Define Business Processes

Discuss about the Effective Accounting Software Package System.

In an organisation, every process and activity plays an important role in providing growth and competitive advantage. In this, the selection of effective accounting software package supports the firms to manage their business processes and takes informed decisions to ensure the business growth in the future (Davis, 2011). In this way, this paper discusses the business processes with the help of case example of B Bakery. This report also develops the business requirements and also determines the system requirements of B Bakery to achieve its IT investment objectives. Along with this, this report also recommends the best suitable accounting software package to B Bakery to take the business to the next level.

Processes of Business

As per the given scenario, B Bakery is one of the famous bakeries of Australia and operates its business in different cities of Australia. Bakery products are supplied to many of the different businesses such as supermarkets, pubs, malls, cafes and caterers. The sales revenue of B Bakery has increased more than $13.5 million in the present year as compare to last year. It indicates that B Bakery earned more as compare to the last year and is a growing company. With its growth and complex operations; company has to plan for effecitve processes and information technology.

B Bakery has different departments such as manufacturing department, supply chain department, marketing department, human resource department and sales departments for smoothly working. In this, the supply chain department plays an important role because; to manufacture the goods raw material is required. For this, the effective supply chain activities fulfil this requirement by purchasing raw material from poultry farm and flour shop from outside and supply this to the manufacturing department (O’Donnell, 2016). After this, manufacturing department manufactures the products such as breads, cakes and muffins by using the raw material. These products are stored by the inventory department. Along with this, the accounts department of the bakery manages the payments made by the customers and it also makes payments to the suppliers of the bakery. Human resource department of the bakery take care of the entire working of the management. HR department makes the payments of the employees and also look after the recruitment process of the company (DePamphilis, 2015).

The role of the marketing department is to do marketing or promotion activity for the products of B Bakery. This department uses different tools to do marketing of the products like advertising, sales promotion, sampling and conducting events. Effective marketing of the product leads to increase in the sales of the company. After marketing of the products, next work is of sales department. Sales department makes segmentation of the market according to the potential buyers and after that the department sells the produced products in the market. In addition to this, the working of each department is dependent on the other department (Davis, 2011). If the working of one department gets affected, than this affects the working of the other departments.

Develop Business Requirements

For example, if the working of manufacturing departments affected due to the shortage of raw material or any other issue, than this will affect the working of the sales department. Similar to this, if the accounts department occurs heavy losses in the operations of the organization than this will directly affect the working of the HR department. HR department could not make the payments of the employees due to heavy losses (Walsh, 2015).   

The supply chain of B Bakery is not limited to the national boundary; B Bakery is a family owned business, which has more than 50 years of working experience. B Bakery does not have any close competitor because of which the bakery is working tremendously from many of the decades. B Bakery has around 70 employees, which give their services to the bakery. These employees work in different branches of B Bakery and perform different task assigned to them The sales revenue of B Bakery has increased more than $13.5 million in the present year as compared to last year. This shows that B Bakery is earning more as compared to last year.

Indispensable Processes

At B Bakery, all the processes and activities are crucial because these activities are related to the operations and profitability of the firm. In this, different departments help each other to produce the better products and services to the customers so that they can satisfy their needs and demand effectively and generate profits by attracting large customer base. Along with this, the supply chain process is indispensable to be performed because through this, the firm ensures the availability of raw material for the production process. While, the production and manufacturing process is essential to prepare the products and services to satisfy the needs and wants of the customers (Davis, 2011). It is the main process, which helps the firm to generate profits for the operations and for the long-term stability in the market.

At the same time, HR process is also essential to perform because through this, the firm enables to manage the employees and maintain the higher level of their benefits to retain them for the long-run. The HR business process is also essential to improve the working environment for the new employees so that they can motivate to work effectively with their full potential. On the other hand, marketing process is also essential to perform in order to promote the products and services produced by B Bakery. Through marketing process, the firm ensures that the firm is connected with its every customer at the great extent and accesses their feedbacks to improve the quality of the products and services (Walsh, 2015).

Required Outcomes

In B Bakery, every process is interconnected with each other, which influence the processes and impact on their effectiveness to provide competitive advantages to the firm. But, sometimes, due to time and resource constrain, some fluctuations are occurred that impact on the processes and activities of the firm. For example, sometimes, due to the shortage of raw material, not only production process get influenced but also other processes such as supply chain, marketing, and sales are also influenced that result in their ineffectiveness (Davis, 2011). It also negatively affects the profitability of the firm and also influences its competitive position in the market.

At B Bakery, each activity or process plays an important role in achieving the organisational objectives at a greater extent. It is because each activity or process develops the best product or service that satisfies the ultimate needs and wants of the customers. In order to achieve business objectives, it is expected from supply chain process that it can ensure the effective delivery of raw material to the manufacturing department. Along with this, in the outcomes of supply chain process, it is required that this process should ensure the supply of finished goods to the number of different business such as supermarkets and pub-chains (O’Donnell, 2016). At the same time, in the outcomes, the supply chain process is also required to make an effective and interactive connection between different processes and activities so that each process can be aligned with another one to provide competitive advantages to the firm.

