What is Acumatica Cloud ERP? An Exhaustive Guide for 2023

If you’re a business owner, executive, or accounting professional in the mid-market space, you’ve probably already come across the Acumatica platform a few times in your research for top-of-the-line ERP solutions.

But what is Acumatica, exactly? And why does it keep popping up in your research? This guide will break down everything you need to know about the Acumatica solution including, its core features, how you can purchase it, its unique pricing model, and much more.

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What Is Acumatica Cloud ERP?

Acumatica is a cloud-based, comprehensive ERP software that streamlines business operations and offers financial, supply chain, customer management, and project management functionalities. It’s designed for small and medium-sized businesses, but also offers scalability for larger organizations.

To equip a business with all the tools it needs, Acumatica provides a full suite of integrated business management applications, including Financials, Order Management, Inventory Management, Project Accounting, Field Service, and even CRM. Acumatica also has industry-specific functionality for Distribution/Wholesale, Construction, Retail/Commerce, and Manufacturing.

That is quite a bit of functionality to unpack, so in the next few sections, we’ll break down each of Acumatica’s key features and benefits.

I also recommend checking out this data sheet to get a visual understanding of the functionality the Acumatica system offers, how it is connected, and the foundation the functionality is built on top of.

What Makes Acumatica Unique?

There are a number of ERP platforms to choose from out there. What makes Acumatica stand out from the pack and turn the heads of fortune 500 companies?

• Unique Pricing Model: We’ll touch on this more later, but Acumatica’s unique pricing model comes the closest to truly scaling with the growth of the company. And, even if you don’t like their unique model, you can also switch to a user-based pricing model if you feel it’s a better value.
• Industry-Specific Functionality: Acumatica breaks down into “editions” that cover a number of key industries. They pay special attention to these industries and provide features that they use to get up and running out of the box.
• Mobile-Friendly: Acumatica spent the time to make sure their solution is easy to use on the go. While other solutions are unusable on a mobile device, Acumatica is streamlined and responsive.
• Native Field Service Module: Acumatica is one of the few enterprise-grade ERPs that has a native Field service module available for it users.
• Hosting Flexibility: With Acumatica you can choose which cloud you want to host your data in and even host it on-premise if you prefer.
• Customer Bill of Rights: Acumatica is the only ERP that gives its users a bill of rights. Some notable rights include a max of 3% yearly price increase, users having complete ownership and access to their data at any time, 24/7 support, and more.
• Acumatica University: Acumatica provides a free training program to all of its users. Users can access in-depth recorded lectures and documentation. The course comes complete with training exercises and a certification program. This program is a great way to boost user adoption
• Ease of Use: Acumatica has put in the effort to make its platform as intuitive as possible. Features like shortcuts, global search, intuitive UI, and the above training resource consistently allow Acumatica to rank as the easiest ERP to use in Gartner and G2Crowd polls.

Acumatica Financial Management Module

Considering Acumatica is an ERP platform, I think it’s important we outline the financial management functionality it provides for its users first and foremost. And there is quite a bit to talk about!

The Acumatica Cloud ERP Financial Management Module offers the following functionality and more:

• General Ledger: flexible accounts and subaccounts to enter batches, transactions, and vouchers. Simplified reclassification of expenses.
• Accounts Payable: bills, credit/debit adjustments, prepayments, track vendors and balances, initiate payments (print checks, initiate ACH, credit cards), vendor price-lists
• Accounts Receivable: invoices, credit/debit memos, overdue charges, credit limits, credit terms, write-offs, receive and apply payments, statements, price lists, dunning letters
• Account Management: track customer and vendor accounts, multiple account locations
• Banking: manage cash transactions, credit card payments, deposits, and bank reconciliation.
• Bank Imports: import bank transactions using .csv, .qbo, .qfx, or .ofx file formats.”
• Bank Feeds: Automatically download bank transactions from financial institutions into Acumatica. Includes 1 bank account for testing. Available for USA, Canada, and UK. Purchase of EIS Consulting implementation services is recommended.
• Currency Management: Automatically download and maintain exchange rates; track payables/receivables in the vendor/customer currency; perform currency translations and revaluations. Maintain transactions in a single base currency. Prepare consolidated reports.
• Customer and Vendor Visibility: restrict viewing customers and vendors by branches, companies, or company groups.
• Credit Card Processing: pay bills and collect invoices using integrated credit card processing. Use native integration to Authorize.net or a third-party ISV.
• Tax Management: configure tax tables or connect to external providers to manage sales, use, VAT, and withholding taxes
• Reporting and Data Analysis: use generic inquiries, pivot tables, Report Designer, or Analytical Report Manager (ARM) to modify hundreds of included reports/dashboards or build your own
• 1099 Reporting: track 1099 payments to vendors and produce reports
• Commissions: track salesperson sales by period
• Time Management: attach activities to data transactions and link those activities to timecards for approval and tracking, track shifts

