The Light Is Green: Eleven rules of choosing business management software: Rule 2

December 27, 2006

Eleven rules of choosing business management software: Rule 2

Here's the next entry from our list of eleven "rules" to help small and medium sized companies evaluate potential products and suppliers when they're looking to change their business management software.

Rule 2: Does the system stay up-to-date regarding fiscal compliance?

Uncle Sam Many vehicle dealers take for granted that their business software complies with the legal and fiscal regulations that are in force in their country.

But this fulfillment may very well be partial. In fact, many solutions available in the market only comply with some of the more simple interpretations of these regulations: they may not take into account tax withholdings, or provide all of the required accounting reports, or handle VAT completely, etc.

In addition, in many countries, new fiscal and legal requirements appear or are modified on a regular basis. This can cause serious issues for the dealership if these adjustments aren't quickly reflected in the system.

It is vital that the software supplier have its own in-house development team, to program the required changes as soon as they appear. These developers should work closely with the supplier’s legal and accounting advisors who are in the best position to understand the new regulations. Many suppliers outsource their application development; this means that it is very difficult, if not impossible, for them to react quickly to changing legal and fiscal matters.

On a related note, the lack of an in-house development staff also means that the supplier won’t be able to provide system updates as frequently as may be desired, much less incorporate customer feature suggestions and other requirements.

Posts in this series: