Accounting Technology articles from November 2005

Accounting Technology archives from November 2005

The Show Goes On ... For Who?(certified public accountants conferences)(Microsoft Corp.'s Worldwide Partner Conference)
November 1, 2005... Someone who is very familiar with an annual show put on for a state CPA society recently complained that the show was too much for the vendors, not for the attendees, and there's some truth to his complaint. It's easy to forget who the...

Low-cost, High-value.(accounting and tax preparation software prices)
November 1, 2005... Few business application areas are getting more attention right now than low-cost accounting software. With Microsoft's attempted re-entry into the field against Sage and Intuit, there will be a lot of noise for the foreseeable future....

Need Insights?
November 1, 2005... 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, you can do so at...

What is the biggest improvement needed in software used by tax and accounting professionals?
November 1, 2005... Software needs to be easier to access remotely. This could be via the Internet, a WAN, whatever. Setting this configuration up, making sure printers work, and resolving performance issues needs to be easier. Software also needs to integrate...

Show Calendar.(Calendar)
November 1, 2005... November 2-5 Creative Solutions User Conference, Scottsdale, Ariz. www.creativesolutions.thomson.com/uc/ November 2-6 Summit 2005 customer conference. Sage Software. San Diego Convention Center. www.sagesoftware.com November...

Accounting Technology December's Coming Attractions.
November 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...

Practice Development News.(Ibis acquired Infovision Inc.)(Xcentric appoints Robert Frazier)(Mosebach Griffith and Co.'s OneCare software bought by Serenic Software Inc.)
November 1, 2005... NEXTLEVEL PARTNERS SPLIT Manny Buigas, the vice president of marketing of Miami-based NextLevel Information Systems, has severed his relationship with that company and president, George Doris. Buigas and Julio Baylac from Miami, along...

Accounting News.(reorganization of Microsoft Corp.)(InsynQ Inc.'s losses)(Blackbaud Inc. appoints John Mistretta )
November 1, 2005... MICROSOFT REORGANIZES Microsoft will collapse seven divisions into three, with Microsoft Business Solutions ending up under senior VP Jeff Raikes, where the unit started out two years ago. MBS president Doug Burgum, who was reporting...

Tax & Financial Planning.(Sage Software Inc. agreements with CCH Inc.)(Orrtax Software Inc. appoints Tom Yosick)(Intuit Inc. plans)
November 1, 2005... INTUIT TO LAUNCH SMALL BIZ TAX Intuit plans an aggressive product launch of tax software for small businesses, including a TurboTax Estimated Income Tax Filer product. The quarterly estimated application will calculate and file and...

Small Business Wars: This is a one or two sentence dek that brings the reader into the piece.
November 1, 2005... Despite what many in the industry say about accountants influencing their clients' purchasing decisions, when it comes to low-cost accounting software, it often works the other way, says Lisa McCarthy. "A lot of clients will run out and buy...

Microsoft's Small Biz Efforts.
November 1, 2005... Microsoft's introduction of Small Business Accounting 2006 is the company's fourth effort to penetrate the market for accounting applications below the mid-market. Here is a brief history of its efforts. Profit. Written for Microsoft by...

The Feeder System Helps VARs.(Intuit's QuickBooks and Sage Software's Peachtree)(Value added resellers)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Companies that outgrow Intuit's QuickBooks and Sage's Peachtree are major sources of business for mid-market software VARs. Both Intuit and Sage have talked about their control of this user base giving them the ability to cut off Microsoft's...

MYOB-"Other" Pushes On.(MYOB US Inc.'s accounting software)
November 1, 2005... There is not much room in a market in which the leader, QuickBooks, has 85 percent market share, and Peachtree has perhaps another 12 percent. MYOB represents much of the "Other" products that fit in the remaining sliver. "We have been...

The Sage Small Business Family.
November 1, 2005... Sage Software has a wide number of products for the low-cost accounting software market, including products sold both at retail and by resellers. The one notable difference between Microsoft, which has tried to write products for this...

The Price of These Days: Prices always go up, right? Not always. Competition has an impact after all...
November 1, 2005... This year, WithumSmith+Brown will spend approximately $300,000 on tax compliance and tax research software. That is comparable to what it spent in 2002, before the accounting firm had grown to more than 300 employees throughout eight...

