Accounting Technology articles from November 2002

Accounting Technology archives from November 2002

Fighting the brand wars. (Editor's Note).(Editorial)
November 1, 2002... Mention the Public Broadcasting program This Old House, and many people will respond "Bob Vila." It's a remarkable testimony to the power of brand, because Vila has not been with the show since 1989 and his successor, Steve Thomas, has been...

Street talk: reader views.
November 1, 2002... Are clients asking for Microsoft .Net-based applications? To date, I have never been asked by a prospective purchaser of accounting software for a .Net-based product. Stuart L. Tholen, CPA SGS Technology Group Ogden, Utah ...

Best merges CPA programs. (Practice Development News).(Best Software)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Best Software is merging two CPA ad visor programs, Peachtree's AccountCare program, and the MAS 90 Sage Accountant Alliance program. In their place will be two new programs, the Advisor Program and Premier Advisor Program, which will...

Interdyn uniting. (Practice Development News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Interdyn, an alliance of Great Plains resellers, is moving toward closer integration in a move that could make it one of the nation's largest accounting software resellers. The nine member firms incorporated Interdyn last year after...

Intuit inks CPA deal. (Practice Development News).(with Construction Industry CPAs/Consultant Association)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Intuit has entered a relationship with the Construction Industry CPAs/Consultant Association, under which the not-for-profit association will promote the Intuit Master Builder Solution Provider and Certified Professional Advisor programs to its...

Epartners gets cash. (Practice Development News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... National reselling organization ePartners has received $10 million in private equity financing, which the company says will be used to fund growth, provide working capital, and to participate in mergers and acquisitions. The company has...

BHZ awes with var. (Practice Development News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Boulay, Heutmaker, Zibell, an accounting firm based in Minneapolis, has allied itself with Solomon reseller Business Information Systems to provide IT services to the CPA firm's clients. Paul Hattouni in the firm's IT Consulting service...

McGuckin leaves DSD. (Practice Development News).(DSD Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Dan McGuckin, president of San Diego-based DSD Systems, has left the Best Software reseller after 12 years with the firm. McGuckin says it is time for a change. "I'm going to spend some time with my family, and then begin to look at several...

Keller, Hewitt part. (Practice Development News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The partners of Keller-Hewitt, a Great Plains and Solomon VAR based in Florence, Ky., have separated after working together as resellers since 1988. Jim Hewitt has left to pursue other interests, indicating he is still interested in the...

Collins launches CPE. (Practice Development News).(Carlton Collins AdvisorCPE division)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Accounting Software Advisor, the latest venture from consultant Carlton Collins, has launched the AdvisorCPE division to provide accounting software CPE courses for CPAs. The company, based in Atlanta, is offering a full-day accounting...

Tectura buys Select. (Practice Development News).(Select Systems and Integrated Accounting Systems)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Tectura, a Tempe, Ariz -based reseller of Great Plains software, has acquired Select Systems, a Solomon reseller that had its headquarters in San Mateo, Calif. Select, which had 40 employees and three offices two years ago, had cut its...

New partner honored. (Practice Development News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Integrated Systems Solutions of Orange, Calif., has been named as the top new reseller of accounting software from Microsoft Business Solutions. ISS, honored for Global New Partner Excellence, has sold both Dynamics and eEnterprise...

MBS renames lines. (Accounting News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Microsoft Business Solutions has renamed a major part of its accounting software line to retain historical names. Once expected to eliminate the Great Plains name, the company instead combined Dynamics and eEnterprise names as the Great...

Audit questions Insynq. (Accounting News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Insynq, a Seattle-based company that provides online accounting services, has received an ongoing concern opinion from its auditors. The company's Form 10-K for the year ended May 31, which had a delayed filing, shows that as of September...

Harding joins AccTrak 21. (Accounting News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Wayne Harding, a CPA well-known in the accounting software community, has left his job at CPA2Biz to become CEO for Pacific Rim vendor AccTrak 21. Harding admits AccTrak will have to work hard to build a channel. But he adds, "We have a...

Best retools channel program. (Accounting News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Best Software has formed the Best Software Partner Advantage Program, to provide a single channel program that spans its products, including accounting, fixed assets, and human resources. Under the program, VARs receive lead-generation...

