No matter the size of business you have there are a handful of well-known financial solutions that many companies will use when starting out. But may continue to utilize even though there are some limitations. Most commonly the tool is great for the early days but as time goes on and the business evolved the needs of business and software must evolve too. We will discuss three of the most common limitations that cause CFOs to look for an alternative.
Heavy Dependence on Spreadsheets for Financial Reporting
“After dredging through multiple spreadsheets, we uncovered there was a calculation error in how we had been recognizing revenue for the past two years.”
Many organizations have spreadsheets started with good intentions, but over time the reliance on them grows and what started off simple grows into a behemoth of rows, columns and formulas - any miss type can cause a rippling issue.
Are making do with some of these common workarounds?
- Export multiple spreadsheets
- Create new or additional journal entries monthly
- Developed a revenue record outside of your financial software
If you answered yes to one or all - these workarounds are what can lead to data entry errors, invalid or out of date data, a multitude of inefficiencies and compliance issues.
Manual Data Entry and Re-Keying
“Where is the import feature? I am tired of having to spend hours manually creating invoices from our eCommerce platform into our financial software. There must be a better way to do this.”
Many companies have not integrated their financial tools with other key business applications, opting to manually enter the data to save money. This might work for small volumes of data to enter - but there is always the risk that this data could be entered incorrectly.
Reporting Limitations
“We need to see in real-time the job cost of a project. Looking at 3 different systems is making this process harder. There must be an option for real-time reporting and tracking.”
Real-time visibility into business metrics is essential for decision making to spot opportunities to increase revenue. Most financial tools do offer canned reports – but there are no dashboards – so your visibility is limited by the reports you run. And often you are forced to make decisions based on outdated data. What you need is a financial solution that incorporates both a multi-dimensional general ledger and a report writer. With those, you can revolutionize your analysis process and generate greater insights.
We’ve helped many businesses make the move from their legacy financial software to a modern all-inclusive ERP. The companies now enjoy real-time data and processes, flexible reporting, and role-based dashboards. We’ve helped organizations increase productivity through accounting automation, extensive integration and user-defined workflows. And, these companies can scale with their new solution. As the business grows they can increase transaction volume and easily add new entities.
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Wondering If You Have Outgrown Your Financial Software? We have put together a guide about the common areas where financial tools start to limit business growth. Grab your copy of the guide today to learn more about your options to overcome these limitations.
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Connect with us today if you would like a review of your current solution and how it compares to the best of breed financial tools we recommend.