On the other hand, from the production and manufacturing process, it is expected that this process will provide quality and tasty products for the end users. It is also required for production process that it should make effective balance between time and temperature to bake the products in order to get the good quality of products (DePamphilis, 2015). At the same time, from the marketing process, the outcomes are required that it should provide detailed information about the products and services to the customers with their ingredients, features and the benefits. One of the outcomes of marketing process is also related to acquire and retain more customers in effectively, cheaply and quickly in order to achieve organisation’s objectives (Davis, 2011).

At the same time, it is required that sales process will ensure the availability of bakery products and services to the number of retailers such as supermarkets and pub-chains. This outcome from the sales process will be supportive for the firm to achieve effective revenue by selling products and services to the customers. Along with this, it is also required to the sales process that it should impress the customer with the uniqueness of the products and the company (Brown, 2013). It will result in more and loyal customers of the firm.

Possible Software Features

In order to achieve IT investment objectives, financial management is one of the leading features that the possible software should have. It is because, through this B Bakery will enable to make effective financial reporting by testing the different financial components. It will also provide the clear understanding to the firm about the financial position in the market. Human resource is also feature that the software package has to deal with the most important people (employees) of the business. Through this feature, the firm can enable to manage the employees’ payroll, performance, time tracking, attendance, scheduling, and KPI (Key Performance Indicators) (Phelps, 2015). Due to this, B Bakery can also ensure the effective management of employees and develop the basic report on their performance, which can result in saving the cost and time.

The automation feature can also be considered by B Bakery in software package because, through this feature, the firm can develop the basic accounting transactions and financial management in terms of employee expenses, company and departmental budget, purchase requisition and other complex financial management activities. On the other hand, in the software, the automatic update is one of the features that need to consider by B Bakery. It is because by this feature, the firm enable to adopt the changes in tax laws, regulations and financial practices over time (Tracy and Laurin, 2011). So, it can be essential for B Bakery that it selects the software, which receives fast, user-transparent and automatic updates quickly and easily.

Customisation is one of the features that need to be considered by B Bakery at the time of selecting accounting software. Through customisation features, the firm can enable to match the accounting software with the business needs by easy customisation of financial statements, forms, reports, screens, help system and other programs. At the same time, the functionality of this feature can lead the firm to develop the better relationship with the customers by recording their needs and guiding the firm to develop the product for satisfying these needs successfully (Lewis, 2014).

In the possible software feature, internet connectivity is one of the features that should consider by the firm to meet IT investment objectives. It is because the internet connectivity feature can improve the ability of the firm to send and receive the digital documents from the different departments. Along with this, through this feature, the firm can also enable to handle the electronic fund transferring process effectively. Because, internet connectivity can support the firm to link the employees and other stakeholders’ accounts with the firm’s account, which can support the firm to easily transfer the payments and salaries to the stakeholders in the right time (Phelps, 2015).

In the organisations, accounting is a number-focused activity. In this, the consideration of graphics feature in accounting software can be effective for B Bakery to illustrate these numbers in graphs and charts. Through this, the firm can identify the trends related to the sales and profits and can improve the actions and activities to improve the profitability for the year. On the other hand, expandability is a possible software feature that the firm should consider to achieve IT investment objective because at the time of growth in the business scope and size, this feature in the software would enable the firm to include add-on modules, which can be effective for the firm to develop a supportive ERP environment as well as allow the customers to access the wide range of firm’s products effectively (Tracy and Laurin, 2011).

Along with this, security is also an effective feature that should be considered by B Bakery in the possible software features. This feature can be effective for the firm to ensure the safety and security of financial and accounting data and information at greater extent from the theft or lose. It can also be supportive in managing different departments and employees to achieve the organisational goals and objectives in significant manner (Vermaat, 2014). On the other hand, reporting and analysis are some functionalities of the software that should consider by the firm. It is because, through these functionalities firm can enable to gain insights about the financial activities, governmental rules and regulations that need to consider for ensuring accuracy and timeliness of published financial information.

Category of Accounting Software

After visiting different accounting software package vendors, the medium category of accounting software package would be suitable for B Bakery. Through this software package, the firm can enable to support multiple users by operating on the multiple operating systems. It can also be effective for the firm to gather large amount of database in order to develop the strategies and activities for the future growth (Scot, 2010). At the same time, the selection of medium category of accounting software package would also be effective for the firm to expand its market in different countries. In this, this type of accounting software package would help B Bakery to serve needs of multiple national accountancy standards and also facilitate accountancy in multiple currencies. Through this, the firm would enable to operate its business activities in easy and smooth ways (Granneman, 2011).

Apart from this, the use of medium category of accounting software would also significant for B Bakery in terms of adding different types of modules and interfaces, which would be helpful for the firm to choose from an array of the deployment options. Due to this, the firm will enable not only the accounting functions but also other functions such as HR, sales, and marketing (Scot, 2010). It would be supportive for the firm to gain competitive advantages as well as profitability in the industry.

