Smarter, Webbier
Sage ERP Accpac Version 6.0
Sage North America
www.sageaccpac.com
The latest release of Sage ERP Accpac boasts a raft of business intelligence features, as well as more mobility through Web access. Its new Web portal lets users find information quickly and easily wherever they are, in a format customized to their role or preferences, while the new Accpac Inquiry feature lets them create customized on-the-fly query lists quickly and easily. Version 6.0, which is available on-premise or in the cloud (through Sage ERP Accpac Online) also has embedded BI Snapshots for at-a-glance access to important operational metrics, with drill-down capabilities, as well as a new Fiscal Period Management feature. And it comes with Sage CRM and the new Sage ERP Accpac intelligence BI tool built in.
Soak the feds
Small Business Tax Credit Calculator
TaxCredits LLC
www.smallbusinesstaxcreditcalculator.com
If every government credit, deduction, entitlement and consignment of free cheese were fully taken advantage of by those who are eligible for it, the U.S. would long since have gone bankrupt, and run out of cheese. But that's the feds' problem, not yours, and the smart tax preparer wants to make sure that their clients get all the government largesse they're due. According to Tax Credits LLC, many small businesses will be passing up money from the Small Business Tax Credit created by last year's health care reform legislation, because the rules are so complex and the calculations are so difficult. In response, the company created the Small Business Tax Credit Calculator, which quickly sorts through the many variables (from time worked and full-time equivalent counts to average wages) to provide guaranteed calculations that tax preparers can use to file IRS Form 8941.
Who needs letters?
Cropmark LMP Bluetooth Keypad
Other World Computing
www.owc.net
Mac users revel in Apple's pared-down design aesthetic, but with tax time upon us, it's clear that its omission of a keypad from its wireless, Bluetooth-enabled keyboard may have been a move in the wrong direction. Other World Computing's new Cropmark LMP Bluetooth Keypad rectifies that; done in the same brushed steel style, it lets number crunchers type in figures to their heart's content without the inconvenience of wires. In fact, it raises an interesting question: If Apple is looking to pare down things even more, why not get rid of the letters, instead of the numbers? Everything can be expressed as 1s and 0s, anyway.
Who needs profits?
Enhancements to ProSystem fx Knowledge Coach
CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business
http://cchgroup.com
It's interesting to note that services to nonprofits are one the top areas of growing business for the Top 100 Firms. (For details, see our T100 report, available now on AccountingToday.com.) In tough times, apparently, more people are looking to nonprofits for help, at the same time as they're struggling with lower funding and greater reporting and management demands. That's led to a call for more help from their accountants, which has led CCH to add a new title to its ProSystem fx Knowledge Coach auditing tool. The new title provides links to a variety of nonprofit tools on CCH's Accounting Research Manager platform, including interpretive guidance, a financial reporting database, unique FASB functionality, and up-to-date coverage of current developments. It also has a new non-audit services independence checklist to help auditors handle potential conflicts of interest, new language in the audit engagement letter, and a new report on a successor auditor's unqualified opinion when a predecessor's report is unqualified and not presented.
Get with the flow
BWise 4.1.2
BWise
www.bwise.com
BWise has released the latest edition of its governance, risk and compliance management software. Since GRC is, in many senses, all about getting employees to follow a set of processes, and then to confirm that they did so, some of the main enhancements to Version 4.1.2 focus on just that - there are new workflow capabilities that integrate into more GRC structures than most other solution, so employees can focus on their activities, with the system guiding them through the process automatically. BWise can also automatically roll compliance assessments, including policy acknowledgements and compliance statements, up through an organization's structure, so those at the top can know what's going on below them. There are also enhancements aimed at user-friendliness and streamlining, as well as personalized reports and dashboards to help users prioritize their activities, among many other enhancements.
Out of bullets
SmartDraw VP
SmartDraw
www.smartdraw.com
The person who invented the bullet point must have expected the permanent adoration of a grateful humanity. They make ideas easier to grasp, draw the eye to important points, and break up long, dull paragraphs. What the proud inventor didn't count on was the introduction of PowerPoint, which would teach us all to loathe the bullet point in its role as abettor of dull, droning speakers in overheated conference rooms. The fact is that the bullet point is no longer an indicator of interest, but a warning of boredom. Better, where possible, to use an image, which is why graphics-generation software SmartDraw VP now includes an enhanced PowerPoint builder feature that makes it easier to create slide decks that won't have your audience cursing Mr. Bullet Point. SmartDraw itself automates the creation of over 70 different visuals, from flowcharts and data charts and graphs to mind maps, floor plans, timelines and more, while the new PowerPoint builder feature lets you manage an entire presentation visually, in a storyboard format, without ever leaving SmartDraw, and then build your deck with a single click.
Nowledge is power
60mo
60mo
www.60mo.com
We'd like to introduce you to a word we here at New Products just coined: nowledge. Because while knowledge may be power, knowledge that you have now is more powerful than knowledge you have, say, after the period close, or when your bank gets around to sending a statement. We were led to this neologism while considering the new release of 60mo's online financial dashboard and forecasting tool, which now integrates directly with over 10,000 financial institutions like banks and credit card companies, so businesses get fast access to critical data. It also has advanced projections to incorporate the new data, enhanced budget tracking capabilities, advanced "what-if" scenario planning, and more. Our word, meanwhile, has one less silent K, and endless marketing possibilities.
Mixed trends
Enhancements to onesource Transfer Pricing, and Global Transfer Pricing Solutions, 7th ed.
The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters
http://onesource.thomsonreuters.com
Here's a bad trend: Cash-strapped tax authorities around the world are cracking down on transfer pricing in an attempt to get more tax money from multinational corporations. Here's a mixed trend: More and more companies are operating globally, which is good for business, but also means they're exposed to the rapacity of more and more tax authorities, and the complexities of managing transfer pricing. Here's a good trend: Thomson Reuters continues to enhance its offerings for helping companies handle transfer pricing. It recently added tools to its Documenter solution for transfer pricing documentation, with enhanced workflow capabilities, a report-writing solution, a multiple-revenue-authority report feature, an expanded dataset for more complex transfer pricing activities, and the Reuters Fundamentals database, which offers financial data from over 65,000 companies to help with comparative searches.
On a related note, Thomson Reuters' WorldTrade Executive unit has released the 7th edition of its Global Transfer Pricing Solutions, a special report that examines critical issues and new strategies to help companies build better transfer pricing policies.
New and improved!
CPE Link has enhanced its free Firm CPE Center continuing education management tool with new features for adding and exporting CPE data, so that, among other things, you can track CPE earned from providers other than CPE Link.
