Accounting Technology articles from June 2006

Accounting Technology archives from June 2006

Software: Mash-Ups Ahead?
June 1, 2006... When telephones first entered the consumer market, they were used much differently: People often went to a central location, such as a store, and paid for their use. It's not surprising it started this way. That was the way telegraphs were...

The Return of Payroll.
June 1, 2006... Once upon a time, accountants did payroll and then they found payroll wasn't profitable and now they find it's a good business. Of course, not all accounting firms have been in and out of the business. But that's a summary of a commonly...

Need Insights.
June 1, 2006... Editor Robert Scott also writes "Consulting Insights," a free, twice-monthly electronic newsletter that addresses issues concerning the consulting and reselling market. It's insight with an attitude. If you want to subscribe, put the following...

Street Talk: Reader Views.(about roles based accounting software)
June 1, 2006... What has been the reaction of your customers and prospects to roles-based accounting software? Does role-based accounting have merit? The answer is yes. Do I think it will drive more sales? The answer is-not now. If you couple role-based...

Show Calendar.
June 1, 2006... JUNE 5-6 California CPA Accounting & Business Show, LAX Hilton, Los Angeles www.flaggmgmnt.com JUNE 12-14 2006 AICPA Tech 2006 Conference, Austin, Texas. www.cpa2biz.com JUNE 13-19 Open Systems Reseller Conference,...

Practice Development News.(Thatcher Technology Group appointed Karen Isley)(Parente Randolph PC appointed Jason S. Hall)(Business Computer Systems acquired ProSoft Corp.)
June 1, 2006... SKODA, MINOTTI EXPANDS IT OFFERINGS Skoda, Minotti & Co., a Cleveland-based CPA firm, has added telecommunication and networking services to the offerings of its Information Technology Consulting Group. The new services include Voice...

Accounting News.(Adam Ross and Kimberly Graham leaves NetSuite Inc.)(Chris Lybber has been named as the president of Synchronics Inc.)(Sage Software Inc. appointed John Geffel)
June 1, 2006... SAGE SELLS LINES Sage Software's Accpac operations have sold two product lines that were acquired by Accpac in 2000 with its purchase of the former SBT Accounting Systems. Sage has sold the Accpac Executive Series and Director Series...

Tax & Financial Planning News.(Intuit Inc.'s advertisement and its company earnings)(Ceridian Corp. appointed Steven Rodriguez )
June 1, 2006... LEXISNEXIS STARTS TAX CENTER LexisNexis has established an online Tax Center, a tool that provides access to a variety of tax research material, including content from CCH, TaxAnalysts, Kleinrock, and Matthew Bender. A variety of...

Financial News.(Pervasive Software Inc., Advent Software Inc. and Radiant Systems Inc.)(software companies earnings)
June 1, 2006... MBS CUTS QUARTERLY LOSS Microsoft Business Solutions had $13 million in operating losses for the third quarter ended March 31, down sharply from a $39 million loss in last year's corresponding period. The loss followed the company's...

Return of the Payroll: CPAs bank on payroll services to broaden practice.(certified public accountants)
June 1, 2006... When Ryan McCowan and Steve Greene started their own CPA firm in 1998, they had a multi-pronged strategy for growth: building expertise in a market niche serving McDonald's restaurant franchisees, offering write-up, tax, and information...

ADP Gives Accountants Choices.(ADP Small Business Services)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Accountants like ADP's wholesale payroll service. They like it so much that it's the fastest growing part of the business when it comes to dealing with accounting firms. But despite that, most accountants who deal with ADP still refer...

Former CBS Users Forced to Change.(Bert Doerhoff)(payroll processing software)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Bert Doerhoff was generally happy with the CBS software that he used at Accubiz, his Jefferson City, Mo.-based payroll processing business. Unfortunately, when Intuit acquired that business a few years ago, it didn't want the software...

Payroll Providers.(software companies)(Directory)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Automatic Data Processing Roseland, N.J. (800) 225-5237 www.adp.com Accountants World Hauppauge, N.Y. (800) 829-7354 www.accountantsworld.com CompuPay Franklin, Tenn. (877) 729-6299 www.paymaxx.com ...

eNewsletters: Should firms produce their own electronic newsletters or hire someone to do it?(BizActions)
June 1, 2006... NexLAN, an AccountMate reseller, has been publishing an e-newsletter for its clients for roughly the past seven years, but less than two years ago the firm took its e-newsletter to the next level with a more polished, professional look and a...

