(NOTE: The following is from the back cover of the paperback edition of the book.)

“Mike, can you explain ERP to me like I’m a five year old?”

If I had a nickel for every time I’ve received that request from a client or colleague, I’d have a pretty sweet nickel collection. To understand why that would remotely matter to you and/or your child, we need to first rip through the last 30 years of my life in a few sentences. Buckle up!

Shortly after passing the CPA exam, and earning an MBA, my early career pivoted into IT, where I spent the majority of my adult life in and around software development. Then in 2016, following an 11-year run as an entrepreneur, I pivoted into the world of ERP implementation and learned first-hand why ERP projects, big and small alike, are such a challenge to deliver efficiently:

• Many people understand the business processes enabled by ERP software

• Many people understand the accounting treatment of ERP transactions

• Many people understand the technical configuration of ERP software

• Very few people understand all three. And therein lies the rub.

There is often a lack of mental connective tissue among Activity, Bookkeeping, and Computer-related topics: The “ABCs of ERP”, if you will.

Bridging this gap won’t be easy. Today’s business leaders are busy obsessing about cloud computing, AI, and other fads. The next generation of leaders are distracted with amassing social media likes. So I am playing the long game and focusing my attention on accounting and ERP education for the next next generation of business leaders: Ambitious five year-olds.

Sadly, there may be some among us who think that this is just a lighthearted way to give busy adults and recent college grads a refresher on accounting and ERP topics so that they can be more effective at work. To these skeptics, I have but one request:

Read this book to a young person in your life. Prove us both correct.

–Mike