F9 acquired. (Accounting News).(by Lasata Software)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Lasata Software, an Australian company, has purchased Synex Systems, the software company that markets F9, a financial reporting package that links accounting software to Excel. Lasata will expand F9's capabilities by linking to more...

Cyma offers grants. (Accounting News).(to charitable organizations)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Cyma Systems has announced a program through which charitable organizations can receive funding for up to $5,000 in accounting software and services to qualifying 501 (c) (3) organizations. Non-profits can qualify for a three-user bundled...

Keith lands job. (Accounting News).(president of Software Solutions)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Randy Keith, who served as president of Navision US until his departure last year, has been named as president of Software Solutions, an Atlanta-based company that markets software and services for the distribution market. Keith was...

Microsoft drops Siebel. (Accounting News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Microsoft has dropped an arrangement under which its VARs could become authorized to sell Siebel System's MidMarket Edition of its Customer Relationship Management software. Great Plains VARs can still sell the product, but must now receive...

Exact buys resellers. (Accounting News).(Exact Software North America )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Exact Software North America has acquired two of its value-added resellers to provide greater coverage of the market in the United States. The company acquired Comprehensive Business Systems of North America, whose president and founder...

Plans to purchase applications. (Accounting News).(Brief Article)(Illustration)
November 1, 2002... PLANS TO PURCHASE APPLICATIONS Sales Force Automation 48% Query, Reporting and Analysis Tools 45.2% Help desk and field service 44.9% Finance and accounting 44.7% Data mining ...

Ter Bush leaves CCH. (Tax & Financial Planning News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Charles Ter Bush, who spent 20 years as a marketing and product manager at CCH, has joined tax forms vendor STF Services, based in East Syracuse, N.Y., as a vice president. STF, owned by the Bureau of National Affairs, is known for its...

Aspen buys ARM. (Tax & Financial Planning News).(Accounting Research Manager)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Aspen Publishers, owned by CCH's parent Wolters Kluwer, has acquired the Accounting Research Manager from Arthur Andersen. ARM is a collection of online databases of expert-written accounting and auditing information. It also includes...

Paychex nabs Advantage. (Tax & Financial Planning News).(Advantage Payroll Services)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Paychex has acquired Advantage Payroll Services for $240 million cash and will spend another $75 million in cash to redeem preferred stock and repay loans for the acquired company. Advantage, based in Auburn, Maine, brings 499,000 clients...

PPC inks Datalynx. (Tax & Financial Planning News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Practitioners Publishing Company has agreed to provide its Personal Financial Center online applications to Datalynx Advisors. The PPC vehicle provides Adviser Vision and Client Vision views, drawn from a common data base of client...

ATX bundles with Kleinrock. (Tax & Financial Planning News).(Total Tax Office)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... On the heels of its acquisition by the United Communications Group, ATX is bundling its Max tax preparation software with the TaxExpert research package from sister operation Kleinrock, under the name Total Tax Office. "At $1,000, it's...

CCH gets Esalestax. (Tax & Financial Planning News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Wolters Kluwer North America, parent to CCH, has acquired Esalestax.com, an Englewood, Colo.-based company, that provides sales and use tax software via the Internet. Esalestax.com will become part of CCH's Sales and Use Tax Group. WK had...

MYOB, SurePayoll ally. (Tax & Financial Planning News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... MYOB, an accounting software vendor based in Rockaway, N.J., has struck a deal to provide online payroll processing for the company's small business customers through SurePayoll. The service will be marketed under the name, MYOB...

Aatrix links to Red Wing. (Tax & Financial Planning News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Aatrix Software, based in Grand Forks, S.D., has agreed to provide state and federal electronic reporting for the Red Wing Business Systems Payroll software. Aatrix forms integrate with Red Wing to allow fast preparation of completed...

Liberty results surge. (Tax & Financial Planning News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Sales and earnings for JHT Tax, the company that operates the Liberty Tax Service, rose sharply for the year which ended April 30. JHT says net income of $2.5 million in the year just ended was dramatically higher than $155,609 in earnings...

