Accountants must be feeling the love, or at least they potentially will, as a growing number of vendors appear to be designing more programs and products with these professionals in mind. But why now?

NetSuite Inc. has officially launched its ERP Consultant Certification Program, which is designed to offer professional services consultants an opportunity to validate their expertise in implementing, integrating and optimizing the product.

Intacct recently honored its partners of the year in three separate categories, with awards going to CliftonLarsonAllen, Armanino, and High Street Partners.

SAP AG has released localized versions of SAP Business All-in-One solutions powered by the SAP HANA platform, available for 52 countries around the world.

GCE, a cloud-based software services provider offering financial and accounting applications, has launched a migration program designed specifically for customers of SAP Business ByDesign, Microsoft Dynamics AX and other traditional ERP vendors.

Outsourced billing and payment services provider Billtrust has released EmailPlus, a new service that combines email delivery with electronic payment and remittance information.

Thomson Reuters has released Checkpoint Credits and Incentives Pinpointer, a Web-based tool that helps businesses identify statutory credits and incentives that are available for each industry or location.

Intuit is now offering to connect small business users working in the new QuickBooks Online with a certified QuickBooks Online ProAdvisor from within the product.

Net@Work has hired former RKL eSolutions vice president of business development Anne Brennan as its new director of sales for business applications.

Xero has formed a partnership with Entryless, a new company focused on automatically generating digital general ledger records from bills in any format, physical or electronic, and syncs them into cloud accounting systems.

Former Sage Group executives Gary Boddington, Motasim Najeeb and John Schoutsen have joined the advisory board of newcomer cloud accounting and ERP software maker VersAccounts.

While it’s not fully there, the accounting profession is finally starting to be ready for the cloud -- and vice versa, according to technology expert David Cieslak.

Australia-based Sage development partner Dingosoft has released a trust accounting module for Sage 300 ERP, which was created with the Sage 300 software development kit --the same set of tools used by Sage to develop their accounting modules.

Intuit has formed a deal with American Express Open, the small business payment card issuer division of Amex, whereby small businesses using the Open cards can have data from receipts integrated into QuickBooks and QuickBooks Online accounts.

Expense report product maker Nexonia Inc. has partnered with Xero to integrate Nexonia Expenses within the cloud accounting system.

There are numerous note taking apps on the market today, but practitioners are increasingly enjoying Penultimate which offers users the experience of taking written notes directly on their iPads.

Intuit is acquiring FullSlate, an online scheduling company that allows clients to offer their customers the ability to make appointments directly to Websites and Facebook pages.

Sage North America has officially put together Sage Accountant Solutions, a new business focused on building accountant-specific products and overseen by Jennifer Warawa, who was recently named vice president and general manager of the group.

Three firms share their experiences as 'virtual accountants'

A roundup of reseller-related news