HALF DONE
PPC's Smart Practice Aids
The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters
http://yourcheckpoint.thomsonreuters.com/ tools/
If well begun is half done, then the new enhancements to PPC's Smart Practice Aids should cut your audit work by about 50 percent. Among the updates are the Smart Engagement Setup feature, which has a new question-and-answer format to tailor the practice aid and audit programs to a client's specific situation. There's also Smart Start, an option that lets users begin audits of small, non-complex entities with a complete set of pre-tailored practice aids and audit programs, so they don't have to start with blank forms.
ALL TOGETHER NOW
CCH Integrator
CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business
http://cchintegrator.com
Ideally, there would only be one tax rate around the world, payable to one tax authority, at one time of the year, in one currency, with one simple set of rules. This is, of course, pure fantasy, as the overworked and harassed tax departments of international - or local, but complex - companies well know. There is, however, CCH Integrator, a single solution that makes it much easier to handle the multiple complexities of tax processes at multinational companies. The Web-based suite streamlines data collection, tax provision, research and compliance, so that companies can have the sort of integration and coherent common processes that governments and tax authorities ought to - but don't.
RICHER
eMoney 360 and 360 Pro Version 7.6
eMoney Advisor
www.emoneyadvisor.com
Wealth management software provider eMoney Advisor has released the latest versions of its eMoney 360 and 360 Pro, with a number of enhancements for both financial advisors and the clients. For clients, there are new budgeting tools, an interactive Investments page, and easier set-up, among other things; for advisors, there are new reports on cash flow, multi-generational transfers, and more, as well as six new estate calculators.
ARE YOU SITTING DOWN?
TrekDesk treadmill desk
www.trekdesk.com
You might want to sit down for this. Are you sitting? OK, good. Here's the shocking news: You sit too much. Yes, the modern office environment leads us all to a lifestyle that is entirely too sedentary, with all sorts of unhealthy ramifications. Rather than forcing us all to revert to pre-industrial manual labor, the folks at TrekDesk have invented a way for us to do all our work while standing and, when the mood strikes, going for a walk. The TrekDesk is a desk that fits over and around most treadmills, with plenty of space for your laptop or keyboard, your phone, and important files. We're not sure if having two cupholders is wise, but at least neither of them is Big Gulp size.
REMEDIAL FFL
Financial Intelligence: A Manager's Guide to Knowing What the Numbers Mean
SmarterComics
www.smartercomics.com
As comfortable as you are speaking "finance," you should be aware that for many of your clients, it's a foreign language. To teach non-accounting and finance people, Harvard Review Business Press released the best-seller Financial Intelligence; for those who like their language lessons a little more colorful, SmarterComics has released a comic book version of the book. Don't think of it as a dumbed-down version - it's not. What it is, is a great way to make a subject that can be daunting for non-experts much more approachable. After all, we here at New Products learned most of our English from comic books.
EARN, SPEND, REPEAT
Repeatability: Build Enduring Businesses for a World of Constant Change
Harvard Business Review Press; $30
Here's the thing with money: You keep spending it, so you have to keep earning it. And to keep up, you have to keep earning more. This leads lots of companies to add layers and layers of complexity, as they struggle to find ever-more ways to make the increasing amounts of money they require. This is a mistake, according to Repeatability: The best way to make more money is to do more of what you already know how to do. By studying a long roster of consistently profitable companies, the authors have determined that what companies need are a core differentiation or two, a short list of non-negotiable principles, and finally the ability to discover new opportunities to apply the first two.
TOUGH CROWD
The Decision to Trust: How Leaders Create High-Trust Organizations
Jossey-Bass (Wiley); $27.95
Every leader faces a challenge when it comes to engendering trust in their staff, but managing partners of accounting firms really have their work cut out for them. After all, The Decision to Trust describes accountants and CPAs as "professional distrustors." That's a good thing when it comes to audits, but not so good when it comes to building well-integrated, reliable teams. The book details the 10 factors that determine an individual's willingness to trust you, and shows what you need to do to influence it. As a start, we recommend being trustworthy.
NEW AND IMPROVED!
EFileCabinet has released eFileCabinet Mobile, an app for its document management solution, eFileCabinet Online. ... SmartVault has released a plug-in for Microsoft Outlook to integrate it with its storage and sharing solution. ... MeetingKing has officially released its meeting scheduling and facilitation tool, which we covered when it was in beta in our November issue.
Send books and products for consideration to Daniel Hood at Daniel.Hood@SourceMedia.com.
