INTUIT DEBUTS ONLINE PAYROLLQuickBooks parent Intuit has introduced a Web-based payroll system for small businesses. Intuit Online Payroll guides employers through the steps of setting up the system, paying employees and taxes, and filing tax forms. The system includes automatic calculations, to-do lists and e-mail reminders when tasks are due. The system currently does not integrate with Intuit's QuickBooks. Paychecks and pay stubs can be printed right away or issued through a free, built-in direct deposit service. The system provides printable tax forms for federal filings, as well as many state filings, including Forms 940, 941, W-2 and W-3.

Few firms are willing to do what it takes to attract the best and brightest talent. How many CPA partners have a son or daughter in public accounting? If you can't make the profession attractive to your own children, how can you sell it to their peers?Today's workforce is not as complex as some may think. In fact, most employees are merely looking for the basics: challenging assignments, opportunities to grow as professionals, authentic work/life balance and economic rewards.

Tax Compliance Inc. has released version 4.0 of its Property Tax Management System with new features for processing tax bills, creating customized reports, linking to external files, and handling airline property.

Intuit said its Lacerte and ProSeries professional tax prep products would flag any returns that cannot be filed until mid-February because of the delayed patch for the alternative minimum tax.

There was a nice Christmas email that was sent out by Tectura’s CEO Terry Petrzelka this week. What there has not been is the filing of an S-1 for the large reseller's initial public offering. At one point, it seemed likely to occur in 2007. There was an SEC filing by the Redwood City, Calif.-based Microsoft reseller in December. But it was for the REGDEX form, which is filed when a privately held company sells stock to investors, such as venture capitalists. (No dollar amounts are filed with such forms.)

Web-based accounting software vendor NetSuite went public on the New York Stock Exchange at $26 per share after raising its target price.

Sage Software has unveiled Peachtree Payment Solutions, a new service to assist small companies managing their businesses with Peachtree by Sage Accounting.

One of the names in my wife’s family tree, Orlinger, is a mystery, not to the family historian (me), but to those trying to transcribe it from barely legible writing. One effort came up with the name transcribed as Aslinger.

As more firms go paperless, their engagement documents are increasingly residing in a virtual world.

A shortage of quality people, commoditization and increased regulation result in what Harvard economist Joseph Schumpeter referred to as a depleted industry in need of transformation.These are scary times for accounting firms that don't have a plan and path. For those that do, however, the future is exceptionally bright. Overcoming the obvious obstacles to growth should be a top priority for all firms. Ignoring them and hoping things will return to the way they were is unrealistic - and only exacerbates the problems.

Sage Software has enhanced its Accountants' Network with new incentives for members. Through a partnership with LeapFile, Accountants' Network members can sign up for a service called Sage AssuredSend, a secure file-transfer service that allows accountants to send up to one gigabyte of financial and tax information to their clients without overnight delivery costs.Network members are also eligible for a discount when using GoToMyPC for remote access to their office PCs from other Internet-connected computers. In addition, the Accountants' Network is offering free job recruitment listings on Monster.com through Jan. 31.

CCH has begun selling its document management system, ProSystem fx Document, in an application service provider version that allows accounting firms to access it online. The service, ProSystem fx Document ASP, is hosted by CCH instead of the accounting firm, so firms don't need to invest in extra hardware or personnel to operate the system. ProSystem fx Document ASP includes paperless workflow and secure back-up features.Users can access documents at any time from any computer connected to the Internet. A Document Drive feature allows users to view documents offline, and clients can get access to selected documents through a client portal.

Software developer Paisley has announced an updated version of its governance, risk and compliance software, Paisley Enterprise GRC. Version 3.5 includes compliance management features that support the documentation and management of laws and regulations, policies and procedures, compliance risk assessment, testing, and compliance reporting.Businesses can identify enterprise risks and link them to their operational processes and controls by using key performance indicators, key risk indicators and heat maps.

In the comics, all you have to do is get exposed to some radiation, don some tights, and everyone knows you're ready to take on the world.With accounting software, it's not that easy.

Our nostalgic cover aside, and despite the fact that the SaaS segment is evolving more rapidly than anyone could have envisioned even five years ago, hosted solutions still represent only a small fraction of the vast quantity of software products on the market.Distilling that vast quantity down to what we feel are the Top 100 Products requires an enormous quantitative and qualitative effort - and we've been doing just that for 15 years.

In addition to those products named in our Top 100 List, each year our editors spotlight a number of products that caught our attention - and deserve yours.* 1040Scan (SurePrep LLC): Scanning software that automatically inputs data from source documents directly into tax software, and also organizes and bookmarks source documents into PDF files.

HIGH-END/ MID-MARKET ACCOUNTINGACCOUNTMATE 7 FOR SQL

In the last year or two, the fog surrounding Sarbanes-Oxley software was finally starting to clear, with a number of vendor offerings focused specifically on compliance, primarily with Sections 302 and 404, on management's responsibility for certifying financial results and internal controls, and with the documentation and testing of internal controls.That split software applications into several basic groups - those that help to document processes and internal controls, software that tests the effectiveness of internal controls, and applications used in the audit test process.

Contact information for the vendors of the Accounting Today 2007 Top 100 Products and Ones to Watch.AccountantsWorld

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