Accounting Software for Laundromap: Analysis and Selection

This assignment discusses the analysis and selection of accounting software for Laundromap, a laundry delivery start-up. The business requirements and system requirements are discussed, and three software options - SAP, QuickBooks, and XERO - are analyzed. Based on the analysis, the best software is suggested for the company.

Accounting
Information
Assignment

1
By student name
Professor
University
Date: 20 the Sep 2018.
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Executive Summary
Accounting software are an important part for all the organization, as it helps in managing the
work of the company as it becomes difficult for the company to manage it manually. There are
lot of errors in that. Accounting software helps in managing information in an organized manner.
There are many types of software that are available in the market and companies can choose
whichever they want based on their needs. It is important that the companies should do necessary
research and based on that they should select the software that matches the need of their
company. There are many companies that have dedicated teams that works for the IT related
needs of the organization and sees that they are able to satisfy the needs of the computing and
accounting related needs. The IT related needs of the company are very crucial for the company
in all ways. The various types of accounting software that are available in the market includes
XERO, MYOB, QuickBooks etc. The companies can also switch from one software to another
as per their needs and demands. In this assignment, the accounting software and their various
needs as per the company is discussed. An Australian company has been selected and their
overall needs with respect to the various accounting based software are discussed in this
assignment. It is important that a company should choose such software that suits their overall
needs and supports them in the long run. Based on all the analysis, the best software is selected
and suggested for the company.
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CONTENTS:
Introduction…......................……………....................................................................................4
Analysis…........................……………….....................................................................................4
Conclusion…........................……………....................................................................................13
References......................……………….......................................................................................14
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Introduction
Accounting software are those type of software that would help the companies in analysing
and managing their data and process it accordingly in less time and less errors. It includes
functions for various modules of the company that includes accounts payables, accounts
receivables, human resource, sales, marketing etc. Different companies have different operations
and needs, so they can get this accounting software customized as per the needs of their
company. It is important that companies take help from experts who can guide them in selecting
which software would be the best for them (Andiola, et al., 2018). In case of multinational
companies and those that are listed organizations, they have large volume of data to manage and
take care of and thus need of such kind of software increases more in their case. There are
different range of software that can suffice the needs of companies of all kinds, there are small,
medium and large sized companies and thus they have such software options in the market too.
Mostly multinational companies go for QuickBooks as they provide them with an end to end
solution which small sized software cannot (Romney, 2012). Medium and small sized companies
go for software like XERO, SAP, MYOB. There is software that are meant for some specific
purpose like just management for inventory, or for sale, or for marketing etc. Thus, we see that
this software is also beneficial for the companies in some way or the other. In this assignment the
business operations and other related concepts of the company Laundromap, has been analysed
and based on that a correct software has been suggested for the company that can fulfil their
needs altogether (Appelbaum, et al., 2018).
A) Background
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The company that we have chosen for this assignment is Laundromap, the company is a start-
up that was initiated in New Zealand and then the business came to Australia. The company
indulges in operations related to self-service laundry, coin laundry, and coin wash. The company
does operations without taking too much help from the professionals and most of the services are
automated by the company. It is a Laundry delivery start-up that seeks to provide such services
to people who cannot do it on their own and want some help in this regard. The company
provides over the week services and collect and clean and deliver the order for the company. The
company is affordable and many working professionals needs it as that can satisfy their needs of
good laundry. The company wanted to become a standard online dry-cleaning company
(Axelsen, et al., 2017). The start-up allows the customer to outsource their dry-cleaning for home
and office pickups and delivers them back over a period of seven days to these companies. The
company also have an app, that customers can download that and use for their convenience. In
case of dry cleaning industry, there is not much employment of technology and lot of manual
work is involved in that, but Laundromap wanted to change it and bring more technology into
this. It wanted to make the delivery service as one of the best in the 21st century. There have been
many pick up related services that were offered in the past, but technology can act as a big
enabler in that regards. Just like food delivery services, the market of which has boomed over the
years, there is a big market for delivery services also. Being an application based business, it is
easy to find customers, as people can only download the app and can send their laundry as and
when they want. The company has adopted an independent model approach just that is available
in case of Uber laundry. It is important that in case of handling peoples prized dresses, a lot of
patience needs to be ascertained. Thus, the company needs to have proper technology and people
combination who will help the business in running properly (Bailey, et al., 2017). There are
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many such start-ups that are operating in the market in this regard and thus it is important
Laundromap should do something different so that more and more customer gets attracted for the
company. The company is a start-up and thus it is important that they can get good funding that
can help them in operating their business. The company also needs a good accounting software
that can help them in managing their overall operations and delivering to the best of their ability
and there are less errors and less manual involvement as the company aims too (Bumgarner &
Vasarhelyi, 2018).
b) Business Requirements.
