AuditWare News

CPE OFFERINGS EXPANDED THIS YEAR

3/24/17 Our AuditWare Annual Update seminar has been expanded from 4 to 8 CPE hours and made more comprehensive in 2017; the Introduction to AuditWare seminar has been replaced with a new "Getting Start with AuditWare" offering; and brand new in-depth seminars have been added regarding use of the FieldWork Module, use of the OfficeWork and Settings Modules, and setting up the chart of accounts for all users. We have also added new, free AuditWare Demonstrations for non-users which provide no CPE credit.

Our five CPE seminars as a whole are designed to update you on the primary regulatory changes and to make "power users" out of beginning and intermediate AuditWare users. Attendance at the "Getting Started" and "Update" seminars is encouraged for users to get a comprehensive overview of AuditWare and the year's changes. Then attending the "FieldWork", "OfficeWork/Settings" and "Chart of Accounts" seminars will allow you to drill down into extensive training on more than 50 AuditWare features and settings, as well as exploring a number of tips, traps and tricks.

SEMINARS ARE COMING UP! HERE'S HOW TO REGISTER

6/18/16 Our summer series of online seminars starts on July 20th with four "Introduction to AuditWare" seminars, two for California and two for Texas, followed by five "AuditWare Annual Update" seminars starting on August 2nd, two for California and three for Texas. Click HEREfor descriptions, dates and times and an order form from our web site. The order form can be printed off and mailed to us or scanned and emailed to us at auditware@cox.net. Do it today, it won't be the same without you!

NEW SERVER HOST PROVIDES SOME SERIOUS UPGRADES

6/15/16 The company hosting our server for AuditWare Direct was recently bought out by a larger hosting company based in Scottsdale, AZ and the new company comes with some serious upgrades for us (and you!). Click HERE to see a list of new features Greg Shaw mentioned in a recent email.

OLD 800 NUMBER DISCONNECTED

6/13/16 An old toll-free number which we haven't publicized in several years has now been disconnected. It is (800) 261-2834 and was previously used for "Sales and Information." If you have been using that number to contact us for support, you will need to change to our main number, (800) 688-2333.

A LITTLE BRAGGING ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE by Paul Shaw

 6/10/16 There are three AuditWare people who can handle program support in our small company: Greg, Paul and Jackie. Usually that's enough. However, last week we had what was one of those perfect storm situations.  Greg's wife Sonja had won a trip to Hawaii for both of them through her designer job at Lazyboy, but he took along an AuditWare internet phone so he could continue to be available for support. However, that day the ship didn't have internet. Paul had unexpectedly checked into the hospital with a case of diverticulitus (perforated Colon), so wasn't available for several days. Jackie was expecting a baby which was due any day. She had a doctor's appointment so she actually took along an AuditWare internet phone without being asked so she could answer calls from the waiting room while waiting to see the doctor! All this to try to fulfill our promise that when you call for support, the call will be answered by a live person, not a machine! It may not always happen, but it's not because we don't try!

AUDITWARE WRAPS UP 2015 ONLINE SEMINARS

8/12/15 Thanks to those of you who attended one of our online seminars this summer. Also, thank you for your patience as we worked the bugs out of our online software for this first online seminar season. Your participation and feedback was much appreciated. An interesting factoid: We had the same exact number of attendees for our webinars that we had in 2013 for our live seminars. We look forward to bringing you more updates and other relevant information in the months to come.

AUDITWARE STARTS NEW MARKETING CAMPAIGN
3/11/15  We’ve started a new marketing campaign to bring AuditWare for California School Districts to auditors in California. Click here to see our latest marketing piece. If you are a user of CSD, it’s possible that you may get a call from someone interested in AuditWare. We hope you’ll put in a good word for us!

TEA ANNOUNCES NEW INDIRECT COST PROCEDURE 
2/11/15 - The Texas Education Agency (TEA) recently announced a new procedure for school districts to apply for indirect cost rates. It involves their filling out an Excel spreadsheet with numerous entries which should tie out to their 2014 year-end financial statements and uploading it to the TEA. The deadline has recently been changed to February 27th for submitting the file. Users of Audit I.S.D. for Texas School Districts (TSD) should be aware that the Indirect Cost Schedule, while inactive by default last year, is still available for generating indirect cost information. Just activate it, create it and print it off. Also, be aware that Edmis is offering a 3 hour webinar on the subject that you may want to attend. See the Indirect Cost page of TEA's web site for more information, including a powerpoint presentation with audio which can be used for training.

ONLINE AUDITWARE SEMINARS IN THE WORKS FOR 2015 
2/4/15 - We're making plans to offer online seminars this year for our clients and online demonstrations of all of our products. Current plans call for several free demonstrations of both AuditWare for California School Districts and Audit I.S.D. for Texas School Districts for non-customers beginning in May and several "AuditWare Annual Update" seminars for CPE credit beginning in June, 2015.

