Tech Briefs: May 17 - June 6, 2004

CSI ABSORBS EXACTAX PACKAGE EX: Making its second tax software acquisition in less than a year, accounting software provider Creative Solutions Inc., a Thomson business, has acquired the ExacTax Package EX software line from Anaheim, Calif.-based ExacTax. Terms were not disclosed.

Creative Solutions said that current ExacTax Package EX customers would be offered incentives to renew with its proprietary UltraTax product, including price protection at ExacTax renewal rates and training.

“We’re always looking for good fits like ExacTax,” said CSI president and chief executive Jon Baron. “The rapid growth of UltraTax clearly positions us as a national player in this market.” He added that CSI has designed a data conversion table for ExacTax customers including federal data for 1040, 1120, 1120S, 1065, and 1041 returns, as well as California 1040 state data. In addition, the company is working with ExacTax executives and software engineers to “ensure a smooth transition.”

Meanwhile, ExacTax will continue its service bureau operation and remote data entry tax processing using CSI’s UltraTax software system.
In July, CSI acquired the Tax Relief product line from Hauppauge, N.Y.-based AccountantsWorld.

OPENPAGES ACQUIRES SOX SOFTWARE FROM PWC: Enterprise compliance management product maker OpenPages Inc. has acquired PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Sarbanes-Oxley compliance software, Internal Controls Workbench, along with a 375-user client base.

Under the terms of the agreement, OpenPages will assume support for PwC’s ICW software through June 2005 for customers who contract with OpenPages.

The company will also offer current ICW users special incentives and an automated data transfer from Internal Controls Workbench to OpenPages’ SOX Express software, a product designed to reduce the costs associated with Section 302 and 404 compliance.

In addition, OpenPages has been accepted into PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Vendor Alliance Program, which creates strategic alliances with companies that provide technologies or services to help clients achieve their business objectives.

OpenPages claims that SOX Express has more than 7,000 users across nearly 50 Global 5000 companies, including firms in financial services, medicine, manufacturing, engineering, retail and high technology.

EPICOR TO OFFER INTEGRATED DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT: A strategic alliance between midmarket accounting product maker Epicor Software Corp. and document management solutions provider Altec allows Epicor and its channel partners to resell and distribute Altec’s flagship document management product doc-link.

Users of Epicor’s midmarket accounting suite Epicor Enterprise who run doc-link will be able to automate their labor-intensive paper processes through the capture, work flow and automated delivery of documents.

Both Altec and Epicor use Microsoft .Net and Web Services technology. Utilizing Microsoft .Net architecture, doc-link captures, stores and offers instant retrieval of documents with an output management tool that allows users to organize and specify delivery options including fax, e-mail or scanning.

RIA ROLLS OUT CHECKPOINT ENHANCEMENTS: RIA, a Thomson business, has made the Web-based automated securities payment research tool Cost Basis Plus available on Checkpoint. Created in cooperation with Xcitek, the Cost Basis Plus tool enables users to research the securities information needed to complete 1040 Schedules B and D.

Cost Basis Plus offers users access to key information, including 13 years of Standard & Poor’s stock dividend information; mutual funds back to 1990; bond interest back to 1999; cost basis with automated calculations back to 1900; and “qualified dividends” determination under new tax rules. RIA has also added new content to Checkpoint, including the Hogan & Hartson SEC Updates Newsletter, as well as a relevancy ranking score feature. Pricing starts at $599.

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