If you’re running a small, mid-size business, and large organization, each and every decision you make is critical. Amongst the many responsibilities that rest on your shoulders, picking the right business financial software is perhaps one of the most critical. And in a world where customers are becoming more and more demanding and companies are expected to meet and surpass their expectations, you need an intuitve and intelligent business tracking software and business system software that will assist you to make better decisions for your business needs.
Business financial software is a type of business computer software that assists a business monitor and track its financial numbers & performance to increase productivity or determine the productivity. The term include a large variation of uses within the commercial enterprise environment, and may be categorized by using a small, medium as well as large matrix:
The small business market usually consists of small business accounting software as well as business office suites such as Microsoft Office and OpenOffice.org.
The medium size, or SME, features a broader range of business computer software applications, which range from accounting, groupware, customer relationship management, recruiting software, outsourcing relationship management, supply chain management software, shopping cart software program, job maintenance software, and also other productivity enhancing applications.
The last group covers industry level software applications, such as those within the areas of enterprise resource planning, enterprise content management (ECM), business process engineering and product lifecycle management. Software solutions which include Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and E-Commerce solutions assist businesses in managing their whole business process from front end till back end. These business tracking software applications are sophisticated and comprehensive in scope, and frequently include modules which either include company-wide functions, and usually is able to communicate with the functionality of third-party software programs.
Business financial sofware are generally computer programs used in companies to manage the business functiions which are typically financial accounting, distribution and procurement of goods, costing and manufacturing. Basically the programs under each of them are listed below. We will discuss the functions and uses of these programs in more detail in other articles.
Financial accounting programs
- Accounts Receivable
- Accounts Payable
- Cash Book
- General Ledger
- Asset Regisster
Distribution programs
- Sales Order
- Purchase Order
- Inventory Control
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Supply Chain Management (SCM)
Manufacturing programs
- Costing
- Bills of materials (BOM)
- Material Requirement Planning (MRP)
- Work-in-Progress
Business Intelligence (BI) programs
Financial accounting programs and distribution programs – sales order, purchase orders, inventory control are commonly used by small businesses and are good enough to manage its business processes. These programs can be used individually depending on the needs of the business.
In a more complex business environment of multi-nationationals, large organizations with multiple trading and production sites, the business financial software is normally called Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. ERP systems also consist of all the above programs. However, it is more complex in terms of implementation as it needs to manage complicated business processes and also consolidate information from multiple sites, locally or overseas. CRM and SCM are typically associated with ERP software system because sales and purchases are two of the most important components of the business processes of organizations.
The cost of business financial software can start from few hundred to millions of dollars. Some of the most popular software for small businesses are Quickbook, Peachtree, MYOB, and NetSuite Small Business. The bigger and expensive softwares SAP, Exact, Syspro Impact Encore, SunSystems, Oracle, Epicor, Microsoft Dynamics, Infor comes with a price tag from a few hundred thousand to millions of dollars. They are indeed the Rolls Royce of business financial software.