SINGLE AUDIT PDF SUBMISSIONS 
12/18/14 - We're doing a 180 turn on our recommendation of using PDF Factory for single audit PDF submissions to the Clearinghouse. Although PDF Factory does a beautiful job and creates searchable files, we've found that it doesn't communicate with Adobe. When a compiled pdf file gets moved into Adobe from PDF Factory, Adobe recognizes the file as searchable text, but can't search it. I suspect this is based purely on competition between the two companies. Adobe's OCR tool also refuses to convert PDF Factory because it recognizes it as already being searchable (although it won't search it). We've looked at several different companies and have come to the conclusion that it is best to stick with Adobe Acrobat 7, 8, 9, 10 or 11. Although versions 7 through 11 all appear to have the same capability, we have only tested Adobe Acrobat 9 and Adobe's latest version, Acrobat 11.

HOW TO ENSURE SCHOOL DISTRICTS GIVE YOU THE CORRECT EDP DATA FILE 
12/11/14 - Some school districts that use the EDP Classic data file use an FTP system to transfer files to their PC and then email the file to you. If they use a Binary transfer, it will corrupt your ASCII file. Have your school district make sure they transfer their ASCII files using an ASCII transfer to ensure that they are readable.

QUICK FIX FOR TSPRINT PROBLEMS IN AUDITWARE DIRECT 
11/19/13 - For AuditWare Direct Users: Having trouble with page numbers not showing up or breaks in your shading when printing? Follow this quick and simple process to clear up any problems you may be having with your TSPrint job. 1. On your own desktop, Click the Start button 2. Click "All Programs" 3. Navigate to the "TerminalWorks" folder and click on it 4. Click on "TSPrint" below the TerminalWorks folder 5. Click on the "Options" button below "TSPrint" 6. Make Sure the following boxes are checked: "Map Settings" and "Fit to Page" 7. Click the "Save" button to exit If you're still having issues, please contact us and we'll walk you through any additional troubleshooting that may be necessary.

PDF CONVERSION SOFTWARE AVAILABLE FOR SINGLE AUDIT SUBMISSIONS
THIS NEWS ITEM IS OBSOLETE. PLEASE SEE "SINGLE AUDIT SUBMISSIONS" 12/18/14 FOR EXPLANATION
9/15/13 - For those of you who do single audits, I am sure you are aware of the new compliance requirements from the Federal Audit Clearinghouse concerning single audit submissions. The Office of Management and Budget is requiring all audit submissions for single audits to have a text search capability for at least 85% of the audit report. We have found a low cost alternative to the necessity of appending individual pdf files generated by our Turnkey print command into a single file. After testing various pdf programs, we have selected pdfFactory by FinePrint as a resource to convert your audit report into one pdf file. pdfFactory can be downloaded at http://fineprint.com/pdf/ for $49.95. You can also download a trial version for free to test the program. Simply install the program and set pdfFactory as your default printer when you want to convert and combine pdf jobs from AuditWare. pdfFactory works on both land-based AuditWare and AuditWare Direct. This year we will be using pdfFactory for our pdf upload service. If you don't want the hassle of creating and/or uploading your submission to TEA, you can order our service from the PDF Services page on our website. However, if you plan on generating your own pdfs, we think you'll find pdfFactory intuitive and easy to use as a tool to quickly combine pdf jobs generated from our Turnkey Print command. You can also find their download page on our "Links to Other Sites" page at www.theaudit.com.

SEMINAR REGISTRATIONS SOAR TO FIVE YEAR HIGH 
8/13/13 - Registrations at AuditWare's Summer Seminar Series has spiked to a five year high, largely fueled by an interest in seeing AuditWare Direct, our cloud based version, demonstrated and getting a hands-on experience using it. All attendees who bring a computer are set up with a station for use during the seminar, regardless of whether their firm has purchased the upgrade yet. At this writing there are two more to go, Wednesday in Corpus Christ and Thursday in Weslaco. Come see us!

AUDITWARE FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS PRICE REDUCTION AND SALE ANNOUNCED 
6/4/13 - If you've been thinking about buying AuditWare for Local Governments (ALG) to help with your audits of cities, counties and special districts, you have a special opportunity this year! First, the price for the initial purchase of ALG has been reduced from $1495 to $1295. Second, ALG is on sale at a $300 discount ($995) until June 30, 2013. Third, we are offering initial training on ALG for the first time in several years to help you get off the ground running! See yesterday's news article below.

NEW INTRODUCTORY SEMINARS ANNOUNCED FOR TEXAS 
6/3/13 - By user request, we have added two half-day "Introduction of AuditWare" seminars in Texas, The first will be August 9, 2013 8:30-12:00 in Longview and the second in Conroe on August 13th 8:30-12:00. While both seminars will provide an introduction to the use of AuditWare's basic features for new or prospective users, the Longview seminar will emphasize school audits and the Conroe seminar will include a section on setting up the chart of accounts in AuditWare for Local Governments.

