Write-up software is in the midst of major changes.

While that has not much changed, the manner in which it is performed has undergone a massive evolutionary step in the past two decades.

Consider just three points:

(c) Clients use accounting software. Accountants are not dealing with monthly boxes of scribbled notes, hand-written checks and printed bank statements. Instead, companies are increasingly using bookkeeping tools, electronic banking, automated payroll and other services to streamline their own operations and make life easier for accountants. Likewise, software vendors are stepping up with new tools to better integrate the two and eliminate unnecessary steps in the process.

(c) Client portals are proliferating. Collaborative accounting has come to the forefront, with businesses of every size able to interact with the accounting firm on their own schedules and in a way that allows multiple users to participate at any given time.

(c) Paper is disappearing. Financial statements today are transmitted electronically - or held in a secure space for shared viewing. The administrative process of printing and binding reports has given way to the more economical processes of document management.

These changes have slowly altered not only the way write-up services are performed, but how there are perceived by both accountants and their clients. Increasingly, the stand-along write-up package is disappearing, integrated into the core accounting package and streamlined. As this happens, a number of software vendors are advocating the idea that write-up should be less the heart of accounting services to clients than a stepping stone to more advanced - and more lucrative - services.

For a better view of this next evolutionary step, take a look at Intacct's Accountant Edition. Though they are the most direct in this approach to write-up, the rest of the marketplace is not far behind.

This year's roundup presents eight top-of-the-line write-up systems from leading vendors, and an interesting glimpse of the future of this accounting service.

Accounting CS

Thomson Reuters

(800) 968-8900

http://cs.thomsonreuters.com

Pricing: Starts at $2,900.

Accounting CS is the next-generation application for accountants that was released in the spring of 2010, combining write-up, trial balance, financials reporting, live and after-the-fact-payroll, and compliance.

Through the Accounting CS Client Access system, clients can perform daily bookkeeping from anywhere, making data immediately available on the secure online portal. Client Access allows clients and firms to collaborate online in real time using the same interface and a single set of data. No imports or exports are necessary, and there are no third-party applications or client-side software installs. Client Access is currently available for check-writing and calculating payroll, with additional functions to be added over the coming year.

Multiple users in the firm can access each client file simultaneously, and accountants can create an unlimited number of account groupings with up to 20 customizable account segments, set up vendor records for 1099 and trade vendors, and store accounting and payroll data going back an unlimited number of years.

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