ERP Software

Accounting Management Software, Part I

Business school experts consider Italian merchants to be the originators of double entry accounting. According to Professor Basil Yamey from the London School of Economics, merchants with thriving businesses, and more than a few clients, soon realized that they could not rely simply on memory to keep their accounts straight. It was not until the fifteenth century, however, that one of those merchants, Benedetto Cotrugli, made it official by including an index with many journal entries in his published book titled (in English) –Book on the Art of Trade. Later, the eighteenth century saw the rise of international trade and stock exchanges; in the 1920s, General Motors adopted modern cost accounting; almost thirty years later, Arthur Andersen was the first to computerize a payroll, when he computerized a General Electric plant; in the 1970s, former IBM engineers founded SAP (Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung) to create their own financial accounting system, liberating accounting managers from expensive investment into massive mainframe hardware; later that same decade, JD Edwards began to work with accounting software for wholesale distribution and cost accounting systems; the 1980s saw two Canadian accountants,  Norm Francis and Ted Comfoltey,  and two programmers, Don Thomson and Keith Whales, organize in order to create ACCPAC – the first low cost accounting application for small business; and finally, in the 1990s, research firm Gartner coined the term ERP (enterprise resource planning) for a software product that aimed to cover all key aspects of an enterprise – from accounting to manufacturing to human resource management.

At the present time, there are countless of Accounting Management Software programs on the market which evolved from the ERP model. The latest generation – ERP II – is now web-based. Accounting Management Software is designed to manage the financial transactions of a company. Accounting management facilitates accounting functions. The software gives businesses the tools required to effectively turn financial data into profit. Accounting Management Software is a powerful and comprehensive financial solution. Everything to do with accounting and finance falls under its purview.  

While there are differences between software packages, the good accounting software programs will include the following: invoicing and account receivables; account payables; inventory control; payroll; banking; employee management; time costing; project or job management; reporting; fixed assets; and conversions and updates.

Businesses shopping for accounting software would do well to also look for criteria such as ease of use and help & support. Ease of Use is vastly crucial. Buying and implementing a software program that no one is comfortable using will add no benefit at all to a company. Accounting is difficult enough without the additional burden of a hard to use program.

Written by :

Amy Cruz