Vertex introduced its Vertex O Series Retail Solution, which provides sales tax calculations across various channels, including brick-and-mortar stores, Web sites and catalogs.

The congressional delay on extending provisions of the Alternative Minimum Tax will likely not impede Intuit's ability to get its tax software out on time, according to senior vice president Brad Smith.

NetSuite has kicked off the auction for its initial public offering of 6.2 million shares on the market.

Cosmi Corp. introduced a consumer tax prep package to compete with Intuit's TurboTax and H&R Block's TaxCut, with the help of CCH tax experts providing information and support.

Electronic tax prep provider Orrtax Software Solutions has released its 2007 IntelliTax Program and Setup package for professional tax preparers.

As Washington struggles to fix the alternative minimum tax to prevent it from spreading to an estimated 23 million taxpayers, consumer tax prep software vendor 2nd Story Software is offering a peek at how the AMT would affect tax returns prepared under either scenario with its TaxAct software.

Sage Software said it reached $1.01 billion in revenue in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2007, a 54 percent increase over last year.

MYOB introduced MYOB Premier Accounting 2008, its new small business accounting application for Windows.

Sage is putting its money where its corporate mouth is, and in a way that’s a departure from past practice.

Avalara aims to make the process of calculating sales tax less taxing and more relaxing.The company is so serious about their message that they’ve adopted an island theme for their exhibition booth at technology trade shows, complete with tiki-hut-like decorations and margaritas.

ACCOUNTANTSWORLD BRINGS ACCOUNTING RELIEF TO WEBAccountantsWorld has released its Accounting Relief software with Web 2.0 features that allow accountants to collaborate with small business clients.

Innovation and technology are powerful forces in commoditization. Harvard economist Joseph Schumpeter coined the term “creative destruction,” a process that involves several stages, beginning with emergence and moving on to growth, status, and a depleted industry.It doesn’t take long to think of several industries that have moved through these stages. Some have transformed themselves to stay relevant, while others have expired. The lifecycle is much shorter now, and commoditization is occurring at an increasing rate. The accounting profession is not exempt.

CCH debuted a Web-based tool designed to find local incentives that can reduce income, property, and sales and use taxes, as well as identify enterprise zones and non-tax financial incentives.

The Bonadio Group accounting firm has released a business intelligence and performance management system aimed at CPA firms.

Copanion released GruntWorx, a Web-based application that captures and organizes tax return documents and data from clients.

Accounting firms need to become more intelligent businesses by better leveraging the time and knowledge of their professional staff, according to a survey released at the CCH user conference.

Most accountants have stopped worrying about their clients bringing bookkeeping in-house. Even with a client performing their own bookkeeping, there's plenty of work that only an accountant can perform, including making adjusting and closing entries, and producing compilation and review reports.In many firms that prepare tax returns for their clients, write-up software is used in lieu of a trial balance application to prepare the client's data for tax processing. Between these engagements, and the clients who would still prefer that you perform the bookkeeping, there's still plenty of need for a good write-up application in many practices.

While partner value and compensation continue to be topics that attract considerable attention at firm summits and practice management conferences, fear of the unknown often trumps any motivation for change or improvement.The Balanced Scorecard - which connects compensation to a firm's objectives - has emerged within many firms during the past few years, but some still resist any new approach. There must be a compelling reason to change, which usually results in winners and losers.

CCH DEBUTS NEW CORPSYSTEMRIVERWOODS, Ill. - CCH has introduced CorpSystem, a line of software for corporate professionals who do tax and accounting work.

Technology Group International has upgraded its enterprise resource planning software, Enterprise 21, with user interface improvements and extra features.