Last month the Small Business SIG Emerging Issues sub-group discussed a topic very relevant for small business - accounting software, and members questioned what might be some of the positives and negatives of different software packages.
For example, in my experience as CFO for an early-stage biopharmaceutical small business, with its multi-year roots in Australia and a newly established US Parent company, when I came onboard they were using Xero (which is an Australian package). I believe many companies like Xero for the following reasons:
- Upside - Is one of the cheapest accounting software on the market
- Upside - Easy for a non-accounting person, like a business owner, to set up custom reports to see the business the way they want (not necessarily from an accounting perspective)
- Upside - Manages currency exchange rates for payables in difference currencies and conversion to functional currency
- Upside - Calculates VAT and other local forms of taxation not common in the USA
- Downside - Not perceived as a serious accounting software if a business owner is looking to go IPO, in terms of SOX and other compliance weaknesses
- Downside - Not many US accounting/book-keeping firms (if this service is outsourced) are familiar with this software system
- Downside - No good customer support (no live helpline) or training provided by Xero
- Downside - Any multi-entity financial reporting consolidation has to be done outside the system.
Another company that I was CFO for, medical device, was on Quickbooks (online), but upon FDA approval of their key product, was about to launch their supply chain scale-up and begin commercial manufacturing. Given this, the company was at a point when an ERP system was needed, particularly given the highly regulated nature of the business. The CEO and Director of Manufacturing were considering NetSuite, since Quickbooks is not capable of that type of planning and ordering.
Even when I was CFO for a Colorado-based craft beer company, they used a software package, "OBeer" or OrchestratedBEER, a specialized brewery management software with an all-in-one system for breweries covering accounting, production, sales, and inventory. I believe this is some small business software offshoot owned by SAP.
So, there are many things to consider overall.
Tell us, what software is your (small) business using, and why?
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Dana Riess CMA, CFM, CPA, CPIM, CSCP
Chief Financial Officer
Boulder CO
United States
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