Business Administrator has been designed to try and work with respect to the law of the jurisdiction in which it is operating, currently only the UK. At the time or writing, only the UK jurisdiction has been considered. The laws that pertain to the UK may or may not be valid in other jurisdictions, and, so, Business Administrator’s respect to the laws of other jurisdictions may or may not be valid, or may be valid to varying degrees.
For the purposes of explanation, jurisdiction means those sets of laws (business, financial, civil and otherwise) and those sets of financial procedures that identify a state or nation and offer that state or nation those values that it feels provide it with the best way of life.
In contrast, economic jurisdiction means the economy of a state, or group of states – the currency and financial methodologies they have in common.
Whilst Business Administrator is focused on the UK jurisdiction, it could be used anywhere, but tax reporting (and its likes) should not be used, or should be ignored, or should be used with care. The facilities for exporting financial data, and tax reporting, remain valid, but you ought to ignore the tax elements, instead substituting appropriate values for your own tax regime. We are aware that many countries base their tax system on that of the UK. Use of Business Administrator in those countries is likely to be more successful than in others.
This is also true with legal issues. Keep an eye on Business Administrator and consider the appropriateness of its movements, and, where necessary, take appropriate action.
These are the downsides for a non-UK company using Business Administrator. Whilst parts of Business Administrator may become redundant, the bulk of it will still become a tool that any business in the world will benefit from immensely.
Further, if Business Administrator in one jurisdiction is trying to operate, function or administrate for another, then it is unlikely to cater for the laws of the second. This is partly why we say Business Administrator should never to used across jurisdiction boundaries.
Chalestra does intend to release facilities for every jurisdiction, but currently cannot say when this will happen. Please keep an eye on BAWorld for news and press releases.
Business Administrator can only work with respect to any jurisdiction providing:
- it is up to date
- it believes the law to be relevant to the issues at hand
- it has the software to support it, jurisdiction-wise. At the time of writing, the only jurisdiction that is supported is the UK.
Under no circumstances should Business Administrator be allowed to handle cross-border trading processes. This means that Business Administrator can be used for cross-border and international trade, but it must not be networked across borders – the internal use of Business Administrator, company-wise, must be used only in one jurisdiction – it, or any part of it, must not exist in more than one jurisdiction. The ability for Business Administrator to manage businesses that need cross-border capable software will come at a later date when we've have released Business Administrator Executive, which will focus on those issues.
Given that there are so many laws in each jurisdiction, that each is open to interpretation and that they can each change very fast, you are charged with the responsibility of keeping an eye on Business Administrator to ensure that it does the right thing. Much of this should be explored in the initial use of Business Administrator when you test it for business fit – ensure that it doesn't just benefit your business, but that it works within the laws and economics of your jurisdiction as well. You alone are responsible for keeping your business within the law, and Business Administrator is no adviser of the law.
Chalestra is continually striving to develop the way Business Administrator works with all jurisdictions. The task is to convert legal and economic processes to logic, which any professional in those industries would agree is a monumental task, and is close to impossible. We will do the best we can, but any issues should be reported immediately and directly to Chalestra.
By the way, keep an eye on national Budget Days. Governments could (unbeknown to us or anyone else) introduce concepts that are alien in nature to Business Administrator. Adjustments to existing concepts are generally easy to handle through Finance Manager or business policy in Business Manager, but, again, it is your responsibility to ensure these adjustments are made. There is little that can be done about alien laws, until Chalestra knows about them, understands them, and has written upgrades to cater for them.
For those companies using Business Administrator where jurisdiction support systems are not available, parts of Business Administrator (particularly Finance Manager) might become redundant, but the benefits of the trading and reporting systems should remain solid.
As we keep saying, if issues arise do let us know – it's often the only way we can address them.