What spreadsheets still do well
Prototyping a budget, one-off analysis, and board slides. They fail when five people write simultaneously, when you need role-based access, or when yesterday’s formula is “source of truth” for stock valuation.
Metrics that actually matter
Pick a short list tied to cash and operations: gross margin by channel, aged receivables, stock days cover, cash burn, and variance to forecast. Vanity charts that nobody acts on should not drive software choice.
Financial systems earn their keep when those metrics refresh from transactions — not from a heroic paste every Friday.
Security and access
Ask how users are provisioned, whether exports are audited, and how bank connections authenticate. Cloud convenience is fine when MFA, least privilege, and vendor posture match your risk.
On-premise keeps data on hardware you control — with the duty to patch and back up. We implement both shapes depending on compliance and ops capacity.
Migrating without losing history
Define opening balances, chart of accounts mapping, and which years move as summary vs line detail. Run parallel months until P&L and balance sheet reconcile. Never cut over on the last day of quarter without a dry run.