IndustriesMarket guide

Public sector

3 of the 53 profiled systems name public sector in their own positioning. What follows groups them by the company sizes they state a fit for and links the head-to-heads between them; it does not rank them.

3 systems1 head-to-heads10 sources citedReviewed September 2026

Filter the comparison to public sector

01Why this vertical differs

Budgets are legal limits, not plans: encumbrance accounting commits funds at order, spending is reported by fund and programme, and procurement follows statutory thresholds and public tendering. Fiscal years, grant reporting and transparency requirements shape the chart of accounts and the approval chain.

Stackmark research · editorial, not sourced from any vendor

02Systems evaluated for this vertical

Grouped by the company sizes each vendor states a fit for; a system whose range spans two bands appears in both. Alphabetical within a band. Absence means the vendor does not lead with this vertical, not that the system is unsuitable.

Up to 250 employees

251–1,000 employees

1,001–5,000 employees

Over 5,000 employees

03Modules that matter here

The modules the note above names as decisive, with the questions Stackmark puts to a vendor about each in a demonstration. Below them, how many of the vertical’s 3 systems document every module.

Asset management

  1. Q1Can one asset carry separate books for statutory, tax and IFRS depreciation, and post each to a different ledger?
  2. Q2How is a mid-life change handled — impairment, revaluation, a revised useful life — and does it restate prior periods or only adjust forward?
  3. Q3Can construction-in-progress accumulate costs from purchase orders and project time before it is capitalised?
  4. Q4Does the maintenance side exist as a real module here, or is asset management only the finance register?

Financial management

  1. Q1How many legal entities can post to a shared chart of accounts, and what happens when two entities need different local charts?
  2. Q2Is intercompany elimination built in, or does it happen in a spreadsheet outside the system?
  3. Q3What does a period close actually involve — which steps are automated and which are still manual checklists?
  4. Q4Can a closed period be reopened, and what audit trail does that leave?

HR and payroll

  1. Q1In which countries do you run payroll yourselves rather than through a partner, and who owns statutory filing in each case?
  2. Q2How does the payroll posting reach the general ledger — one summary journal, or costed down to department, project and cost centre?
  3. Q3How are statutory changes such as new rate tables or filing formats delivered, and are they included or chargeable?
  4. Q4Can an employee sit in one legal entity and be costed to another, and does that raise an intercompany charge automatically?

Procurement

  1. Q1Can approval limits vary by department, cost centre and amount at the same time?
  2. Q2Is three-way matching automatic, and what is the tolerance for a quantity or price mismatch?
  3. Q3What stops someone raising a purchase order after the invoice has already arrived?

04Head-to-heads within the vertical

Pairs where both systems name public sector and share a category, an overlapping size range and a comparable cost band. Each link opens a fact sheet built from both records.

05Sources

The pages the vertical claims and module lists above were taken from, across every system listed. The opening note is Stackmark’s own.

  1. [1]Deltek Costpoint Review: Cost, Modules & GovCon Fit | ERP Researchhttps://www.erpresearch.com/en-us/deltek-costpoint · retrieved 2026-09-07
  2. [2]Deltek Costpoint: ERP for Government Contractors | Deltekhttps://www.deltek.com/en/products/project-erp/costpoint · retrieved 2026-09-07
  3. [3]Deltek for Government Contracting | Deltekhttps://www.deltek.com/en/government-contracting · retrieved 2026-09-07
  4. [4]About Deltek | Deltekhttps://www.deltek.com/en/about · retrieved 2026-09-07
  5. [5]Stampli | Procure-to-Pay Platform for Finance Teamshttps://www.stampli.com/ · retrieved 2026-09-07
  6. [6]Pricing - Stamplihttps://www.stampli.com/pricing/ · retrieved 2026-09-07
  7. [7]Meet the Stampli Team - Stamplihttps://www.stampli.com/about/ · retrieved 2026-09-07
  8. [8]Unit4 ERP Review 2026: Real Pricing & Honest Pros/Cons | ERP Researchhttps://www.erpresearch.com/en-us/unit4 · retrieved 2026-09-07
  9. [9]About Us - Enterprise Level Software for Businesses | Unit4https://www.unit4.com/about-us · retrieved 2026-09-07
  10. [10]Unit4 - Wikipediahttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit4 · retrieved 2026-09-07