CPA Technology Blog

CPA Practice Advisor Presents 2013 Innovation Awards

CPA Practice Advisor presented their annual innovation awards last night in Los Angeles.  The 2013 winners are:

• CCH Axcess
• Doc.It Suite
• NetClient CS mobile app from Thomson Reuters
• Intuit’s QuickBooks Online for iPad
• SmartVault for QuickBooks Online.

Five finalists for the Innovation Awards were also recognized:

• ADP Smart Compliance
• AICPA Navigator from CPA2Biz
• BNA Income Tax Planner Web system
• CertCapture from Avalara
• Confirmation.com from Capital Confirmation.

More is available in Isaac O’Bannon’s story here.

(I am the technology editor for The CPA Practice Advisor).

Release: Sage Survey Shows Small Businesses in North America Consistently Struggle With the Complexity of Tax Regulations and Code; Many Turn to Outside Accountants for Help

Our friends at the Sage Accountants Network published a survey today on how small businesses use accounting services.  Click on the graphic below to see a full size version of the infographic included with the release.

The text of the release follows:

The Sage Accountants Usage Study, which looked at how small businesses use accountant services, found that the majority of small businesses that utilize the services of an outside accountant (74% in U.S. and 68% in Canada) do so, in part, because of the complexity of regulations and tax code. This survey was conducted among 373 small businesses in the U.S. and 300 in Canada.

This is not the first time a Sage survey has shown these as key issues for small businesses. The Sage Small Business Sentiment Survey from February 2012 showed that 49 percent of small businesses felt high taxes were one of their top three issues that would hinder growth, while 43 percent of small businesses surveyed said too many regulations would hinder growth.

Watch the video for more information on these and other survey findings.

A similar survey in November 2012 found that 67 percent of small businesses were most concerned about taxes, and 48 percent were most concerned about regulations. In that same month, the Sage Canadian Small Business Financial Literacy Survey found that 34 percent of small business owners felt that dealing with taxes was a management weakness.

Ever-changing tax codes and increased complexity of regulations show no signs of letting up with many of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act going into effect in 2014 in the U.S. To manage this and other regulatory changes, partnering with an outside accountant to help stay compliant should be a priority for small businesses in 2013 and beyond.

Many small businesses recognize the value of an outside accountant, especially when it comes to preparing corporate taxes and being compliant: Seventy-four percent of U.S. and 80 percent of Canadian small businesses receive corporate tax services from their outside accountant, and 52 percent of U.S. and 53 percent of Canadian use their outside accountant for business tax compliance. Sixty-two percent of U.S. small businesses actively utilize the services of an outside accountant (up from 60% last year), and 82 percent of Canadian small business owners utilize an outside accountant (up from 61% last year).

Jennifer Warawa, Sage VP of partner programs and channel sales, shares these and other findings from the survey and the importance of using an outside accountant as a business consultant in this video.

More Information
For more findings from this study:

• View Sage Accountants Usage Survey

©2013 Sage Software, Inc. All rights reserved. Sage, the Sage logos, and the Sage product and service names mentioned herein are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sage Software, Inc. or its affiliated entities. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About Sage
Sage is a leading global supplier of business management software and services for small and midsized businesses. The Sage Group plc, formed in 1981, was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 1989 and now employs more than 13,500 people and supports more than 6 million customers worldwide. For more information about Sage in North America, please visit the company website at NA.Sage.com. Follow Sage North America on Facebook, Facebook.com/SageNorthAmerica, and Twitter, Twitter.com/SageNAmerica.

Press Contact
Amanda DeFuria
Sage North America
604-207-3563
Amanda DeFuria@Sage.com

Accounting Software Listing Updated to v 2.03

As I mentioned two months ago, I have maintained a listing of web-based accounting software for over a year. This listing gives the names, market segments, and websites for over 50 products which are used for accounting or related functions for small and mid-sized businesses.

If you are interested in this listing, please complete this survey, and I will sent the listing to you as a PDF within 24 hours.

