Why Small Businesses Integrate Their Inventory Management & Accounting Systems

February 26, 2013 by 29 Comments

System Integration enables the small business owner to plan effectively, execute predictably, and minimize labor costs and errors associated with manual reconciliation between the inventory and accounting databases.

Inventory management is about knowing exactly where and how many of an item you have in your warehouse.  So it makes sense that to ensure your inventory asset value on your financial reports matches what is physically in stock one would integrate their inventory package  and account package.

3 Key Advantages

1.   Optimize inventory to meet product availability and financial goals

The right inventory mix to satisfy immediate customer demand, while avoiding stockouts or stagnant stock.

2.   Provide inventory visibility to supply chain partners

See a company’s fluctuating inventory levels.

3.   Reconcile inventory accurately in all financial reports

Ensure your annual reports and tax returns are accurate.

 

What’s Important in the Integration

For maximum effectiveness, the integrated solution should be real-time (i.e. fast & current), flexible, transparent to users, easily reconcilable, and scalable with growth.

Users don’t have time to think about integration, they just want it to work! This can be an issue when the inventory system and accounting system are combined (not just integrated together).  This can severely overload the massive application database tables (customers, vendors, accounts, inventory items, transaction history, duplicate multiple sites, etc).  Database size overload can bring all of your functional groups to their knees (sales quoting and opportunity tracking, accounting & reporting, inventory management, purchasing, operations).

Integration Success for Small Businesses

To achieve integration objectives , find a robust ERP system with a strong inventory management module (but be prepared to invest $BIG BUCK$ in the process).  Or you can find one of the best in class inventory package (such as Inventory Control®) with a flexible API to a best in class accounting package (such as QuickBooks®).  Manual updating and reconciling between systems can keep the various systems in sync, but in today’s fast and competitive business environment, it will not sustain long-term growth.

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Brian Sutter

Brian Sutter

Director of Marketing at Wasp Barcode
Brian Sutter is the Director of Marketing at Wasp, responsible for the development and execution of the company’s marketing strategy. His role encompasses brand management, direct and channel marketing, public relations, advertising, and social media. He also writes and speaks on topics related to helping small business owners grow their business and improve operational efficiency.
Brian Sutter

@smallbizbrian

Brian Sutter
Filed Under: Healthcare Technology, Inventory Management, Retail Point of Sales, Small Business Magazine Tagged With: , , , , ,