The tools above provide any business with the functionality they need to track daily financial operations, produce accurate, insightful, and compliant financial statements, efficiently close their books, manage multiple entities, and do it all through the lens of a personalized dashboard from a single sign-on, on a mobile platform.

If you want to see the financial management tools in action, take a look at this brief demo video.

Notable Acumatica Add-On Modules

As mentioned, Acumatica does more than provide financial tools to a business. Let’s break down some of the more popular modules that separate Acumatica from accounting platforms like Quickbooks and group it with ERPs like NetSuite.

Acumatica Inventory Management

Acumatica’s Inventory Management module is designed to help businesses efficiently manage their inventory and stock levels and to provide visibility into their inventory operations. The Acumatica Inventory Management is included in most Editions of Acumatica.

Its main benefits are:

• Locations: Manage multiple warehouses with location-specific inventory quantities,
  allocations, availability, and costs. Define bins, use carts for picking and put-away,
  and set default locations for inventory transactions such as receipts, customer
  returns, and shipments. Use movement classes and ABC codes to optimize
  warehouse locations for high-volume and low-volume products.
• Item Management: Streamline item creation and maintenance with sub-items for
  like products and matrix items for products with attribute variables. Build kits to
  stock or to order with flexible disassembly features. Setup cross-references
  between internal, customer, and vendor items with unit-of-measure conversions.
• Inventory Management: Automatically distribute inventory from a central
  warehouse to other locations upon receipt. Automate replenishment using min/max,
  economic order quantities (EOQ), safety stock, seasonality, lead times, and other
  information to minimize carrying costs while maximizing fill rates and turns. Achieve
  unprecedented inventory accuracy with barcode scanning and physical inventory.
• Traceability: Track inventory by lot or serial number. Enter lot or serial numbers on
  receipt, issue, or assembly. Define shelf life for perishable inventory with expiration
  dates and first-expired-first-out picking.

For more information on the Inventory Management Module, Click Here.

Acumatica Order Management

Acumatica’s Order Management module is designed to help businesses efficiently process and fulfill customer orders, and to provide visibility into their order management operations. Like Inventory Management, Order Management is included in most Editions of Acumatica.

Its main features are:

• Integrated Workflow: Automate order processing and eliminate unnecessary steps with Acumatica integrated workflow. Configure order status, status changes, actions, notifications, and alerts to automatically trigger during order processing, even allowing users to process an order in one click. Automatically check for unique customer order numbers and manage duplicates.
• Flexible Discounts and Promotions: Manage complex customer and vendor pricing and discount policies. Set up quantity and volume discounts as a percent or an amount. Specify multiple discount rules and sequences or allow the system to apply the best discount combination automatically. Maintain discounts in single and multiple currencies. Establish rules and policies for price overrides.
• Configurable Order Types: Predefine order types tied to specific order processing requirements. Specify inventory allocation rules, workflow scenarios, and the documents generated in Accounts Receivable and Inventory Management.
• Multiple Entry Points: Create orders from sales order entries, import files, or convert quotes to sales orders. Integration with EDI, commerce, and retail point-of-sale systems are supported through Open APIs.
• Special Orders: Link purchase orders or drop-shipments directly to sales orders.

To learn more about Acumatica’s Order Management Module, Click Here.