LARGEST SEMINAR REGISTRATIONS IN TEXAS AND CALIFORNIA ... SO FAR 
5/24/13 - We always encourage audit firms to send as many of their people as possible to a seminar, so we thought we would report on two firms that took us at our word. In Texas, the top firm so far is Oscar R. Gonzales, CPA and Associates (Roy Salinas), Pharr, TX, sending 6 people to our seminar in Weslaco, TX on August 15. In California, it's Wilkinson, Hadley and King LLP, El Cajon, CA sending 10 people to our El Cajon, CA seminar on July 19th. Naturally, we would be happy if any firms which haven't registered yet took over the top honor in your State!

MARKETING CAMPAIGN BEGINS IN CALIFORNIA 
5/22/13 - For the first time since introducing AuditWare for California School Districts (CSD) in 2002 we will be conducting a marketing campaign in California this Spring. A brochure has been developed which will be mailed with a letter and order form to the California school audit firms which don't use AuditWare. Our existing users are being made aware of this since you may be receiving a telephone call or two from those receiving the mailing. Thanks to Bob Wilkinson, CPA, of Wilkinson, Hadley and King LLP in El Cajon, Marla Borges, CPA, of M. Green and Company in Visalia and Scott Faeth, CPA, of Borchardt, Corona & Faeth in Fresno for providing such wonderful endorsement quotes which we were able to include in the brochure. If you have not yet responded to our recent email asking for quotes, it's not too late. We need as many as we can get to use with various phases of the marketing campaign and on our web site.

ON-LINE AUDITWARE TRAINING IN THE WORKS 
5/15/13 - We are working on a series of AuditWare software training videos which will be available free of charge on our web site. The first group of 7 or 8 videos we publish will cover the various commands on the AuditWare Access Menu, of which we have 3 or 4 in the final editing stage.

ALL 3 AUDITWARE PRODUCTS ON SALE THROUGH JUNE 30TH 
5/14/13 - The initial purchase prices for all of our products, ALG, CSD and TSD, have been temporarily reduced by $300. Through June 30, 2013, the $1295 list price has been reduced to $995. Purchasers of AuditWare for Local Governments (ALG) effectively save even more, since its list price was recently reduced from $1495 to $1295 to make it consistent with the other two products.

WHOLESALE CHANGES MADE TO AUDITOR'S REPORTS 
5/12/13 - All three of the primary auditor reports have had wholesale changes made to them based on the latest versions in PPC's Guide to Audits of Local Governments. The State compliance report for California will also be revised when we find a suitable report to use as a pattern. If California users know of such a report, please let us know. The "Questionnaire for the Letters" has also been changed to take out some outdated questions and to clarify other matters.

SEMINAR DATES AND LOCATIONS FINALIZED - 5/1/13
We have finalized the dates and locations for our series of summer seminars and will be updating our seminar page and distributing enrollment forms by mail and email soon.

2013 SUMMER SEMINARS ANNOUNCED 
4/19/13 - Plans are underway for AuditWare to present eleven full day seminars during the months of July and August this year in locations throughout California and Texas. They are tentatively scheduled July 18-26 in California and August 5-15 in Texas. A tentative schedule will be emailed to all users next weeks. It will also be posted here in AuditWare News with a schedule and registration form provided elsewhere on the web site soon.

EXAMPLE EXHIBIT SETUPS MADE AVAILABLE TO ALG USERS 
3/15/13 - Exhibit setups reflecting the implementation of GASB 63 have been made available to all users, but will be of particular help to users of AuditWare for Local Governments (ALG), who received copies by email recently. The sections of the financial statements changed or added because of GASB 63 have been marked. Select the link below to take a look: Exhibit Setup Changes for GASB 63

AUDITWARE DIRECT GETS SUPERCHARGED 
3/5/13 - AuditWare Direct gets supercharged this week. On Saturday, March 9th, AuditWare Direct will triple Its Internet speed as we continue to invest in the future of our cloud-based version of AuditWare. Since we have upgraded AuditWare Direct to work with client files on your hard drive, we felt it was important to make the back and forth transfers of your client data from the cloud to the ground as quick and seamless as possible. After March 9th, getting files off your hard drive or company server and backing up client data to your hard drive will be significantly faster!

TO ALL AUDITWARE DIRECT USERS: 
Our server upgrade will take place this Saturday from 9:00 to 11:00 am PST / 11:00 to 1:00 pm CST. AuditWare Direct will be offline for a brief time during this window for the upgrade. If you haven't made the move to AuditWare Direct yet, now is a great time to get on board. It's a quick and easy transition with no learning curve to start using AuditWare Direct!

