What each one covers
| Area | Practice management / PSA | ERP |
|---|---|---|
| Clients, jobs, tasks | Yes | Yes |
| Time and billing | Yes | Yes |
| Client portal | Often | Yes |
| Double-entry accounting | Rarely; usually a sync | Native |
| GST and TDS returns | No | Yes, from live data |
| HR, attendance, payroll | No | Yes |
| Expenses and travel | Basic | Full, with rebilling |
| Vendors and procurement | No | Yes |
| AI across all firm data | Limited to practice data | Across every module |
The hidden cost of the multi-tool stack
A firm running practice software, an accounting package, an HRMS and an expense app pays four subscriptions, but the bigger cost is the work between them: exports, imports, reconciliations, mismatched client names and numbers that differ depending on who you ask.
- Month-end close waits on reconciliations between billing and accounts.
- Utilisation and cost per person need data from both the HRMS and the timesheet tool.
- GST returns are rebuilt in spreadsheets from invoice exports.
- AI tools can only see the slice of data held by the product they are attached to.
How to decide
If your firm has a finance team, more than one office, payroll to run or statutory returns to file, an ERP removes more work than it adds. If you are a small practice that only needs jobs and a timer, start with practice management, ideally on a platform that can grow into an ERP so you do not migrate twice.
Firmlytics supports both paths: the Practice package for the first, and the Enterprise Suite or a Custom Bundle for the second, on the same database.
Questions
Is an ERP only for large firms?
No. Many firms start with practice and billing and switch on finance and HR as they grow. The benefit is that nothing needs to be migrated later.