FarmBooks 4.0.7.2 Release Notes

Software Upgrade to This Version Reminder

If you have previously upgraded to version 4.0.6.8 or greater, then you can download this version from the help menu by selecting the option "Download Software Update". If you have a version prior to 4.0.7.1, then contact support to obtain this version of the update.

General Changes to the Application

Confirm Application Close
Clicking on the close button (red x in the upper right corner) will ask "Exit FarmBooks Application?". This will give you a chance to abort the exit if you accidently pressed that button when the farm database is open otherwise you will not see the message.

Offsite Backup
This release primary addresses the issue where the offsite backup failed on January 20, 2022 when the FTP server settings were changed to include additional security features that were not supported in the FTP components of FarmBooks. The FTP features were upgraded in this release to support the new security of the server.

Email Changes
The email component of FarmBooks was updated to handle new SMTP security features. Gmail will no longer support "less secure apps" as of May 30, 2022 as notified by Google. Less secure apps can make it easier for hackers to get in to your email account, so blocking sign-ins from these apps helps keep your account safe.

It is now recommended to use an App Password for Gmail. An App password is a 16-digit passcode that gives a non-Google app or device permission to access your Google Account. In the case of FarmBooks, you could use your Gmail Account for sending email in invoicing. See Gmail's help for assistance in configuring this feature via "Manage your Google Account" and selecting "Security" and look for "App Password".

Report Changes
The ATI lookup window for the report center was updated. Using the mouse to move between the category and then selecting an ATI code would not always enable the apply button. It generally required selecting another ATI code before returning back to the desired ATI code.

See the report section below.

Website Links Updated
Help Menu->Order Checks Online

Dynamics our partner that provide FarmBooks compatible checks and windowed envelopes has updated their URL to access their website. https://www.dswebtoprint.com/categories/sanders-software Windowed Envelopes expanded to include recommended choices for invoicing. The check stock envelope height was about 1/4" short for 11" standard paper for invoicing.

Batch Entry Changes

Add New Vendor on Prompt
Batch entry has been updated to prompt on new vendors asking if this is a one-time vendor or to add for future use as in the main application doing check or deposit entry.

On Vendor Change use memorized ATIGD List
After importing data from a financial institution, if it was a manually written check or deposit, the payee description is typically set to a description as CHECK or DEPOSIT. The payee naming rules do not allow you to define a classification of these lines. In prior versions, changing an import description to a vendor that had a memorized ATIGD list would not pull in the list of account codes. This feature was restricted to only new transactions being manually entered into the batch. This restriction has been removed. This will greatly speed up the classification of imported data where users do not use a debit or credit card.

Date Import Issue
Import files with validate dates within double quotes would not be correctly set and would result in a null date on each transaction line which displays as 12/31/1899.

Inventory Changes

Quick Navigation between Beginning / Ending Values without Closing and Reopening Form
A new inventory values dropdown list allows you to jump between beginning and ending inventory lists and vice versa without closing and reopening the window from inventory menu beginning or ending.

Invoicing Changes

Forms Address Adjusted for Windowed Envelopes
All the forms (invoice, estimates, credit memos, finance change invoices, and statements) were updated to allow the address to show up correctly in the windowed envelops for FarmBooks compatible checks.

It should be noted that the original design of the remitter address area for forms was to use either the remitter text or Company Logo but not both. However, it is possible if you change your logo size to allow both to be used at the same time. If you discover that the logo is covering your remitter text, than one option is change your logo size or incorporate your address text as part of your logo and then blank out the remitter information from the invoice option section of invoice preferences.

To order these envelops, go to the “Help” menu and select "Order Checks Online". Also, the boxing of the bill-to and ship-to addresses for invoicing and the "To" address boxing was removed for the use of windowed envelopes. It is recommended to buy form #1 – SS for invoice and statements and form SS DW-84 for checks.

Forms Footer Message
Also, if you had a very large foot message defined for the any of the forms, it would overwrite a portion of the "Total" label for the form. Now, it will word wrap to the next line before overwriting the label.

Receive Payment Help
The help button had a new paragraph added to explain the "Overpayment Accounting" as follows:

The overpayment amount will be recorded against the account receivable ATIG 2065. The system will automatically create an accounts receivable external code if the description "Invoicing Unapplied Payment" does not exist and associate that code with the ATIG.

Later when the "Unapplied Payment" is applied as a credit to a future invoice, the amount will be removed from accounts receivable via ATIG 1065 with the same external code used for the "Invoicing Unapplied Payment". This can be seen in the Credit Analysis report as a "Payment" or "Received" amount with the balance being zero once the credit is applied.

