CPA Practice Advisor - 8

REVIEW: INVENTORY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Inventory: Most Valuable Asset

purchase anything from your business in the future.

* OPTIONAL MODULE

8

MAY 2019 ■

www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

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SER

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ACCTIVATE INVENTORY
ADVANCEPRO
ASSET PANDA
EZOFFICEINVENTORY
FISHBOWL
INFLOW
WASP INVENTORY
ZOHO INVENTORY

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just as important to manufacturers,
where an out-of-stock item can hold
up the entire manufacturing process.
Service businesses can also benefit
from a good inventory management
solution, tracking parts and equipment. Other businesses can utilize
an inventory management system to
track computers and other internal
assets, particularly those issued to
employees.
The bottom line is that if you own
any type of inventory, whether it's for
resale, utilized in the course of business, or provided as part of a service,
you need to have a method to manage
that inventory properly.
Today, businesses have the opportunity to choose from a variety of

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If you sell a product, you need
proper inventory management software. Along with tracking inventory
levels, a good inventory management
application can provide business
owners with the details they need
to effectively run their business.
Features such as product movement
allow business owners to purchase
inventory accordingly, keeping the
most popular items in stock, while
ordering less of those that are not.
After all, no one wants a warehouse
full of products that aren't selling, yet
thousands of businesses each year
find themselves saddled with items
they can't sell. A good inventory management application can prevent that.
Inventory management can be

ability of these and other features
typically desired in an inventory
application.
If you own or operate a business,
chances are that inventory management software would be beneficial.
Most of the products reviewed also
offer a free trial period, making it
easy to try a product out prior to
purchasing.
Inventory is one of the most valuable assets any business owns. Be sure
you're managing it properly. ■
Mary Girsch-Bock is a freelance writer
specializing in business and technology
issues and is the author of her first book,
several HR handbooks, training manuals,
and other in-house publications. She can
be reached at mary.girschbock@cpapracticeadvisor.com

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unhappy potential customers who are now unlikely to

RY R

leaving you with ten happy customers and hundreds of

N TO

yourself with only ten of the advertised items in stock,

IN V E

that due to a lack of improper inventory control, you find

ON

that your advertising campaign worked. The bad news is

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DISC ME PR I
OUN CING
TS
&

people to immediately place an order. The good news is

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of dollars advertising a new product, causing hundreds of

by Mary Girsch-Bock

inventory management applications;
some designed for smaller businesses
while others work well with multiple
locations and multiple warehouses.
The reviews included in this issue
can be a good starting point in your
search for the inventory management
application that is best suited for your
needs. The products included in this
month's Inventory Management
review include:
■ Acctivate Inventory for QuickBooks
■ AdvancePro
■ Asset Panda
■ EZOfficeInventory
■ Fishbowl
■ inFlow
■ WASP Inventory
■ Zoho Inventory
As we indicated earlier, various
businesses use inventory management to perform specific tasks. While
reviewing the above products, we
looked at a variety of features such as
deployment options available, mobile
accessibility, barcode functionality,
labeling features, kitting capability,
asset tracking, the option to assign
multiple pricing levels to inventory
products, as well as the ability to offer
separate pricing for different levels of
customers. We have also included a
handy chart that displays the avail-

IT Y
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EL S E PR ICIN
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IMAGINE THE FOLLOWING scenario: You spend thousands

By Mary
Girsch-Bock

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