If you are a small business accounting software application who would like to be included on this listing, please e-mail me (brian at bftcpa dot com) or send me a message on Twitter (@BFTCPA)

I encourage you to also read the detailed reviews of accounting software that have been written by my peers or myself over the last few years:

· The CPA Practice Advisor’s 2013 Review of Small Business Accounting Software (me): http://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/article/10875834/2013-review-of-saas-and-installed-small-business-accounting-systems

· The CPA Practice Advisor’s 2012 Review of SaaS Accounting Software (me): http://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/article/10684712/saas-takes-center-stage-for-small-business-accounting

· 2011 SaaS Accounting Reviews (Isaac O’Bannon, @imobannon): http://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/article/10262718/does-saas-make-sense-for-your-small-business-clients

· 2010 SaaS Accounting Reviews (by Isaac O’Bannon, @imobannon): http://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/article/10263146/2010-small-business-accounting-review-of-saas-products

I also recommend that you visit a couple of other sites if you are in the market for accounting software:

· The Accounting Library (www.accountinglibrary.com)

· Accounting Software World (www.accountingsoftwareworld.com)

Post Tax Season Announcements from Thomson Reuters, Sage, and Doc.It

There were a number of major announcements made today, the first workday after the April 15th tax deadline.  These include:

• Thomson Reuters announced that they were purchasing certain assets from RedGear.  According to a Thomson Reuters news release, RedGear is discontinuing the TaxWorks product, and are selling some of those assets to Thomson Reuters.  “After careful consideration, we’ve decided to focus more strongly on our consumer tax preparation software for our retail and franchise business and therefore will no longer offer the TaxWorks line of software,” said Brad Peacock, Assistant Vice President, RedGear Technologies.  The full press release is located here.
• Sage announced the release of Sage 50 2014 (US Version), the latest version of the business management software formerly known as Peachtree Accounting.  Key enhancements include:
  • More options for the Sage 50 Intelligence Excel-based reporting tool, including the ability to create drag and drop reports from templates.
  • Changes to how payments are applied to reduce the number of steps required to enter and account for such payments.  Some enhancements were also made to how payables are handled to eliminate steps in the process.
  • New Quote status column so you can track the status of open quotes.
  • Changes to how the product is released, which should result in more substantive product enhancements throughout the year instead of all new features released at once in the summer.

Sage is has also streamlined the Sage 50 US lineup, and Sage 50 First Accounting has been discontinued.  The entry point into the Sage 50 lineup is Sage 50 Pro Accounting at $269 MSRP.  (Please note that many other countries have products called Sage 50,including Canada, which are different products.  The Canadian version of Sage 50, for example, was previously called Simply Accounting).

• Doc.It, a document management application based in metropolitan Toronto, announced a strategic relationship with Network Management Group, Inc., a national IT service provider with expertise in supporting accounting firms and financial institutions.  Details and the full press release are here.  This follows a busy spring for the Company, including the addition of Mike Sabbatis (former CCH US executive) to the Company’s board, which was announced last week.

Release: Mike Sabbatis Joins Doc.It’s Board of Directors

April 09, 2013 – Las Vegas, NV and Markham, ON – Doc.It, an industry-leading provider of a powerful and scalable full suite of document management products for accounting professionals, today announced Mike Sabbatis was elected to Doc.It’s board of directors. 

“I am excited that Mike has joined our Board. His deep knowledge of the accounting industry and his solid background as a senior executive will be of great help to Doc.It. Mike will provide high level governance and strategic input as we continue to execute our strategic plan,” said Brock Philp, President and CEO of Doc.It.

“Today the accounting profession is looking for better tools around managing the documents and integrating with all the solutions that help them deliver services to their clients, Doc.It has both the product maturity and agnostic approach to integration that makes their suite of solutions appealing to firms of all sizes.” said Sabbatis. “With strong financial backing and experienced executive leadership I am excited to be voted to the board and working on our strategy and governance in meeting the demands of firms as we expand in North America.”

Prior to being elected to Doc.It’s board of directors, Mike Sabbatis served as President and CEO at CCH Tax and Accounting North America – Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting, where he led the U.S. business in serving as a strategic partner to professionals, delivering leading integrated online workflow solutions. Mike’s 27 years in the software, technology and information industries, having successfully led businesses domestically and globally including activities in sales, marketing, business development and consulting, perfectly complements Doc.It’s needs as a growing company with a powerful and scalable full suite of document management products that supports the ecosystem of every accounting firm.
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About Doc.It®

Doc.It has established a long-standing presence in the market providing a full suite of document management products that meets the needs of firms with 2-300 users due to their leadership philosophy of customer-guided software development.  Doc.It has strong financial backing and experienced leadership, which ensures long-term staying power and support for expansion throughout North America. Doc.It’s leadership team, with support and guidance from their executive board, believe in strategic growth and maintaining the perpetual culture of customer care.

Doc.It’s 5-star award-winning Doc.It Suite, a powerful scalable full suite of document management products for accounting firms, maximizes firm efficiency and effectiveness as accounting professionals gather, process, store, and deliver documents. Doc.It Suite enables accounting professionals and firms to manage documents from multiple sources and applications easily, in one comprehensive and intuitive software application delivering the most efficient and effective method to serve clients.

