Accounting Technology articles from September 2006

Accounting Technology archives from September 2006

The eBay Effect.
September 1, 2006... Garage sales are dying, says Charlie. He should know-he spends as much time at garage sales as some people do with their families and has a house whose disarray and furnishings show it. There's nothing of value at most garage sales anymore...

CPAs and Reselling.(Certified public accountants)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... CPAs by thousands were once selling mid-marketing accounting applications. There are many still involved, but probably nowhere near the numbers of the mid 1990s. Do CPA firms in any numbers have a future handling the increasingly complex...

Need Insights?
September 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.
September 1, 2006... What has been your experience or you clients with document management systems? Have they lived up to their promise? In addition to financial solutions, Polar focuses on Network infrastructure projects and Managed Network services. We have...

Show Calendar.(Brief article)(Calendar)
September 1, 2006... September 20-23 Ohio Accounting Show, Ohio CPA Society, Cleveland I-X Center Cleveland. www.ohioscpa.com September 21-22 Open Systems User Conference. Marriott City Center, Minneapolis. www.osas.com. September...

Accounting Technology October's Coming Attractions.
September 1, 2006... Tax Software Special What's coming in tax applications for the 2006 tax year? Accounting Technology examines the offerings of software vendors in its annual tax software special. The magazine covers the trends and reports on what...

Practice Development News.(Enterprise Resource Group and MIS Group merge)(Skoda, Minotti & Co. of Cleveland promotes Robert Brenis)(Dwayne Gunter rejoins ePartners)(Tectura has named Jeffrey Lynn)
September 1, 2006... ERG AND MIS MERGE The Enterprise Resource Group and MIS Group, two Texas value-added resellers, have merged to form the largest Sage Software reseller in the United States. The combined company, based in Dallas, has revenue of about...

Accounting News.(earnings of Microsoft Corp. Business Solutions Div.)(earnings of Exact Software North America)(George Riviere from Sage Software retires)
September 1, 2006... MBS TURNS PROFIT Posting only the second quarterly profit in its five-year history, Microsoft Business Solutions turned in earnings for the year ended June 30 as the fourth quarter showed a strong performance. Operating income of $24...

Tax & Financial Planning News.(Net income for Advent Software drops)(Net income for Morningstar rose)(Thomson Tax and Accounting is releasing workflow software)
September 1, 2006... CCH PARENT BUYS ATX/KLEINROCK CCH is going to make a run at the lower end of the tax preparation market following the acquisition ATX/ Kleinrock from the United Communications Group by its parent company, Wolters Kluwer. Terms were not...

Intuit Announces Exec Pay for 2007.
September 1, 2006... Executive, Title Base salary Bonus Stephen M. Bennett, president, CEO $1.1 million $3.17 million William V. Campbell, chairman, board of directors $500,000 $360,000 ...

CPAs and the Reselling Game: Can traditional accountants find happiness peddling software?
September 1, 2006... It was only in the last year that his reselling operation was part of the CPA firm Virchow Krause that Steve Krueger was able to get an incentive program. "It was the first year that we made our goal for chargeable hours," says Krueger,...

Plante Moran: Boxed In.(Gleeson Sklar)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Plante Moran got into the reselling business two years ago with the acquisition of another firm, Gleeson Sklar, that brought with it a Great Plains reselling practice. In June, the Michigan-based firm got out of the business by selling the...

CPA Resellers: Limited Room at the Top?(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... CPAs were once the rage in reselling. State of the Art, which was acquired by Sage in 1998, built its MAS 90 business by authorizing thousands of them. By no means having accounting firms ceased to be a factor. Four of the ten largest...

Living with =SUM: Many applications are getting friendlier with the popular Excel spreadsheet.
September 1, 2006... The old adage, "If you can't beat them, join them," apparently also holds true for Microsoft Excel, as software developers of all varieties are implementing features that make their products look more like the universally used spreadsheet...

Google Puts on a Grid.(Google Spreadsheets)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Even the search engine Google is looking to leverage the widespread knowledge of Excel. Google announced in June that it has launched a test of Google Spreadsheets on Google Labs, its "technology playground" where it showcases ideas "that...

The Problem of Chasing Spreadsheets.
September 1, 2006... Ian Miller of Healthways is all too familiar with the challenges of running a growing business on Excel. "You can be small, but if you are tracking a number of pieces and want a decentralized process, Excel can be a problem," says Miller,...