Steps to Producing a Successful E-Newsletter.
June 1, 2006... Whether a firm is developing an e-newsletter in-house or shopping for a prepackaged solution, there are several key factors to be aware of that could make all the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful e-newsletter. First, it...

Quick Takeaways for a Successful E-Newsletter.(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... Is your firm thinking of launching an e-newsletter? Whether your company decides to create it in-house or look outside the firm for a prepackaged solution, industry sources have offered some quick tips that will prove helpful. * Understand...

Natural Selection and Low-Cost Accounting: The market has culled the weak and left strong packages standing.(Bookkeeper 2006)(Peachtree Premium Accounting 2006)(QuickBooks Premier Edition 2006)(Simply Accounting 2006 Basic)(Small Business Accounting 2006)
June 1, 2006... The history of accounting software is evolution in action. Twenty years ago, there were dozens of DOS-based accounting packages for small-to-midsized businesses. Ten years ago, the market had shrunk with the move to Windows, but the general...

Accounting Technology July's Coming Attractions.
June 1, 2006... GOING INTERNATIONAL Technology and consulting businesses are increasingly hands-across-the-sea operations. What's driving this trend? TAX SEASON PREVIEW Tax preparation software vendors have already started collecting for the 2006...

SOXworthy?: Accounting applications have many built-in SOXworthy features.(Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)
June 1, 2006... For the past few years Viper Motorcycles has used SAP Business One to assist in the auditing of its financial reporting and internal controls so that it can comply with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. While Viper and other small-cap companies in...

RIA Puts SOX Reporter Service Online.(Sarbanes-Oxley Reporter Service)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... If companies find that information about Sarbanes-Oxley is scattered, Thomson's RIA operation has set out to rectify that. In January, RIA introduced its Sarbanes-Oxley Reporter Service that not only aids in an organization's compliance with...

SWK Partners with CPA Firms for SOX Work.(certified public accountants)(Sarbanes-Oxley)(SWK Technologies)
June 1, 2006... For VARs, Sarbanes-Oxley has opened up an opportunity to work to apply their technology skills. It's not a big change, says Jeff Roth, CEO of SWK Technologies, a Livingston, N.J.-based Sage Software reseller. What SOX represents is an...

Card Swiping: Accounting software vendors see gold and green in credit card payments.
June 1, 2006... Can accounting software resellers find happiness steering clients to their payment processing services? Peyton Burch, the Houston-based COO of the Enterprise Resource Group, intends to find out. One of his firm's chief goals at Insights,...

Sage Valued Verus Highly.(Sage Software Inc. acquired Verus Financial Management Inc.)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... The potential that Sage sees in this year's acquisition of Verus Financial Management is shown by the purchase price: Sage paid $325 million for Verus, which had about $64 million in revenue for 2005. What the price got Sage was a customer...

New Products.(business software, payroll software, file synchronization software)(Buyers guide)
June 1, 2006... THOMSON ELITE 3E Elite 3E's financial and practice management software embeds workflow and process automation so that system users can exchange data to achieve management goals. It also deploys customer-specific applications. Its scalable...

Consultants Get Fanatic About ACT!(Act Certified Consultant)(Sage Software Inc. )
June 1, 2006... As a certified consultant for Sage Software's Act products since 2003, it's no surprise Rainer Hoffmueller, managing director of Phoenix-based Design R1 Software, is a proponent of the contact and customer management software. Hoffmueller has...

Advertisers' Index June 2006.
June 1, 2006... Ad Appears Advertiser on page ADP Small Business Service 17 CCH C4 Creative Solutions C2 Fuji 7 ...

Micoff: Putting Out Fires with Macs.(David Micoff of Digital Guidance)(Company overview)
June 1, 2006... The words "CPA" and "Macintosh computers" don't sound as if they go together. David Micoff is taking advantage of the fact that they don't to run a very profitable business. Micoff, president of Digital Guidance, a Milford, Mich.-based...

