Adding power
SpreadsheetWeb 2.5
Pagos Inc.
www.spreadsheetweb.com
The fact that Microsoft Excel and Outlook are so often the subject of upgrades and add-ons from third-party vendors is a sign of their ubiquity and usefulness - as well as all the things they don't do. SpreadsheetWeb, for instance, lets users turn their spreadsheets into browser-accessible applications with most of the features of Excel, so they can share and collaborate on them. All spreadsheets are managed and accessed from a central location, allowing control of sensitive information and ensuring consistent data models. The most recent release also adds data visualization and dashboard reporting features.
The Royale with tax
Taxcast International and Ask the Expert Webinar
The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters
www.sabrix.com
As Vincent Vega said in Pulp Fiction, "It's the little differences" that make foreign travel interesting - like calling a Quarter Pounder a Royale, or having a VAT instead of a sales tax. Ordering incorrectly in a Paris McDonald's, though, doesn't have the same consequences as misunderstanding the local tax system, which is why Thomson Reuters has two new services to help companies avoid any embarrassing foreign faux pas. The first, Taxcast International, is an online, interactive tool with a user-friendly map interface that lets users easily look up tax compliance issues country by country, concise summaries of recent tax rates changes, and expert analysis, while the second, the Ask the Expert Webinar, lets users interact with tax experts and peers, and submit their specific sales and use tax and VAT questions.
Untangling webs
EasyLinkMail
KM Sciences
www.easylinkmail.com
Back when we had conversations with spoken words, it was harder to remember which lies you'd told to which people, but at least you knew there was no hard-copy record of your deceptions. Now that so many of our lies have to be told in e-mails, it's handy to have a tool like EasyLinkMail to keep all your webs untangled. EasyLinkMail adds a panel to Outlook that tracks and organizes all the e-mails related to a particular conversation, including both those you've sent and received, and attachments, so that you can quickly and easily get your story straight.
Always easier
Shoeboxed Accounting Professional Plan
Shoeboxed.com
www.shoeboxed.com
As if it wasn't enough that Shoeboxed.com has been taking a bullet for accountants and tax preparers - you send them your clients' piles of receipts, and they scan them, enter the appropriate data, categorize the information and securely archive it online, so you can use it in all sorts of reports, applications and more - now they've launched the Shoeboxed Accounting Professional Plan, which lets you view, create, modify or cancel all of your clients' accounts from one secure page, while also allowing clients access only to their own accounts. Next thing you know, Shoeboxed will be preparing tax returns for you.
Better without people
ChoiceAnalyst
Catalyst Development Corp.
http://go.catalyst.com
We can't think of a single human interaction that wouldn't be made immeasurably simpler by removing the humans from it. They insist on intruding, however, so the best we can hope for is tools like Choice Analyst, a decision-support tool for hiring and firing employees. It organizes both your criteria and your options, and simplifies the process into a series of the easiest possible choices, from the results of which it calculates a ranked order of your options. Among other things, it gives you an objective rationale for your hiring and firing decisions, which can come in handy in the inevitable lawsuit - another human interaction that would be improved without people.
Those who can teach
Acumen Global Training
Acumen Global Training LLC
www.acumenglobaltraining.com
There's a snarky phrase circulating about how those who can, do - but it ignores the fact that they can't do whatever it is they do until they've been taught how. In that spirit, we mention Acumen Global Training, which offers businesses customized on-site events to educate them on domestic and international accounting topics, from the latest on IFRS and GAAP, to XBRL, fraud, corporate governance and more. And its faculty includes academics and practitioners, so you know they can both do and teach.
New and improved!
AccuFund Inc. has released Version 3.09 of its AccuFund Accounting Suite, adding general ledger allocations, e-mail capabilities in the financial and standard report writers, and client invoicing. ... CYMA Systems Inc. has partnered with Certify to offer subscription-based online expense account solutions, Certify Wallet for single users, and Certify Corporate for larger businesses. ... Apex Analytix has released Version 9.2 of its FirstStrike business performance and error-prevention software. ... Maxwell Systems Inc. has released ProContractorMX 2.0, a construction business management solution with capabilities for takeoff estimating; project, procurement, financials and employee management; and intelligent dashboards and reporting. ... CashEdge has released an integration kit to let financial planning, CRM and portfolio management application providers integrate their products with its AllData Advisor account aggregation service. ... FiREapps has released Version 4.5 of its Software-as-a-Service foreign exchange exposure management solution.