Acumatica CRM

The CRM module is designed to help businesses manage customer interactions and data throughout the customer lifecycle.

Its main features are:

• Reporting and Dashboards: Accelerate decision-making with reporting tools that deliver customized views of your business overall and focused views of departments and functions.
• Sales Automation: Get a full view of opportunities and contacts. Gain efficiency with workflow-assisted lead assignment and sales management. Automatically link sales orders to quotes and opportunities.
• Business Intelligence: Deliver a 360-degree view of customer activities and information with drill-down capabilities, so everyone in your organization can better serve the customer.
• Integrated Marketing: Manage leads, improve conversions, measure campaigns, communicate with contacts, and more. Capture leads from web forms, lists, and events.
• Service and Support Automation: Reduce response times and support costs, Create a case from captured web forms or manual entry. Assign and escalate cases per policies. Ensure accurate billing with integrated financials.
• Lead Management: Assign leads to sales or partners according to customized criteria and data. Automatically generate lists based on user-defined criteria, like purchase history, to support custom campaigns.
• Account and Contact Management: Use AI with machine learning to capture business card contacts via mobile image recognition. Convert leads into accounts. Link contacts to activities, tasks, opportunities, cases, and documents.
• Email Management: Create emails with predefined, branded templates for rapid distribution.

For more information on Acumatica’s CRM Module, Click Here.

Acumatica Project Accounting

Acumatica’s Project Accounting module is designed to help organizations better manage and track the financial aspects of their projects, enabling them to make more informed decisions and improve their financial performance.

Its main features include:

• Change Orders: Improve project management by controlling changes to the project scope, including customer and internal requests. Create a change order with all the documentation, including the revenue budget, cost budget, commitments, and class.
• Billing Mark-Up: Set up projects to bill cost-plus or fixed contract costs. Apply markup at the customer level and vary according to labor and service type to provide maximum flexibility.
• Forecast Project Budget by Period: Enter and modify project budget forecasts and compare these forecasts with the actual project costs and incomes for each financial period.
• Link Timesheets to Projects: Employees can enter timesheets in the employee portal or enter activities linked to projects in CRM. Either option links hours to specific projects and budgets.
• Manage Project Quotes: Create quotes, update them, link them to CRM, track versions, and create projects.
• Labor Cost Rates: Define costs by employee, labor item, project, project task, and the rate type, particularly for construction prevailing wage and union requirements.
• Project Material Management: Streamline the management of project materials, including receipts and issues for purchased materials.

For more information on Acumatica’s Project Accounting Module, Click Here.

Acumatica Payroll

The payroll module is designed to help organizations manage and process employee payroll, including tracking time and attendance, calculating and paying employee salaries and wages, and handling tax compliance and reporting.

With the Acumatica payroll module, users can set up employee payroll information, including salary or hourly wage rates, tax withholding and deduction details, and benefits and leave entitlements. The module also includes tools for tracking and approving employee time off, managing payroll tax compliance, and generating pay stubs and other payroll-related reports.

In addition to standard payroll features, the Acumatica payroll module also offers integrations with third-party payroll and HR systems, as well as support for multi-currency and multi-language configurations. This allows organizations to streamline and automate their payroll processes, while also maintaining compliance with local labor laws and regulations.

Its main features are:

• Employee payroll setup: Allows users to enter and maintain employee payroll information, including salary or hourly wage rates, tax withholding and deduction details, and benefits and leave entitlements.
• Time and attendance tracking: Allows employees to clock in and out, track hours worked, and request time off through a web portal or mobile app. Managers can review and approve time off requests, and the payroll module can automatically calculate pay based on the approved time worked.
• Payroll processing: Calculates employee pay based on hours worked, salary rates, and any applicable deductions or withholdings. The module can also generate pay stubs and other payroll-related reports, such as tax forms and direct deposit notifications.
• Tax compliance: Handles tax compliance and reporting, including the calculation and remittance of federal, state, and local payroll taxes. The module can also generate tax forms and reports, such as W-2s and 1099s, as required by law.
• Multi-currency and multi-language support: Allows organizations to process payroll in multiple currencies and languages, making it easier to manage payroll for international employees or subsidiaries.

