How do I know what ERP or Financial System is right for my business?

When a business is first established the answer may be different than when it is fully operational and growing.  VBS can help you with the considerations for your unique business, and can provide you with guidance on system selection best practices.  VBS can also provide implementation services if your business selects either QuickBooks® or NetSuite®, or if it is time to migrate to either of these systems. 

Often a company can start with a lower-cost-of-ownership financial system such as QuickBooks® to establish their processes and sound accounting practices. QuickBooks® can grow with the company, adding features such as order processing, inventory management, multi-site, multi-currency and e-commerce integrations.  As your business grows, it may be time for a ERP solution when: 

• The QuickBooks® file is large, the system is slow and data corruption becomes a concern 

• The company is using multiple separate systems and integrations (manual or automated) are becoming a challenge.  For example, the company may be using a CRM system, a demand-planning system, shopping cart integrators, QuickBook® and an HR/Payroll system – and is challenged with synchronizing data and ensuring that ‘master data’ is accurate and up-to-date 

• The QuickBooks® software is not able to meet some advanced business requirements such as resource planning, multi-channel sales support, approval workflows, customer portals, service management 

• Auditors, investors or banks are requiring additional controls and security that are not available in the QuickBooks® software. 

We can help you determine the right systems pathway for your unique needs, while you continue to focus your attention on running the business. 

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How is working with VBS, as a firm, different than working with an individual consultant?

Some small businesses will obtain system expertise or bookkeeping services help from an individual consultant. These resources can be found by internet searches, temp agencies or candidate websites and may be the right solution for the business needs. These types of resources are often available at lower hourly rates. For ‘spot solutions’ such as AP data entry or after-the-fact bookkeeping, a resource such as this can be useful. Your business would of course manage the training, workload and performance of this resource, whether they are employed or subcontracted.

VBS is a firm with multiple team members, with broad expertise and client experiences. We have standard mechanisms for tracking projects, services, support needs, and internal training. Our clients receive the specific services they need, without needing to worry about ‘who’ is doing the work. VBS manages the team and the deliverables. Our clients benefit from cross-client learning and leveraged materials. For example, we don’t generate NetSuite® or QuickBooks® training documentation from scratch – we instead pull from our library of training procedures, developed over the years, and enhance this training to meet your needs. We have standard repeatable processes for all areas of your accounting needs, including AR, AP, Payroll and financial close. VBS provides ‘integrated’ services – including the system, the integration of Operations/Finance, the financial processes, and the accounting/bookkeeping.

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Do I have access to other skillsets in VBS, other than my primary contact?

VBS is a firm with multiple team members, with broad education, expertise, business history and client experiences. Our engagements have a primary and secondary team member assigned, at a minimum. Many engagements have larger support teams. Your primary team contact will tap into the different team members for the needed skills. Do you have an audit request for an Equity Roll-forward analysis? We have team members who can produce this. Do you need to implement Advanced Inventory with Multiple Inventory Sites? We have team members who have done this multiple times and we leverage their knowledge and skills. The VBS business model is to bring in the team member to provide you with the services you need.

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I understand that VBS doesn’t provide CPA-type services (even though some of your team are CPA certified). Why not? And will you work with our current CPA?

VBS recognizes that audit, certified financials, and tax support are specialties that require very specific ongoing focus and education. We believe these services are best provided by a CPA, a CPA firm, or Tax Attorney. Our staff members are happy to work with your chosen CPA, as we work closely with most of our client’s CPAs. And, due to the advanced education and certification of our team, your CPA will probably enjoy working directly with us, too. If you don’t currently have a CPA or tax advisor, we would recommend that you obtain one for annual tax preparation, at a minimum. We can provide referrals to trusted CPAs in your area, in the case that you don’t have a firm identified.

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What areas does VBS NOT support?

VBS does not provide services in the below areas, as these areas require very focused ongoing education, skills, and expertise. We do provide support and reporting to these functions and can interact directly with your chosen professionals in these areas. We also have some great referrals in some of these specific services – firms we know will treat you right in addressing these needs.

• CFO Services (our services peak at Controller services, we don’t act as a corporate officer) 

• Tax return preparation 

• Sales tax advisory (we do compute and file for you, however) 

• Audit and certified financials 

• Forensic accounting 

• Fraud review/detection 

• Public accounting 

• Information technology services (although we can guide you in this area and help you find services) 

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What financial software does VBS support, and why?

Vector Business Solutions provides outsourced accounting services on a variety of software platforms. However, VBS has focused on the below software products for certification and implementation expertise. VBS selected these software solutions based on these main factors

• maturity in our focus markets (small- or mid-size businesses) 

• widely adopted in their markets 

• comprehensive feature sets 

• total cost of ownership aligns well with focus market

We find that keeping our focus on these products allows us to stay current in the features and functions, effectively, so we can bring the best uses of these products to our clients.

• QuickBooks® Online (All editions)

• QuickBooks® Pro, Premier, Enterprise (All editions, including Advanced Inventory, Desktop, server-based or hosted) 

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How does VBS access my financial system to provide ongoing support?

The good news is that there are many ways to accomplish this – and we fine-tune the method depending on our client’s IT infrastructure (or lack, thereof!) and needs. We will work with your IT support and/or other identified representative to determine the best approach for your installation. We use unique logon ID’s and passwords in order to keep your system secure and audit-trail in-tact and meaningful. Some of the various access methods are below:

• Access client’s own cloud-based system  (VBS logs on as accountant for client) 

• Access QuickBooks® via client’s hosted environment logon (VBS logs onto client’s chosen hosting environment with a VBS-specific hosting logon) 

• Client is hosted on VBS hosting environment (client can have logons to this environment) 

• Use GoToAssist unattended session to ‘take over’ a desktop at the clients office location (typically done in a desktop or local-server based installation) 

• Client’s IT support provides VBS remote access to client server environment (usually a combination of VPN and RDP security is employed) 

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How does VBS ensure my sensitive systems are secure? Do I have to share my bank passwords with your team?

VBS recognizes the importance of security and protection of your sensitive systems and data. We use a state-of-the art firm-wide security solution, Practice Protect, to effectively eliminate exposure of your bank, credit card, government site and other logon credentials. This system also adds a layer of multi-factor security and a detailed audit trail, by user. Logon IDs and passwords are hidden and encrypted.

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