Accounting Technology articles from December 2005

Accounting Technology archives from December 2005

Simple Accounting and Accountants.(Microsoft Corp. while developing Small Business Accounting should keep in mind why accountants prefer and hate about Quickbooks)
December 1, 2005... At Convergence 2004, the Microsoft software users' conference, Satya Nadella asked what he said was a hypothetical question: "What would your advice be if Microsoft were to launch a new small business accounting application?" "You have to...

Disasters.
December 1, 2005... How many hurricanes does it take to put the lights out? One. So with the recent string of storms and smaller disasters that strike businesses, what does it take for a business to survive, or to consider having a disaster recovery plan?...

Show Calendar.
December 1, 2005... December 1-2 Tennessee Society of CPAs Technology Conference. Willis Conference Center. Nashville, Tenn. www.tncpa.org/conferences/technology.htm 2006 SHOWS January 18-19 Blackbaud 2006 Partner Summit. Charleston...

Accounting Technology December's Coming Attractions.
December 1, 2005... Disaster A-Plenty Does anybody have any questions about the need for disaster planning? Now, what do you do about it? Vendor Marketing Programs Vendors offer their resellers an array of marketing materials and activities, but do...

What is the most important item on your technology buying list for 2006?
December 1, 2005... Computers that will be able to run Vista [the next Microsoft operating system] when it is released. John Kleb ICS Advantage Aurora, Ill. There is a lot which we will be procuring in 2005/Q4 and 2006/Q1:Disaster recovery,...

Practice Development News.(KRAFTCPAS invests in Axis Accounting)(Navint Consulting acquired Advanced Data Systems)(BKD L.L.P. promotes Timothy T. Beranek)
December 1, 2005... KRAFTCPAS INVESTS IN AXIA Kraft CPAs has agreed to purchase an interest in Axis Accounting, a software reseller based in Nashville, which was named U.S. Partner of the Year for Epicor's Enterprise financial software line. Axis, founded...

Accounting News.(Microsoft Business Solutions earnings)(Sage Ltd's management and appointed David Batt)(Bizfinity licensing its source code)
December 1, 2005... MBS SLASHES LOSS Microsoft Business Solutions cut its operating loss by 62 percent on a 16 percent increase in revenue as the accounting software unit posted its best results under Microsoft. MBS lost $12 million for the first quarter...

Tax & Financial Planning News.
December 1, 2005... THOMSON UNIT REALIGNS Thomson Tax & Accounting has reorganized into three operating units, in a move that makes Creative Solutions responsible for the GoSystem line. The Corporate Software Group, formerly RIA Compliance, which markets...

Weathering the Storm: Catastrophes real and manmade underscore the need for disaster planning.
December 1, 2005... The fact that one employee had to drive around in his car while charging a PDA so that text messages could be sent says something about the difficulties facing Charles Coe's CPA firm and its offices in Baton Rouge and just outside of New...

Laptop Users Need Back-up Too.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... While many firms worry about the data and physical security in their offices, many have yet to address the problems facing mobile users. Sure, they may return to the office and synchronize data on a regular basis. But computers can be...

Vendors Respond to Disasters.
December 1, 2005... With destruction affecting such a large area of the country in the wake of the season's major storms, vendors have been responding to their clients' problems. Bellevue, Wash.-based Orrtax Software Solutions offered a number of features,...

Planning Ahead: With ever-changing tax laws, tax professionals are using software to offer tax planning to their clients.
December 1, 2005... At least Hurricane Katrina may have done something good for a few people: Smith, Turner & Reeves estimates its tax planning revenue will increase by 25 percent. Kim Miller, CPA and senior tax manager, attributes the growth to recent tax...

New Customers.(tax planning methods)(alternative minimum tax)(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... A major trend likely to drive numerous people to tax planning in the coming years is the alternative minimum tax (AMT). "At the moment, this is sort of a stealth factor, but the exemption has dropped dramatically and many people, especially...

Tools for the Proactive Planner.(PPC (Fort Worth, Texas))(tax planning strategies)
December 1, 2005... Fort Worth, Texas-based PPC's goal is to help professionals identify, communicate, and implement tax plans for their customers, with the company breaking tax planners into three segments. Proactive planners seek tax savings for clients and...

Tax Planning Vendors.
December 1, 2005... AccountantsWorld Hauppauge, N.Y. (800) 829-7354 www.accountantsworld.com BNA Software Washington, D.C. (800) 372-1033 www.bnasoftware.com CCH Torrance, Calif. (800) 739-9998 www.prosystemfx.com Creative...

NFPs Go Way Off the Shelf: As NFPs complexity increases, the need for the right software intensifies.(not-for-profit organizations)(Sage MIP Fund Accounting Pro)(The Financial Edge from Blackbaud Inc.)(Kintera FundWare)
December 1, 2005... It was none too long ago that nearly all but the largest not-for-profit organizations thrived on simple off-the-shelf accounting systems. While not specific to the NFP industry, these generic systems have always been extremely popular due...

