The role of the ERP accountant in driving growth

Explore how ERP accountants blend finance expertise with tech skills to optimise ERP systems, driving efficiency, compliance, and strategic insights for your business.

The ERP accountant is a new star to brighten things up for businesses like yours. These highly skilled individuals serve as a key source of expertise when your business implements an ERP system. Their accounting and financial background along with their knowledge of technology systems lend important attention to detail as you strategise on how to make the best use of an ERP and related solutions.

They are important voices at the table during setup, integrations, and determining best practice financial processes. From there, they have a continuing and vital role to play in helping your business examine how ERP financial systems affect other core areas of your organisation, and how to create ways to bring data, analysis, and strategy into sharper focus.

ERP accountant provides unique leadership and strategy

An ERP accountant has a more strategic and system-oriented role than a traditional accountant. They also have a wider collaborative scope that reaches outside of your accounting department, working with teams across the business to design and implement ERP systems, while also helping to manage a company’s financial strategy. This requires them to apply accounting skills in the context of automation and related processes for greater efficiency.

ERP accountants are active participants in business planning and decision making, providing insights into financial data and trends. With a combination of technical and interpersonal skills, they work closely with IT, operations, human resources, and project resource management leaders to help ensure ERP integration and alignment with your company’s overall goals and financial objectives.

Career background and essential skills

An ERP accountant has a strong foundation in all the usual suspects relating to accounting like:

• Financial statements
• General ledger management
• Accounts payable and receivable
• Tax compliance.

Apart from these fundamental skills, there are communications and technical components to their role, too. These include:

• Understanding technical requirements across departments through frequent discussions and analysis
• Turning those requirements into system configurations that streamline processes and empower good decision making
• Establishing lines of communication with leadership and vendors to help determine roadmaps and next steps.

Since the world of ERP systems is constantly evolving, your ERP accountant learns new systems and technologies quickly. They provide answers. But they ask a lot of questions that create clarity, understanding, and focus for everyone, too.

Their analytical approach is balanced with their ability to connect with others and make decisions by actively seeking their perspectives. Combined with ERP system experience, this enables them to more easily identify trends and anomalies in financial data and troubleshoot any issues and gaps with measurable outcomes in mind.

What is your ERP accountant responsible for?

An ERP accountant records and catalogues financial information to inform better decision-making. They do this by leveraging powerful financial modules within an advanced ERP system that help them manage large amounts of data more accurately and efficiently. They also oversee compliance to help your business stay within regulatory lines.

To do this proactively, ERP accountants provide customisation recommendations such as specialised dashboards and reporting features that allow decision makers to view analytics, important to decision making at a glance. They work closely with both department heads and your business’s ERP partner to account for these requirements while applying their advanced attention to detail skill to turn needs into functionality.

ERP accountants to help companies thrive in new paradigms

The role of the ERP accountant and its rising importance reflects how much the landscape has changed. Accounting functions are no longer limited to spreadsheets or manual data entry. Instead, they are integrated into comprehensive business management platforms integrated seamlessly across systems and departments. 

The static reports of a pre-ERP world were needed for viewing moment-in-time and historic financial performance, whereas the technology offered through ERPs enables accountants to help to shape modelling and predictive analytics which surface data that proactive business owners rely upon to make informed decisions about the future of their business.

ERP accountants are highly sought after by businesses looking to improve their financial dashboards and reporting. They represent an important voice that helps to shape best practices that help create clearer paths to success for businesses like yours.

Propel your financial future with ERP and PKF Digital

Decision makers who understand the importance of powerful technology platforms also understand that as technology changes, roles and responsibilities also shift. As ERP accountancy roles and technical skills adapt with advancements in business solutions, it may be time to evaluate if you’re getting the most out of your tools and systems.

Are you unsure that you're getting the most predictive data and insights out of your ERP solution? We are here to help you objectively evaluate your tools and resources. Contact us for a free consultation today.