For more information on Acumatica’s Payroll Module, Click Here.

Acumatica Field Service Management

One of the unique offerings from Acumatica that separates it from other ERPs, is the inclusion of a native Field Services module. Acumatica’s field service module is designed to help organizations manage and optimize their field service operations. It offers a range of features to help companies schedule and dispatch field technicians, track and manage inventory and assets, and handle billing and invoicing for field service work.

Some of its main features are:

• Scheduling and dispatch: Allows users to schedule and dispatch field technicians to service calls, and provides tools for tracking technician availability and capacity.
• Inventory and asset management: Helps organizations track and manage inventory and assets, including tools for ordering and receiving inventory, tracking inventory levels and location, and managing warranty and maintenance information.
• Billing and invoicing: Allows users to generate invoices and quotes for field service work, and includes tools for tracking payment status and creating reports on billing and revenue.
• Service level agreements (SLAs): Provides tools for managing and tracking service level agreements, including the ability to set performance targets and track progress against those targets.
• Mobile app: Offers a mobile app that allows field technicians to access job information and update status in real time, even when working offline.

For more information on Acumatica’s Field Service Module, Click Here

Acumatica Editions

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As mentioned earlier, in addition to a stellar set of Financial Management tools, Acumatica brings a lot more to the table. In order to provide business tools for a wide array of industries as well as manage the costs for individual companies, Acumatica organizes its functionality into “Applications,” “Modules,” and “Editions” so businesses can pick, choose, and pay for only the tools they need.

Editions can be thought of as groups of modules and applications that Acumatica has bundled together for specific industries.

General Edition

The General Edition is the industry-agnostic set of business tools that includes the financial management module and access to the Acumatica xRP platform.

The General Edition is Acumatica’s blank slate in which a user can add on only the specific functionality they need.

Distribution Edition

The Distribution Edition is tailored to businesses that rely on logistics and effective supply chain management to stay in business. The Distribution Edition contains Financial Management, Inventory Management, Sales Order Management, and an eCommerce integration.

With the Distribution Edition, businesses can manage inventory in real-time, streamline order times, get a clear view of their profitability by warehouse, product line, and location, automate cross-company transactions, and minimize costs by optimizing their purchasing processes.

Manufacturing Edition

The Manufacturing Edition is a complete multi-site, cloud-based manufacturing control, and planning system. The Manufacturing Edition contains Financial Management, Inventory Management, Sales Order Management, and access to Manufacturing Core tools such as setup/preferences (BOM preferences, Product Order types, overhead, machines, tools, shifts, labor codes, and work centers), processing screens (create/close/print production orders), and Entry screens (Labor, Material Issue, Moves, Receipts, WIP adjustments), and select inquiries/reports.

It also has optional add ons for Production Management, Advanced Planning and Scheduling, MRP, Estimating, Product configurator applications, and more.

The feature-rich Manufacturing Edition allows you to gain complete control over your engineering process, track materials and labor costs, and use the latest tools to forecast demand and calculate capacity restraints. In one solution, Acumatica gives you visibility and control over all your manufacturing processes.

Construction Edition

Acumatica’s Construction Edition provides a complete, cloud-based solution for companies that need financial and project management tools. It includes Financials, Project Management, Order Management, Cost Codes, Retainage, Compliance features, construction-specific reporting tools, and tools Subcontractors. It also has options for Property Management and cash basis reporting.

Acumatica’s Construction Edition allows construction companies to manage projects, budgets, documents, and reports as well as take advantage of pre-built connectors to critical industry-niche applications such as Procore, Proest, CFMA Benchmark, DocuSign, and more.

Retail-Commerce Edition

Acumatica’s Retail-Commerce Edition is designed to allow its users to maintain a consistent customer experience across all of its sales channels by tightly integrating its CRM and financial functionality with popular eCommerce and fulfillment platforms. The platform includes Inventory Management, Financials, Order Management, and Shopify and BigCommerce native connectors. With options for POS integrations

Through Acumatica’s Retail-Commerce Edition, users can centralize visibility for all of your sales channels, automate key fulfillment processes, optimize inventory levels, streamline customer services, and much more.

