Blog Post
The Difference Between Accounting Software and Retail ERP System
Goldsoft Marketing • Mar 03, 2021
Supporting business growth with a single source of truth
If you are looking for a new software to support and grow your retail business, you'd probably wondering what's the difference between accounting software and a retail ERP system.
Software selection is crucial because it determines the overall business operations efficiency.
In this article, we will be covering what's the difference between accounting software and retail ERP system and how both software fits different business requirements.
The primary purpose of an accounting software is to collect, store and process accounting transactions. It can be in-house developed software or purchased from accounting software vendor. The common accounting features are:
• Accounts Receivable
• Accounts Payable
• General Ledger
• Billing and Invoice
• Cash Book
• Taxation
• Accounting Reports
Some accounting software offer basic add on for more functionalities such as:
• Stock and inventory
• Purchase order
• Sales
• Payroll
With the advent of cloud computing technology, many accounting software now price their applications based on usage and charge subscription fee by monthly or yearly basis.
What is Retail ERP System?
Retail Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is a suite of integrated business management software which not only has accounting feature, but also comprises more advanced and deeper functionalities to help retailers manage business more effectively such as:
• Inventory control
• Warehouse
• Procurement
• Sales
• Distribution
• Supplier
• CRM
• Financial and taxation
• Human resources
• Fixed asset
• Reporting
Retail ERP system integrates data across various departments using a single integrated database, thereby enhancing the organization's efficiency to provide a single source of truth business insights.
The advantage of retail ERP solution is that it is designed to support individual company specific business requirements, highly customizable and can be drilled down for more information behind the data.
In the digital era, some innovative ERP vendors are extending ERP to mobile devices to enhance more flexible workflows.
The Key Differentiators Between Accounting Software and Retail ERP System
1. Key Differences
| Key Differences | Accounting Software | Retail ERP System |
|---|---|---|
| Main Focus | Accounting | Inventory, sales and accounting |
| Customization | No | Yes |
| Accounting Functionality | Standard to advance | Standard to advance |
| Inventory Functionality | No | Advance |
| Target Market | Cross industry | Retail Industry |
| Database | MySQL | Oracle |
| Database Hosting | Public cloud | Private cloud/ on-premise |
| Accounting Data Usage | For general accounting report purposes | For deeper analysis with other business functions |
| Perfect For | Perfect for businesses to meet accounting requirements | Perfect for retail businesses in need of a single source of truth |
2. Accounting Features Comparison
| Accounting Features | Accounting Software | Retail ERP System |
|---|---|---|
| General Ledger | Yes | Yes |
| Accounts Receivable | Yes | Yes |
| Accounts Payable | Yes | Yes |
| Billing and Invoicing | Yes | Yes |
| Cash Book | Yes | Yes |
| SST and GST Compliant | Yes | Yes |
| Bank Reconciliation | Yes | Yes |
| Accounting Reports | Yes | Yes |
3. Inventory Features Comparison
| Inventory Features | Accounting Software | Retail ERP System |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-location inventory control | No | Yes |
| Multi-location warehouse inventory control | No | Yes |
| Variants and serialized inventory control | No | Yes |
| Multi-pricing for multi-sales channel control | No | Yes |
| Stock quantity on hand by variant/batch by locations | No | Yes |
| Mobile enabled stock transfers, receives, replenish and stock take | No | Yes |
| Barcode label printing at multi-location | No | Yes |
| Comprehensive inventory drill-down reports | No | Yes |
| Stock ledger, movement, value, aging and more reports | No | Yes |
| Automate to accounting module | No | Yes |
4. B2C Sales Features Comparison
| B2C Sales Features | Accounting Software | Retail ERP System |
|---|---|---|
| Retail POS | No | Yes |
| Multi-payment acceptance | No | Yes |
| Digital e-receipt | No | Yes |
| Deposit collection and balance payment tracking | No | Yes |
| Customer membership, points and voucher | No | Yes |
| Sales promotions, discount and PWP | No | Yes |
| Sales promotions product bundle and unbundle | No | Yes |
| Real-time sales dashboard | No | Yes |
| e-Commerce webstore | No | Yes |
| Online marketplace sales & inventory sync | No | Yes |
| Buy online, pick up from store | No | Yes |
5. B2B Sales Features Comparison
| B2B Sales Features | Accounting Software | Retail ERP System |
|---|---|---|
| Consignment, outright, franchise & dealer sales management | No | Yes |
| UOM inventory control | No | Yes |
| Purchase order 3-way matching | Yes | Yes |
| Quotation, sales order, delivery order and invoice generation | Yes | Yes |
| Credit limit control | Yes | Yes |
| Inter-company billing control | No | Yes |
| Supplier and dealer self-service portal | No | Yes |
| Sales integrated to accounting | Yes | Yes |
Supporting Business Growth with a Single Source of Truth
For aggressive retailers and distributors, success depends on the ability not only to accurately manage sales performance but also to standardize technologies and streamline operations that is able to deliver the same efficiency when business grows into multiple locations with different sales channels.
With a strong understanding of the complexities of the local business challenges, Goldsoft ERP system leverages the best business practices to provide a proven solution help clients expand their business more efficiently. Summarized benefits for each department:
- C-level: Make better business decisions from a consolidated enterprise-wide data.
- Accounting: Timely accounting close and greater visibility into costs, revenues and margins from a consolidated multi-entity accounting.
- Warehouse: Higher inventory visibility help faster pick, pack and ship to speed up order fulfillment.
- Inventory: Track each inventory transaction efficiently such as sold, returns, transfers, exchange, repairs, refunds, reserve, on-loan, lost or damaged, information will integrate into accounting transactions.
- Sales: Real-time sales visibility help to make instant adjustment on merchandising and promotions strategy.
- IT: Stronger data security on the cloud and eliminate tedious daily data backup tasks.
- Supplier: Support transparent procurement practices and streamline ordering and delivery process through a self-service B2B business portal.
- Business:
Support growing business needs through an integrated system with a single source of truth.
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