Pros And Cons Of A Source Code Based Accounting System

What are the Pros and Cons of implementing a source code based accounting system? Based on our experience at Access Programming Group, we have come up with the following list:

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PROS
1. Have the capability of implementing a system that does 100% of what we want it to do.

2. Ability to look 'under the hood'. For instance, what happens when we relieve inventory in the system? With the source code, we can step through the code and examine the tables to see everything that is happening during any given process.

3. Greatly reduce the need for redundant and disconnected systems - everything can be brought under one roof.

4. Protection against vendor problems. What happens if your vendor starts charging maintenance or update fees that you feel are unreasonable? What if they go out of business? Without source code, you are 'frozen time' - locked into whatever functionality you currently have.

5. Do you have confidential information, processes or calculations that need to be part of your system? With source code, you can integrate these into your business system without worrying that a software vendor gains awareness of your Intellectual Property.

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CONS
1. Source code in the wrong hands can be dangerous. Critical processes are exposed, such as posting of GL data, that should not be tampered with by beginning programmers or consultants.

2. Modifying your system almost guarantees that you will lose your upgrade path to newer versions of the product.

3. Will most likely require ongoing services from either internal or external programmers.

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We feel that the positive outweighs the negative when it comes to source code accounting systems. Once you see that you can have exactly what you want in a new business system, you will never want to go back to 'plain vanilla', out-of-the-box software again!