Accounting Systems - Modules

Modules

Accounting software is typically composed of various modules, different sections dealing with particular areas of accounting. Among the most common are:

Core modules

• Accounts receivable—where the company enters money received
• Accounts payable—where the company enters its bills and pays money it owes
• General ledger—the company's "books"
• Billing—where the company produces invoices to clients/customers
• Stock/inventory—where the company keeps control of its inventory
• Purchase order—where the company orders inventory
• Sales order—where the company records customer orders for the supply of inventory
• Bookkeeping—where the company records collection and payment

Non-core modules

• Debt collection—where the company tracks attempts to collect overdue bills (sometimes part of accounts receivable)
• Electronic payment processing
• Expense—where employee business-related expenses are entered
• Inquiries—where the company looks up information on screen without any edits or additions
• Payroll—where the company tracks salary, wages, and related taxes
• Reports—where the company prints out data
• Timesheet—where professionals (such as attorneys and consultants) record time worked so that it can be billed to clients
• Purchase requisition—where requests for purchase orders are made, approved and tracked
• Reconciliation—compares records from parties at both sides of transactions for consistency

Different vendors will use different names for these modules.