For a demo, pricing, or more information, please contact Doc.It:

Call: 888-693-6248 (Ext 1)

Email: info@doc-it.com

Website: www.doc-it.com

Release: Former CCH North America President and CEO Mike Sabbattis Joins XCM Board of Directors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Workflow at Tipping Point; XCM Solutions Prepares to Meet Demand

Mike Sabbatis Joins XCM Solutions’ Board to Aid in Execution of Aggressive Growth Strategy

Braintree, Mass. – March 25, 2013 – XCM Solutions, LLC, the leading provider of cloud-based workflow management software for the accounting profession, today announced the appointment of Mike Sabbatis to the XCM Solutions Board of Directors. Recognized best for his leadership in delivering innovative solutions to the accounting industry, Sabbatis will help the Company in the execution of an aggressive growth strategy, as it prepares to meet the growing demand for workflow management software among accounting professionals.

The market for workflow management software is reaching critical mass as firms of all sizes look to technology to streamline and standardize more efficient digital processes. XCM Solutions is planning to significantly expand its presence across all market segments, building on the success it has achieved in serving 30 percent of the Top 200 firms in the nation, in addition to more than 400 small to mid-size firms that currently use XCM.

According to CPA Trendlines Research, a full two-thirds of tax and accounting firms report that workflow innovation is a high priority item for the coming year. "As a profession, we've gone past paperless - you're either paperless or obsolete - and so the next move is streamlining your workflow. CPAs are looking for vendors that can solve their workflow problems and give them a competitive advantage," said Rick Telberg, CEO of CPA Trendlines Research and CPATrendlines.com.

“It’s an exciting time in the life cycle of a software company as we are seeing a broad market adoption of workflow software,” said Sabbatis. “XCM Solutions had the vision in this area and is at a level of maturity where their applications are proven to meet the needs of firms large and small. They have deep subject matter expertise and a passion that positions them well to capitalize on the market opportunity.”

Former President & CEO, CCH Tax and Accounting, North America at Wolters Kluwer, Sabbatis is widely recognized in the accounting space as an innovator in delivering new solutions and business models for Cloud Computing and SaaS, mobile technology, and for pioneering the “paperless” revolution. His broad industry expertise reaches deep into accounting and finance workflows extending to solutions that support the end-to-end processes for professional firms.

Sabbatis was responsible for leading a customer-centric set of business units in CCH’s professional and corporate software, information and services markets. Prior roles included Executive Vice President of Global Sales & Marketing, and Vice President of Business Development. He also served as CMO at Advantage MOTI, a joint venture with Datamatics, Ltd focused on BPO, and Vice President, Business Development and Strategic Accounts at Thomson Corporation.

“Over the years, our experience in working with Mike as a customer, business partner, and a competitor has been one of mutual respect and collaboration – through our common goal of providing the best solutions for practitioners,” said Mark Albrecht, Founder and CEO, XCM Solutions. “His leadership, deep industry knowledge, and broad expertise will no doubt serve as assets in guiding us through this exciting phase in the life of our company. However, to me, it’s really his vision and passion that make him such a good match for our culture.”

Sabbatis’ appointment to XCM’s Board is the latest in a series of recent high profile appointments the company has made in key areas to prepare for growth. Late last year, XCM Solutions announced Kim Hogan’s appointment as the Director of West Coast Operations and, earlier this year, Joe Manzelli Jr. joined the company as a leader in its Outsourced Workflow Division. The Company also announced record sales results for the 2012 fiscal year - reporting significant growth across all product categories, including growth in net new business by 89 percent over the previous fiscal year and overall growth of 39 percent over the same period.

About XCM Solutions, LLC

Founded by CPAs, XCM Solutions, LLC provides accounting firms with web-based workflow management solutions that increase efficiency, productivity and profitability. The company’s management team has drawn on its extensive experience in public accounting and clear understanding of the paper-driven workflow issues facing the profession to develop technology that addresses those challenges.

XCM’s customer-guided development process has helped the company continuously raise the bar for business process automation solutions for the accounting profession. The award-winning XCM™ workflow management software has become a key piece of the technology equation for firms re-engineering paper-based processes as they move toward a paperless environment.

In 2010, CPA2Biz, a subsidiary of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), and XCM Solutions formed a strategic alliance to bring the XCM workflow management software into CPA2Biz's Trusted Business Advisor(SM) Solutions cloud computing platform. For more information, visit www.xcmsolutions.com.

