From the April/May 2009 Issue
The tax and accounting profession continues its march into the 21st century, and has become one of the most technology-dependent fields. New tax and accounting practices face significant startup costs, including hardware in the form of workstation computers, laptops, servers and voice communications systems; software for tax compliance, write-up, trial balance, document management, practice management and general productivity; and technology services, ranging from an Internet service provider, to hosted programs, outsourced processing, online backup and other services. Existing practices must also budget considerable finances toward annual software renewals, hardware upgrades and staff training.
There are literally thousands of technology vendors vying for the dollars of American businesses, and hundreds that offer specialty hardware, software and services designed for the tax and accounting practice. Keeping up-to-date on which vendors and services are out there, who they are, and their latest offerings is certainly challenging, but it is an increasingly critical element of success in the field, since these technologies can directly impact the quality, speed and efficiency of the services a practice offers to its clients.
These vendors and service providers are, in short, productivity partners for tax and accounting firms. This “Who’s Who” section provides technology vendors and professional services organizations the opportunity to introduce themselves to you and point out some of their offerings and how they can help improve your practice.
--------------------------------------------------
- ADP Small Business Services
- Automatic Data Processing,
Inc. (ADP), with nearly $8 billion in revenues and over 600,000 clients,
is one of the world's largest providers of business outsourcing solutions.
Leveraging more than 55 years of experience, ADP offers the widest range
of HR, payroll, tax and benefits administration solutions from a single
source.
- Read Full Review
- Advanced Micro Solutions, Inc.
- Originally founded as Edmond Software, Advanced Micro Solutions has been working in the tax software business since 1985, and officially changed its name in 1989. AMS started as a small two-man software shop and has since grown into a nationally respected software company.
- Read Full Review
- AICPA
- The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
(AICPA) is the national, professional association of Certified Public
Accountants (CPAs), with approximately 350,000 members, including CPAs
in business and industry, public practice, government, and education.
It sets ethical standards for the profession and U.S. private auditing
standards and also develops and grades the Uniform CPA Examination.
- Read Full Review
- Bill.com
- Bill.com is an award-winning,
web-based service enabling accounting professionals to establish a paperless,
collaborative, and profitable bill management and payment service for
your clients. Brought to the accounting profession exclusively through
CPA2Biz, a subsidiary of the AICPA, Bill.com offers several unique accountant
benefits, including discounted pricing, centralized client billing, custom
client-facing branding, and an accountant console providing a consolidated
view into all of your client’s cash management and bill payment
activities.
- Read Full Review
- CCH Small Firm Services
- CCH Small Firm Services (SFS) provides market-leading
tax and accounting research, software and workflow tools to 45,000 small
professional firms and tax assistance sites in 72,000 locations throughout
the United States and Puerto Rico. The company's ATX and TaxWise programs
are developed and tested by CPAs, enrolled agents, accountants and attorneys
with hundreds of years of shared experience
- Read Full Review
- CCH, Wolters Kluwer business
- CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business, is the professional’s
first choice for integrated tax, accounting and audit solutions. CCH is
extending its leadership position in research and compliance by continually
delivering comprehensive, integrated research and software solutions that
provide a strategic business advantage to CPAs, corporate tax and accounting
departments, and tax attorneys.
- Read Full Review
- Commercial Logic, Inc.
- Commercial Logic is a practice
management consulting firm offering best of breed software solutions to
North American CPA firms. Commercial Logic has worked with Top 100 firms
for more than 20 years, and remains exclusively focused on the issues
of practice management.
- Read Full Review
- Drake Software
- Headquartered in scenic Franklin,
North Carolina, Drake Software is one of the last privately held tax software
companies still in the industry. The company has its roots back as far
as the 1950s, when the Drake family began operating a tax practice. It
was during the 1970s that Phil Drake, today the company’s CEO, wrote
the first “Drake Tax Solution.”
- Read Full Review
- GMS
- Since 1980, GMS has designed
specialized software with a demonstrated record of success for hundreds
of not-for-profit and public organizations. Our clients will tell you,
GMS has a clear understanding of their distinct accounting and financial
reporting needs. Perhaps you know of a client that is in need of our services.
- Read Full Review
- Office Tools Professional
- Serving the accounting profession for over 10 years,
Office Tools Pro has received recognition as being a specific solution
for the small office. Listed in Accounting Today’s “Top 100 Products”
and consistently receiving 4 to 5 stars by The CPA Technology Advisor
in three categories (Practice Management, Document Management and Time
& Billing) are just a few of the acknowledgements.
- Read Full Review
- OmniVue
- OmniVue Business Solutions
delivers the innovative Microsoft Dynamics solutions that enable small
and mid-sized companies to efficiently run their business and make informed
business decisions. OmniVue provides purchasing options for both hosted
or on-premises installations. This gives companies the flexibility they
need to lower the cost and risk associated with traditional capital software
so that they can quickly automate and streamline the financial, customer
relationship and supply chain processes that will drive their business
success, both today and tomorrow.
- Read Full Review
- RootWorks, LLC
- RootWorks professionals understand
the obstacles that firms face. Ever-changing mandates, new technologies,
and increasing client demands can create a complex work environment. The
good news is that not all change is bad, and approached with a Next Generation
(NG) mindset firms can apply change to accelerate efficiency and increase
revenue.
- Read Full Review
- ShareFile
- ShareFile provides a custom-branded
portal for sharing business files easily, securely and professionally.
With over half of a million users from thousands of companies, ShareFile
is the only winner of CNET’s prestigious Webware 100 Award that
makes a product specifically for tax and accounting professionals.
- Read Full Review
- SmartVault
- SmartVault is a leading provider
of easy-to-use and affordable document management solutions that enable
QuickBooks users to go paperless in minutes. SmartVault offers many of
the features of a conventional document management system, but in a package
with a substantially reduced learning curve, virtually no startup costs
and tight integration with QuickBooks.
- Read Full Review
- SurePrep, LLC
- SurePrep was the first to develop web-based workflow optimizing systems specifically for the tax profession, and its services continue to help firms increase their efficiency, productivity and profits. Founded by a CPA, SurePrep’s automated digital workpaper solutions, forms recognition, automatic return population functions and outsourcing options are used by nearly half of the top 100 accounting firms in the country.
- Read Full Review
- TaxSlayerPro
- Founded over 40 years ago as a tax preparation
business, TaxSlayer Pro has grown into a nationwide tax software company
with more than 100 employees. Seasoned tax professionals, who are actively
involved in tax preparation, test and design the program, ensuring that
the software is complete and error free.
- Read Full Review
- Thomson Reuters
- The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters
is a leading provider of technology and integrated information solutions
to accounting, tax and corporate finance professionals. With the leading
and most trusted brands joining forces under one company, Tax & Accounting
is dedicated to partnering with tax and accounting professionals to make
them as profitable, productive and efficient as possible
- Read Full Review
- XCM Solutions
- Founded by CPAs, XCM Solutions, LLC is a leader
in delivering workflow management solutions that empower accounting professionals
at firms of all sizes and specialties, and within corporate finance departments,
to improve efficiency, productivity and profitability by giving professionals
better control over the processes for completing their work.
- Read Full Review
![[Get Copyright Permissions]](http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.gif){kind=small}
Click here for copyright permissions!
Copyright 2010 Cygnus Business Media
