As the craft brewing industry flourishes, the importance of having efficient brewery accounting software cannot be understated. An integrated brewery software solution can be a game changer for your business, ensuring smooth operations, optimized production and streamlined administration. And for anyone new to craft brewery accounting, here are five indispensable tips to make the most out of your brewery accounting software.

1. Choose Industry-Specific Solutions

When it comes to figuring out the best brewery software for your business, combining different point systems can be tempting but counterproductive. Instead, opt for an industry-specific solution like Crafted ERP, which has been tailor-made for craft breweries, and also has editions (and capabilities) specific to wine, craft spirits and RTD production. Crafted ERP has been purpose-built by head brewers, distillers and winemakers who know what the industry needs most. This ensures that the software understands the nitty gritty of the bev-alc industry and is equipped to cater to its unique needs.

Understanding Industry Complexities

The craft beer industry has its own set of complexities, such as variable ingredient prices, varying fermentation times, seasonal production schedules and fluctuating consumer preferences. Industry-specific solutions are designed with these complexities in mind to ensure that your operations stay efficient and flexible.

Managing the Supply Chain

Craft breweries often work with specialized ingredients and materials, and managing the supply chain for these items can be challenging. Brewery-specific modules enable you to track inventory levels and ingredient sourcing to ensure that you have the materials needed for production. With this level of control, you can reduce waste, cut costs and ensure a consistent product.

Tailored Financial Reporting

Craft brewery accountants know that having immediate access to detailed and relevant financial data is crucial. Generic accounting software might not provide the depth of information needed in the brewery industry. Crafted ERP, on the other hand, offers financial reporting tools that are tailored to the craft beer industry. This includes tracking cost of goods sold, calculating margins on various beer types and analyzing seasonal sales trends.

2. Embrace Automation

In an industry where saving time is critical, manual data entry and administrative tasks can be draining. The best brewery software comes "out of the box" with industry-specific automations, reports and functionality that eliminate duplicate data entry and automate routine administrative tasks. Embracing automation not only saves time but also minimizes errors and streamlines your brewery’s administration.

Automating Inventory Management

One prime example of automation is in inventory management. Managing inventory is a critical aspect of a brewery's operations, and keeping track of raw materials such as hops, malt, yeast and packaging is essential to ensure that production runs smoothly. Brewery-specific software automates this process by tracking inventory levels in real time. When levels of a particular item fall below a predetermined threshold, the system can automatically generate purchase orders to replenish stock. This ensures that you never run out of essential materials and can maintain uninterrupted production.

Streamlining Financial Transactions

In the accounting department, automation can be a game changer. Brewery accounting software can streamline financial transactions by automatically generating invoices once an order is placed and by tracking payments. For instance, when a customer places an order, the system can automatically create an invoice, send it to the customer and update the ledger. This not only saves time but also ensures accuracy in financial records.

Automated Reporting

Generating reports is a time-consuming task, especially if done manually. However, employing brewery accounting software with automation capabilities can take the burden off of you. These systems can be configured to automate various reports such as sales, production and regulatory compliance, and you can even schedule the system to automatically generate a specific report at a scheduled time and day of the week. This automation saves you from the hassle of manually pulling data and creating the report, allowing you to focus on more strategic tasks. Moreover, automated reporting ensures accuracy and consistency, which are crucial for making informed business decisions.

Enhancing Communication through Automation

The automation capabilities of brewery accounting software also extend to communication. You can set up automated notifications to keep relevant team members informed about critical aspects such as inventory levels, production status or shipment delays, ensuring everyone stays in the loop to make informed decisions. By streamlining communication through automated notifications, the software enhances collaboration and efficiency, contributing to the overall success of the brewery.

3. Optimize Your Production

Optimizing production is essential to ensure that your craft beverage business can produce more in less time, better forecast order quantities and gain improved supply chain visibility. The best brewery software provides tools that are purpose-built to increase efficiency across sales, inventory, warehouse management, accounting, procurement, logistics and manufacturing. Make sure to utilize these tools to optimize production and increase overall profitability.

4. Gain Complete Visibility into Data

Data is the backbone of any business and it's imperative to have a complete overview of your operations to make informed decisions. End-to-end, industry-specific solutions allow you to dissolve operational silos and gain complete visibility into your data. The best brewery software, like Crafted ERP, provides enhanced data insights and analytics to empower you to better serve your customers and, ultimately, make better beverages.

The Drawbacks of Limited Data Visibility: A Cautionary Tale

Imagine this scenario: A large regional brewery uses entry-level accounting software with clear limitations. The brewery’s recent expansion has taken up so much of their internal resources, they didn’t realize exactly when they outgrew their software platform. The accounting team began struggling at month end with getting comprehensive real-time data visibility and reporting across all production facilities and tap rooms. This is when their new CFO brought up an ERP solution in a team meeting, citing how impossible it is to make data-driven decisions in real time, and how a lack of innovation was hindering their growth.

This month, the accounting team noticed an error in a sales report from one of the taprooms - they double-counted their sales! This completely threw off the monthly income statement and next month’s planned spend. The current process for the accounting team requires exporting multiple spreadsheets and viewing data in and across different platforms. Not to mention hours of error-prone data entry between disparate systems.

The limited visibility into data across locations and departments led to a lack of coordination and incorrect reporting. The brewery now faces disappointed department leaders who can’t order the extra supplies they wanted, and double work for the accounting team who must reconcile the mistakes. This situation could have been avoided if the brewery had listened to the CFO and implemented an ERP solution that allowed complete visibility into its data in real time.



Leveraging Crafted ERP for Enhanced Data Visibility

Crafted ERP can be the solution to such predicaments. With its ability to integrate data across various departments, it ensures that all teams have access to the information they need. Employees at different locations and in different departments can access the exact same data set, providing one source of truth. 

Furthermore, Crafted ERP’s integrated modules for breweries enhance data insights and analytics providing a more in-depth analysis of sales trends, customer preferences, production costs and more. These insights are invaluable for making data-driven decisions that can propel your brewery to new heights.

The Bottom Line

Having complete visibility into your data is not just a luxury; it's a necessity. In an industry as dynamic as craft brewing, being able to anticipate and respond to changes is crucial. Robust data integration and analytics tools ensure that you have the information you need at your fingertips, allowing for better coordination, more informed decision-making and, ultimately, a more successful and efficient operation. Don’t let the lack of data visibility be the bottleneck that holds back your brewery’s potential. 

5. Scale with Confidence

Your brewery software should be able to grow as your business does. A unified platform that can manage multi-license, multi-currency and multi-location operations can expand to fit whatever you can dream up – at whatever scale you're ready to take it to. It’s important to choose a partner that will work as hard as you do. As an accountant, be proactive in planning for scalability to ensure that your brewery software can accommodate future business needs.

Selecting the right brewery accounting software is critical for the success of your beverage business. Choosing an end-to-end, industry-specific solution that was built by industry experts for people like you will lead you down a path of success. By following the above tips, accounting professionals can maximize the benefits of their brewery ERP and drive their business to new heights. 

If you're tired of your current limitations, it's time to raise a glass to efficiency and innovation with a platform like Crafted ERP. After all, what would life be like with an ERP system that works as hard as you do? Pretty damn good. Cheers to that!