Intuit's tax business grows. (Tax & Financial Planning News).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... INTUIT'S TAX BUSINESS GROWS All numbers in millions Revenue from Intuit's Professional Solutions (primarily sales of Pro Series and Lacerte income tax software) have risen steadily, although they have remained roughly the sampe...

Stars marketing put the light on success.
November 1, 2002... About two years ago, a banker referred a client to Brian Price, who immediately placed the prospect on his CPA firm's newsletter mailing list. At that time, the prospect showed no interest in switching accounting firms. But Price placed...

Fixed assets software: keep up with change; nail down your assets and the numbers.
November 1, 2002... Probably the last item on your to-do list is reviewing and implementing new office software products. News in the headlines and the buzz at the office remain focused on economic woes and business malfeasance. Corporate accountability continues...

Financial planning takes a suite approach: financial planning tools make it easy for CPAs to take the uncertainty out of their clients' financial future.
November 1, 2002... Consider this scenario: A client has a year-old child who'll be heading off to college in 17 years, hopefully to their alma mater, which currently charges $30,000 annually for tuition, room, and board. Unfortunately, the client hasn't saved...

Project accounting: getting the job done; financial software vendors target the professional services arena.(and related article)
November 1, 2002... Talk about your project management. Appropriately enough, at least three mid-market accounting software providers are bringing to fruition major new-product initiatives targeted to project-driven companies as diverse as ad agencies, government...

High marks for online CPE: the dot-com bust has failed to dampen user enthusiasm for web-based courses.
November 1, 2002... Despite the dot-corn debacle, online Continuing Professional Education is continuing to lure accountants to the Web in droves because of its convenience and relatively low pricing. "We still have many customers order CD-ROMs and even...

Pro Series 7.0. (New Products).
November 1, 2002... The object-oriented development framework in Pro Series offers integration with AccpaceTransact for e-commerce, Accpac eCRM, and Accpac Exchange for Internet-based Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). The system also supports Microsoft SQL Server...

Master Builder 2003. (New Products).(from Intuit)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... With a customizable desktop in Master Builder 2003, users can create short-cuts to the most frequently used menu options, reports, and forms, and a report navigator to select reports, view a complete list of report options, and preview reports...

rList. (New Products).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... rList allows firms to formulate best practices for their securities audit and tracking program, and to enforce compliance with insider trading rules and restrictions. rList accepts employee trade requests covering all security types,...

Visual File Cabinet. (New Products).
November 1, 2002... CPASoftware's Visual File Cabinet stores reports, registers, statements, and tax returns generated from any CPASoftware product, archived data from Word and Excel, and scanned-in images such as bank statements and credit card statements. ...

Paperless Engagements. (New Products).
November 1, 2002... PPC's Guide to Paperless Engagements assesses the relative benefits and costs, and develops an effective approach to going paperless. Users can see how to implement a paperless engagement approach to gain efficiencies in write-up, compilation,...

ClientRelate. (New Products).
November 1, 2002... As tax laws change at both the federal and state levels, CCH ClientRelate identifies, analyzes, and alerts professionals, allowing them to determine which clients may be affected. ClientRelate combines CCH Internet, Tax Research NetWork,...

Simply CMS Open. (New Products).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Simply CMS Open is a less expensive and more easily implemented version of the Solution 6 CMS Open practice management system. Simply CMS Open works on multiple operating systems and hardware platforms, including Windows NT, Unix, and...

NetLedger Advanced Accounting. (New Products).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... NetLedger Advanced Accounting, which focuses on companies with multinational locations, complex warehousing, and complicated inventory, can be licensed as either a stand-alone package or as an add-on to the Oracle Small Business Suite. ...

Professional55. (New Products).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Professional55 automatically captures and tracks time spent on the computer, on the phone, and in impromptu meetings and records the time to a company's time and billing system without the user needing to manually start or stop a clock. ...

Timeslips 11. (New Products).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Timeslips Version 11 offers more time tracking and billing features to help professional services firms keep close tabs on their time. The Time Sheet Slip Entry feature includes a stopwatch timer option to track time down to the second,...

