Financial Management Foundation#
Financial management is the core of ERP. Even organisations that implement ERP primarily for operational reasons need robust financial capabilities.
General Ledger Requirements#
Chart of Accounts#
Structure: - Segment design (account, cost centre, etc.) - Hierarchies for reporting - Multiple structures (local, group)
Management: - New account creation - Account mapping - Consolidation mapping
Journal Processing#
Journal entry: - Manual journal entry - Recurring journals - Reversing journals - Allocation journals
Workflow: - Approval workflow - Delegation - Escalation
Period Management#
Period open/close: - Flexible period definition - Period closing controls - Soft close vs hard close
Year-end: - Year-end processing - Comparative periods - Restatement capability
Reporting#
Standard reports: - Trial balance - Balance sheet - Income statement - Cash flow statement
Ad-hoc reporting: - Report writer - Drill-down capability - Export functionality
Accounts Payable Requirements#
Invoice Processing#
Invoice capture: - Manual entry - Scanning/OCR - EDI/e-invoicing
Validation: - Duplicate check - 2-way/3-way match - Approval workflow
Payment Processing#
Payment methods: - EFT/direct credit - Cheque - Card payments - International payments
Payment execution: - Payment proposal - Payment approval - Bank file generation - Reconciliation
Vendor Management#
Vendor master: - Vendor registration - Bank account maintenance - Contact management
Vendor analysis: - Spend analysis - Payment history - Vendor performance
Accounts Receivable Requirements#
Invoice Generation#
Invoice creation: - Manual invoices - Recurring invoices - Sales order integration
Invoice delivery: - Print/email - Electronic invoicing - Customer portal
Cash Application#
Receipt processing: - Manual entry - Bank feed integration - Lockbox processing
Matching: - Auto-matching - Partial payment handling - Dispute management
Credit Management#
Credit control: - Credit limits - Credit hold - Credit review
Collections: - Collection workflow - Dunning letters - Write-off processing
Fixed Assets Requirements#
Asset Lifecycle#
Acquisition: - Asset registration - Depreciation setup - Cost allocation
Depreciation: - Multiple methods - Book vs tax - Revaluation
Disposal: - Sale/scrapping - Gain/loss calculation - Partial disposal
Asset Tracking#
Physical tracking: - Location tracking - Physical inventory - Barcode/RFID
Reporting#
Standard reports: - Asset register - Depreciation schedule - Roll-forward
Cash Management Requirements#
Bank Integration#
Bank feeds: - Statement import - Transaction import - Real-time feeds
Reconciliation#
Bank reconciliation: - Auto-matching - Manual matching - Exception handling
Cash Forecasting#
Forecast generation: - Receivables forecast - Payables forecast - Cash position
Multi-Entity Requirements#
Intercompany#
Intercompany transactions: - Intercompany AP/AR - Intercompany pricing - Elimination handling
Consolidation#
Consolidation processing: - Trial balance import - Elimination entries - Currency translation - Minority interest
NZ/AU Considerations#
Tax#
GST/VAT: - NZ GST calculation - AU GST calculation - BAS reporting - GST return
Banking#
NZ banking: - Direct credit files - Bank statement formats
AU banking: - BPAY integration - ABA file format
Reporting#
Statutory: - XBRL filing - ASIC reporting - Companies Office
Conclusion: Financial Module Quality Matters#
Financial management is core ERP functionality. The quality of financial modules directly affects financial reporting accuracy, control effectiveness, and operational efficiency.