited and have the account code in the first column, followed by columns of budget values (the number of these determines the number of periods of budget information). As of version 9.0.7, the text file can contain blank lines. You can create such a text file by copying a block of cells out of Excel or Numbers and pasting them into a new NotePad or TextEdit document.

Profit and Loss for Date Range Report

This report will generate a profit and loss report based on transactions dated in the nominated date range, allowing you to report on, for example, any seven day interval. The report was added primarily to assist businesses applying for Covid relief funding where it is necessary to compare revenue and/or profitability over some arbitrary time intervals.

Tax by Currency Report

Use this audit report if you are handling GST or VAT in multiple currencies or jurisdictions. The report summarises the GST/VAT paid and received by tax code and currency, allowing you to both check the GST/VAT coding, and also extract the necessary figures for filing GST/VAT in other jurisdictions. The report can be run for nominated tax cycles or a nominated period range (and for the latter, you can specify a cash/payments basis).

As an example, assume you are based in New Zealand and pay GST every two months on an invoice basis. However you also sell into Australia and need to submit GST every three months on a cash basis. You would continue to handle New Zealand using the GST Report. For Australia you would run the Tax by Currency report with the periods set for the required three months and the Cash Basis option on. The GST codes used for Australia, along with the GST Paid and Received over the time interval, will be listed in the report.

MoneyWorks doesn’t use Log4j

You may have read about the recently discovered “Log4j” vulnerability, which, according to cyber security experts, is one of the most serious remote execution exploits ever discovered, affecting a huge number of internet servers around the world. We’ve been getting questions from concerned IT professionals wanting to know if MoneyWorks is vulnerable. MoneyWorks doesn’t use Log4j, so rest assured it has no exposure to this exploit. We’ve also checked our worldwide web properties to make sure they are not vulnerable.

Holiday Support

As previously alluded to, most of the MoneyWorks support and admin team will be taking a much needed break over the holiday period. “Taking a break” at Christmas in New Zealand means beaches, barbeques, boats, eating far too much, and generally relaxing.

Phone support will be unavailable after 4:00pm 23rd December NZDT, and will resume on 10th January. Support will be available by emailing support@cognito.co.nz, but with a longer turn around time than normal.

Tips for email support

  1. Be sure to include details of the MoneyWorks version you are using (e.g. MoneyWorks Express 9.0.5, MoneyWorks Now), as well as the version of your operating system (e.g. Windows 10, macOS Monterey).
  2. Outline what the problem is, and if you are getting an error message of some sort, tell us exactly what it says.
  3. Where appropriate include a screen shot or two. For details on making screenshots see the March 2019 Newsletter.
  4. Use a descriptive subject line — support tickets in a queue with a subject of “Help” or “MoneyWorks question” are not very informative, and as such are less likely to get the timely attention of the right person.
  5. Tell us your company name in case we need to verify your details.

Wishing you a safe and healthy festive season
The MoneyWorks Team

Posted in News | Comments Off on Newsletter December 2021

Introducing MoneyWorks 9 – May 2021

MoneyWorks 9 is now available. This is a major upgrade from MoneyWorks 8, with significant new features and capabilities. The remainder of this newsletter contains important information about MoneyWorks 9:

What’s New in MoneyWorks 9

As usual, quite a bit!

There are some “big ticket” items like a full asset register in MoneyWorks Gold, and smaller productivity improvements like being able to search in the print preview, or insert a line anywhere into a transaction instead of just at the end. Some of the highlights are:

  • Asset Register: Fully integrated asset register for MoneyWorks Gold/Datacentre.
  • Bank Feeds: Automatic loading of the latest bank transactions for nominated bank accounts (optional service).
  • Invoice/Order Automation: Automatic entry of pdf invoices received from your suppliers (or purchase orders from your customers) without the need to rekey (optional service).
  • e-Invoicing: In supported jurisdictions, electronic issuing and receipt of invoices based on the PEPPOL standard (optional service).
  • Universal Binary: Runs natively on newest Macs with Apple M1 processors. Up to twice as fast as running on an Intel CPU
  • 64 bit Gold and Datacentre for Windows: Up to 15-30% faster than the 32-bit version.

For more information on what’s new, please visit cognito.co.nz/v9/

Software Maintenance

With MoneyWorks 9 we are moving away from large upgrades, and, in keeping with industry norms, will be providing more frequent and smaller updates. This will enable faster development and deployment, will be far less disruptive for MoneyWorks users, and has worked extremely well for MoneyWorks Datacentre users over the last ten years.

To cover the costs of future development, we are introducing an optional annual software maintenance fee. When you get MoneyWorks 9 (either through an upgrade or a purchase), the price includes the first twelve months of software maintenance. After this, you will be asked to renew your software maintenance for another twelve months (at a rate of just 1% per month of the retail value for Gold and Express). If you elect not to pay the maintenance, your MoneyWorks will keep working fine, but you will not be able to use a later version until you catch up with your maintenance (which will keep accruing).

