Many UK businesses start on an accounting package such as QuickBooks, Sage or Xero, and for good reason. These packages are quick to set up and good at keeping the books. Then the business grows. There are more people, more stock, more suppliers and perhaps a second company. At some point the package starts to strain, and the question becomes whether to move up to an ERP such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
This post explains what an ERP is, how Business Central and QuickBooks differ, and the signs that it is time to move.
Is Business Central an ERP?
Yes. ERP stands for enterprise resource planning. In plain words, it is one system that runs your finance together with the operations around it: sales, purchasing, stock, warehousing and projects. Because everything shares one database, a sales order, the stock it uses and the ledger entries it creates are all linked. Nobody types the same thing twice.
Business Central is Microsoft’s ERP for small and mid-size businesses. It runs in the cloud and is the successor to Dynamics NAV, once known as Navision. You buy it through a Microsoft partner, usually the same firm that sets it up and supports it. Microsoft sells Business Central licences only through its Cloud Solution Provider programme, the scheme partners use to resell Microsoft’s cloud services (Microsoft Learn’s page on Business Central licensing).
Business Central vs QuickBooks: the core difference
QuickBooks Online, from Intuit, is accounting software built for small businesses. Its UK plans cover invoicing and bank feeds, which bring in your bank transactions automatically, and all but the sole trader plan can submit VAT returns to HMRC. Higher plans add bill management, then stock, projects and purchase orders, and each plan includes a set number of users (QuickBooks’ UK pricing page).
Business Central covers more of the business. Accounting is still at the centre, but there is much more around it. Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide lists multiple currencies, budgets, consolidation of several companies, intercompany postings between your own companies, warehouse management, project management and approval workflows in the Essentials plan. The Premium plan adds manufacturing and service management. For UK VAT, Business Central supports Making Tax Digital, HMRC’s rules for keeping digital records and filing VAT returns through compatible software (Microsoft Learn).
Reporting works differently too. Business Central uses dimensions, which are tags such as department, site or project that you add to each transaction. You can then report on any combination of them without adding extra accounts to your chart of accounts, the list of accounts you post to.
The pricing model differs as well. Business Central is priced per user. Microsoft’s Business Central pricing page lists Essentials at £61.50 per user per month and Premium at £84.60 (checked on 20 October 2026). Team Members, a lighter licence for people who mostly read, approve and update records, is £6.20. All three are paid yearly and exclude VAT.
Signs you have outgrown your accounting package
No single sign means you must move. But if several of these sound familiar, it is worth a proper look:
- You chase late payers by hand, from a spreadsheet of who owes what.
- Purchases are approved over email, so nobody can see who approved what, or against which budget.
- Stock lives in a spreadsheet beside the accounts, and the two never quite agree.
- Reporting by department, site or project means exporting data and building pivot tables.
- You run more than one company and consolidate them by hand.
- Each month end takes longer as add-on apps and workarounds multiply.
Why Business Central
The reasons to choose Business Central are mostly practical. It is Microsoft software, so it works with Outlook, Excel and Teams, which your staff probably use already. Microsoft’s licensing guide says staff with qualifying Microsoft 365 plans can view Business Central data inside Teams at no additional cost, once the business has Business Central licences. Copilot, Microsoft’s AI assistant, is included in the price (Microsoft’s Business Central pricing page).
It also grows with you. You can start on Essentials, move to Premium if you take on manufacturing or service work, and add apps from Microsoft’s partners for needs that are particular to your industry.
What a move involves
A move is a project, not a download. A partner will help you map your chart of accounts, replace any extra accounts you created for departments with dimensions, and set up your approvals. Decide early how much history to bring across. Opening balances and open items, such as unpaid invoices, are the minimum. Older detail can often stay in the old system, kept for look-ups.
Timing matters too. Starting at the beginning of a financial year, or at least a quarter, keeps your reporting clean. Budget for the partner’s work on setup, data migration and training as well as the licences. Involve the people who will use the system every day from the start, because they know where today’s workarounds are.
When QuickBooks is still the right answer
If you are a small team with simple stock, one company and straightforward approvals, QuickBooks may be all you need. Moving would cost time and money for little gain. The case for Business Central grows with the number of people, processes and companies the business has to coordinate.
Where our products fit
If late payers and email approvals are what is pushing you to move, two of our own Business Central apps are built for those jobs. Nudge for Business Central finds overdue invoices and quotes about to expire, gives each follow-up to the customer’s salesperson, and escalates it when it is overdue. Signpost for Business Central sends each approval to the right approver, chosen by a dimension value on the document, such as its department.