TWO NEW CLASSES ADDED TO AUDITWARE FOR GASB 63 
2/20/13 - Two new classes have been created for use in the exhibit setups for the government-wide Statement of Net Position (new title of the SNA) and in trial balances. They are DRI for Deferred Resources Inflow and DRO for Deferred Resources Outflow. They will be used for the new sections of the statement of net position setup, as well as in the computation of net position (AS+DRI-LI-DRO). These classes must be used in the trial balances as well and in the exhibit setups for governmental balance sheets (AS becomes AS+DRI, etc.). Users of the AuditWare for Local Governments product edit the setups associated with each of their clients, while AuditWare staff edit the setups of the Texas and California school products. This is the first addition of classes since GASB 34 twelve years ago.

AUDITWARE DIRECT NOW CAN ACCESS "LAND" DRIVES FROM THE CLOUD 
2/5/13 - In a major change, AuditWare's cloud-based version ("AuditWare Direct") can now load clients from the local computer you are using and you can back up a client to your local computer as well. The Access Menu selections "Load A Different Client" and "Back Up A Client To A Different Drive" have previously been inactive when running AuditWare Direct, requiring the user to "copy and paste" manually to move client data around. These two selections are now active and allow loading from and saving to the local C drive, a local network drive or a USB drive. This update requires downloading and installing AuditWare Utilities as well.

NEW DRIVE-CHANGING ABILITY NOW AVAILABLE FOR AUDITWARE DIRECT 
1/25/13 - AuditWare's cloud-based version ("AuditWare Direct") now allows you to change the drive used for archiving client data as you've always been able to do on the land-based version. On AuditWare Direct, you can now switch between the S: drive (which is available to all of your user stations) and the U: drive, which is available exclusively to each station. This is tantamount to switching between the network drive and the C: drive on our land-based software. We are making this change at the suggestion of Georgia Loidl of Long Chilton, LLP of McAllen, TX and Susan Reed of Reed and Associates, PC in Bay City, TX. We learned from these conversations that they, and likely other users, are utilizing AuditWare's ability to switch back and forth between the network drive and the C: drive to have multiple employees working on the same client at the same time by using their C: drives while the "hot" copy of the data remains on the network drive. This change provides the same capability using AuditWare Direct.

TESTING COMPLETE, AUDITWARE DIRECT NOW AVAILABLE TO EVERYONE 
11/16/12 - The one-month testing period for our new, cloud-based operating platform we call "AuditWare Direct" is now complete and we are now offering it to everyone! Yesterday, an email, order form and explanatory document were sent to all AuditWare users, offering a 30% discount on the setup fee if purchased by December 7, 2012! The email also lists the 11 individuals and organizations who helped us with testing.

PAPER AUDIT REPORTS NO LONGER REQUIRED BY TEXAS EDUCATION AGENCY!
The TEA sent a letter to all school administrators on September 24, 2012 stating that effective immediately paper audit reports will no longer be sent to them unless the PDF submission is unsigned. Click here to see the letter, which provides the details.

SEVEN USERS (AND COUNTING) VOLUNTEER TO TEST AUDITWARE DIRECT 
9/26/12 - Six existing AuditWare user organizations and one potential new user have volunteered for a 30 day free trial of AuditWare Direct while testing and providing suggestions. They are as follows: Kenneth C. Davis, PC, Huntsville, TX; Anderson, Marx & Bohl, P.C., Corsicana, TX; Belt Harris Pechacek, LLP, Houston & Bellville, TX; Wilkinson Hadley & King LLP, El Cajon, CA; Moss, Levy & Hartzheim, Santa Maria, CA; Education Service Center Region 20, San Antonio, TX; Rex Phinney, CPA, Bakersfield, CA. There's still time to volunteer. Just send us an email (auditware@cox.net). How about some of you who are users of AuditWare for Local Governments as your only product?

ANNOUNCING AUDITWARE CLOUD COMPUTING! 
9/14/12 - AuditWare is about to undergo the most exciting and far-reaching change in its 22 year history! We will soon be offering a new, Internet-based version of AuditWare we're calling "AuditWare Direct" which can be accessed by any device with Internet access. With AuditWare Direct, it's no longer necessary for you to install AuditWare on a local computer (although you can still do that if you wish), just log in on the Internet. Because AuditWare Direct works without using your operating system, you can use a 64 bit computer running any version of Windows without taking any special steps, such as installing Virtual XP, or use a computer without Windows at all. Use a Mac if you like! When you're sitting in a client's office without your laptop and want to illustrate a point, just log in on his or her computer and load up a trial balance or schedule. We would appreciate hearing any thoughts, ideas or suggestions you may have. We're also looking for 8-10 firms who are willing to try out a free trial version starting in about a week. Just let us know.