Acumatica’s xRP Platform

Before we continue, I think it is important to discuss the Acumatica xRP platform. The xRP platform is the environment that all of the features and functionality we previously discussed were built on.

Evaluating the platform of each ERP is important as they can easily add or detract from the value of a solution as a whole. No two ERP platforms are alike and they can be the difference in things like security, ease of use, ease of configuration, how easy a solution is to adopt, integration, and customization.

Let’s take some time to discuss some of the Acumatica xRP features that can make it or break it when it comes to being the ERP of choice.

• Mobile Framework: As mentioned earlier, Acumatica ERP is a cloud-based platform. Meaning, you can access critical financial and operations data from anywhere with a wifi connection. On top of that, Acumatica has responsiveness built into its frame. Accessing Acumatica on the go is easy and streamlined, making it a favorite among field workers, on-site contractors, and C-Suite execs who want to keep an eye on things when traveling.
• Low Code/No Code: Acumatica is packed with opportunities to automate tedious yet critical business processes. Through workflow tools and integration capabilities, processes like procure-to-pay, order-to-cash, and approvals can be automated without requiring a single line of code.
• Integration and API: Acumatica comes with native connectors and a robust and secure API, allowing you to easily integrate with the other critical applications you depend on. For more information on this topic, check out our guide on Acumatica Integration.
• Customizable: Even though Acumatica is absolutely packed with features and functionality, it still allows you to go behind the curtain and customize the platform even more to fill the most nuanced functional gaps.
• Flexible Hosting: One of the ways Acumatica sets itself apart from the competition is through its flexible hosting options. With Acumatica, you can choose to host the application through the cloud vendor of your choice or choose to host it locally.
• Reporting and Analytics Tools: Acumatica’s XRP platform is a powerful tool for creating and customizing reports, dashboards, and other data visualizations. It includes a report designer with a range of formatting and layout options, as well as support for data visualization elements such as charts and graphs.

Acumatica Pricing

So how much do all these great features and functionality cost? Well, depending on the needs of your business, the price tag will vary, so we can’t provide specific details on what Acumatica could cost you. However, we can break down Acumatica’s pricing model to give you an idea of what to expect when you do start to explore the product in greater depth.

One of the best features of the Acumatica platform is its unique pricing model. Acumatica has done a fantastic job to make sure their customers are only paying for what they need and bring new meaning to the phrase “scales with their customers.”

Factors that go into your Acumatica pricing:

• Functionality and features you choose: Pay only for the functionality you need.
• The type of hosting plan you choose: Self-Hosting or SaaS Model.
• Consumption: Data storage and activity.

Factors that DO NOT go into your Acumatica pricing:

• Users: Never pay to add more users to your Acumatica system.
• Your Business Size: Never pay more because you added a few more employees to the mix.
• Extra Features: Never pay for functionality you don’t need.

Through a consumption and feature-based pricing model, Acumatica only charges you for what you need and scales with you in a smarter and more efficient manner.

Read our in-depth guide for Acumatica’s Pricing and Licensing Model to learn more.

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How to Purchase Acumatica?

Another way Acumatica is unique is the way that it is sold. Acumatica is sold entirely through Value-Added-Resellers or VAR partners. These VAR partners are separate entities from Acumatica but still have a close relationship.

This is a fantastic way to market the Acumatica platform because of how complex it is. These VAR’s are able to specialize in how to implement all the features and functionality Acumatica offers, while Acumatica is able to focus on creating great features and functionality. Other platforms that have tried to do both usually end up coming up short with features or the implementation process, or even both.

If you’re interested in purchasing the Acumatica platform or learning more about what it can do for your business, bēacn is a certified Acumatica vendor and would be glad to help you on your journey with The Cloud ERP. To learn more about how we can help, Click HERE.

Acumatica Implementation

An Acumatica implementation is the process of setting up and configuring the Acumatica software platform for an organization. It involves installing the software, migrating data from any existing systems, customizing the platform to meet the specific needs of the organization, and training users on how to use it.