Sage Changes MAS 500 Pricing.(Sage Software Inc.)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... While Sage says it has not significantly changed pricing for its MAS 500 software, its recent changes to price and functionality illustrate just how changes to module features can increase the cost to the end user. Nominally, Sage is...

Drake Prices Stay Put.(Drake Software)(Brief Article)
November 1, 2005... Drake Software, based in Franklin, N.C., has not raised prices over the last 10 years. During that same period, it has made major additions to its software, including payroll and write-up. This year, Drake has added a tax planner, a document...

Tax & Accounting Software Vendors.(Brief Article)(Directory)
November 1, 2005... ATX Caribou, Maine (800) 944-8883 www.atxinc.com CCH Tax & Accounting Torrance, Calif. (800) 739-9998 www.prosystemfx.com Creative Solutions Dexter, Mich. (800) 968-8900 www.creativesolutions.thomson.com ...

Online CPE: Although online CPE does not dominate the market; it continues to grow each year.(continuing professional education)
November 1, 2005... Michael Gaines sees online CPE courses as a strong supplement to live classes. "Online CPE lets our staff learn at their own pace, it is convenient, and often offers courses that would otherwise not be available," says Gaines, human...

Reaching the EA Market.(continuing professional education for certified public accountants)(WiseGuides employment assistance)
November 1, 2005... WiseGuides has seen 30 percent of its CPE business come from enrolled agents. That made the Stow, Ohio-based company pursue the market through search engine marketing, as well as marketing to the company's EA exam review students who have...

Topics of Interest.
November 1, 2005... When it comes to CPE, most people think of the required courses focusing on accounting, auditing, and tax. However, some vendors are steering courses in new directions. The Greenwood, Colo.-based College for Financial Planning recently...

CPE Vendors.(continuing professional education)(Brief Article)(Directory)
November 1, 2005... Bisk Education Tampa, Fla. (800) 874-7877 www.bisk.com CCH Tax and Accounting Riverwoods, Ill. (847) 267-7000 www.cch.com College of Financial Planning Greenwood Village, Colo. (800) 237-9990 www.cffp.edu...

The Price of Fixed Assets: Today's Software Offers a Range of Price Options.
November 1, 2005... The leading brands of fixed asset software have been continually enhanced to meet the needs of today's corporations. Whereas an accurate computation of the annual depreciation was enough to satisfy most in the DOS versions of these packages,...

The Manager Project: Accounting resellers are realizing the benefits of having project managers.
November 1, 2005... For Tectura, there is a direct relationship between happy clients and its project managers. "The client is investing money into a system and they want a return on investment. PMs increase the level on how this is going to happen. It adds...

The Project Management Vocabulary: Scope and Risk.
November 1, 2005... "True project management involves scope and risk. Most partners experience 'scope creep,' which is when tasks are added to the project once it has begun, and not enough partners develop scope documents," says Ed Kless, director of partner...

Creating PM Guidelines.(project management)(Information Technology Alliance)
November 1, 2005... The Information Technology Alliance saw a need. Project management is important to the members of the technology user and networking organization, but there is no set of project management best practices and estimating guidelines. The...

New Products.
November 1, 2005... TURNINGPOINT 4.0 TurningPoint Version 4.0 has expanded reporting capabilities and enhanced invoicing and order-entry benefits. Reporting has been improved in the accounts receivable, order entry, and inventory modules. New...

iCode Morphs into Everest.(Icode Inc.'s enterprise resource planning software)(Company Profile)
November 1, 2005... ICode's Channel Partner Program has been transformed. Not even the name remains, as the company has adopted the name of Everest, its primary product. Currently, iCode has approximately12 partners, a 60 percent decline from the 30 it had in...

Advertisers' Index November 2005.
November 1, 2005... Ad Appears Advertiser on page ADP 15 Avalara 39 CCH 21, Cov. 4 Creative Solutions Cov. 2 Fujitsu ...

