Category: Shireburn

What is BCRS?

On November 14th, 2022, the Beverage Container Refund Scheme (BCRS) will be launched in Malta. The aim of BCRS is to incentivise the return of single-use beverage through a refundable deposit on single use beverage containers.

How does it work?

A deposit of €0.10 is added to the purchase price of relevant beverage at beverage producer or importer stage. The deposit is then charged to retailers at the wholesale stage which is then passed onto the consumer.

Consumers can recoup the deposit by returning the beverage container via a retailer or Reverse Vending Machine where they will receive a BCRS voucher.

Further information about BCRS can be found here.

How can Shireburn Help?

The Shireburn Team have been busy preparing for the implementation of the BCRS by developing a new BCRS module for both our inventory management system as well as our POS system. Once setup, the system will auto-allocate the BCRS charges to the applicable products within the scheme without any user intervention. This will protect the business to conform to the BCRS requirements, provide for more accurate reporting and at the same time account for the unit charge on the quantity sold with the applicable rates without the need of any user intervention. The POS also supports the validation of BCRS vouchers before redeeming the money and decommissioning of the vouchers once sale is confirmed.

Shireburn Inventory Management System

The new BCRS module implemented within Shireburn Inventory Management System (SIMS) include the following functionality:

• Identify the products that will make part of the BCRS Scheme through the stock cards
• A new unique non inventory stock code that will be used for the BCRS and is thus allocated to an Exempt VAT Code
• A new field to identify the BCRS registration number
• Creation of a new entry at the bottom of the sale to autofill the BCRS stock code, the € 0.10 selling price and the auto calculation of the total BCRS quantity (bottles and containers) included in the current sale. The item will be added on the sales posting screen immediately before the confirmation of the sale
• Functions to assist in the sales products in packs
• Reporting options will provide for the BCRS “sales” reporting which will be linked to the new stock code
• Function to exclude the BCRS code from discount calculations

Shireburn Point of Sale

The new POS BCRS Module will include the following functionality:

• Auto-creation of a new item at the bottom of the sale with the BCRS stock code
• Auto-generation of the sum of the applicable quantity and add the resulting value to the sales total
• Appending the BCRS code immediately before confirming the sale
• Option to exclude the BCRS value from any discounts & product schemes given on the POS
• Exclusion of BCRS item code from the POS Customer Loyalty Schemes
• Chit modifications to conform to the new BCRS requirements
• Where required, a new payment type needs to be created BCRS Ref. Dep. This will be linked to the BCRS RVM Server to validate each voucher to be redeemed
• Support of unlimited number of vouchers to be redeemed
• For each voucher, the system will validate the voucher
• The voucher numbers are maintained on the system
• On completion of the BCRS vouchers posting, the system will automatically allocate the redeemed value to be reduced from the amount due from the customer
• Once the sale is confirmed, the POS will decommission the voucher(s) so that they cannot be used again

Shireburn Financial Manager now supports document management! Documents can now be attached to accounting transactions in SFM, specifically in nominal, sales and purchase ledgers. The functionality is also extended to support attachments to the chart of accounts, clients and suppliers, as well as VAT returns and bank reconciliations.

The documentation can be opened, amended or deleted through the current viewing options available in SFM. Now, you can easily search for and view the accounting documentation, contracts and documented journals with one click. The system also supports multiple attachments to the same record.

SFM access controlled/permissions is now extended to include full management of access to the document management function. This feature aims to help users consolidate the accounting documents within SFM for easy access and retrieval, when required.

Over the past few years, local banks have been developing their technology to provide better security access for online banking. However, the process is becoming ever-complicated with additional steps required to set up payees and authorise the payments.

Processing payments through a bank’s internet banking portals costs you and your employees’ valuable time as they are required to set up and maintain a profile for each supplier or payee in both the accounting system as well as the online banking system. This includes manually inputting the payments one by one which then have to be authorised by the top executives either by scanning or keying-in an authorisation code for payment. Needless to say, this also increases the risk of keying errors by employees copying the data from the accounting system.

 How can the SFM SEPA Module help you?   

With the SFM SEPA module you are able to authorise all payments in one click, with access to the details, and the payment file required by your bank is automatically generated. While reducing the time required for top executives to process the payments, the payment runs are all fully audited, including the maintenance of IBAN numbers.

Interested in finding out more about the SEPA module? Our team has prepared a quick demo video for you, so you can see the full value of how it works and how easy it is to use!

Over these last few years, a lot of effort has gone into reducing the use of cheques within the local business community and the general public.  Businesses, especially banks, have implemented systems to manage payments electronically without the need to write cheques and go through the process of deposits which requires time and effort from employees.

Today, banks are providing better security to access your account balances and are rolling out reduced charges to process payments straight on their systems as opposed to cheque issuance. Payment of a few hundred euros will now cost €0.15, less than a postage stamp! On the other hand, banks are looking at increasing the rates to process your cheques, which could cost you €2 per cheque with the banks’ new terms and conditions.

However, processing payments through internet banking portals still costs your employees’ time:

• You require to setup a profile for each supplier to maintain the IBAN number.
• Each payment amount, after being updated in your accounting system, needs to be entered again into the bank’s system and double-checked to confirm that amounts are correct.
• Top executives will require time to scan or key in the authorisation code for each individual payment.

How can the SFM SEPA Module help you?

The SFM SEPA Module offers a flexible approach to processing both local and foreign payments, with an easy choice of payment methods available upon posting, from SEPA to bank transfer or cheque.

Our team has also prepared a demo video for you, so you can get a better understanding of how our SEPA module works – and how easy it is to use! Check it out below.