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My understanding (admittedly limited and likely flawed) of the ERP approach is that it expects you to adapt to the ideal process, rather than trying to fit the ERP solution to your existing processes. I can certainly see the benefits from doing that (essential working towards a best-practice setup), but the upheaval in an established company must be staggering (indeed: see the Fox Meyer example of how not to do it!).
My exam is largely a thinking-out-loud exercise, so your thoughts are genuinely useful to me! Referring to real world examples is essential, and being able to refer to an example my lecturer hasn't come across before (even if it is 'some guy on the internet said...') is definitely worth something!
You are exactly right about the upheaval in companies. Intel is a good example, they tried to adapt either SAP or the other major brand (oracle ?) to the company's method of doing business, failed, and had to change how Intel does business to match how the software works.
I am glad that my limited understanding of ERP and accounting is potentially useful to you. I would not mind hearing the ideas of how ERP and GAAP deal with those questions, if it is ever convenient to post the info.
In general, I agree that accounting and ERP are not such different concepts, company to company, that massive customization should be needed. That is a little bit of what irks me at the same time, it isn't that expensive to roll out a standard software product, why are accounting / erp packages so expensive with ongoing monthly fees?
A lot of the older ERP products would auto order a part based on a High / Low quantity trigger, regardless of if it was being used a lot, or not. Production purchasing was triggered by increasing the part count by adding a project name to each part. I don't think that is used much anymore.
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