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Contact:

Erika Schonberg

Marketing Director

XCM Solutions, LLC

erikas@xcmsolutions.com

781-348-9894

August 30, 2004

It’s Time for Two Factor Authentication, SaaS Vendors. NOW, not later.

You’ve heard about the security issues at a number of organizations in the last few weeks.  Thankfully, there haven’t been any breaches at software companies who serve professional accountants (except maybe for Evernote – although I don’t know that I would put HIPAA or taxpayer data in that service).  One of the important things that is coming out of this is that major software vendors like Evernote and Google are planning to implement a security approach called “Two Factor Authentication”.  While I won’t go into much detail on how it works (although there’s a good Wikipedia article here), the basics are as follows:

Security tokens, like the RSA SecurID above, have a formula which generates a new six digit code every minute that is used as a one time password.

There are three basic ways to validate someone’s identity

• Something they know (username, password, PIN, etc.)
• Something they have (cell phone, RSA token, USB key, etc.)
• Something they are (biometric identification like fingerprinting, face identification, or iris scans).

Historically, we’ve used only one factor of authentication – a username and password – to access most online systems.  While this is adequate for some information types, the sophistication of phishing attacks and other techniques used by the “bad guys” requires a more sophisticated approach to security.  Two factor authentication normally requires users to validate their credentials to two servers – one which controls the username and password, and a second which validates that they have a particular device or item through a one time password.

I’ve used a number of two factor authentication devices in my career, including:

• Tokens, like the one shown above or those used by Scorpion Software’s AuthAnvil for Windows Server.
• SMS validation from online services, where a code is sent to my cell phone (another solution is Microsoft’s PhoneFactor)
• A USB device called a Yubikey from a company called Yubico which has been on a security podcast I listen to weekly which inputs a one time password into a computer.
• SmartCards, along with the readers built into my HP Enterprise laptops.
• Fingerprint scanners on laptops

All of the devices worked well, and I still use some of them to authenticate to many services.

One important point is that the use of factors other than passwords (something you know) is not a panacea.  Use of any of the items listed above in lieu of a password doesn’t accomplish anything.  The real benefit comes from using these tools in ADDITION to a username and a password.  Even if a person with bad intent knew your username and password, they would be screened out by the second factor, whether it is biometrics (fingerprint, iris, or face) or a device you have (token, cell phone, smart card, USB key).  Just like high security installations have more than one layer of security, you want the same layers of security verifying that you are really you online.

The ugly reality of the accounting profession is that a significant breach would undermine the confidence that others have in the profession, and could send us back to the ‘90s with some technologies used in business today.  It’s hard enough to be a small business in our economy without having to deal with concerns about security of data. 

It’s time for two factor authentication with online services, people.  Ask your vendors about their support for it, and look for opportunities to protect your data with these types of authentication regimes.  It’s time for this technology – we can’t wait for some practitioner to lose their house over an online information breach to deal with this significant issue.

SmartVault is Now Available for QuickBooks Online Users

I was notified by SmartVault that their product is now available for QuickBooks Online.  Details from the Company’s announcement are as follows:

Pricing plans start at $9/month – Free Trial Through June 1, 2013 – Only on the Intuit AppCenter!

Learn more and start a free trial!

SmartVault is the only add-on for QuickBooks Online users that delivers seamless, integrated document management right inside QuickBooks Online! Attach and view documents directly to more than 20 different entries in QuickBooks Online including bills, invoices and customer records – so you are always audit-ready, and your files are stored in one central location. Your documents can be accessed directly from QuickBooks Online or from any web browser or mobile device.

Extended Free Trial now available from the Intuit AppCenter. Come check out the new kid!

http://appcenter.intuit.com/smartvault

Press Release: Ziptr v2.2 improves user experience and eases adoption, no download required

Offers automated, all-in-one solution for secure communication and confidential file sharing, storage and synchronization.

Burlington, Mass. - February 20, 2013 - Today Ziptr announces Ziptr v2.2, making it easier than ever for businesses, independent professionals and individuals to safeguard their privacy, safely communicate online and securely share, store and synchronize confidential files.

Ziptr prioritizes product enhancements and new feature requests based on feedback from existing customers and users. Consistently, business professionals are looking to make secure file exchange easier on their clients.

"We've been thrilled at our clients' feedback; no more complaints or access roadblocks,”comments Thomas R. Pratt, CPA, J.D., Principal with Burkhart Pizzanelli, Certified Public Accountants. “Ziptr automates the security for our employees and gives our clients a solution that adds value to their personal and professional lives. It is a real win-win."

