Tools for tax season
As last year drew to a close, vendors released a host of new and more powerful tools to help tax preparers with the many complexities of the 2011 filing season. Some highlights: Copanion Inc. released a beefed-up version of its GruntWorx tax workflow solution, with a simpler user interface, extended reporting options, greater document capacity, and the option to have multiple administrators and multiple accounts within a firm. ... BMG CPAs created a version of its iDonatedIt charitable donation calculator app for the iPad ... CCH released CCH Carryover Basis Answers, with guidance, practice aids and decision-support tools to help tax advisors unravel the complexities of the latest estate tax legislation. The company also boosted its IntelliConnect research platform with greater ease of use, stronger search and research tools, enhanced linking to related information, and simplified citation searches. ... BNA Software released Version 2010.5 of its BNA Income Tax Planner to reflect the many legislative changes made by Congress at the end of 2010. ... Greatland launched an updated version of its Winfiler W-2 and 1099 software, with enhanced data import and export capabilities, the ability to e-file 1099 corrections through Winfiler's E-file Center, and more. ... The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters made it easier for firms to manage and deploy staff and client portals through its NetClient CS, SaaS for CS Professional Suite and Virtual Client CS products with increased automation and a streamlined interface. ...New River Innovation launched easyIRS, an online solution for solving problems with the Internal Revenue Service that uses a short interview process to compare a customer's situation to as many as 47 IRS programs, and then create a plan with personalized IRS-ready forms, phone call scripts and coaching points.
Join the new juggernaut
IFRS Learning and Certification Program
CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business
http://cchgroup.com/ifrs
Despite the delays, it still looks like IFRS is coming, ready or not - so you might as well be ready. CCH has rolled out a new IFRS Learning and Certification Program to help U.S. accountants prepare for the slow-motion onslaught. Developed by experts at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, the 36 interactive learning modules teach you to: understand and apply IFRS principles and concepts; assess the standards' impact on your clients' businesses; produce and interpret IFRS financial statements; and even develop new business niches. The learning materials are available through an interactive online learning environment 24/7, so you can study up on the new juggernaut of IFRS in between bouts of applying the old juggernaut of GAAP.
The course of true love
CCH Mobile
CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business
http://cchgroup.com/mobile
It happens all the time: You're on the dance floor, or on the bus, or running with the bulls in Pamplona, and suddenly through the crowd you spot the gorgeous stranger who just might be your soul mate, struggling to determine the proper tax treatment of a 1031 like-kind exchange. If you head back to your office to look it up, you know you'll never see them again. But how else are you supposed to do tax research in a crowded nightclub or blood-slicked Spanish street? Enter CCH Mobile, an app that lets you access content from the IntelliConnect platform on your BlackBerry or iPhone. Currently in a free introductory version, CCH Mobile lets you see Tax Tracker News, primary materials like the Internal Revenue Code, tax tools and calculators, and SmartCharts, depending on your IntelliConnect subscription.
Another 195 million
Presto! PageManager 9 Professional
NewSoft Technology Corp.
www.newsoftinc.com
We'd be willing to bet that accountants at small firms produce just as many documents as accountants at large firms (approximately 9.75 million per second, at last count) - they just don't have the super-powered enterprise-level document management systems and giant technical staff to help manage them. The reasonably priced Presto! PageManager 9 Professional offers an option for accountants at smaller firms, with strong capabilities for creating and managing PDFs, sharing and distributing documents, scanning and routing documents quickly and easily, and much more. At $99.95, it should make smaller firms much more comfortable about the 195 million documents they generated while reading this paragraph.
Business school
Checkpoint Learning Corporate Curriculum
The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters
https://checkpointlearning.thomsonreuters.com
Thomson Reuters has added a Corporate Curriculum to its Checkpoint Learning CPE platform. It's a bundle of over 65 interactive online courses for accounting, tax, audit and finance professionals on a wide variety of topics affecting corporations today, with courses geared to the development needs of all levels of the corporate hierarchy. As it lives on the Checkpoint Learning platform, users can track their CPE needs and in-progress courses, as well as managing the learning requirements of staff.
Security levels
docLock
Large Software
www.largesoftware.com
While we all want to have our secrets protected by a fancy and expensive web of laser motion detectors, just like in the movies, sometimes all you need is a simple padlock. At $29.95, Large Software's docLock lets you easily encrypt and password-protect individual documents and files so that you can store and e-mail them securely, offering military-grade protection that's simple to install and use.
New and improved!
Emerging Information Systems Inc. released new versions of its NaviPlan Select, Profiles Professional and Profiles Forecaster financial planning products. ... TIW Technology has released a cloud version of its ALERE Accounting and ALERE Manufacturing products. ... CCH has added a new title to its ProSystem fx Knowledge Coach auditing tool, Knowledge-Based Audits of Public Entities: A Guide to PCAOB Standards and SEC Rules, to allow it to support public company audits. ... The Tax Foundation has added a VAT calculator to its Web site, www.mytaxburden.org, so taxpayers can see how much they'd have to pay if the U.S. introduced a value-added tax. ... Microdasys has launched GeoShield, a security plug-in that adds a layer to Microsoft Forefront TMG to let users set security policies to restrict access from particular geographic regions and countries.