Software Vendors.(Directory)
September 1, 2006... Adaptive Planning Mountain View, Calif. (650) 810-0557 www.adaptiveplanning.com ATX/Kleinrock Rockville, Md. (877) 728-9776 www.atxin.com BusinessObjects San Jose, Calif. (866) 681-3435...

Breaking the Spreadsheet Habit?: Budget software packages offer features beyond the ubiquitous Excel.
September 1, 2006... Most small businesses do little or no formal planning or budgeting, and of the larger companies that do, some 70 to 80 percent are still using a spreadsheet program. And that's a problem for companies of every size. As powerful as today's...

QuickBooks and Write-Up: Shifting Roles: Practitioners look to write-up work as a foundation for other revenue streams.
September 1, 2006... When it comes to the write-up software wars, accountants and software vendors have to confront the challenge of Intuit's QuickBooks. "A lot of clients ask about QuickBooks-at least 80 percent," says Sean Manning of Manning & Co., based in...

Write-Up Vendors.(Directory)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... AccountantsWorld Hauppauge, N.Y. (888) 999-1366 www.accountantsworld.com CCH Torrance, Calif. (800) 739-9998 http://tax.cchgroup.com Creative Solutions Dexter, Mich. (800) 968-8900...

The Course of Least Resistance.(Integrated accounting software)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... One of the things that pushed QuickBooks into a major share of the write-up market was that so many small businesses used it for their own accounting, says Bruce Andersen. "What happens now is that you don't have much write-up work where...

Safe Driving? Is Your Lap Strapped In?: Wireless connections, wayward hard drives, and laptops put CPAs on the front line of data protection.
September 1, 2006... If you think this article doesn't pertain to you, your firm, or your clients-either because your business is too small, too big, or because it's the perfect size for guarding against IT security threats-think again. Security woes even hit...

Shutting the Data Door.(managing data in the office)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Given the problems that have occurred this year involving lost or stolen hard drives and notebooks, an increasing number of organizations are keeping their data in the office. "One of the things we are seeing as a result of high-profile...

Dealing with Low-Tech Threats.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... When a drive containing information on 330,000 members of the American Institute of CPAs went astray, it wasn't a high-tech problem. An employee sent the drive out for repair through FedEx and it was lost. In fact, many of the most highly...

The Computer Body Count.(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Where are the threats to data coming from? Where is data lost and what does it cost companies? The following information has been compiled from reports by Credant Technologies, Ponemon Institute, and PricewaterhouseCoopers Mobile...

New Products.(Sage Abra eRecruiter)(ValuSource Pro 4.0)(Timeslips 2007)
September 1, 2006... SAGE ABRA eRECRUITER With Abra eRecruiter, job applicants can view midsized businesses' open positions, submit resumes, answer screening questions, and complete applications online. An employee-only view of the career center supports...

Intuit Formalizes a Do-It-Yourself Program.(Company overview)
September 1, 2006... A lot of companies have reselling programs and try to attract resellers. Intuit ended up with resellers for its QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions application and had to create a program for them. In fact, Intuit really didn't expect to end up...

Advertisers' Index 9/2006.
September 1, 2006... Ad Appears Advertiser on page ADP Small Business Service 5 BQE Software 27 CCH C4 Creative Solutions C2...

Marilyn Lunnemann - Always Learning.(Humes and Barrington)(Company overview)
September 1, 2006... It's not enough that Marilyn Lunnemann has a bachelor's degree in mathematics, and minors in accounting, French, and music, a strong background in computer technology, and CPA and Certified Information Technology Professional Certificates. ...

Editor's Note: Paperless is Here to Stay.(Editorial)
September 1, 2006... Mark Twain seems to get attribution for the statement, "We all grumble about the weather, but nothing is done about it." The same thing used to apply to the perspective of a paperless office. Except that today something is really being done...

A Partial Solution to a Daunting Problem.
September 1, 2006... The "paperless office" has become the newest buzz word for the accounting profession, and everyone is talking about it. While there is so much focus, and indeed hype, about paperless office solutions, many in the accounting profession have lost...

Top 7 Mistakes to Avoid When Going Paperless.
September 1, 2006... Creative Solutions has assisted thousands of firms in their transition to the paperless (or less paper) office. We have also enjoyed hearing from our customers about the immense value of going paperless, including elevated staff productivity,...

Tales of a Successful Conversion.
September 1, 2006... When Bond Beebe began to evaluate converting to a paperless environment, our first step was to form a committee to define our criteria. Based on that, the committee was then asked to select the best program to organize the engagements, handle...