Editor's Note: From Where Will the Money Come?(accounting services)(Editorial)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... This is the overriding theme of this year's special report on firm of the future. In past years, we have looked at other aspects of an accounting firm such as technology and practice management, but this year we decided to target the revenue....

Overachieving: The Theme For The Future.(accounting firm)
June 1, 2006... The year 2005 was a very good year for public accounting, and 2006 looks even better. In this consultant's view, CPA firms that I have observed over the past few years look to be heading towards even more prosperous, exciting, and enthusiastic...

The Question Every Practicing Accountant Must Ask.
June 1, 2006... The accounting profession has experienced unprecedented change over the past 20 years. We have gone from paper to PC, the Big Eight has become the Final Four, and the Internet has become mainstream. Nevertheless, the typical accounting firm's...

Knowledge Management is Key.
June 1, 2006... The future will hold many changes for accounting firms, but I will be surprised if a radical change in the main sources of income is one of them. The tried and true sources of income for firms five years out will remain basically what they are...

Wealth Management and New Revenue Sources.(for accounting firms)
June 1, 2006... A paradigm shift is underway for tax and accounting firms that offer financial services. The traditional segments of firm revenue-tax preparation, audits, valuations, and investments-are giving way to a unified vision for revenue sources in the...

Fastest Growing Business?
June 1, 2006... H.D. Vest partners with over 5,300 tax professionals who have added investment solutions to their tax and accounting practices. The bulk of these practices are smaller shops (one or two owners with a small professional staff). We surveyed some...

Trends, Issues, and Challenges Face the Firm of the Future.
June 1, 2006... To realistically assess the firm of the future, we first need to look at the forces driving change in the world today, their impact on business, and ultimately how they will impact business' need for tax, accounting, and other services offered...

The Bulk of The Revenue.(accounting firms)
June 1, 2006... If the scandals of the past five years in the financial sector have taught us anything, they have taught us that accounting is not a science and that it requires judgment, expertise, and ethics. As such, accomplished accounting professionals of...

Information at Your Fingertips.(by using digital dashboards)(accounting firms)
June 1, 2006... When you imagine the accounting firm of the future...do you conjure up images of high-tech futuristic environments (remember The Jetsons?), where information and daily tasks have been streamlined to the point of ultimate ease of accessibility?...

Get Back To Basics: Payroll.(accounting firms)
June 1, 2006... As we attempt to determine where accounting professionals will derive the most revenue in the future, one thing is certain-the most successful firms will be those that listen to their clients' most fundamental needs...and respond. The...

Driving The Firm of the Future.(usage of technology in accounting firms)
June 1, 2006... "Not Your Father's Oldsmobile" That was the slogan for an ad campaign chosen a few years ago by a major automobile manufacturer. The slogan was intended to replace its "reliable, but old and stogy" image with a faster, more modern sports car...

Revenue Sources through 2010.(of accounting firms)
June 1, 2006... It is difficult to predict how revenue sources will evolve because of the diversity among accounting firms, but emerging trends provide useful indicators. The hiring patterns of accounting graduates offer an insight into firms' anticipated...

Uber-Service for Boomers.
June 1, 2006... By the time you finish this paragraph, another Baby Boomer will be blowing out the candles on a 50th birthday cake. By 2030, almost 1-out-of-5 Americans -some 72 million people-will be 65 years or older. Let's add a bit more context: 79...

Firm Revenue, Now and in the Future.(accounting firms services)
June 1, 2006... Having worked with more than 400 accounting firms over the past two years, we here at New Clients, Inc. have noticed some interesting changes in what services accountants are selling. While the traditional accounting and tax service represents...

Financial Services at the Ready.(accounting firms)
June 1, 2006... Many successful accounting firms in the next five years will see the bulk of their revenue come from delivery of financial advice and investment services as opposed to accounting or tax preparation services. I believe this to be true...

From Where Will Your Revenue Come?(Accounting services value added services)
June 1, 2006... As we enter the second half of the first decade of the 21st century, practitioners are faced with the compelling choice, "Do I manage a compliance or consulting-oriented practice?" For some, the answer will be compliance-offering only audits,...

The Times They Are A'Changing.
June 1, 2006... The need for fundamental accounting services will never go away. Tax and audit services are still the bread and butter of our accounting practice comprising more than 60 percent of revenues, as reported by the Accounting Office Management and...