Nobilis CI. (New Products).(from Noblis Software)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Nobilis CI, ProcessWriter allows users to develop their own applications from within desktop versions of Excel. Nobilis CI can automate such tasks as distributing and collecting data, prompting participants on deadlines, escalations, and...

ProVantage 6.0. (New Products).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Exception reporting in ProVantage 6.0, time and billing software, pushes information to specified users in the form of Agent Alerts, emails, or both so they stay current on events such as missing time, past due bills, and budgets exception...

Office Tools. (New Products).
November 1, 2002... Office Tools 2002, a practice management system, has added an appointment confirmation system and the ability to synchronize with Palm Pilot devices. The appointment confirmation system allows users to set up appointments and confirmation...

PracticeMaster's CPE tracking. (New Products).
November 1, 2002... With PracticeMaster's CPE tracking feature, users can print comprehensive reports showing all employees and credits applied toward their continuing education. Reporting options include required credits, completed credits, and remaining...

MYOB partner programs: expanding services. (Channels).(Company Profile)
November 1, 2002... Even though the majority of accountants are Windows users, MYOB doesn't want to stop its partners from being able to serve Macintosh customers. In fact, in the Mac accounting market, the Rockaway, N.J.-based company has a 63 percent share of...

Linda Bryan: taking the next step. (Accounting Technologist).
November 1, 2002... Linda Bryan, CEO and president of Dallas-based Tamlin Software Developers, knows that to be successful, she has to provide clients with more than just basic accounting software. "In the past, accounting could be a first application step...

Minimum risk, maximum return. (Editor's Note).(Editorial)
November 1, 2002... When we talk about portfolio management, we are really looking at those who are primarily engaged in managing portfolio assets, such as mutual funds, stocks, bonds, et al, of others on a fee or commission basis. These parties have the authority...

Managing clients. (Special Report: Accountants Media Group Portfolio Management).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Most firms understand and appreciate the value of their clients. After all, they represent the CPA's greatest assets, especially in terms of increased revenue, references, and reputation. Many practitioners today have difficulty maintaining...

Recognizing the opportunities. (Special Report: Accountants Media Group Portfolio Management).(Industry Overview)
November 1, 2002... A question frequently asked is, "What can a typical large local CPA firm grossing $3 million to $5 million generate in revenue through financial services?" The explosion of interest among CPA firms in building world-class financial services...

Business building for reps. (Special Report: Accountants Media Group Portfolio Management).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Financial Network Investment Corporation, one of the largest independently managed broker-dealers in the industry and part of ING Advisors Network, announces that it has launched a CD-ROM computer program that enhances the ability for...

Value investing comes alive. (Special Report: Accountants Media Group Portfolio Management).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The struggling markets are slowly starting to recuperate and analysts believe there are a lot of opportunities out there, especially when it comes to value stocks. Value investors are essentially bargain-hunters who search for stocks that...

Fixed income manager. (Special Report: Accountants Media Group Portfolio Management).(Allmerica Asset Management )(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Allmerica Asset Management provides investment management services to insurance companies, pension plans, and other institutional investors. As of the close of the first quarter of this year, Allmerica Asset Management managed more than $18.3...

Adding products & services. (Special Report: Accountants Media Group Portfolio Management).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... The Terra Financial Companies, an affiliate of GE Financial Assurance, has formed the GE Financial Assurance Independent Accountants Network. Since 1984, Terra has earned the trust of the accounting community as a leading resource for financial...

Spread market risk. (Special Report: Accountants Media Group Portfolio Management).
November 1, 2002... Gene Pisasale, senior investment officer in the asset management department at Wilmington Trust, has written extensively on the difference between the new vs. the old economy, contrasting, for example, energy and chemical stocks (old economy)...

Obtaining needed licenses. (Special Report: Accountants Media Group Portfolio Management).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... Once a CPA decides to establish a financial planning practice and manage portfolios, then the practitioner will need to obtain specific types of licenses. Accordingly, CPAs must familiarize themselves with both federal and state requirements...

Heading the business toward success. (Special Report: Accountants Media Group Portfolio Management).(Brief Article)
November 1, 2002... * Is your staff operating effectively? * Are they doing a good job? * How can they improve their overall performance? * Is the business on track and performing, as it should? * Are your internal processes working smoothly? ...