software for manufacturing – Cooper Mann Consulting

May 19, 2015November 15, 2019

Accounting for Custom Manufacturing

Accounting and bookkeeping is a part of every business large and small, yet there are myriad details to work with and a multitude of possible approaches to addressing the requirement. From a summary perspective, there are standards which are fairly easily met, providing the basics of sales and expense tracking and income reporting sufficient for basic tax and compliance work to be performed. Yet accounting may go much deeper into the operational processes of the business, delving into the details of productivity and profitability in order to find and expose areas where the business might improve both.

mfg Manufacturing, particularly custom manufacturing or ETO (engineering to order) is among those industry types that could benefit tremendously from a more intimate and detailed approach to accounting. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to find experienced professionals with not simply a competence in working with manufacturing industry sector clients, but specifically with ETO process. Building to order is one thing, but finding the way to improve efficiency and profitability when every job is a custom encounter takes additional skills and a lot of data. Accounting professionals with these skills are needed to help these custom manufacturers grow, transform their businesses and make the overall operations more efficient and sustainable.

It seems logical that manufacturing and ETO space businesses are ripe for the same bridging of technology and analysis that the accounting industry started broadly approaching some years back. With bookkeeping processes being more frequently outsourced to non-accountants, the accounting professionals saw increased pressure to find more efficient ways of doing things and had to find new value to deliver to clients. Technology, data collection and analysis became the foundations for delivering on that new requirement. With the established model and philosophy, bringing more operational aspects of client systems into the mix and extending the model end-to-end just makes sense.

It takes a combination of systems – from the core accounting solution to the manufacturing control or other operational systems, through to the analytical tools. Leveraging hosting technologies and cloud service, businesses are finally able to bring the multiple work locations – shops, warehouses and business offices – together in a single software and technology platform, and collect the level of detail necessary to provide a comprehensive and true picture of the business. The analytical tools then provide the means to explore the details and identify where improvements might be made or where previously unrecognized risk exists.

QuickBooks desktop editions remain among the most popular financial systems used by manufacturing and job shop applications, largely due to the effectiveness of connecting the operational applications to an accounting solution which proves highly workable and which has strong industry support. Even with the emergence of QuickBooks Online (and the push by Intuit to get customers to adopt this web-based alternative to desktop-based software) the QuickBooks desktop edition products continue to provide more functionality and application support for these working models, as the ability to fully manage the information in the solution exists more in the disk based products than it does in a multitenant web-based application. Accounting “mechanics” are able to see, access and work with all the data rather than simply view reports where only half of the transaction is visible – making detailed accounting and data analysis more readily available.

The key is to leverage the accounting professional, the right software tools, and the platform and delivery environment that allows it all to work in concert for the entire organization. Add the QuickBooks hosting service so the participants can work more closely together. Enabling the accounting professional and bringing them closer to their clients (and client systems) allows the deeper move into operational issues, creating the basis for both to receive new and more value from the relationship.

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February 4, 2013

Lean and Mean – Improving Sales and Distribution Performance

It is surprising that, even in this world of Internet marketing and online commerce, many businesses are operating at levels far below their potential. Reliant upon people rather than information and process, these businesses are weighted down by their legacy approach to getting things done. They throw money and personnel at the problem, adding more “fat” to the business and making sustainability just that much harder to achieve. The right approach, and the mantra of all manufacturers and distributors, should be to work “lean and mean”, applying technology and business principles which support agility and improved process efficiency.

The center of lean business is in operations, and includes all aspects of the “order” processing and support systems. From the point where an order is sought, to the point of order entry, and through to delivery and service – all aspects of the operation must be addressed for the business to achieve maximum success. Innovating in operational areas, such as in order management and distribution, can help the business rise above others in the market and create a significant competitive advantage.