The Freedom of Open Source: Is the open source movement paradise for small and midsized businesses, or just a mirage in the desert?
December 1, 2005... At the last-ever reseller conference of Accpac International-which was about to disappear into Sage-an IBM executive handed out checks to resellers who had sold installations of Accpac on Linux that utilized IBM's DB2 database. Nobody has...

MySQL Makes a Dent in the Market.
December 1, 2005... Although discussions about open source often focus on the Linux operating system, there is a lot more to this world than just Linux. MySQL AB, which markets MySQL, an open-source database, claims 6 million installations. The latest version,...

An Open Source Primer.(Brief Article)
December 1, 2005... Open source may mean a lot of things to a lot of people. But one thing that it doesn't mean is free software, one widespread interpretation. Technically, the term "open source" means source code that complies with the licensing standards...

Vendor Marketing Programs: Do They Work?: Vendor-assisted marketing is meant to help resellers grow revenue, but is it all too overwhelming?
December 1, 2005... When it comes to marketing, there's one thing vendors and accounting resellers agree on-resellers never have enough time or resources. In fact, a recently conducted survey regarding marketing among 200 Sage Software resellers found that...

Marketing for Accountants.
December 1, 2005... Mountain View, Calif.-based Intuit is always on the quest to help its ProAdvisors reach their clients. Recent initiatives to do so include: * On the QuickBooks home page there is now a link to find local QuickBooks experts. The...

Marketing Programs in a Can.
December 1, 2005... Vendors are offering a variety of marketing programs to help partners stretch their marketing budgets, and develop marketing expertise to generate more leads. Irvine, Calif.-based Sage Software now has 140 members in its Marketing Alliance...

Case by Case.
December 1, 2005... Shakopee, Minn.-based Open Systems stopped offering a co-op marketing program in 1999, and now gives its partners marketing assistance on a case-by-case basis. "We definitely think this is a better way to go. Quite frankly, tracking co-op...

New Products.
December 1, 2005... MAS 90/200 ERP 4.1 Sage MAS 90/200 ERP 4.1 integrates sales order and job costing to give users greater flexibility in allocating and invoicing for goods and services. Besides tracking and transferring sales order revenues and costs to...

eFileKeeper: Switching Gears.(eFileKeeper Professional Edition)(Product/Service Evaluation)
December 1, 2005... Right now, being a reseller for eFileKeeper, the paperless document management system from Advantage Business Systems, is a lonely task. There is just one: Simenson & Associates, an accounting and consulting firm that resells and uses the...

Clarification.(Correction Notice)
December 1, 2005... The November Channels featured Everest Software (formerly iCode). In it, David Gutch senior vice president of worldwide sales and marketing, discussed the company's prior channel organization. Gutch says that a statement he made that...

Advertisers' Index December 2005.
December 1, 2005... For FREE product information, go to www.AccountingTechnology.com/freeproductinfo Advertiser Ad Appears on page ADP 1 Accufund 36 Blackbaud ...

Scott Cook Talks About Simplicity.(of Intuit Inc.)(Interview)
December 1, 2005... The small business accounting market has heated up with the Microsoft's launch of Small Business Accounting as Microsoft tries to compete with market-leader QuickBooks. Scott Cook, founder and chairman of Intuit's executive committee, talks...

Seale: Bringing Theory To Practice.(John G. Seale of RBSK Partners)(Company Profile)
December 1, 2005... There is a lot more to small business accounting software than just technology, says John G. Seale of Greensburg, Ind.-based RBSK Partners. "Anybody can put a disk in, hit 'set-up' and 'run.' The accounting theory is where everybody falls...

Working with the Trusted Advisor: "Our success has really been based on partnerships from the very beginning," says Bill Gates. And if Microsoft doesn't know what they are talking about, then who does?
December 1, 2005... Vendors and CPAs go hand-in-hand. Take this example. A particular software system announced a partnership with one of the nation's top CPA firms to provide a CPA-specific, hosted version of the software company's popular document management...

Intuit Doubles Down on Accountants.
December 1, 2005... Intuit announced that it's increasing its commitment to accountants by rolling out a series of new and enhanced programs. From unlimited free technical support for QuickBooks ProAdvisors(r) and a new accountant-dedicated support team to free...

Enhance Your Practice with MPAN Community.(Microsoft Professional Accountants' Network)
December 1, 2005... In his 1993 book, The Virtual Community, Howard Rheingold anticipated, well before the proliferation of the World Wide Web, a mediated version of reality that's rapidly become familiar to us: interconnected computer networks linking people...

Payroll Partnership in Action.(Product/Service Evaluation)
December 1, 2005... PayCycle, the leader in on-demand payroll, has significantly increased its commitment to accounting professionals this winter. The latest version of the award-winning online payroll solution incorporates the top five feature requests from...

Who's Looking Out for Accountants?(Sage Software Accountants Network)
December 1, 2005... The author of a recent best-seller suggests that we all need a network of friends and associates to look out for us. As a leading provider of software for small and mid-sized businesses, Sage views the accounting community as friends and...