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Tag Archive management

Time to upgrade your business accounting software?

The decision to change from manual accounting systems to an umbrella system depends on the same criteria that influence people to upgrade residential infrastructure: old systems are inefficient, cost-prohibitive, appear old-fashioned and need frequent troubleshooting.

Current systems and spread sheets work fine but manual accounting systems generate payroll expenses for office staff, increased accounting fees, inefficient inventory-ordering practices and lost opportunities to optimise leads, leverage social and business trends and uncover waste, theft and fraud.

Clues that you might benefit by replacing your existing system include:

  • Reports and documents contain frequent mathematical errors.
  • Inventory-carrying costs generate cash-flow problems.
  • Loss of data and slow response times scuttle business opportunities.
  • Poor analysis of business trends, contract terms and unavailable contract templates limit sales staff’s ability to close deals in the field.
  • Crucial business data gets lost due to a lack of storage capacity and databases contain out-dated information.
  • Figuring profitability by department, product and employees requires authorising dedicated research projects.
  • Expense creep cuts into profit margins.
  • Security breaches cause you to lose money, customers and the time needed to address the problems.
  • Incomplete or disorganised records trigger financial audits.
  • Incomplete records that fail to match best business practices make it difficult to get financing for expansion. A new system that offers comprehensive management solutions generates substantial investment costs, but your current system probably costs more in lost profits, waste and inefficient uses of resources.

Upgrading the accounting system helps you position your company for accelerated growth, meet the challenges of global marketing and integrate your business with the current financial practices of most vendors, clients, social agencies and tax authorities.

Before choosing a new system, consider the following points:

  1. Take time to study what you need to do the job. Most systems offer scalable modules that you can add as your business grows, so you need not buy more than you really need. Talk to your production, sales and office staff to get their input on what they need to do their jobs more efficiently.
  2. A complete business audit justifies the time and expense by identifying current needs and IT solutions for immediate growth.
  3. Remember that some accounting systems might require staff training, new or updated hardware and technical advice about implementing them into your business with minimal disruption.
  4. Your wish list should not only include the new features you want but also preserve the bits of the old system that perform well. New systems often cause problems that the old system handled perfectly well.

Your accounting solution will impact every department in the company, so choosing software solutions works better when you make it a group effort. Involving each department manager in the decision will help you find the best solution and encourage loyalty among employees, who often resist changes to systems that have always worked adequately in the past.

The new software should meet the following criteria:

  • The system should improve cash flow by streamlining inventory, empowering collection efforts, reducing fraud and waste and eliminating duplicate work.
  • Accounting software facilitates custom reports that let you track profits, costs, closing ratios, employee efficiency, seasonal performance and other financial information. Choose software or systems that give you complex reporting tools.
  • Programs with cash-management software create more options for revenue-generating ideas and taking advantage of investment opportunities.
  • The system should provide analytical data that helps you and company managers make better decisions.
  • Businesses trade on timely information, so make sure you choose a system that strengthens your intelligence-gathering abilities.

Contact us to find out how MYOB EXO, MYOB Advanced and Horizon Business Systems can help your business achieve all of the above (and more!) today.

Connecting General Managers

Technology is changing the way everyone does business. MYOB has invested $75m towards a vision that doesn’t just give clients the solutions, services, and support to achieve their goals – but also a way of working that they can define on their own terms.

Technology is changing the way everyone does business. MYOB has invested $75m towards a vision thatdoesn’t just give clients the solutions, services, and support to achieve their goals – but also a way ofworking that they can define on their own terms.

For larger, more complex businesses, the MYOB Enterprise Solutions suite provides the tools, processes, and infrastructure necessary to build a successful organisation. The suite comprises of optional modules – including remote access technology such as Microsoft Terminal Services, Citrix, or the EXO Anywhere Module – which allow for greater scalability and growth via a fully integrated ERP business management system.

So what does this mean for a General Manager?

A general manager of a business has broad, overall responsibility for the organisation. While each department manager may be responsible for one functional area, the general manager is responsible for all areas. They are the big picture people. They have to know how the company is faring; which department is excelling and which is lagging behind; what products are selling; and which customers need a little nurturing because the competition is trying to steal them away.

Doctor Benjamin Esty – Chair of the General Management Program at Harvard Business School – says that a successful GM gets ahead “[…] by knowing more and more about less and less”. Critical to a general manager’s success is their ability to have a broader view of the network of internal and external factors that affect their business; having direct access to the information needed to make critical business decisions. With a deeper view of the performance of individual line processes, they will have a deeper understanding of the efficiencies that are driving the business – and when to act. If all of this can be brought together into a unified management view of the business, they will finally have that all-important big picture view.

To read the full article you can click on CONNECTING GENERAL MANAGERS

We would love to hear your thoughts so please consider contacting me!

Regards,

Michael Pendred, Managing Director – Horizon Business Systems

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