It is important not to underestimate the implementation process when it comes to Acumatica or any enterprise grade system. It does not matter how useful an ERP system is, if it is not properly implemented the solution will not perform up to standards and could end up wasting money and time for the organization that implements it.

The steps involved in an Acumatica implementation can vary depending on the size and complexity of the organization, as well as the specific modules and features being implemented. However, some common steps in an Acumatica implementation might include:

1. Discovery and planning: This step involves assessing the organization’s needs and goals, and determining the best way to configure and customize the Acumatica platform to meet those needs.
2. Data migration: If the organization is using existing software systems, this step involves migrating data from those systems into Acumatica. This might include customer, vendor, and financial data, as well as other data such as sales orders and inventory levels.
3. Configuration and customization: This step involves setting up and configuring the Acumatica platform to meet the specific needs of the organization. This might include customizing the user interface, setting up business processes and workflow, and integrating the platform with other systems.
4. Testing: Once the Acumatica platform is set up and configured, it’s important to test it to ensure that it is working correctly and meets the organization’s needs. This might involve testing the various modules and features, as well as verifying that data has been migrated correctly.
5. Training: This step involves training users on how to use the Acumatica platform. This might include providing in-person or online training sessions, as well as creating training materials and documentation.
6. Go-live: Once the Acumatica platform is set up, configured, tested, and users are trained, it’s time to “go live” and start using the platform in production. This might involve transitioning users from any existing systems and processes to the new Acumatica platform.

More Resources

If this article left you wanting to learn more about the Acumatica platform, you can use the resources below to learn more.

1. Acumatica’s website: The Acumatica website is a good starting point for learning more about the company and its products. It includes information on the different modules and features available, as well as case studies and customer testimonials.
2. Acumatica’s YouTube channel: Acumatica has a YouTube channel that features videos on a range of topics, including product demonstrations, customer success stories, and industry trends.
3. Acumatica’s blog: Acumatica’s blog is a good resource for staying up-to-date on the latest news and developments from the company. It includes articles on a range of topics, such as product updates, customer success stories, and industry trends.
4. Acumatica’s user community: Acumatica has a user community where users can connect with each other, ask questions, and share tips and best practices. The community is moderated by Acumatica employees and includes a range of resources, such as forums, user groups, and webinars.
5. Acumatica’s training resources: Acumatica offers a range of training resources to help users learn how to use the platform, including online courses, instructor-led training, and certification programs. These resources can be accessed through the Acumatica website or through the user community.

Acumatica FAQ

What kind of Software is Acumatica?

Acumatica is a cloud-based ERP software that centralizes business processes such as financial management, project accounting, and customer relationship management. It is a fully integrated solution that is customizable and scalable, allowing businesses to streamline their operations with ease.

What is Acumatica Used For?

Acumatica’s primary purpose is to optimize business efficiency by providing real-time insights into operations, financials, and customer interactions. This allows for informed decision-making, enhanced productivity, and better business outcomes.

Is Acumatica Easy to Use?

Acumatica is designed to be user-friendly and easy to use, with an intuitive interface and customizable dashboards. Its cloud-based platform allows users to access the software from anywhere with an internet connection, making it convenient and flexible. Additionally, Acumatica offers free training resources and support services to help users navigate and optimize the software. However, like any software, the ease of use may depend on the user’s familiarity with ERP systems and their specific business needs.

Is Acumatica a Good ERP?

Yes, Acumatica has been recognized as a top ERP system due to its flexibility, scalability, and customization options. It is designed to meet the needs of businesses of all sizes, from small startups to large enterprises, across multiple industries.

Is Acumatica a Russian Company?

No, Acumatica is a US-based company that was founded by a team of software veterans with extensive experience in the ERP industry. It has a global presence with offices in multiple countries. Acumatica is headquartered in Kirkland, Washington.

Final Thoughts

If you have any questions or comments about The Acumatica Cloud ERP, go ahead and leave a comment below, and we’ll be happy to respond. And if you liked this article and thought it was helpful, go ahead and share using the buttons below!