A clear comparison between stand-alone accounting programs and ERP systems, and how to tell which one you need.
An accounting program records what has already happened: invoices, payments, journals and financial statements. It does that well, and for a very small business it can be enough.
An ERP system covers the operations that produce those entries. A sales order reserves stock, a delivery reduces it, the invoice is created from the order, and the accounting entry is posted automatically. Nobody types the same figure twice.
How to choose
- If your team re-enters data between programs, you have outgrown accounting software.
- If stock, purchasing or payroll run on spreadsheets, an ERP will pay for itself in time saved and errors avoided.
- If you have branches, several warehouses or cost centres, you need them in one system.