Today, most firms realize the importance of marketing and are more than willing to invest in various activities to drive growth. In accounting, this anxious desire to jump in and "do something" often leads to opportunistic growth, in directions unintended by firm leadership.In this article, we'll focus on the key elements of marketing that will drive your firm's strategic growth and profitability. These are commonly referred to as the Five Ps of Marketing, and are listed below in my suggested priority order.

Intuit Inc. announced last week that its QuickBooks: Online Edition has 110,000 subscribed companies, with more than 270,000 individual users.

Everyone needs to laugh, especially when spending nearly a week on the verge of exhaustion in back to back meetings at a conference far away from their offices.

Web-based business management software company NetSuite Inc. has unrolled its first mobile customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning offering.

As part of its annual partner conference, Insights 2007, Sage Software launched a new version of its SalesLogix customer relationship management system.

Stephen White, director of sales and marketing for CPA and business advisory firm Aronson & Co. in Rockville, Md., has a rule for his department when it comes to their Web site strategy: If a visitor can not find the information they are searching for in three clicks or less, it's time to revamp the design.It's no secret that a Web site is instrumental in any solid marketing plan, but how accounting firms use these tools runs the gamut from a static page with basic information, to a more sophisticated approach incorporating multimedia techniques such as blogs, podcasts and webinars.

Managing firm strategy is synonymous with change management. Does your firm have a strategic plan? Do you share the plan with everyone in the firm, as well as with clients and vendors?If not, why not?

Sage Software has rolled out new versions of Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200, the company's enterprise resource planning software geared toward small and midsized companies.New functions of Sage MAS 90 and 200 include the introduction of Business Insights Explorer, an analysis tool that helps users access their data in real time through a single point of entry; a new user interface for the accounts payable module that includes a dual-grid entry screen and personalized report settings in an effort to give more control to the end user; and integration with the company's three customer relationship management systems and other business management applications from Sage.

NET@WORK BUYS CONNECTICUT VARNEW YORK - Net@Work, a regional New York Accpac and MAS 90/200 and 500 reseller, has acquired Apptech Inc., a Cheshire, Conn.-based consulting firm specializing in Sage Pro ERP (formerly SBT/Accpac Pro Series) sales and support. Terms were not disclosed.

Software products can be as hard to kill as a cockroach. Consider DacEasy.

Sage Software’s U.K.-based parent company, the Sage Group, reported revenues of $1.12 billion for its half-year, which ended March 31, an increase of 34 percent over the same period a year ago.

Though you wouldn't know it from the software, there are serious changes underway in the market for nonprofit accounting solutions.The software itself has shown only small, incremental improvements in the past year, largely because 2006 was a year of heavy development and major upgrades for most of the major packages. But in the not-for-profit sector, a number of issue are stirring:

SAGE TAPS SIMMONS AS VP OF ABRA HRMS UNIT

Not-for-profit organizations face a number of challenges not found in the typical business environment, particularly with respect to cash flow management and budgeting.

Management is a term that means many different things to accounting professionals.

Business management and accounting software provider Open Systems Inc. has released the newest version of its proprietary Traverse.

It's little wonder that in many accounting firms, time and billing is still one of the most critical applications, as well as the one most likely to be neglected. The reasons for this importance are underscored by the name of the application itself.While you might argue that it's the expertise of your staff and the product that you sell, the actuality is that what the client pays for is the time your staff spends on their behalf. Value billing is a great concept, but even after all these years of trying to move clients over to this method of billing, many clients still want to see how much effort, in the form of time, is being spent on their account.

RESELLERS ANNOUNCE MERGERBlytheco Business Solutions and Macdonald Consulting Group, two high-volume Sage Software resellers, have merged to form Blytheco LLC.

Digital systems have breakpoints just like paper-based systems. Over the past 10 years, the requirements and capabilities of firm systems have changed, yet processes and people often have not made the necessary adjustments to leverage the available technology.With technology advancements always on the horizon and Microsoft's release of a new operating system and upgrade to Office 2007, firms should think about where they are today and where they want to be within three years.

Sage Software has rolled out new versions of Sage MAS 90 and Sage MAS 200, the company’s enterprise resource planning software geared toward small and midsized companies.