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Accounting & ERP Guides, Comparisons, and Tools for Growing Businesses
Still trying to figure out whether QuickBooks, Xero, Zoho, or a full ERP system is the right fit; or whether your current setup just needs to be cleaned up and configured properly? This is where Certum Solutions publishes the guides, comparisons, checklists, and case studies we wish more businesses had before they signed a software contract or hired a bookkeeper. Everything here is written by our own accounting and ERP consulting team for U.S.-based small and mid-sized businesses (roughly $1M–$50M in revenue) evaluating their systems in 2026; not outside contributors guessing at what matters.
Not sure where to start?
Head-to-head breakdowns of QuickBooks, Xero, Zoho, Odoo, and ERP options, built to help you decide, not just compare features.Free checklists, templates, and calculators you can use todayStep-by-step walkthroughs recorded inside real QuickBooks, Xero, and ERP accounts.Real Certum client stories: the problem, the system we implemented, and the result.In-depth articles on QuickBooks, Xero, Zoho, ERP, & running the financial side of your business.Latest from Certum
The newest guides, updates, and breakdowns from our team — covering QuickBooks, Xero, Zoho, ERP, and everything in between.
Accounting Equation & Numbering
When working with a new client, a lot of times the discussion starts around software and flows, and eventually follows a meandering path back through the annals of my memory to ACC 101.
While accounting software looks fancy and intimidating, there are a few things that we go over that helps. I recently put this up on our company whiteboard, and had several people comment on how helpful it was, so I thought I would try to replicate it here.
Constructive Receipt & Its Impact on Cash-Based Businesses
Accrual-based businesses report income and expenses according to GAAP, or Generally Accepted Accounting Principles. There are certain guidelines on when a business should use accrual-based bookkeeping, such as when inventory will be kept on hand or when you are above a certain revenue threshold, but many small businesses use a cash-based method instead.
Marketing for New Businesses, Part 1
If you’ve just recently started a new business, you may or may not already have some ideas for marketing your products or services. Regardless, if you’ve searched the Internet for ways to begin your marketing journey, you’ve probably read about a marketing plan — the big, intimidating document that requires a significant amount of research and consumes time that could be spent diving head-first into your work. However, even if you plan to hire a marketing team right away, it will be beneficial for you to begin writing a marketing plan yourself. And don’t worry — it’s not as difficult as you might think. Together we’ll explore the ongoing process of marketing and some key research topics that will give you an excellent start to a marketing plan for your new business.
Welcome New QBO Advanced Reporting Features as the Sun Sets on Fathom
As of July 31, 2022, Intuit will close the books on its QuickBooks Online Advanced (QBOA) partnership with Fathom. If you use QBOA, you were likely already notified of this. Fathom is a software that provides data analytics and visualization, and its integration with QuickBooks greatly enhanced the value and readability of a bookkeeper’s client reports. If you weren’t familiar with Fathom, then this bad news has no effect on you!
Top-Down Selling: How Hard Should You Push?
When I was around eight years old, I went with my parents to a used car lot. We were greeted by an employee who barely listened to what my parents were looking for before immediately disregarding our budget and taking us to the most expensive minivan at the dealership. He continued to ignore my parents’ requests and only slowly made his way down in cost from one vehicle to another, assuring us with every other breath that he would “get us taken care of.” He seemed quite proud of himself at end as he pushed my parents to make a hasty decision. When we left (empty-handed, I might add), my mother sighed and said, “Well, he was a salesman, wasn’t he?” The way she said it made “salesman” sound like an insult.
Freedom of Working from My Office vs Home
I love working in my office away from home. I said it. I feel like I’m standing in a support group and voicing a personal truth against skeptical faces, but I said it. Stacked next to a vast majority of professionals, my story may be a little different.
Which Nonprofit Type Are You? A Quick Guide
If you are looking to start a nonprofit organization, you may assume that all nonprofits are created equally when it comes to taxes. However, the IRS identifies twenty-seven different types of nonprofits. Each one has different requirements for eligibility and follows different rules on what can be taxed, but what are these different categories?
Bundle Accounting Software to Save 30%
We are joining forces with Webgility and Summit Hosting to offer a discount (up to 30%) on QuickBooks Desktop products and QuickBooks Point of Sale (POS). If you’re not familiar with these two QuickBooks Solutions, they’re quite powerful for business owners.
QuickBooks Online Advanced + Excel Integration: A Game Changer
According to Intuit, for every 100 customers in growing, complex businesses, more than 60 use Excel in their business. And why not? You can make lists and databases for leads, customers and staff, helping uncover and decipher data and trends to lead to powerful insights that determine your business’ future.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
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Guides, comparisons, checklists, video tutorials, and client case studies covering QuickBooks, Xero, Zoho, ERP systems, inventory software, and general accounting topics for small and mid-sized businesses.
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Certum's own accounting and ERP consulting team writes everything here, based on client implementations we've actually done — not generic outside content.
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All three, plus Odoo, Cin7, Katana, and other ERP and inventory platforms. Certum is vendor-neutral, so the content reflects what actually fits different business situations, not one software brand.
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Everything in the resource library — guides, checklists, comparisons, and downloads — is free to read and download, whether or not you're a Certum client.
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New guides and comparisons are added regularly, and existing posts are updated when software pricing, features, or plans change (like the 2026 QuickBooks Online price increase).
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Start with the Software Comparisons category, or book a free consultation and tell us where you're at — we'll point you to the right guide or give you a direct answer.
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Yes. Contact us at help@certumsolutions.com with what you'd like covered.
Featured
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Our most-requested guides, tools, and breakdowns — picked for businesses actively evaluating software, cleaning up their books, or getting ready to scale.
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