Instead of having a business give clients a unique URL, username and password for the purpose of getting files from that single business, Ziptr users can securely communicate and exchange files with anyone they choose. Ziptr also provides a way for people to safely receive and store their confidential files for future access or to share with others. Content doesn’t disappear after an arbitrary time period or after a password reset.

While much of Ziptr’s user base is made up of professionals in the privacy-conscious accounting industry, Ziptr Founder and CEO Firdaus Bhathena points out, “Everyone has a need to store and share confidential files. When you do your taxes, refinance your home or discuss medical needs of a family member, you deserve a way to do so safely and privately.”

Ziptr offers products for personal use (no-cost) and professionals. For pricing and details, visit:www.ziptr.com/pricing.

To learn more and for a live demonstration, Ziptr is hosting a webcast, “What’s new in Ziptr v2.2” on March 6th at 12noon Eastern. Register here.

New Ziptr v2.2 features include:

• One-Step Send: Users can send a secure message to any email address; Ziptr automates the invite process, only delivering the secure communication after the recipient has accepted.
• Single Page Sign Up: First time message recipients create their account on a single web page and can then choose to login on the web or download the Windows or Mac desktop application.
• Web Access: Optimized for mobile access to use on smartphones (Apple iPhone, Samsung Galaxy, Nokia Lumia, etc) and tablets (Apple iPad, Microsoft Surface, Amazon Kindle, etc) Ziptr Web allows users to safely communicate and share files, without downloading any software. Now web users can:
  • View and send files stored securely in File Vault
  • Browse and grow trusted contact list
  • Add participants to an existing secure conversation
  • Edit notification preferences and security questions
• Ziptr Biz: For businesses looking to comply with data privacy laws and communicate safely with clients, Ziptr Biz now offers more features to bring innovation into the workplace:
  • Password Policy Enforcement: maintain corporate standards for password complexity for Ziptr Biz user accounts.
  • Circular 230 Statements: define company-wide Circular 230 statements, attaching a single statement to the bottom of Ziptr Biz users’ conversations.
  • Outlook Plugin:  keeps users from violating data privacy laws and accidentally sending confidential information via email.  Helps prevent frustration by giving users control to still send via email if content is confirmed as benign.

About Ziptr

Ziptr is the easiest way to safely communicate online.  Whether an individual, professional or business, it has never been easier to protect all your electronic files and communication, while automatically complying with data privacy laws.

Ziptr combines user-friendly secure messaging and effortless bank-level encryption, backup and synchronization in one, elegantly simple solution. To safeguard all your internal and external communication, trust Ziptr’s world class security for your electronic communication and storage needs.

Get Ziptr FREE now, peace of mind to follow. http://www.ziptr.com/ziptrfree/.

Media Contacts

Caralyn Quigley Stern
Ziptr
781.365.1022
caralyn@ziptr.com

Surprise! PowerPivot (and 3 other data tools) are NOT Free in Retail Versions of Office 2013.

Video Podcaster Mr. Excel reports today that our friends at Microsoft have hard for small and mid-sized businesses to buy perpetual licenses for Office 2013 and get four data manipulation tools in Excel 2013.  The four tools (PowerPivot, PowerView, GeoView, and Inquire) are not available in current retail, home, or OEM versions of the product.  Microsoft requires users to either (1) have a Mid-sized business Office 365 plan (E3 or E4) or (2) purchase the software through a volume licensing plan to get these four features.  The problem here is that you may not need five licenses, and may have to buy something you don’t need to get to five units.

Jelen shows a cool workaround for the MS Volume Licensing requirement that you purchase five units at time in his video podcast.  Some believe that you have to buy five copies of Office 2013 Pro Plus (e.g. five of the same item) for $2K just to get PowerPivot.  The actual rule on buying through volume licensing is that you have to buy a total of five units of items which are on the list of Volume Licensing Products.  One cheap item on the list which you can buy to fill out your cart with is the Windows Vista DVD Playback tool ($9).   This means that if you need three copies of Office 2013 Professional Plus ($399/ea), you can buy the needed Office licenses, stack on two licenses for the Windows Vista DVD Playback Tool for $9/ea, and you’re out the door with the three licenses for $405 each ($399 for the three licenses of Office 2013 Pro Plus, plus 1/3 of the $18 extra you had to buy in Vista DVD Playback Tools to get to a total of five items.) 

Bill Jelen’s blog post and the video of this is at http://learnmrexcel.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/learn-excel-2013-how-to-buy-powerpivot-2013-podcast-1649/

© 2013 Brian Tankersley.  All rights reserved.