However, there is a remedy for these problems, and that is an ERP management system. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a type of software that firms use to manage their everyday business activities such as accounting, procurement, supply chains, project management, risk management and compliance.
With the progressive digitalisation of enterprises, ERPs today significantly support financial management and accounting. At this stage, I would like to emphasise that many of these systems are international. Thanks to this, they support companies regardless of where and in how many countries they operate.
System support in accounting and financial matters is a fascinating topic. Especially, because it significantly simplifies doing business across many countries. It automates many reports, settlements, and preparation of customs documents. I would like to introduce to you some features that ERP management systems can offer. If you are considering conducting international activities, you will see what opportunity and support the implementation of these solutions can give.
Firstly, many ERP system allows to automate prepayments and accrued expenses. This enables easy recognition of revenues and expenses. And it allows for efficient management of settlements with both suppliers and buyers. If it’s in your ERP, you will gain better control of the company's liquidity.
Good ERP system will offer bank-account reconciliation. This allows you for automatic data download from bank statements to create entries in the books of account and track all bank statements. It allows you to complete and reconcile payments in one step, in one place.
As I mentioned before, ERP systems facilitate creating reports and payments. You can easily generate many types of reports such as: buyer – balance per day, aging of receivables / age structure of receivables, confirmation of balance. The system also facilitates payments – you can generate direct debit to get money directly from the customer's bank account and a direct debit file from the bank. It enables to generate payment requests and interest notes.
When it comes to bank-related issues, an ERP solution will also support bank account management. This functionality allows you to operate and manage multiple bank accounts and various currencies from the system level, to meet different business needs. This can be really helpful feature if you conduct export sales or operations abroad. The solution will allow you to dynamically manage currency conversion and ensure efficient processing of exchange-rate updates. It can settle exchange differences. Imagine how easy it will be if you could manage all accounts, and all currencies from one place. And there’s a big chance that with the right ERP system, you could do it all from your mobile phone or browser. For more automated payment, ERP will provide you with payment propositions based on a supplier's documentation and automatically generate banking payments file. It also allows for the conversion of bank data and generate the appropriate electronic payment file for your bank. Importantly, many ERP systems are integrated with most Polish and European banks.
Tax issues are often problematic if you are dealing with international sales. But you can look at ERP as at a cure. In this kind of solution, you can easily calculate VAT in accordance with the tax specificity of the given country. The system automatically calculates the tax due and calculated, considering all legal requirements.
The system supports companies that carry out international activities. The accounting module in most solutions can be adapted to settlements according to the regulations in each country. It can service both capital groups operating in several countries for which taxes are settled separately, as well as companies selling retail to many countries and reporting VAT in more than one country.
Registering and processing documents with ERP becomes extremely easy and fast. This is possible thanks to the scanning, recognition, and automatic processing of documents. All this with the use of artificial intelligence. Facilitating the processing of documents is connected with automatic assignment of accounting patterns to costs. ERP allows you to almost completely eliminate paper documents that end their life in the secretariat. Their further life is digital. These solutions are important not only for employees working in headquarters: they significantly support remote and distributed work.
Many of ERP systems support Polish tax requirements. And even if they don’t many companies, including ours offer features that support split payment, Single Audit File - Tax (SAF-T or JPK in Polish) or postponed VAT.
When it comes to split payment, the system automatically assigns incoming split-payment invoices and generates payments. ERP also allows firms to generate invoices in accordance with applicable regulations. It has functionalities connected with JPK /SAF-T files or duties connected to VAT tax. Systems also have functionality of postponed VAT which is especially useful when settling sales corrective invoices.
A well-selected ERP also supports the reporting sales and transfer of goods for Intrastat and the preparation of appropriate JPK / SAF-T files for Polish tax authorities. On official accounting reports, the system generates information about the name and version of the accounting program, which is required by Polish law.
Keeping up to date with Poland’s ever-changing business environment!
It is worth emphasising that as IT Vision, we make sure that the systems we offer to our customers are always adapted to Polish legal and tax requirements. Consequently, each change introduced by the Polish legislator makes us prepare appropriate changes and functionalities for our customers. If you are looking for an ERP implementation team, make sure that they will also support updates in your system when it comes to tax and legal changes.
The functions I have mentioned are just some of the possibilities of supporting the duties and financial and accounting processes in international companies. So, if you are wondering whether to expand your business to new markets, and you are afraid of the multitude of obligations related to reporting or payment accounting, implementing management system - ERP - may be a good solution for you.
Paweł Prymakowski is CEO of IT Vision – a company that has been implementing ERP since 2000. Experienced executive, sales and business development expert. He has led many international projects and has experience in many industries: IT, services, production, construction, facility management, trade/distribution. Paweł also knows very well business areas such as: management, controlling, BPR, accounting, IT project management, EU funds, as well as planning and implementation of international projects.