While ERP is intended and functions as a holistic solution, no one would ever accuse of being foolish if you viewed it as an accounting solution at heart. The accounting features in an ERP are one of the key drivers in this software, providing the cohesion and functionality needed to make ERP as dynamic as it is. That being said, what are the must-haves when it comes to ERP accounting features?
Time Management
One of the central functions in any accounting office is getting payroll out on a weekly or bi-weekly basis. Many companies in the past have turned to external solutions when it comes to time management. With the right ERP accounting features, you can keep time management and tracking in-house, ensuring that it is as error-free as possible and works consistently from project to project and department to department.
Automated Expense Management
Manual expense management processes are one of the last vestiges of the old days. Too many companies are still asking staff to paste receipts on to a pile of papers, for example, when submitting expense reports. Features in ERP such as automated receipts, smart matching of expenses to general ledger accounts, and push notifications to employees make expense tracking and management a much easier process every month.
Advanced Billing
Businesses often are not only working with multiple billing scenarios across projects, they’re also dealing with multiple currencies, in some cases. Advanced billing features in an ERP solution make all of this much more efficient. ERP solutions such as Acumatica enable support for a wide range of billing scenarios, including fixed price and cost plus, time and materials, billing by milestone, and contract-specific pricing. You also have the option of recognizing revenue based on completion of project or task and automatically pushing out revenue recognition to GL journal entries.
Project Cost Tracking
Project-oriented businesses in a variety of industries also face complexities when it comes to tracking costs across multiple projects. For them, the most viable ERPs include project cost tracking features that give you a high-level view of all costs, including materials and labor, and also allow you to allocate costs and expenses easily and automatically to projects.
Project Quote Management
One accounting-related task that often gets lost in the shuffle between sales and accounting is the management of project quotes. Keeping this data consistent and in real time across a business is important to the success of your sales department and the health of your books. Project quote management features in an ERP solution can let you generate sales quotes quickly and easily and also link them to your CRM. When quotes convert, you can then automatically create projects within your ERP and provide accurate billing details instantly.
The advent of ERP has done a lot to streamline the accounting process at businesses in industries as diverse as retail and manufacturing. If you have your own favorite ERP accounting features, tell us all about them in the comments below. Want to learn more? Let us show you the features available in today’s best ERP solutions.