Laundromap is a start-up and it is an application based start-up and thus technology plays
an important role for the company. The company aims to provide services to the customer that
do not much of human interference and thus their aim was all over to support the people. Thus,
the overall business requirement of the company can be stated as that-
 It should help in managing the data of the customers of the company who are
availing the services of the company with respect to their residental address and
their personal details.
 It should also help in managing the inventory that the company is having in terms
of the clothes of the customers and their overall laundry.
 It should help in managing the logistic needs of the company being a service
delivery start-ups.
The main outcomes that are required from such business operations are that the overall cost
should reduce of hiring manual labour. It should help in reducing the overall errors that the
companies can cause while managing large volume of data. It should also help in providing more
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advanced services to the customers and keep a track on the overall inventory that the company
has. Customer clothes and the laundry for the company and hence managing that effectively is
very important and keeping a track is also important (Bumgarner & Vasarhelyi, 2018).
Accounting software like XERO that are specially made for inventory management can be very
helpful to the management and suffice to a lot of their needs. The accounting software should be
such that it should be useful for a start-up in the best ways possible and satisfy all their long term
and short-term needs.
c)System Requirements
There are a lot of accounting software that are available for the company. It is important that
companies should properly analyze the market and based on that they should select such
software which are able to satisfy their long term and short-term needs (Fukukawa & Mock,
2011). The overall business requirement of the company is to involve more tech, less manual
labor, better and advanced services for the people and for this it is important that they should be
able to manage their accounting data to the best of their ability. As it is help them in managing
data in a better way and making sure that there is less error.
 Affordability- It should be affordable, as the company is a start-up and thus the company
does not have that high funding that can support the investment of very high-end
accounting software and thus they aim for such software that are affordable.
 Accessibility – It is important for this startup that they have such software that are
accessible from anywhere, as they can have professionals and freelancers who are
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working for the company from different parts of a country and hence having an
accessible software that can be addressed anywhere to update the transactions and other
data for the company.
 Updating- It is important that the software that the company uses should be updated as
and now then as there are technological update happening again and again. Thus, it is
important to have such software which can be easily updated as per the needs of the
company. The company is at an expanding stage and they are growing their business at
this stage they can go for small software but as their business expands they need to opt
for better options. Hence the software should be easily updatable for the company
(Garon, 2018).
 Reporting and Analysis – Information and data about the customer and their products are
the major assets of the company and thus it is important that proper analysis should be
done. It is important that users must get proper insight into the business and operations
and hence there should be proper reporting and analysis if data.
 Interoperability – In today’s world we can see that there is different software available in
the market for different functions. But as part of the company that is a startup they need
such software that can be used by all the departments as they overall cost of getting
different software is very high. So, the need arises that software that Laundromap will
select should be such that they can use it all the departments and it can fulfill all their
needs accordingly.
 Security – It is important that whatever software the company selects, it should help in
keeping the data safe. Security is an important attribute that is required, there are high
chances that the information can get hacked and then the important details of the
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customer, their residence, office can all be tracked (Heminway, 2017). Thus, we see
based on all these factors it is important to select such a software that can help in keeping
the information safe.
d) Selection of the Software.
There are different categories of software that are available in the market, they all have
different features and attributes, they all suffice different needs for different companies. Based
on all these companies can analyse and select a software for their operations. Based on the
overall research, out of all the software three software has been selected for further discussion-
SAP – It is an enterprise resource programming software that provides an end to end support to
the customers. It is one of the largest software that are used by companies all over the world.
Most of the multinational organization chooses SAP as it provides them an overall function
based needs for their company. It can be used for a variety of functions that includes accounting,
financing, logistics, marketing, distribution, sales etc. So thus, we see that it is one in all software
for the companies (Kachelmeier, et al., 2018). It is very expensive and thus small organizations
are not able to afford the same for their operations. All the various kind of modules are integrated
in one module and is highly feasible and useable. There are timely updates which does not let the
software to become obsolete and not suitable.
QuickBooks – It is an accounting software package that is provided by a company called Intuit.
The software is mainly used by small and medium sized companies and provides cloud based
services related to accounting and development. It provides on premise accounting based
services and customizable packages that can perform various operations like sales management,
wages payroll system, marketing management etc (Lessambo, 2018). There are various versions
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of this software that are available in the market. The software can also be used based on monthly
subscription basis from the cloud for the company. There are various updates that occur
throughout the year and is stated in the website for the company. Thus, there are many functions
that this software can perform.
XERO – Xero is an accounting software that is mostly used by companies for management of
their inventories. There are not many functions that companies can perform based on the limited
options that this software is providing. However, many small and medium companies often
prefer this software for limited usage. It helps in easy management of the numbers and it is very
easy to use and provides seamless support to the organizations (Sirois, et al., 2018). It is offered
by a New Zealand based company, however it cannot be used for a large variety of functions,
thus not companies prefer it for their operations. It is very cheap and highly cost effective and
can also be used on monthly subscription basis, so to start with many small companies prefer to
use this.
