Software & HardwareNETSUITE VERTICALS
On-demand software provider NetSuite has released two new versions of its hosted business and accounting software, one for services companies and one for wholesale and distribution companies. NetSuite Services Company Edition allows for project tracking and time budgeted, complex billing and invoicing, estimating job profitability and more, and includes new features like project revenue forecasting, cost allocation to projects, contractor self-service portals for time entry, and more. NetSuite Wholesale/Distribution Edition offers advanced inventory and order fulfillment features, demand- based inventory replenishment, wholesaler/distribution portals, customer relationship management for distributors, and more.
www.netsuite.com
TIME TRACKING
Journyx has released the latest edition of Timesheet, its time-tracking and expense management software. Version 7.5 has enhancements that make it easier for users to find and select time and expense entry details, options for limiting leave- request notifications, and more administrative flexibility, and is available as a hosted solution.
www.journyx.com
PRICE CHECK IN DRAWER 5
Dymo has released Dymo File, a document management solution for small and midsized businesses. The software works with most all-in-one copiers/scanners with automatic document feeders, and lets you specify a file name, location and file type for each document - which then get issued individual barcodes. Slap the barcodes on the docs, slap them in the scanner, and the software instantly recognizes each individual document and stores it in the right place in the right format. Starting at $199 for a single user, it's a handy way to go digital.
www.dymo.com
WE NEED HELP
We've always wanted a secretary - or an assistant, even - who would scurry around keeping track of all the details we can't be bothered with. Textual's new Anagram software goes a long way to fulfilling our desire: It sits quietly on your desktop, and with minimal commands grabs contact and appointment information out of e-mails, Web sites and documents, then translates it smartly and efficiently into a variety of contact and calendar management programs. Now we need a program at which we can shout, "Take a letter!"
www.getanagram.com
DON'T TELL THE CLIENTS!
Ordinarily, we here at New Products recommend a piece of software as good for your firm's clients, or good for your firm itself. Rarely do we come across a solution like the new release of LogicManager's LogicERM, which is good for your clients, but bad for you. Not that it's bad - quite the contrary. It's top-of-the-line risk management software, and Version 3.0 is specifically designed to take advantage of this year's Auditing Standard No. 5 from the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. By breaking governance and internal control risk oversight into five levels, and assessing which corporate activities are of low significance, the software can alert companies to areas where internal auditing work can be reduced - and external auditing, too! LogicManager claims that this can lead to lower costs for Sarbanes-Oxley and other regulatory compliance, which means money out of your pocket. Don't say we didn't warn you.
www.logicmanager.com
AS SEEN ON TV
Valiant has added the vPod biometric fingerprint reader to its suite of workforce management solutions, so that your employees can say goodbye to badges, keycards and sign-in sheets, and just swipe their fingers like the oppressed citizenry of a thousand movies and TV shows. At the same time, you can be the cruel overlord of a thousand movies and TV shows, while improving security and capturing key time and attendance data.
www.valiant.com or (800) 521-4555
Books
BRAGG WRITES
We're beginning to suspect that "Steven Bragg" is the pseudonym of a collective of authors writing on accounting topics, because he produces so many titles. The two most recent to come to our attention are particularly hefty - and useful: GAAP Policies and Procedures and Accounting Best Practices. The first contains up-to-date information on making sure that a company's accounting systems are fully capable of dealing with the most recent generally accepted accounting principles, while the second offers the latest best practices for running a lean, efficient accounting department, including an all-new chapter on accounting management. Pretty impressive for one man - if he is one man ... .
John Wiley & Sons; GAAP - $95, Best Practices - $75
GOVERNANCE GUIDE
The third edition of Accounting Irregularities and Financial Fraud, by Accounting Today Top 100 People mainstay Michael Young, updates this canonical discussion of all the different ways that scandals and crime can envelop a company, with new or revised sections on the roots and implications of Sarbanes-Oxley; the new importance and duties of audit committees; dealing with regulators, insurers, auditors and others; and much, much more.
CCH; $149
Moving Targets
To customers, banks and other financial institutions like to present an image of solidity and simplicity; to financial statement users and accountants, however, they present a picture of bewildering complexity, with an ever-changing array of new instruments and new strategies - and new regulations to control them. Financial Instruments & Institutions: Accounting and Disclosure Rules is an indispensable guide to deciphering the statements and financial reporting of thrifts, mortgage and commercial banks, lessors, and life and property-casualty insurers. This updated edition delves into all the most recent disclosure and accounting rules, with a special emphasis on fair value measurement.
John Wiley & Sons; $89
ZOMBIE MANAGEMENT
The Future of Management takes a cool premise - your business is actually being run by a coterie of businessmen who've been dead for almost a century - and instead of making a spooky Christopher Walken vehicle out of it, the book actually proves that it's true: Most companies are still being managed according to rules laid down by theorists and managers from the late 1800s and early 1900s. With technological and economic change rampant, the book argues that management innovation is desperately needed, and uses case studies including Google and Whole Foods to show what can happen when you rise up against your undead masters.
Harvard Business School Press; $26.95
FIRST-TIME JUDGE
Last issue, we discussed a book that shows first-time managers how to build a team. Now, we'll discuss one that shows you how to judge its members: The First-Time Manager's Guide to Performance Appraisals takes newbies through the whole process (which looks a lot different from the other side of the desk), and offers tips on reviewing performance, preparing for the actual meeting, setting employee objectives and developing career plans, writing up appraisals, and following up effectively.
Amacom Books; $15
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