Enterprise Resource Planning is the latest high-end solution, information technology has lent to business application. The ERP solutions seek to streamline and integrate operation processes and information flows in the company to synergies the resources of an organization namely men, material, money and machine through information. Initially implementation of an ERP package was possible only for very large Multi National Companies and Infrastructure Companies due to high cost involved. Today many companies in India have gone in for implementation of ERP and it is expected in the near future that 60% of the companies will be implementing one or the other ERP packages since this will become a must for gaining competitive advantage.

In the present business environment, role of a Chartered Accountant is considered to be very important and inevitable. Chartered Accountants as managers, consultants, advisors or auditors play an important role in controlling, managing, and supporting the business.

As the business needs are very complex in nature, the implementation of an ERP package needs Chartered Accountants with functional skills for evaluation, Business Process Reengineering (BPR), Mapping of Business requirements, Report designing, ensuring Business controls, customization of the package for the specific requirements, Documentation etc.,

Sooner or later a Chartered Accountant without the knowledge of ERP may feel as if he is a fish out of the bowl. By this article it is attempted to highlight various aspects of ERP and specific areas of ERP that are relevant for Chartered Accountants.

EVALUATION OF ERP

In the ever-growing business environment the following demands are placed on the industry:

	Aggressive Cost control initiatives
	Need to analyze costs / revenues on a product or customer basis
	Flexibility to respond to changing business requirements
	More informed management decision making
	Changes in ways of doing business

Difficulties in getting accurate data, timely information and improper interface of the complex natured business functions have been identified as the hurdles in the growth of any business. Time and again depending upon the velocity of the growing business needs, one or the other applications and planning systems have been introduced into the business world for crossing these hurdles and for achieving the required growth. They are :

	Management Information Systems (MIS)
	Integrated Information Systems (IIS)
	Executive Information Systems (EIS)
	Corporate Information Systems (CIS)
	Enterprise Wide Systems (EWS)
	Material Resource Planning (MRP)
	Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRP II)
	Money Resource Planning (MRP III)

The latest planning tool added to the above list is Enterprise Resource Planning.
All processes are categorized into Grades according to the nature of operation.

NEED FOR ERP

Most organizations across the world have realized that in a rapidly changing environment, it is impossible to create and maintain a custom designed software package, which will cater to all their requirements, and also be completely up-to-date. Realizing the requirement of user organizations some of the leading software companies have designed Enterprise Resource Planning software which will offer an integrated software solution to all the functions of an organization.

FEATURES OF ERP

Some of the major features of ERP and what ERP can do for the business system are as below:

	ERP facilitates company-wide Integrated Information System covering all functional areas like Manufacturing, Selling and distribution, Payables, Receivables, Inventory, Accounts, Human resources, Purchases etc.
	ERP performs core corporate activities and increases customer service and thereby augmenting the Corporate Image.
	ERP bridges the information gap across the organization.
	ERP provides for complete integration of Systems not only across the departments in a company but also across the companies under the same management.
	ERP is the only solution for better Project Management.
	ERP allows automatic introduction of latest technologies like Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT), Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Internet, Intranet, Video conferencing, E-Commerce etc.
	ERP eliminates the most of the business problems like Material shortages, Productivity enhancements, Customer service, Cash Management, Inventory problems, Quality problems, Prompt delivery etc.
	ERP not only addresses the current requirements of the company but also provides the opportunity of continually improving and refining business processes.

ERP provides business intelligence tools like Decision Support Systems (DSS), Executive Information System (EIS), Reporting, Data Mining and Early Warning Systems (Robots) for enabling people to make better decisions and thus improve their business processes.