Strong financial management is vital for a growing business. It spans a wide range of tasks and responsibilities, including cost analysis, monthly cash flow analysis, financial health analysis and more. Good financial management can identify underperforming areas, allowing for improvements. It can also give a clear picture of everyday costs to determine where employee enhancement and training opportunities will increase employee productivity, job satisfaction—keeping you ahead of the competition.
The General Ledger (GL) software forms the backbone of financial management. Not every GL product is created to make life easier, unfortunately. GL software tools should enable business benefits like more efficient operations, growth and increased productivity. A good GL also translates into improved decision making. Many companies find that their general ledger software solutions are not delivering these outcomes. Growing companies that lack access to real-time actionable information or do not get alerts when metrics are headed in the wrong direction cannot capitalize on growth and improvement opportunities.
The right GL software should provide flexible, real-time data reporting and international capabilities for multiple entities. Because every decision made within a company affects the bottom line, financial planning systems must connect to other systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), warehouse management, customer databases, and more for complete functionality and better decision making.
Flexible, Real-Time Data
General ledger software should provide flexible real-time data reporting, so you get a more complete picture of your financials. The software needs to generate reports and data visualization without requiring users to receive extensive training or programming experience. Nor is it productive to have people modifying hundreds of pre-configured reports.
GL software ought to collect data from across the entire system for a single version of your financials, from profit and loss to source journal transactions. Having real-time visibility into business performance can enable teams to collaborate using the same information and increase the effectiveness of operations. This way, people can make more informed financial decisions.
Detailed Reporting
Detailed, accurate financial reports can help you grow your business with ease. General ledger software should use inter- and intra-company accounting to track financials and create reports that allow for better decision-making. As a business grows and matures, it will need to finance growth. GL software gives you the insights you need to handle the financial aspects of a growth strategy, such as planning for debt amortization.
Automation
Financial management software should include automated processes that will provide financial projections and key performance indicators to determine new growth opportunities. Automating critical financial processes through artificial intelligence and machine learning can increase productivity and workflows while minimizing or eliminating errors. Automations have to be easy to configure and modify as business requirements change.
Multi-Entity Financial Management
By having international and multi-entity financial management capabilities in the GL, your business can reach international markets with multi-currency and multi-language capabilities. General ledger software should eliminate the manual effort required for multiple entities and international market financial by consolidating accounting activities such as currency conversions, inter-entity transactions, local tax reporting, and more.
Learn more in our article Making Multicompany Accounting Work.
Finding the Right GL Software
General ledger solutions such as Acumatica’s Comprehensive Financial Application Suite can get your company on the right track with best-in-class accounting applications to manage your entire business on a single platform. The software provides a 360-degree view of your business, with 24/7 access to information on mobile or other devices. It enables secure communication pathways, along with reports that matter to each function.
All content is updated in real time, with alerts automatically sent based on select criteria. The solution facilitates collaboration with stakeholders, suppliers, teams, members and customers. Connected project accounting and customer management close the loop on financials for project-driven companies with customers’ financial insights.
To learn more about how Acumatica’s GL can help your financial management, contact us for a demo and free consultation. Advanced Solutions & Consulting Co. is an MVP VAR and an MVP Developer with offices in Southern California, San Francisco, and Chicago. Our team of ERP experts implements Acumatica and Acumatica ISV solutions designed to optimize business processes and give you the most from modern technologies.
Whether it’s implementation or development, when you work with ASC, you’re leveraging the collective experience of a team who brings 23 years of results and more then 350 implementation projects. Don’t wait any longer. To learn more about how Acumatica can help your business, schedule a free consultation or give us a call at (858) 755-9200.