Faster learners
Quick Byte
Ohio Society of CPAs
If you’re looking to be a fast learner — or a quick study — then the new Quick Byte series of courses from the Ohio Society of CPAs is right up your alley. These 10-minute micro-learning modules are meant to give you a quick look at a timely subject to help you stay current with the marketplace. Right now there are 42 of them in three topic areas: tax, accounting and auditing. Each is worth .2 hours of CPE credit.
BillQuick updated
BQE BillQuick 2015
BQE Software Inc.
BQE Software has released the latest version of its BillQuick software, with over 75 new features. BillQuick 2015 aims to offer robust accounting features, simplified project accounting, and a new, more intuitive user interface for the Web and cloud-based versions. Among its new features are support for multiple profit centers or companies in one accounting file; the ability to assign general ledger accounts at the project level; a recurring and hourly contract type; and enhanced workflow.
Experienced guide
Nonprofit Finance: A Practical Guide for Controllers, CFOs and Board Members
CreateSpace; $29.95
There are lots of reasons why people get involved in the world of nonprofits — altruism, certainly, but sometimes it’s about networking, status-seeking or other, less creditable motives. What it’s never about is a passionate interest in nonprofit finance, which means that most of those working at nonprofits will be ignorant of the complexities and oddities of the accounting in this space, which can be dangerous for the organizations they work with. That makes CPA Sheila Shanker’s Nonprofit Finance extremely useful. She brings long experience in the field — including writing a previous book on the subject, Guide to Nonprofits from the Trenches — to helping those who want to do good do better at the accounting for doing good. The book covers all the important financial issues, such as grants, revenues and internal controls, with real-life details and vignettes.
Updates online
Enhancements and new features for Xero
Xero
Online accounting software provider Xero announced a number of new features for its flagship product, including inventory; the ability to create online quotes and estimates; the ability to upload receipts and bills and view them on-screen while a transaction is being entered or completed; and support for an additional 1,692 bank feeds for bank reconciliation, bringing the total to 7,000 bank feeds and 5,000 financial institutions globally. The company also rolled out a new practice reports feature that lets accountants customize financial reporting with real-time data; available now in Australia, it should be released in the U.S. later this year.
Why? Why not?
Rocketbook
Rocket Innovations
You may not have realized that you needed a notebook whose pages can be uploaded easily and quickly to storage spaces in the cloud, and then erased in seconds in the microwave — but now that it’s available in the form of the new Rocketbook, you need to run out immediately and get one. Basic premise: You get the specially treated Rocketbook notebook, write in it with a certain kind of pen, and use the Rocketbook app to scan the pages and upload them to the cloud destination of your choice. When you want to free up pages in the notebook, just pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds — the ink in the special pens disappears under heat, but the pages are treated to withstand it. It’s got all the tactile and portable qualities you like about paper notebooks, but your notes and ideas aren’t locked in paper format.
Pressure-proof
Performing Under Pressure: The Science of Doing Your best When It Matters Most
Crown Business; $26
Having survived tax season, you may think you know a little something about handling intense pressure, but the fact is that most of us approach pressure as amateurs, muddling through as best we can. The authors of Performing Under Pressure are professionals, having studied the science and psychology of stress and the way people respond to it, and built a set of tested strategies that will keep you from choking, and help you succeed when you really need to.
A bigger stable
Zoho Expense
Zoho
Zoho has added a new entry to its stable of cloud applications — Zoho Expense, which automates business and travel expense management. Features include automated expense recording, so that expenses are automatically created once users scan and upload their receipts, and the ability to import credit card statements. It comes in Web and mobile versions, and works with the company’s other offerings, Zoho Books and Zoho CRM.
New and improved!
Bloomberg BNA has added a Tax Management Portfolio on New York State’s new corporate income tax laws. Cougar Mountain Software has released Version 5.1 of its Denali Accounting. CPA Trendlines and Roman Kepczyk have released the 2015 edition of Kepczyk’s book Quantum of Paperless: The Partner’s Guide to Accounting Firm Optimization, with a special focus on busy season solutions and other updates. Knowledge Vault has added several compliance reporting packs on data access, security modifications, logon behaviors and other activities. Tenenz Inc. has added a number of new features to its Client Centric Communications services, including automatically sending birthday and anniversary cards to clients, a new self-sign-up form for subscribers, and automated appointment reminders. AT