Note from the Editors: Killer VARS: Building on Success.(value added resellers)(Editorial)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... The last two years have been good ones for many in the accounting software industry. Business has been strong, a welcome relief from the slim years of the post-Y2K bust. Of course, there are a lot of resellers who left the business during...

FUELED FOR GROWTH - Chip Cargas.(InterDyn Cargas Systems)(Company overview)
June 1, 2006... When Chip Cargas says he believes in "shared success," he means it literally. His company has been predominantly employee-owned since 1998. Today, 80 percent of InterDyn Cargas Systems' employees are shareholders. Cargas, president and CEO...

PROFITING FROM NONPROFITS - Jeannie Huckstep.(Company overview)
June 1, 2006... Jeannie Huckstep & Associates has people who understand clients in the nonprofit world. In fact, for the Springfield, Mo.-based firm, NFPs are pretty much the only thing in the world. This combination that has worked since Jeannie Huckstep,...

SERVING CUSTOMERS - Dallas H. Wilt.
June 1, 2006... At Axis Accounting Systems, people are the top priority. A strong focus on its clients and its employees is what has made the 10-year-old company a success, according to its CEO, Dallas Wilt. "I believe that our success comes from our focus...

SPEAKING THE CLIENT'S LANGUAGE - Sonia Levitz.(of Southeast Computer Systems)(Company overview)
June 1, 2006... Sonia Levitz started Miami-based Southeast Computer Systems 22 years ago and hasn't looked back. The 22-person firm has sold more than 600 systems and has 350 active clients. In addition, the firm has been one of Sage Software's Top 10...

TAKING A TEAM APPROACH - Steve and Abby Rosenstein.(of Figtree Consulting Inc.)(Company overview)
June 1, 2006... Many software resellers have software development activities. But for those businesses such as Figtree Consulting that carry modifiable software such as AccountMate, the ability to develop is a major part of the game. "Our clients are...

CHANGING TO MOVE UP - Richard Paul Thomas.(of TBC International Ltd.)(Company overview)
June 1, 2006... Six heads are better than one. Just ask Richard Paul Thomas, president and chief executive of TBC International. In the last two years, Thomas, once the only member of the 21-year-old company's management team, brought on five new professionals...

BRANDING FOR SUCCESS - Pat Wade.
June 1, 2006... Not many accounting software resellers have a team mascot, let alone one named "Q", but Equation Technologies will as it launches a new Web site as part of a corporate rebranding. The appearance of "Q" is designed to incorporate an element...

Microsoft Dynamics: People, Processes and Partnerships.(Company overview)
June 1, 2006... Of all of the elements needed to elevate a Value-Added Reseller from the common to the extraordinary, three stand out - People, Processes and Partnerships. "It is people that make the organization grow - their strategies, their plans,...

GETTING IT RIGHT - Ilene Eisen.(of Ie Solutions)(Company overview)
June 1, 2006... QuickBooks advisors are a dime a dozen. Ask someone like Ilene Eisen, who helps clean up their messes. "Everybody and their brother says they know QuickBooks. A lot of these clients have dealt with people that they felt they knew more than...

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER - Ed Laprade.(Company overview)
June 1, 2006... Software is only part of the puzzle for Ed Laprade, president of Windsor, Conn.-based Adnet Technologies. According to Laprade, the firm is a full-service technology organization with a layering of business applications, processes, and...

PICKING A MARKET - Jered Cady.(Synergy Business Solutions)(Company overview)
June 1, 2006... Some companies are working on thinking bigger. But Portland, Ore.-based Synergy Business Solutions has been striving to think smaller, at least in terms of the markets the firm pursues. Following a strategic-planning process it completed...

BUILDING A REPUTATION - Mike Davis.(of MD Technical Resources )(Company overview)
June 1, 2006... MD Technical Resources focuses on NetSuite and just NetSuite. And the firm's so good at working with the product that other resellers often call on it for help. In fact, the company's owner finds 25 percent of his business comes from helping...

THE 2006 VAR 100 - Consolidation was the name of the game in 2005.
June 1, 2006... The small get bigger. The bigger get even bigger. Everyone in the accounting software reselling business is getting bigger or probably not staying in the field. It's a lesson demonstrated by the fact that the threshold for making...