 March 31, 2002 Keystone Systems, Inc. Volume 2002 Number 1 140 South Arthur, Suite 515, P.O. Box 206, Spokane, Washington 99210 Sales: (888) 863-9833 Fax: (509) 535-0520 Support: (888) 863-9797 Web Site: www.Trucking-Software.com E-mail: sales@KeystoneTruckSoftware.com |
| KEYSTONE PROVES TO BE MORE "INNOVATIVE" |
 Yes. It is true. Occasionally clients do leave Keystone Systems for another software package! Usually it is because our client was purchased or merged with a larger
company that had a major investment in a "larger" package. In the past five years, two clients left for larger, more
expensive packages by choice, but then came back to Keystone. In this newsletter and the next we will explore their experiences and impressions. |
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"We left because Innovative offered support for EDI and Qualcomm [features that Keystone now also offers]," says Ron Garner, President of Garner Trucking, Inc. "It was a fine package, but after we got out of the business and back in, that package was too expensive for us to consider. Frankly, now that we are back with Keystone, it does everything that Innovative did for us! One problem we had with the other package was that we could not use their fuel tax and IFTA reports. We had to do them manually. Among other things, they could not handle Oregon. Keystone is the only package I know of that properly handles Oregon and prints the required reports." Bookkeeper Joann Baldauf also notes that she and the drivers like the fact that in Keystone, driver reserve balances are shown on driver settlement reports even if there is no change. This improves the audit trail for her and reduces issues of trust for the drivers. Other customers and prospects, when comparing Keystone to Innovative, comment that our flow of data is much better, the program is more modern and is easier to set up and use. The quality of Keystone's accounting functions often comes up in comparisons. A former Innovative sales representative recently commented to us that many Innovative clients use third-party accounting packages because "that is not their strong suit." While Innovative is definitely a "dispatch-centric" package, some users have found their dispatch difficult to set up initially and that it is slow to create and maintain a load. A client in Idaho that was purchased by a larger company using Innovative complained that the dispatch function was so much more cumbersome than Keystone that their dispatchers no longer had the time to seek out partial loads to fill the back of trailers. "Often, that used to represent the profit for the load," complained the office manager for that company. "The new owners did not get a good deal when they forced us to stop using Keystone!" |
| NOT "INTUITIVE" FOR TRUCKING |
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On the other end of the "size" scale, Garner also tried using Intuit's QuickBooks for about nine months before coming back to Keystone. "It was a hassle because the software did not understand trucking. We had to learn Excel and work with that for fuel tax, mileages, and settlements. That took extra time to learn and use, plus added the risk of errors and more time to reconcile various numbers." In our next quarterly newsletter, we will discuss how Keystone was able to "lift a Scottish cloud" for one company's dispatchers. |
| LOCAL TAXES NOW EASIER TO WITHHOLD AND REPORT |
 We have recently added several clients who live in areas that withhold city, county and/or school district taxes from employee paychecks. It is very important that these deductions are set up correctly in the Master Pay/Deduct Table and that other deductions, such as 401(k)'s, 125(b)'s and Simple IRA's, that affect taxable amounts are also correct. For example, in Ohio, a 125(b) deduction decreases the taxable amount for federal and FICA taxes, but not local taxes. |
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To find out more about setting up local tax deductions and how they effect the individual paychecks and the W-2's, go to the Master Pay/Deduct Table and press F1 for the help notes. If you are deducting local taxes, now is a good time to check your 2002 W-2's to make sure you have the deductions set up correctly. |
| KEYSTONE ANNOUNCES SUPPORT FOR ALK'S PC*MILER / STREETS 4.0 |
 Keystone Systems has announced a new option for its popular Keystone Truck Software package, a logistics and accounting package for small to medium-sized trucking companies. The new interface to ALK's PC*Miler/ Streets 4.0 provides full utilization of the premier commercial street-level routing and mileage software product. |
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Keystone, an ALK dealer for over ten years, has long supported ALK's PC*Miler products and recently stepped up to the "Streets" version. Both the standard and Streets interfaces provide automatic bill rating miles from the load picks and drops, driver pay miles and fuel tax miles. Trip miles automatically pick up the deadhead miles from the end of the truck's last trip. The PC*Miler/ Streets option takes that down to the physical address level for those customers requiring that level of detail, including truck-usable, dock-to-dock, driving instructions and mileage calculations. Keystone also uses the ALK database to provide instant verification of city, state and zip for all addresses used throughout the system, including Pick/Drops, Customers, and Vendors. Keystone Systems has been providing logistics and accounting solutions to the trucking industry since 1977, making it a pioneer in PC-based software for this market. For more information on the PC*Miler/ Streets interface or other offerings, contact Chris Brandvold at 1-888-863-9833, chrisb@KeystoneTruckSoftware.com, or see our web site at www.Trucking-Software.com . |
| EMPLOYEE THEFT |
 Yes, unfortunately, employee theft does happen. In our 25 years in the software industry, we are aware of it happening to six of our clients! While this may not seem like a high number of incidents, it's still a disturbing situation. Owners can guard against employee theft by taking a few basic precautions: |
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1) Do not have the same person handling the money, creating invoices and entering the deposits in the computer. This separation of duties can be hard to achieve in a small company, but at the very least, have one person who opens the mail and deposits the checks and another person enter the deposits in the computer. 2) Do not have the same person who enters and prints Accounts Payable and Payroll checks sign the checks or do the monthly bank reconciliation. The bank reconciliation is done only once a month and does not take that much time to do. This is a good review of all the checks that have been written along with a comparison of the checks that have been recorded in the system. 3) Use the Security features of the Keystone software to restrict access to sensitive areas. As added precaution, owners should audit the following reports each month on a timely basis: 1) Review all the Accounts Receivable closing reports. You should especially make sure that the deposit report balances with what was actually deposited in the bank. 2) Review the Accounts Receivable Aging Report. Verify that the outstanding amounts are reasonable. You should be able to back up all outstanding balances with actual invoices. Make sure there are no outstanding balances for "dummy" accounts or any balances that need to be "reconciled later." 3) Review the Bank Reconciliation report. Look for any adjustments made to make the balances match. 4) Review the Accounts Payable closing reports. Pay attention to each general ledger account. Are the amounts reasonable? Are you paying someone's VISA bill? Are you collecting all the advances back from drivers? 5) Review the Payroll closing reports. Are employee advances being repaid? Is the pay rate or salary amount correct for every employee? Do medical insurance premiums get withheld as needed? 6) Audit your Financial Statements. All accounts should have a balance that is verifiable and understandable. Suspense accounts should not have a balance unless a valid reason exists. The balances in Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable should match the appropriate aging reports for the same date. The balance in the cash or checking account should match the bank reconciliation. The amount recorded for the value of your fleet should reflect the actual value. The balance for notes payable should reflect the actual amount outstanding according to the lending institution. A large balance for miscellaneous expenses should be verified because expenses should normally be allocated to specific expense accounts. Large balances for expenses such as fuel or repairs should be verified to make sure you are receiving reimbursement from owner/operators. Follow these few basic rules and you could save yourself a year or two of profits! |
| SECOND QUARTER 2002 HOLIDAYS |
.gif) May 27 - Memorial Day |