MoneyWorks 9 System Requirements

The new system requirements for MoneyWorks 9 are:

    Mac: macOS 10.12.6 (Sierra) or later
    Win: Windows 7 or later. MoneyWorks Datacentre requires 64 bit (clients can be 32 or 64 bit).

MoneyWorks Services

We have extended the architecture of MoneyWorks Gold, Express and Cashbook to allow for MoneyWorks Services. These are optional modules that can be incorporated into specific MoneyWorks 9 data files, and, if enabled for a document, are installed automatically. These services are often provided by a third party, so there will normally some sort of charge. Services introduced with MoneyWorks 9 include bank feeds, e-invoicing and invoice automation. More are planned, and when introduced you can elect to use them or not. Services are managed under the new File>Manage Services menu.

Upgrade Pricing

For those who purchased a new version of MoneyWorks within the last twelve months we are offering a free upgrade provided you upgrade before the anniversary of your purchase. Once you upgrade, you will be prompted for the software maintenance on the anniversary of your purchase (in effect, we have given you twelve months of software maintenance).

The current upgrade pricing from MoneyWorks 8 is shown below (you can still upgrade if you are using MoneyWorks 6 or MoneyWorks 7). These prices will increase over time to reflect the accrued maintenance.

MoneyWorks 9 Upgrade Pricing

Note that at this time you can also move up a level from Express to Gold, or from Gold to multi-user Datacentre, at special discount pricing.

To upgrade, or to view upgrade options and pricing, click the Upgrade button on the MoneyWorks website.

MoneyWorks Subscriptions

If you have a current subscription to MoneyWorks Gold, Express or Cashbook, just go to Help>Software Updates to upgrade your MoneyWorks. You do not need a new serial number.

If you have a subscription to MoneyWorks Datacentre follow the instructions below with your current serial number (subscription Datacentres have a serial number starting with “xRD”, where “x” is your country designator).

MoneyWorks Now

MoneyWorks Now users will receive the upgrade automatically. The MoneyWorks Now server upgrades are being done progressively over the next few weeks.

Upgrading a MoneyWorks Datacentre

For MoneyWorks Datacentre users who are on an annual software maintenance plan, the upgrade is included as part of this. New Datacentre serial numbers are being sent by separate email to these Datacentre users, along with more detailed upgrade instructions. In brief, once the serial number is received:

  1. Enter the new serial number into the MoneyWorks Datacentre console
    Ignore the yellow warning and user keys at this stage
  2. Click the Check Now button (under the Updates tab)
    Datacentre should detect and download/install the new version
  3. When the Datacentre restarts, enter any additional user keys if appropriate
  4. If you are upgrading from Datacentre 7 you will need to upgrade your data files. Click on the Folders tab in the Datacentre Console, then click the Upgrade Files to V9 button.
    The MoneyWorks 7 files will be converted to MoneyWorks 9 (this may take a few minutes).

There is no need to update your MoneyWorks 8 data files — they will be automatically updated next time you connect to them. Datacentre clients will be updated as per normal when they next connect.

Important Note for UK Users on MTD

HMRC has mandated changes in the submission of on-line VAT reports, purportedly to reduce fraud. These are implemented in MoneyWorks 9, and UK users (or anyone with a UK entity that uses MTD) need to upgrade before July to remain compliant.

Free Bank Feeds Trial

MoneyWorks 9 includes one month’s free trial of the new bank feeds feature for New Zealand users. To try this;

  1. Choose Command>Load Bank Statement
  2. Set the Bank popup menu to the bank account you want to load
  3. If this is the first time you have used Load Bank Statement, set the Default accounts
  4. Set the Source pop-up menu to Bank Feeds and click the Set up Bank Feeds button
    A warning will be displayed about pricing. Ignore this, as you will only be required to pay a month after your trial starts, and if you elect to continue with the service.
  5. Click Register
    The Bank Feeds Account window will be displayed. This lists your existing feeds.
  6. Click Link New Account, then sign up to the service by following the instruction on screen
  7. Once you have linked the bank account, check the date range and click Fetch Transactions
    Bank transactions in the date range will be loaded (note that you cannot go more than six months back).

If you decide you want to continue with Bank Feeds, choose File>Manage Services and register your file and credit card details. This will be charged quarterly in advance when the trial period is over.

For more detailed instructions see the Bank Feeds section in the MoneyWorks 9 Manual.

Tips du Jour

Search in Preview

Search in Preview

Looking for a number or text in a previewed report? Just type it into the Search box in the top right of the preview window, and all occurences of that text will be highlight. Press Ctrl/Cmd-G to move to the next occurence.

Inserting a transaction line

New line icon

Clicking on the New line icon has always appended a line when entering a transaction. If you hold down the Shift key and click the New line icon, a line will be inserted above the current line you are on.

Don’t forget that you can also move lines up and down by holding down the Shift+Ctrl (Windows) or the Option key (Mac) and dragging the line.


Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Introducing MoneyWorks 9 – May 2021