A recent news story out of New York reveals how challenging accounting can be in a fast-moving business. A retailer had extended factory rebates to customers and charged them sales tax on the discounted price. That was a no-no, according to New York State tax authorities, which now wants to collect millions of dollars in sales taxes. It’s unknown whether this retailer was doing this deliberately, but any accounting could see this case and wonder if it weren’t the result of a simple tax configuration mistake in the accounting system.
Accounting is a more stressful occupation than most people would suspect. However much money your company has, it never seems to be quite enough. Taxes are a nightmare. Unexpected bills arrive in the mail. You have to manage a team that the CEO always seems to feel like cutting. Here are some of the most pressing challenges facing corporate accounting and ways that ERP software can help in addressing them. Today’s ERP solutions, such as Acumatica, combine accounting and financial management with deep operational management and data analysis tools.
1) Cash Flow
Virtually all businesses are chasing cash. Payables invariably outstrip receivables. The accounting department must be highly adept at juggling payments and knowing when cash is coming in and when it’s supposed to go out. Acumatica ERP helps with this need with extensive cash management features. These include control over day-to-day transactions and real time awareness of cash balances and funds transfer. It also incorporates petty cash management, remittance and payment instructions, multi-currency support and a cash audit trail into its functionality.
2) Taxes
As the retailer example above shows, taxes can be a big headache in corporate accounting. Tax problems can even expose the company to legal liability. Taxing authorities don’t mess around. Tax management in Acumatica supports centralized tax configuration, tax management and reporting. It streamlines and automates tax management processes in a centralized application. Features include tax transaction drill-down, flexible reporting, integration with sales tax rate and compliance automation and direct tax adjustments.
3) Payroll
Payroll is a well-known struggle for businesses, even large ones. Acumatica Payroll Management, which was developed by InfinityHR, integrates the ERP with employee data. This enables you to handle all your company’s payroll functions. It automates payroll and integrates payroll, where needed, with other platforms, such as HR management.
4) Unforeseen Expenses
Every accounting manager knows the dreaded feeling of discovering an unexpected invoice in the mail or email. What experienced accounting people will tell you, though, is that an unforeseen expense is almost always the result of a failure in process and controls. For example, if your accounting policy does not require an approved purchase order (PO) before spending company money, you’re going to get those little surprises pretty often. However, even if you have such a PO policy, you still need the systemic tools to enforce it. ERP addresses this need by establishing strong but flexible controls over purchasing and vendor setup.
5) Intercompany Accounting
Accounting managers frequently have to deal with managing the books and finances or multiple companies—which are often divisions of a single parent entity. Intercompany accounting is not particularly difficult, but it’s time-consuming without the right software. Acumatica speeds things up by simplifying the process of tracking intercompany transactions and transfers. Related corporate entities can share charts of accounts, currencies, calendars and so forth
We have worked with many clients on the implementation of ERP to improve accounting practices while making the accounting workload more efficient for the accounting team to manage. To learn more, or to see a demo of Acumatica’s accounting capabilities, contact us today!
Is it time to replace your current accounting software? Find out in our article Want to Replace Your Accounting Software?