Compare and Contrast

In the medium type of accounting software, Intuit’s QuickBooks and MYOB’s EXO are two main accounting software packages that are popular in the Australia. In this, Intuit’s QuickBooks is cost effective accounting software that provide comprehensive level of features to its users. Through these features, businesses are enabled to track their business’ income, expenses and profits in effective way. But, in comparison to this, MYOB’s EXO is an expensive accounting software package in the medium category of accounting software. But, EXO offers a free trial package and different paid-per-use plans with different features such as multi-user access, stock count, purchasing, gift cards, price list, wastage, CRM and marketing integration, bar tabs and add-on creation (Advisory HQ, 2016).

But, in contrast to this, the QuickBooks provide extra features as compared to EXO such as bar code scanning, customer history, credit card processing, download transactions from bank and credit card account, free payroll, manage and pay bills, compare sales and profitability with industry trends, class tracking (Intuit, 2016). But, in comparison to this, MYOB’s EXO helps the business owners in increasing their profitability and taking better decisions through providing real-time view of business financial operations. At the same time, EXO has the special feature, which enables the users to work offline (MYOB, 2016). It means, if the internet connection can slip, the user can enable to work offline as compared to QuickBooks accounting software package.  

But, at the same time, these two software packages provide effective report on balance sheet, P&L statement, income statement, track account payable, and manage cash flow that allows the business users to manage the financial and accounting processes and activities significantly. But, Intuit’s QuickBooks has different features as compared to MYOB’s EXO such as selection of single customer for invoice, snap and capture expense receipts, and swipe to categorise transaction (Intuit, 2016). But, in contrast to this, it is identified that QuickBooks uses a third party payroll provider and also not include many employees for the free. If a company wants to increase the number of employees for payroll, it will need to pay extra price for using payroll module, which is not necessary in MYOB’s EXO. It is because EXO has its own payroll module and is much better value for money for business with more employees (James and Maher, 2013).

At the same time, it is also identified that MYOB’s EXO has the flexibility that support the businesses to meet their needs significantly. As it helps the businesses in terms of providing easy accounting and GL functions, multiple division and branches support, manage dashboards, CRM services, advance stock and foreign currency management, tracking of shipment, project costing functions, and HR management activities (Growth Path, 2016). These features enable the businesses to operate their business activities and generate considerable profits by saving costs and expenses.

On the basis of discussion, it can be recommended to B Bakery that MYOB’s EXO is most suitable accounting software package as compared to QuickBooks. It is because MYOB’s EXO mainly focuses on the mid to high end market, which will help the firm to expand its size and market in the future. In this situation, EXO will also support the firm to make easy access of the accounting system to the business. At the same time, the selection of EXO would also enable the firm to access the fully customised ERP system with accounting/general ledger, CRM, job and project costing, POS, assets management and intercompany reporting, effective payroll, and HR services (MYOB, 2016). Through this, B Bakery can effectively operate its business activities and generate more profits in the future.

Along with this, the selection of MYOB’s EXO can be effective for the firm in terms of accessing the software package from different platforms such as Mac, Android, Windows and website, which can help the firm and management to remotely access the accounts and other information to build and improve the strategies and action plans for future growth of the firm. Along with this, through selecting the EXO, B Bakery will enable to manage its human resources effectively in terms of integrating jobs, payroll, time, and attendance of employees (MYOB, 2016). It will support the firm to establish effective HR management activities that will save the time and cost of the firm and increase its profitability in the future.

Along with this, MYOB’s EXO is effectively designed for the medium size organisation, which will enable B Bakery to manage the information in an efficient and organise manner. Through this, the firm can gain complete visibility across the organisation, which will be effective in making right decisions to ensure the success of the bakery business. On the other hand, the use of EXO accounting software package can be effective for the firm in terms of managing the sales orders, supply chain and customer invoicing in better ways (Focus, 2016). Due to this, the firm can be enabled to provide better services to its clients and customers that can increase its customer base as well as profitability in the market.  

At the same time, the use of MYOB’s EXO can be effective for B Bakery to make a holistic view of the business by analysing the functions and actions. Through this, the firm can improve the business’s processes and activities at significant level to ensure the organisation’s growth. Along with this, the use of EXO ERP software can also provide the benefits to the firm in terms of tracking costing and job progress (Indivia Australia, 2015). Due to this, the firm can enable to manage the resources significantly and deliver the results on time.

Conclusion

From the above discussion, it can be concluded that B Bakery performs different processes and activities such as supply chain, production, sales, marketing, and CRM, which help it to gain profitability in the market. It can also be concluded that graphics, financial management, payroll, automation, customisation, internet connectivity, and security are some basic features in the software that can be considered by B Bakery at the time of selecting software package. In this, the selection of MYOB’s EXO would be a better choice because it will provide all these features as well as support the firm to make informed decisions about every aspect of the business.

References

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