What becomes challenging for many businesses is the fact that years of working in established “silos” often makes it difficult to introduce the cross-functionality necessary to support lean operations. It is not sufficient to simply suggest that the organization work collaboratively to streamline processes from order through to service and support. Work groups and team members must work together and adapt to delivering process improvements, following through with the actions necessary to turn the philosophy into bottom line results. Good support is required to keep customers, and a good product is necessary to support increased sales. No aspect of the operation stands alone, so each is necessary to participate in making end-to-end improvement. Additionally, back-office processes must be aligned to work collaboratively where required, supporting efficient operations rather than creating unnecessary bottlenecks or delays.

The key to developing a lean and mean, high performance operation is applying the technology and principles which translate into improved profitability and customer retention. In many cases, the same solutions which create customer “self-help” capabilities are also solutions which can address similar needs for internal business users. Ultimately, the goals are elimination of redundant or error-prone processes, establishing the sharing and secure collaboration of information throughout the organization, implementing integrated systems which allow users to efficiently perform their particular tasks, and working cooperatively with others in the supply chain to maximize the real-time capability and efficiency.

Rather than continuing to utilize basic record keeping solutions, or accounting products which aren’t prepared to address the specific operational aspects of the business, owners and managers should be looking to the tools and solutions which will help them develop the framework to support improving operational performance, turning people knowledge into sustainable business profitability.

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Accountants and Small Manufacturers: Getting in Front of the Ball

October 18, 2012November 15, 2019

Accountants and Small Manufacturers

Getting in Front of the Ball

There’s a lot more to accountability in a manufacturing or inventory-based business than simply keeping track of money in and money out. Particularly in an economy when nobody can afford to build or stock products too far ahead of demand, it is essential that these businesses have a means to not only track and manage purchasing, manufacturing, distribution and stocking activities, but to understand conditions or trends which impact the flow of materials and cash through the business. Further, this understanding must come in a timely manner in order for the business owner to make decisions and take action when it matters most. Unfortunately, many business owners find themselves “behind the ball”, constantly pushing to make forward strides, and often due to not having the information they need to make business decisions that matter now, today.

Why is it so critical for these businesses to have more and better information to help them make strategic decisions and answer daily operational questions? In a word: connectedness. The Internet has truly made the world smaller when it comes to participation with even the smallest of local businesses. Globalization of markets has impacted manufacturers in significant ways, and these businesses (like so many others) must now be prepared to address the realities of global supply chains, outsourcing, and a remote or mobile workforce and market. While many of the software solutions addressing the functional business requirements of manufacturing and inventory or warehouse management are “locally implemented” solutions, extending and integrating these solutions to address the new global and mobile paradigm may represent a significant expenditure in time and resources for the small enterprise.

Application hosting and web-based solutions have emerged to help businesses address the need to “modernize” legacy applications and enable greater levels of system management and access. Introducing the applications into a centralized and remotely accessible environment allows the business to immediately deliver the necessary support for remote work and mobile access, and positions the system to facilitate collaboration within the business and with outside participants, such as outsourced bookkeepers, accounting and finance professionals.

These professionals can be instrumental in assisting their clients manage the change to new collaborative computing paradigms. Where accounting was previously viewed as an after-the-fact process, accountability through detailed activity tracking and reporting is now a focus which begins at the front end of the business, and accounting professionals are finding far greater value in helping structure and manage this daily activity in order to deliver greater operational information and insight. Rather than being the last people to know what is happening in the business, accounting professionals are recognizing that their ability to positively impact business performance requires getting “in front of the ball”, initiating process structure, data control and collection which ultimately results in better and more informed decision-making through better and more timely access to more meaningful information.

Businesses at all levels are realizing that new computing paradigms can ease the burdens of collecting and sharing information, yet most small companies need help in determining exactly how to approach this “enabling” of the business and systems. While accountants are also experiencing dramatic change in how they do business, it makes sense for them to embrace the opportunity and recognize that enabling client systems will ultimately allow the accounting professional to work more closely and to deliver more tangible value to their client on an ongoing basis. Online accounting approaches are no longer a fad but are the new reality supporting how many bookkeepers and accountants work with their business clients. Extending access beyond accounting and bookkeeping systems, and incorporating support for operational and line-of-business solutions, is the next step which will bring the accountant closer to the client business, and position both to benefit from deeper collaboration and useful insight.

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