The Armed Services Mutual Benefit Association (ASMBA), an insurance company for military personnel and their families, required a new ERP system focused on core accounting with flexible financial reporting tools to prepare for annual audits. Their goal was to improve efficiency by eliminating time-consuming and redundant manual tasks.
Here is their story:
The Armed Services Mutual Benefit Association (ASMBA) provides comprehensive, affordable insurance coverage to military personnel and their families. ASMBA was established in 1963 by military personnel headed for Vietnam who wanted to provide for their families’ security, but found they could not obtain insurance coverage because they were going into a war zone. They created ASMBA, a nonprofit fraternal military benefit association, run by its members through an elected Board of Governors and an appointed Board of Advisors, all of whom serve without pay. ASMBA has no stockholders or sales agents to pay and can therefore offer high value protection at a very low cost.
The organization requires a powerful, flexible accounting and financial management solution that offers the same value. ASMBA selected Sage 100 ERP as its solution.
Moving Technology Forward
ASBMA had been successfully using Sage PFW ERP for more than a decade, and when the time came to update its information technology systems, the organization decided to consider alternatives. “We wanted to stay with Sage, but were looking for a solution that focused more on the core accounting tasks that we rely on and offers flexible, intuitive financial reporting tools,” says Sherri Shepard, senior accountant for ASMBA. “Our Sage business partner helped us review our options, and Sage 100 ERP was the best fit for our business.”
Smooth Implementation
The association’s Sage business partner worked with ASMBA to migrate its data from Sage PFW ERP to Sage 100 ERP. “The transition went very smoothly,” says Shepard. “Because we able to transfer our data from our old system to Sage 100 ERP, we were up and running quickly.”
Business Systems Integration
The organization uses a separate, industry-specific billing application, so it must bring cash receipt information from that application into its accounting system. Prior to Sage 100 ERP, staff would perform the monthly reconciliation in spreadsheets, which was both redundant and time consuming.
Today, ASMBA imports cash receipt data directly into the Sage 100 ERP Bank Reconciliation module. This vastly streamlines the reconciliation procedure. “We just check off each cleared check on screen, and we are essentially done,” says Shepard. “This saves us hours of manual entry every month.”
Efficient and Intuitive
Shepard appreciates the way Sage 100 ERP presents data and allows her to drill down and drill around to uncover the details she needs. “When a vendor calls, for example, I can quickly see all of their invoices, what payments were made, when they were made, and what the details of the invoice are,” she says. “It is intuitive and fast.”
The accounts payable invoice entry function also benefits from new efficiency. “I used to have to open another screen to change a vendor’s address or add a new vendor,” Shepard says. “Now I can accomplish those tasks right from invoice data entry.”
Shepard also appreciates that she can store notes and instructions associated with a specific task to be used by others performing the task in her absence.
Financial Reporting and Budget
As a nonprofit organization, ASMBA is audited every year. Using the powerful financial report generation functionality in Sage 100 ERP, Shepard easily can generate the balance sheet, income statement, and other reports and forms that speed the audits. “Our audits go very smoothly,” she says.
In the Sage 100 ERP General Ledger module, staff is able to save historical budgets for reporting and comparison purposes, and set up new budgets for future fiscal periods. An efficient grid-entry screen allows staff to simultaneously edit the figures for multiple accounts. And, using the copy feature, budgets can be generated for a new fiscal year based on prior year’s estimated numbers or actual expenses. Staff then can update globally by an amount or percentage and adjust individual accounts manually as needed.
A Trusted Partner
ASMBA has trusted its operations to Sage business solutions for more than a decade. In Sage 100 ERP, the organization has found a solution to last well into the next decade.
Contact our Sage 100 ERP Team
Want to learn more about Sage 100 ERP? For additional information please contact us at 877-979-5462, or click here.
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