New Farm

When creating a new farm database in version 4.0.7.1 and then opening it, it required an immediate conversion. The files in the installer have been updated to address the issue.

New Fiscal Year Roll-Over

The new fiscal year process was not completely populating all the necessary fields for the new beginning Loan/Receivables balance records during the new fiscal year process. It impacted both "Complete All Year-End Task" and the "Advanced Steps->Step 1 New Fiscal Year". Running the data analysis process would correct the data. To run the data analysis, go to the detail register and press the "Analyze..." button along the top of that tab.

The Credit Analysis report was NOT impacted by this missing data. However, you could see the effects from the balances menu->Loans or Receivable grid display not including the value of the beginning balance column in the calculation of the current balance. Generally, this resulted in a blank or negative number in the current balance column of the grid.

FarmBooks Offsite Backup

When trying to do an offsite backup file transfer to the offsite location or test the FTP connectivity, it would fail. You would receive an error stating that there was a "Control channel transfer error". The FTP server settings were changed to include additional security features that were not supported in the FTP components of FarmBooks. The FTP features were upgraded in this release to support the new security of the server.

Loan / Receivable Grid Display

After the year-end processing for the new fiscal year, the current balance in the grid would be blank or negative for the new fiscal year. It was not including the beginning balance in the calculation of the current balance. You can run the data analysis process to correct the issue. To run the data analysis, go to the detail register and press the “Analyze…” button along the top of that tab.

Editing an Existing Transaction with a Reconcile Status

If you edited an existing transaction with a reconcile status and then entered a new transaction via selecting the "New" button for (checks, paycheck, or deposits) on the entry tab without leaving the tab, it would result in creating the new transaction with the previous reconciliation status and not defaulting to the preference option. Editing an existing transaction will still preserve the reconcile status as in the past.

Reconcile

A help button was added to the right of the statement balance. Press the button to see the formula used to calculate the statement balance. Also, it shows the current values used to calculate the statement balance.

Year-End Refresh Option

Refresh Budgets from the Prior Year
This new option was added to the Year-End menu for "Refresh Current Year" choices. This will allow users to refresh current budget amounts from the prior year based on either "actual transaction values" or "defined budget values". Using actual values from the prior year will allow you to use the project cash flow and flow of funds reports to compare the current year to last year. All current year budgets are ERASED before bring values from the prior year.

Report Changes

Balance Sheeting Ending Values
The Schedule 1 section of the report was including values from prior years for the "As of date" specified in the Non-Farm Asset section of the schedule 1 report. If you do not define ending values for either ATIG 5012 or 5018, then the report was not impacted and would display the correct totals. Now, that report section for Non-Farm Assets "as of date" is restricted to just the current fiscal period.

Income Statement
The Ending or Beginning (Operating or Market) value in the summary line of the Inventory, Accrued Income / Expense, and Depreciation Adjustments Section of the report would result incorrect totals if you used an ATIG code that had D-Codes defined in the account code list. This has been corrected and will show the correct value. This issue was introduced when some of the farm account codes were expanded to include D-codes and would not have been noticed unless an ATIG code was used that had the new D-Codes.

Inventory Detail Listing
The inventory listing would show several repeating g-code descriptions when an ATIG code had a D-code defined. The totals on the report were not impacted by these repeating extra lines on the report. This has been corrected and will not include the extra lines.

Payroll Analysis - All employees or Single Employee
If a farm payroll paid an employee’s FICA (Social Security and Medicare) withholdings instead of deducting it from their paycheck, the company paid amount was not included in the (Box 1) W-2 Wages total for the report. This has now been included in total for farm payroll. The company paid FICA amount was already included in the lines above the W-2 Totals line.

State Tax Calculations

Two new tables have been added to the control folder that will drive the state withholding calculations for payroll. If a rule is not defined for the state, than it will calculate the same as it did since the inception of the program. The employee’s state determines which state rules apply for the tax calculation. Since the employee state is not a required field and if it is not defined for the employee, than the state is used from the farm number of the opened database. There are two new state exemption types. One is by state filing status and the other is based on an allowance range. The existing state exemption amount per individual per allowance for a single value was unchanged. Hence, multiple state exemption amounts are now supported. The new control tables are used to support and drive multiple state deduction amounts.

If you find that the state calculation is not generating the correct withhold amount, contact support to have a calculation rule added for your state.

Iowa
Iowa has two deductions (federal withholding and a lookup amount based on an allowance range) to reduce a person’s gross pay to determine the state taxable income amount. Then the rate amount is looked up and calculated from an annualized table to get the withholding amount per pay period. This amount is deduced by a final deduction amount per allowance before obtaining the final state withholding amount. This calculation is now supported by the rule driven control tables.