Burgum Explains Key Decisions.(of Microsoft Corp.)(Interview)
November 1, 2005... Microsoft has made two major decisions involving Microsoft Business Solutions. It adopted the name Dynamics for its accounting and CRM products and collapsed seven businesses into three. Burgum, a Microsoft senior vice president and head of...

Editor's Note: It's Here for the Long Haul.
November 1, 2005... I heard a story recently about a major pizza chain that was faced with not having enough people to service their customers on a 24/7 basis. So, they outsourced pizza delivery jobs to India. Sounds crazy, eh? But, maybe not. When it...

The Outsourcing Evolution.
November 1, 2005... Originally viewed as a way to relieve domestic staffing shortages, outsourcing is evolving in ways previously unforeseen. Most significantly, it has spawned the development of sophisticated workflow technologies that enable tax returns to be...

A Key To Success.
November 1, 2005... If viewed on a balance sheet, the number of accounting professionals versus the demand for services from the nation's tax and accounting firms would result in a major deficit on the staffing side. Firms of all sizes would be in the red,...

Outsourcing Accounting Makes Sense.
November 1, 2005... Outsourcing your accounting function at some level makes sense, regardless of the size of your company or client company. For many, the decision to outsource is purely a financial one. Does it cost more money for me to hire the talent in-house...

Robust New Technologies.(XCM workflow engine of Xpitax LLC)(accounting firms workflow automation)(Column)
November 1, 2005... Have you ever sat back in the middle of the busy season surrounded by piles of files, feeling absolutely overwhelmed and thinking there has to be a better way to process and control all your work? Your tax department is challenged every...

Choosing A Payroll Partner.
November 1, 2005... Outsourcing the payroll function can appear as a simple task-at least on the surface. But anyone who's ever outsourced payroll knows that it's not simply a matter of finding a resource to do the math. Certainly, getting all the calculations...

Managing Outsourcing.
November 1, 2005... The Black Book of Outsourcing has ranked MphasiS as the fourth best managed outsourcing vendor for the year 2005. The rankings are based on customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction surveys, comparison with independent vendors, ratings of...

A Sun Rise Industry.
November 1, 2005... The term "outsourcing" has created lots of debates among economists, politicians, and sociologists. But this way of doing business goes back to the barter age. The magnitude of outsourcing has increased considerably resulting in a widening...

Outsourcing on the Web.
November 1, 2005... With all the buzz around Web-based software, more accounting firms are migrating from a client-server to an on-demand, or software-as-a-service, infrastructure. CPAs report that providing finance and accounting outsourcing services boosts sales...

HR Outsourcing Increases.
November 1, 2005... ADP reports that 84 percent of those surveyed believe that outsourcing of human resources activities will continue to increase. In fact, 41 percent of worldwide organizations surveyed plan to outsource employee benefits administration....

Developing A Successful Relationship.
November 1, 2005... Great ideas and entrepreneurial skills get a business started. Good financial management keeps the business going. All too often, businesses don't survive because they are not up to the challenge of effective financial analysis and...

Handling Payroll In-House.(through internet)
November 1, 2005... If you haven't jumped on the payroll bandwagon yet, think again. With the increasing popularity of on-demand solutions, payroll has never been easier. Here are 10 reasons to stop referring business away, and to start doing client payroll using...

Outsourcing Entity-Related Services.
November 1, 2005... Some of the services your clients request are more tedious and less convenient for you to handle than others. Incorporations, dissolutions, and other entity-related services typically fall into this category. As unappealing as these services...

Outsourcing Marketing.
November 1, 2005... While many companies are outsourcing to cut costs, many outsource and have discovered that a third party can perform this function more effectively, as well. When you factor in the true costs of marketing and lead generation for your practice...

Customized Solutions.
November 1, 2005... Godrej Global Solutions (GGS) offers customized business process outsourcing solutions and services for enhancing the effectiveness of business operations and thereby providing valuable leverage to business. Headquartered in Mumbai, India,...

3rd Annual Financial Planning Awards Call for Nominations.
November 1, 2005... Nominations are now open for CPA Wealth Provider's Third Annual Financial Planning Awards in the following categories: CPA/Financial Planning Firms Broker/Dealers Financial Planning Software Vendors Winners are those firms or...