Kudler Fine Foods Case

Kudler Fine Foods is a specialty food store stocked with the best domestic and imported foods. Despite their upscale reputation, they have been getting by with an old accounting system that could definitely use an overhaul. Backed by a $50,000 budget, Kudler Fine Food's chosen approach for this endeavor has been to hire a consulting firm to aid in selecting and installing a Retail Enterprise Management System (REMS).

The consultant chosen and contracted was Smith Systems Consulting. The contract was not limited to selection and installation of the system, but also for maintaining the REMS on a yearly bases.

A number of key benefits come with this system upgrade including records of purchases now being stored, online banking, inventory management, paperless processing, use of Microsoft Excel in time and inventory record keeping, and wireless and port-to-port Internet technology.

The ability to track and record every purchase is one of incredible strength to the company. It will allow them to automate their ability to record inventory changes, profits per transaction, and customer preferences. This allows decision makers to see profits or losses much faster than before when everything had to be done manually, and helps to maintain sufficient inventories.

Online banking, although having been available for some time already, is very beneficial to Kudler Fine Foods. It allows them to pay bills and other costs automatically, while at the same time, keeping track of balances in the company's accounts. This feature not only tracks what is being paid out, but also what is coming in. Payments and purchases received by customers are also maintained by this system, allowing the company to track the rising and falling of their different accounts. Additionally, another feature is a ledger showcasing all the information, which is available online, making the use of the system even better (Apollo Group, 2011).

Inventory management has always been done manually within Kudler Fine Foods, but with the updated system, a scanner can now be used to record the number of product sold, its price, in which store the purchase occurred, and the sales price. With such an upgrade, the company is able to know how much of a product was purchased, aiding in the simplicity of knowing how much of that product to order. This can also help the company management what items to place on sale, and what items to cease purchasing of.

Many companies are working in going Green, and this new update allows Kudler Fine Foods to do just that. Prior to the update, all accounting processes were done by hand, and recorded via hardcopy (paper) which were stored in filing cabinets. With this new update, Microsoft Excel is used to store this information in spreadsheets, which can be kept digitally, saving resources and making information more easily accessible. Spreadsheets are used to track employee log in information, as well as inventory