Software

Simply Accounting 2005Simply Accounting received a "World Class" award for Best Business Accounting Software from PCWorld in 2003 and 2004, and they're aiming for similar honors with their 2005 release of this small business accounting solution. The Basic version comes with a number of enhancements, along with the usual general ledger, receivables, payables, inventory, project costing and payroll solutions. Among the enhancements are a range of key performance indicators, expanded payroll features, a built-in form designer, and several new reports.

For growing businesses, there are two editions beyond Basic: Pro, which adds multi-user support and departmental accounting; and Premium, offering greater customization and sophisticated reporting features, as well as the ability to switch from English to Spanish with a single click. Both allow users to run Simply Accounting Mobile on Pocket PCs.

Price: Basic - $49.99; Pro - $299.99; Premium - $499.99.

Best Software

www.simplyaccounting.com

(800) 773-5445

CCH@ Hand

Is tax research on your mind these days? We thought so. And you're probably wishing it was faster and more efficient, aren't you? CCH has launched a new application, CCH Hand, to improve the speed and integration of its Tax Research Network. CCH Hand lets users access TRN research from within Microsoft Office 2003 programs, so that you never need to leave Word, Excel or Outlook to get the answers you need. It also offers Smart Tags that link electronic documents to the full text of a citation, and let readers retrieve related explanations, regulations, annotations and more.

Price: Free for Tax Research Network customers.

CCH Tax and Accounting

http://athand.cch.com

(888) CCH-REPS

Open Systems payroll

Users of Open System Inc.'s OSAS and Traverse accounting applications can now subscribe to its Enhanced Payroll Tax Reporting service, which provides over 300 state and federal reports. The service eliminates the need to type out unemployment, wage withholding or new hire reports by automatically compiling them from payroll data in the accounting systems.

Price: Annual subscription - $695.

Open Systems Inc.

www.osas.com

(800) 328-2276

TaxWise TB and fixed assets

To enhance its software packages, TaxWise has added an integrated asset manager and trial balance software. The Fixed Asset Manager lets users handle large numbers of assets, and calculate federal and state tax and book depreciation, while Trial Balance easily imports general ledger data from popular accounting programs.

TaxWise has also integrated tax research content from CCH Tax and Accounting, so users have access to CCH's authoritative tax resources, including its U.S. Master Tax Guide.

Price: Fixed Asset Manager - $295; Trial Balance - $195.

TaxWise Inc.

www.taxwise.com