Has your company outgrown QuickBooks?

South Florida has long been recognized as an incubator for small to medium-sized Businesses (SMBs). A few grow to more than $600 million in revenue then quite often get acquired when they near $1 billion in revenue. Entrepreneurial SMBs are the lifeblood of South Florida and represent all industry sectors, including:

• Services
• Tourism
• Manufacturing & Printing
• Distribution & International Trade
• Retail

Kaufman, Rossin’s value to our corporate clients goes far beyond accounting and tax advice.   We strive to provide insightful business acumen that helps show our clients how to smartly advance their businesses through the next stage of growth.

Banks and professional services companies commonly categorize corporate growth stages as follows:

Start-up:      < $1 million in revenue
Stage 1:       $1 million to $5 million in revenue
Stage 2:       $5 million to $20 million in revenue
Stage 3:       $20 million to $100 million in revenue
Stage 4:       > $100 million in revenue

These are generally accepted stages, but can vary depending on the complexity of the corporation’s business, such as:

• Volume of items
• Volume of transactions
• International trade/taxes
• Number of customers
• Number of vendors/suppliers
• Inventory handling/logistics
• Federal compliance
• Complexity and reliance on Information Technology (IT)

Many start-up and stage 1 companies begin with a basic financial accounting system, such as QuickBooks. In a recent article, public speaker and technology expert J. Carlton Collins, CPA, offers “Practical Advice for Companies That Have Outgrown QuickBooks.”

There are multiple business management software options (also known as Enterprise Resource Planning [ERP] systems) for a company to consider as it grows from stage 1 to 2 and beyond. How do you decide which system is best suited to your company’s current and future needs, business process and model? Should some or all of your IT applications be in the cloud?

Our Kaufman Rossin Business Consulting Services professionals have helped many companies objectively and independently make these important decisions. Most importantly, we help clients realize that this is not just an IT decision. The most successful entrepreneurs recognize that each transition to a new growth stage is an opportunity to re-evaluate the most critical business elements:

• People
• Process
• Infrastructure
• Technology

Read our strategic systems integration planning white paper to learn more about how to choose the IT investments that will be the best fit for your business and maximize ROI.