Based on the overall analysis and discussion, it can be said that the company should
choose such a software that provides all the services at a very affordable price. They should not
opt for software that offer very limited services, they need such software that provides over all
support to the operations of the company (Segal, 2017). In case of the given company,
Laundromap, they should go for medium ranged accounting software. It would help in
supporting the needs of the company overall.
The best kind of software should be such that it covers all their departments, provides
interoperability, accessibility and management of data of the company. It also helps in proper
reporting and analysis of the data of the company. The company is a startup and it cannot afford
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to invest in very expensive software for the company and thus they need to choose such software
that is priced accordingly (Rimmer, 2017). The company will not be able to afford large sized
accounting software as now the company is now on expansion stage and they need to take care
of this. They will need to change the software again and again as the business will grow and
more and more customer will join in, and then the company will need to manage their
inventories to the best of their ability and protect the data of the customers.
e) Vendor Selection
Particulars SAP QuickBooks XERO
Suitability SAP is a high-end
accounting software
that provides end to
end support to the
companies and their
operations. There are
various departments
in the company and
SAP cannot support
the needs of all the
departments of the
company. Thus, it is
very highly carters
the needs of large
QuickBooks is an
accounting software
that works on cloud
basis and provides
online services and
customizable services
to the companies. It is
a cloud based
platform that can be
used by multiple
organization at the
same time. The
companies that can
best use this software
Xero is an accounting
software that can be
used for only one
specific purpose that
is mostly
management of
inventories for the
company. Thus we
see that they can be
used by all kinds of
companies and proper
updates also occur
timely in that.
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sized companies and
multinational
organizations.
are small and
medium sized for the
companies.
QuickBooks are
highly adaptable
(Mubako &
O'Donnell, 2018).
Affordability In case of SAP, the
software is not highly
affordable for many
companies as there is
a lot of investment
involved in the
company. The
software can be
customized as per the
needs of the company
and for all the
investment the
company has to pay a
lot of money. The
overall cost involved
is very high but not
In case of
QuickBooks, it can
be said that the
software can be used
for small and medium
companies that need
such cloud based
affordable services
for their operations.
QuickBooks are
affordable for
individuals and
companies both as
they operate on
monthly basis for the
companies (Mock, et
In case of XERO, the
software is highly
affordable as the
companies do not
need to make a large
amount of investment
in case of XERO, and
they can be used by
all kinds of
companies.
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suited for small and
medium companies.
Timely updating the
software is done by
the company and that
makes it very better
for large
organizations also, as
initially they are
investing a lot.
al., 2018).
Scalability SAP helps in
satisfying the needs
of the customer and
their end to end
needs. It makes the
software very
scalable. It can be
used by all the
departments of any
organization and thus
that thus is
interoperable also.
QuickBooks are
cloud based software
and very scalable as
they can be
technologically
updated directly on
the website and there
are very less efforts
that the user has to
put in for the
company.
In case of XERO, the
software is not very
scalable as it cannot
satisfy the needs of
all the departments of
any company and it
can be used for
satisfying only few
functions for the
company and thus not
scalable enough.
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Based on the overall analysis the best software that would be suitable for the company would be
QuickBooks. The software is highly scalable and affordable but can be used at a very affordable
price. It is also based on the system of cloud computing in which services are rendered directly
on the website of the company and at one point many companies can use this software for the
company (Knechel & Salterio, 2016). It is important that since it is a start up the software should
be affordable and the one which can be updated again and again. The business will expand and
the company will become bigger so more customers will join in and they would need to manage
more amount of data of the customers and manage their clothes and inventory and thus it makes
it mandate that they should take care of their data and should not be any mistake in that. Quick
Book will always provide better graphics, faster data management, better management in forms
of chart and graphs for the company. It is also important that company should provide adequate
training to the staffs so that they can use this software. The software can be used by different
personnel of the company that are located at different areas and once the data is updated each of
them can have access to that. Based on all these reasons it can be said that the best option would
be QuickBooks for the company and they should try to invest in that and get the best results
(Kangarluie & Aalizadeh, 2017).
Conclusion
Based on the overall analysis it can be said that technological updates and use of
accounting information software have made the task of the companies very easy and has helped
them in many ways. In today’s time every small company is switching to such kind of software
for their overall needs and reduce the time that it takes to manage the data manually. So it can be
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said that every company should properly analyse what kind of software do they want, what are
the areas for which they need invest accordingly and how can it help them in satisfying the needs
of the customers who are the biggest asset of the company. It is important that they should
choose such software which they can use for a long time as it is not possible to switch from one
software to another every now and then. So, what is the thing that companies should take utmost
care of is to see that there should not be any mistake in selecting their accounting information
system. Accounting Information System should help the company and make their overall work
easy and hence that is what matters the most.
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