Cross-border business activity is no longer the prerogative of multinational companies, in the ever-changing business environment a company may need to keep records in other currencies, even in the short term, or to issue documents in a language other than Hungarian, or to operate in several languages because of foreign employees. A prepared ERP system must be flexible to respond to these needs.
In recent years, the multicultural nature of companies has accelerated, not only leading to the emergence of a large number of foreign-owned companies in the domestic market, but also to an increase in the number of companies that interact with foreign partners, suppliers or employ foreign workers. This has made it essential that the software used to manage a company should be equipped with new features and meet the needs of business owners to use their systems effectively in this market environment.
In preparing IKON ERP to meet these challenges, we have sought to use solutions that offer our users a high degree of flexibility, so that the system can be adapted to work in virtually any language and in any currency.
Do you speak ERP?
At IKON ERP, we have addressed multilingualism by creating a matrix of several dictionaries, which translates all data into the language set by simply entering a language code that can be dynamically changed at runtime by the user. Some of these dictionaries are used by the development tool in a built-in way, while other dictionaries are handled by the system logic.
Why was a matrix needed for this? The software contains several pieces of information whose generation has different properties:
- There are static texts that appear on the screen by default, such as field names, the translation of this data is translated by the basic tools of the running system from the dictionaries provided.
- Data stored in a database, which is supplemented by a language code and the system displays database data corresponding to the language code specified by the user.
- In the case of events and information display, the built-in functions produce the data in the required language from the dictionaries associated with the function.
Thanks to these functions, IKON ERP can be easily integrated in any multilingual environment and dynamic language settings make the system usable in any language within a company. Thus, there should be no language barrier to employing the right workforce.
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In the case of multinational companies whose parent company is not from Hungary but from any other country in the world, it is not always an appropriate procedure to keep the general ledger in HUF, as it is very difficult to reconcile domestic data with foreign books and the production of consolidated data at group level becomes also very complicated.
Since Hungarian legislation allows for the possibility to record the accounts in other currencies (except for VAT returns, which must always be in Hungarian forints), IKON ERP is also prepared for this function and a "base" currency can be set in which the analytics are recorded. Of course, in addition to the basic currency denomination, all analytics can be found in the system in their original currency denomination and can be retrieved in the general ledger.
Invoicing on behalf of any subsidiary
Another interesting area of cross-border operation is when a subsidiary established in Hungary wishes to sell products stored in a foreign country. It can do this by redeeming the tax number in the country where the sale is made and marketing under that tax number. These invoices should not be entered into the Hungarian tax administration's system, but they should be entered in the unified company ledger. IKON ERP provides a solution for this operation. Tax numbers received in a foreign country can be recorded in the system and there is also the possibility to receive and issue invoices. These invoices are of course not included in the Hungarian VAT return and are not entered in the Hungarian tax administration system.
By using these toolkits, IKON ERP can confidently navigate the current multinational market environment and provide a solution for any company, whether it is a Hungarian company with foreign employees or a foreign-owned company with international subsidiaries booked in Hungary.
