Dear Editor,
It is apparent that Barton County “finger pointers” have not experienced multiple software changes and merges in systems. I would imagine that the amount of data that is processed is overwhelming.
In the past, we have had a small business with four main employees in the office. For 10 years we used an old DOS based, industry specific, accounting package that was custom written in the dark ages. It worked well. The software vendor was overwhelmed with the changes in Windows and kept promising us upgrades. We had empty promises for nine years. This forced us to change. In nine months we tried two new softwares and merged info from the old original system. Those nine months were nightmarish. Our chief bookkeeper, who is excellent in her skills, spent hours on the phone with technical support to attempt to recover, fix, merge, etc.
Most software training usually consists of teaching data entry and creating reports. It is very easy for the “other” category to slip through the cracks, until you need to run that quarterly or year end report.
Then it is a matter of back tracking months of data entry. Let’s add a few changes in personnel, training new people, “rush” season and it can be chaos. The antiquated ledgers with entries in pencil can be tracked much easier, but they are no longer an option, due to volume and requirements by the state of Kansas. Software programmers are the ones that know the intricacies in software. They are not
accountants, so software is usually written with input from an accountant that is not a computer programmer.
How can we expect data entry people and accountants to know the depth of the software immediately and have everything functioning when the government says they need it. Yes, everyone is under fire in this situation. The Treasurer’s office, the politicians, the schools.
The easiest one to blame is the Treasurer’s office. As a taxpayer, I want to thank the treasurer’s office for the patience and persistence to attempt to remedy this problem and also, their daily grief experienced from county tax payers that land on them for taxes being so high. This is like blaming the waitress for the bad food that is served.
Has anyone bothered to check with other counties with similar populations to see if they are experiencing difficulties? Why is it that our county is the brunt of “top news story” in local and state media. My assertion would be that other counties officials have been a bit more diplomatic in their handling of the situation. Efficiency in the work place goes down if everyone is unhappy. Maybe the finger pointers should learn conflict resolution. Or maybe we should get rid of the “agitators” that are keeping everyone fired up and let the County Treasurer’s office get to work without negativity and intimidation. Has anyone heard of SUPPORT!
Is it possible for everyone to regroup and quit pointing fingers. Most of you reading this would have already told the finger pointers to go to hell and walked out. In my opinion, our County Treasurer is a man of high integrity in his handling of the situation. How about some support. The alternative is everyone in the office being upset and quitting, then what do you do? Start over. Think about it.
Joyce Esfeld
Great Bend