Match made
SmartVault integration with Lacerte, ProSeries
Intuit Inc. and SmartVault
Intuit recently partnered with document management solution provider SmartVault to help automate workflow for users of two of its tax solutions, Lacerte and ProSeries. Integrating those with SmartVault's solutions not only gives users document management tools, but gives them client portals that they can custom-brand, batch e-mail functionality, audit reports, and much more, all of which should help tax practitioners streamline their operations.
Any bill, any time
Invoice by Wave
Wave
If you can work anywhere, anytime, then you ought to be able to charge people anywhere, anytime, and that means being able to send them an invoice. And since a lot of that anywhere, anytime work is being done on smartphones, it makes sense to be able to use those smartphones to send those invoices. Hence Invoice by Wave, a mobile app for users of Wave's cloud-based accounting and finance solutions. The app offers one-tap activation of credit card processing, and also lets users know when invoices are viewed, paid or overdue. It is currently available for Apple devices, with an Android version in the works.
Tomorrow and today
The New Corporate Facts of Life: Rethink Your Business to Transform Today's Challenges into Tomorrow's Profits
Amacom Books; $27.95
Every era has its set of unique conditions that shape the way business is done and that create the necessary thresholds for success. They're easy to spot once they're well-established; the trick is to identify them early on, and The New Corporate Facts of Life makes a good stab at it for the era we're living in now. It names seven factors that will replace the old rules we're all used to: disruptive innovation, economic instability, societal upheaval, stakeholder power, environmental degradation,globalization and population shifts.
So secure ...
Enlocked
Enlocked Inc.
We here at New Products are fairly sure that we can't handle the level of security offered by Enlocked's e-mail encryption solution -- within days, we would end up with e-mails that were so secure even we couldn't read them. But then, we don't handle private, proprietary information, whereas you and your firm need to make sure you're protecting all of your clients' tax and financial information. The latest version encrypts and decrypts e-mails on your computer, tablet or smartphone using a key with a secure passphrase that even Enlocked doesn't know, so no one other than you has access to your in-box or your messages. It also makes securing your e-mails as easy as hitting a "Send Secure" button in a browser-based client, your own e-mail system, or your Apple or Android device.
You'd better listen
The Better Way; a Better Life: A Life-Changing Journey for CPAs & Financial Planners
Advantage Media Group
Harry Pappas has something to say to CPAs, and they should probably listen. A non-CPA financial planner who used to harbor serious fears about competing with CPAs, Pappas is now arguing that they desperately need to get involved in financial planning -- and he makes an excellent case, with a great deal of passion and good advice on building long-lasting relationships, boosting the value you offer clients, and avoiding the creeping commoditization of many of the profession's traditional services.
Spread the word
2014-2015 Tax Planning Guide
Thomson Reuters
Hate talking to your clients? Let Thomson Reuters do it for you! Actually, the recently released 2014-2015 Tax Planning Guide is more about helping you explain the new developments in tax-related regulation and legislation that will affect your clients, rather than replacing you in the relationship entirely. With a special emphasis on the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, the guide can help you make sure your clients aren't blindsided, and that their tax plans are up to date. It's available online, via e-mail, in print and in PowerPoint.
!@#%& *#!
Powerful Phrases for Dealing with Difficult People: Over 325 Ready-to-Use Words and Phrases for Working with Challenging Personalities
Amacom Books; $10.95
Interestingly, none of our favorite "powerful phrases" appeared in this book, not even with lots of asterisks. Then again, our record with dealing with difficult people is mixed, so we were willing to give the book a chance. And sure enough, it makes a great deal of sense, and offers valuable ways to think about and defuse a host of different inter-office conflicts, without resorting to salty language. Staying cool and polite are a big help, as is thinking about other people as if they're actual human beings with feelings, despite all evidence to the contrary.
How're they doing?
Top Performance
Micron Systems
Given the tight market for talented accountants these days, the primary qualification for continued employment at many firms is an ongoing pulse. But assuming you expect a little more from your staff, Micron Systems' Top Performance evaluation solution may be worth a look. Designed specifically for accounting firms, it lets you track and evaluate performance objectives across multiple offices, departments and positions; measure performance on a wide variety of measures; create custom evaluations; and much more.
Boosting payroll
Denali 4.1
Cougar Mountain Software
Cougar Mountain Software announced the latest release of its Denali Accounting Software, with a number of enhancements to its Denali Payroll, among other improvements. Users can now add fields for custom tracking and reporting, import daily transactions from time clocks, process periodic leave, and specify the information that prints on employee checks.
Not for clients
Derivatives: A Guide to Alternative Investments
Portfolio/Penguin; $65
Let's be clear: This book is not for clients. It's for you, so you can be sure that you understand the complicated world of swaps, options, swaptions and so on that have made such a splash in the markets, so your clients don't hurt themselves by making ill-advised forays into the field.
New and improved!
Roman Kepczyk released a second edition of his Quantum of Paperless: The Partner's Guide to Accounting Firm Optimization, while Lee Eisenstaedt and Tom Siders have released the second edition of their Wallet Share: Grow Your Practice without Adding Clients. ... ZenPayroll has added Arizona and Nevada to the states it supports, which already included California, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Texas and four others. ... Paychex Inc.released its Paychex Accounting Online mobile app so users can access their business information any time on their iPhones and iPads. ... Epicor has released its next-generation point-of-sale solution, Epicor Retail Store Edition for Windows 8. ... Audit Analytics has made several updates to its systems, including an app for the Bloomberg Terminal, a new Market Intelligence App, the new Accounting Quality + Risk Matrix tool for screening a portfolio against accounting quality and event-driven red flags, and many more.
