Pay the right price for accounting software - Part 2
When buying a new accounts packages, a key factor to consider is the quality of management reports it can give you. Many would argue that quality of management reporting is the most important factor of all.
Where accountants get it wrong
Accountants produce management reports and are experienced in IT, so they naturally will have a big say here. Often their thinking will go something like this: 'We are a substantial company with a sophisticated management team. We need a system that will give us sophisticated management reporting.
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But this approach to reporting is not suitable for all companies
There is a place for transactional reporting, both from line of business applications as well as finance applications. However, most larger organisations are now becoming aware that doing all reporting off transactional data offers some significant disadvantages.
Good transactional applications are designed to process transactions quickly through a database. This data should often be re-formatted to provide good reporting data. In addition, reporting off one transactional system fails to give a 360 degree view of the business. For example, looking for your most profitable customer in your operational system may lead to wrong decisions being made. You may be able to find who you have done most business with, but the chances are their payment records are in your finance system. If they never pay you, you may take a different view on their value as a customer.
The way around this is to layer a reporting database above your transactional applications, whatever they are. This could be a reporting database, a data mart or a data warehouse (usually categorised by format, size and contents). This database should be designed for reporting not for transactional processing.
Any business of a certain size that wants a true view of business operations needs to integrate front-office operational systems with back-office accounting systems to enable a true business intelligence/ Performance Management environment. This is where the larger application vendors come into their own. Whether you need this, as well as a comprehensive finance application really depends on the value you place on your organisation's finance data and the role finance can play in presenting that in a meaningful way to the organisation.
Emma Hoyle
CODA
Sage Can Do It!
I have used Sage Line 50 and Line 100 for many years now, in both large and small organisations.
The reporting modules, along with excel and/or Crystal Report Writer, have been able to provide all the information I and any operational managers have needed.
This has not been the case with other, more expensive systems.
Management information from accounting software
One product that can extract management information effectively and which AccountingWEB reviewed favourably on 7th September 2003 is Systematics from Earth Solutions. It received the following comment:
"We gave a copy to a real accountant, Nigel Harris from chartered accountants Burton Sweet, to see what he thought.
First impressions - why haven't I heard of this software before?!"
The answer to that could be that it does not appear in any shortlist of recommended software. The complete review is worth reading for anyone for whom this aspect is important.
Accounting software
I agree with the sentiments completely in respect to medium or large companies although lets not be too quick to blame the accountants who would have to overcome a lot of scepticism (or even ridicule?) from their even more uninformed colleagues. I cannot however understand anyone recommending Sage to a small business given the plethora of better, easy to learn accounting software available.
Issue is not so much price but not using software to its full ca
I used to work for Coda implementing the software we always stressed to companies the importance of really looking at their chart of accounts to make sure they could deliver the reporting information they required now and in the future, and at the right level of detail, because implementing a new system is a good point at which to make changes. Regretably hardly any companies took full advantage of the full level of accounting detail that was available to them most just carried across what they had previously being using - a bit like moving to a bigger house and occupying the same number of rooms as in the old one!
If any readers would like a white paper with some tips on how to spend less time on reporting then please drop me an email at rdowney@contenlo.com.
Need Integration of both packages
It is a sad commentary on the quality of existing accounting packages that you need two - one for the front office & one for the back office. It is also, undeniably, a fact, even for very small companies. Lets all hope that the suppliers fix this problem soon.
I have found that any information in the package can be reported on through Access or Excel, because everyone now uses SQL as a standard interface for getting data out of the package.