Paperless Tax Workflow.
September 1, 2006... Paperless engagement applications are redefining how accounting firms operate. They are enabling professionals to complete more work in less time and with more convenience than ever before. Just six years ago this product category did not...

Document Management for the Small Firm.
September 1, 2006... Everyone is going paperless! The cost savings for such an undertaking are well documented, and every vendor now has their own version of document management. The choices are everywhere, from payroll to general ledger to tax systems. This...

Giving 90 Hours Back Per Month.(using bluetooth and diskettes to transfer data)
September 1, 2006... Today more than ever, auditors are busy. Yet, because audit teams are often disconnected from their corporate networks, precious time is wasted battling data sharing, security, document duplication, and collaboration challenges. So, when...

Practical, Possible, and Profitable.
September 1, 2006... It's Ron's fault that we are paperless. Seven years ago, I was sitting in my office and noticed Ron walking down the hall with a load of file folders. A few minutes later, I saw Ron carrying more folders to the file room and heard him stop to...

Making Going Paperless Sweet.
September 1, 2006... After surviving another busy tax season, weary accountants emerged from their offices to discover a tool that would have made their last few months run more efficiently with much less paper. Doc.It(r) is a complete digital document management...

Real Life Story.(Sweek Connolly & Co.)(Brief article)
September 1, 2006... Here is a story of a firm and its paperless journey told by the firm's managing partner, Corinne Myre, and IT manager, Ed Althof. Sweek Connolly & Co. is a 20 person full-service CPA firm based in Costa Mesa, CA., which implemented AMI's...

One Step Closer to the Paperless Office.
September 1, 2006... "Paperless" may be the term du jour, but it's a bit of a misnomer for CPA firms and clients alike. There are many valuable tools available that diminish the need for hard-copy documents, but truly paperless accounting, tax preparation and...

Reaping the Benefits of Paperless.
September 1, 2006... For most companies, the paperless office is not here, yet. There are still many reasons for paper (e.g., regulatory, legal, and even human nature). But every year, as businesses adapt online transactions, electronic submissions, and...

Improving Engagement Productivity.
September 1, 2006... Practitioners now have access to the tools they need to easily automate and perform their engagement work with increased productivity. Today's integrated tools offer many advantages over paper systems that required physical sharing of paper...

Paperless Is Only the Beginning.
September 1, 2006... As a longtime innovator in document management, Interwoven has helped more than 1,600 firms realize the paperless vision though a comprehensive solution based on WorkSite 8. Beyond addressing immediate priorities, these firms benefit from the...

Moving to Forefront Of Corporate Tax Departments.
September 1, 2006... Historically, corporate tax departments have been treated as a "back-office" department, typically not receiving the recognition or attention needed in terms of budget, resources or staff. However, financial scandals in the top echelons of the...

Cusp of a Stark Change.
September 1, 2006... Paperless means more than simply the conveniences of place and time. It's also about efficiency and accuracy. Payroll information can be entered online and stored on a hard drive or a server, allowing files that once piled on desks and clogged...

Increasing Efficiency-and Profits, Too.
September 1, 2006... The answer for accounting firms looking to truly maximize the productivity and revenue-enhancing benefits of a document management system lies in finding an affordable, best-of-breed system with comprehensive document management capabilities...

Optimize Your Paperless Efforts.
September 1, 2006... Many practitioners look at the cost of document management software and decide they can use a file system tree and have everyone name documents in the same way. This invariably leads to problems as the filing process is at the heart of any...

Lose The Paper Clutter, Not The Client.(Easy Data Access)
September 1, 2006... Today, software companies, such as Easy Data Access, have developed sophisticated pre-packaged document management software that can easily be integrated through one click installation and adapted into any enterprise without the high cost of...

Going Paperless in the HR/Payroll Department.
September 1, 2006... According to Wikipedia, the prediction of the paperless office was first made in a June 1975 Business Week article. Since that time, numerous applications have been developed to help companies move toward the realization of a paperless office....

When Less is More.(financial computer applications)
September 1, 2006... Accounting professionals are not taking full advantage of the Internet. Many have yet to fully embrace online professional services to boost productivity, simplify client work and increase the bottom line. Great online technology converts...

Advantages of Document Management.
September 1, 2006... Potts, Hannah & Fischer, P.C. (www.tepotts.com), a prominent Indianapolis-based accounting, taxation, and consulting services firm, amassed considerable client paperwork volume, stored in a multitude of file folder storage cabinets. Firm...