Accounting software provider Cougar Mountain has released Denali 2.7, completing the company’s core accounting line with the Denali Purchase Order module.

In order to include provisions in the recently enacted American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters has updated its Planner CS program.

The gallery of faces listed as “people you may know” paraded a number of accountants and software resellers, along with a picture of my 18-year-old daughter sticking her tongue out.

CCH has expanded the audit modules in its Accounting Research Manager database with expert guidance on topics such as construction and not-for-profit accounting.

Jean-François Champollion, the man who discovered the Rosetta Stone, which provided the clues to the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs, had an advantage: He didn’t have to call tech support or read software documentation to figure out the meaning of those carvings. And if you have seen that Rosetta Stone, the software sold in those chunky, yellow boxes that nobody at the airport seems to buy, I would say language is the easy part of the process.

A year ago, the emphasis in document management systems remained on the core areas of scanning, storing and retrieving documents. But the emphasis has changed in the past year, making it clear that document management alone will give way to integrated workflow in which document management is only one part.This makes sense, given that the concept of managing documents simply to produce a "paperless office" never really got off the ground. It wasn't that accountants were disinterested in saving trees or eliminating the cost of storage. Rather, it was the fact that document storage was relatively cheap and the systems used to store and retrieve documents were already integrated into the practice workflow.

COUGAR MTN. NAMES NEW PREZ/CEOCougar Mountain Software has appointed Chuck Gossett as the accounting software company's new president and chief executive, succeeding his father, Bob Gossett, who is retiring from the company he founded in 1982 but will remain chairman of the board. His son Chuck has been a full-time employee since 2006 and has served on the family-owned company's board of directors for many years. He has also been a local business owner for over three decades and will retain a passive interest in one of his businesses, Gossett and Davis Appraisal Services.

Knowing what the future may hold for you and your firm is tremendously valuable in these uncertain times. While I can't provide every answer, I can offer some tools that will improve your thinking and the accompanying results. Perception is real, so how you perceive the current situation determines your reaction and behavior (good or bad), and that reaction will greatly influence the results. Steven Covey calls this the "See-Do-Get" paradigm.Over the past several months, I have witnessed leaders at numerous firms present varying tones when meeting with employees. These range from, "We must cut every possible cost in order to maintain partner earnings" to "Our firm has decided not to participate in this recession."

Automated sales tax solutions provider SpeedTax and CPA and business advisory firm Wipfli have partnered in a venture to deliver SpeedTax’s software-as-a-service sales tax applications to Wipfli’s Microsoft Dynamics GP customers.

Prophix Software, a provider of business intelligence applications and services headquartered here, has partnered with BI and performance management consultancy Paradigm Analytics, whereupon Paradigm will offer Prohix’s Corporate Performance Management applications to its PerformancePoint Server and ERP customers.

There was a lot of debate about the level of attendance at Convergence, the Microsoft Dynamics user conference being held this week in New Orleans.

Attendance at Convergence, the annual Microsoft Dynamics user conference, fell well short of original expectations as the economy took a toll on attendance by users, but resellers came to the show in numbers.

CCH has closely integrated its CorpSystem Sales Tax Office software with Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Online invoicing provider Bill.com has released the Winter 2009 upgrade to its accounts payable service, including new cash flow features.

How do you deal with the old guys? A Rutgers college journalism student posed that question to me when I visited my alma matter this semester to talk to a class about newsroom management.

“Stay useful and cheap!” a friend advised when it comes to keeping this job during the current tailspin.

Online invoicing provider FastDue has closed a $5 million initial round of funding that will be shared with two other yet-to-be-announced Web-based applications.

Economic recessions are no time to be plowing into software development unless the company either needs the cash flow from a new version to keep going, or the product is so outdated that an update is mandatory. Otherwise, the money is better spent in beefing up product support and planning for marketing when the economy recovers.That's a pretty basic rule, and one that holds true in particular for business-planning software. We have not seen many substantial changes in the software, and don't expect to see much other than patches and a change in version name for 2009.

SAGE UPGRADES CUSTOMER MANAGEMENT SOFTWARESage North America has released an upgraded version of its customer relationship management software for small and midsized businesses with new branding and e-mail campaign features.

Training budgets are tempting targets during tight times, but should firms really cut expenses in this area? According to Gartner Research, every hour of information technology training provides 5.75 hours of increased capacity.How did they reach this conclusion? According to Gartner's research, the savings are tabulated by adding: