Every so often, the death of the small software reseller is predicted.

The use of database systems to manage financial information is a common practice in today's accounting profession. Using database systems is an efficient and effective way to manage and store all sorts of information, from birth dates to sales figures to account balances.While the benefits of using a database system are numerous, people rightly wonder about the potential risk of using such systems to contain sensitive financial information. In the same way that a database can make your job more efficient, it can also make an attacker's job easier - by providing a wealth of sensitive information in one place.

SAGE UNVEILS TAX UPDATE FOR FASSage Software has unveiled its annual tax update release for its Sage FAS Fixed Assets product line. Sage FAS V. 2007.1 includes enhancements and a number of changes to assist with tax law, Internal Revenue Service compliance, and forms such as Form 4562.

Firms are starting to revisit the issue of sourcing, and rightfully so. The availability of quality talent in the U.S. continues to decline, and the technological requirements to leverage global resources are increasing in number, i.e., bandwidth and Web-based workflow tools.I must admit that I have been a proponent of globalization, even though I have not and do not currently have any financial interest in it. I have, however, spent time overseas for the express purpose of enlarging my worldview and capturing an informed opinion.

OPENPAGES RELEASES ENHANCED GOVERNANCE PLATFORMOpenPages, a provider of governance, risk and compliance management software, released its OpenPages Governance Platform 5.0, an upgraded solution that features operational risk management, financial controls and IT governance modules.

Acct1st Technology Group LLC, which began as a partnership between a Dallas CPA firm and a Seattle software development company, has forged a niche over the past four years as an accounting firm-centric vendor catering to CPAs and their clients.Through the unique management synergy and strategies of CPAs and software developers, Acct1st currently offers imaging, document management, tax workflow and client portals through internal or hosted systems. And its product suite, Acct1st EDRMS (an acronym for Electronic Document Records Management System) is designed to offer CPA firms a host of tax and document management products.

The figures looked familiar, but out of place. Things made no sense. Yes, I had moved from Windows 2000 and Office 2000 to XP Professional and Office 2003.This was unexpectedly difficult. Office 2003 was on my desktop machine at home. But still the laptop version of the Microsoft operating system for work looked and felt different. It was as if I had had a minor stroke and needed to relearn some cognitive and verbal skills.

Susan Sheridan-Austin, 51, passed away on Feb. 13, after a two-and-half year battle with brain cancer. Prior to her August 2004 diagnosis, she had risen to the post of general manager at Sage Accpac.She began her career in the accounting software industry in 1996, joining SBT Accounting Systems in Marin County, Calif., as vice president of marketing. Sheridan spent five years building a strong reputation with the SBT value-added reseller channel as a marketing wizard, and was invited to continue that role when Accpac (then a division of Computer Associates) acquired SBT in 2000.

In the business boom of the late 1990s, software for preparing business plans was itself a big business. With plenty of venture capital available, a good-looking boilerplate plan could mean the difference between a company being founded or an idea foundering for lack of financial support.Then the bottom fell out of the venture capital market, and business plan software languished, though the need for business plans for obtaining credit kept this application from vanishing completely.

SAGE LAUNCHES ACCPAC HR SYSTEMSage Software recently launched Sage Accpac HRMS, a new human resources management system for Sage Accpac ERP and Sage Pro ERP users. Based on the company's Sage Abra HRMS, the latest version is designed specifically for small and midsized businesses - offering attendance and training modules for HR management, benefits administration, information tracking, reporting and legislative compliance.

Market conditions are changing. There's a shortage of talent, regulation is increasing, and competitive forces are on the rise. How should firms position for the future when many have just experienced their most profitable year? What is the motivation to change?Advancements in technology and retiring Baby Boomers must also be considered. How do firms transform, and what are the steps that great leaders go through to ensure success? Paralysis often comes from having too many senior partners and not enough great leaders.

On the heels of its $1 billion-plus acquisition of online banking services provider Digital Insight, Intuit Inc. continued bolstering its niche offerings by inking a $142 million deal to acquire payments processor Electronic Clearing House Inc., or Echo.Under the terms of the agreement, the financial and accounting software concern will pay $18.75 per share in cash in exchange for each share of Echo common stock, including shares that are issuable upon exercise of options.

The best firms get better by improving their leadership and management skills. Many people and firms refer to leadership and management synonymously, but these represent distinct differences and skillsets. Both are very important.However, productivity is typically the measurement of highest value in an accounting firm. Individuals are regularly rewarded for their productivity, rather than the ability to leverage time and get results through others. The support and cooperation of others is necessary in order to accomplish significant goals.

NEXVUE SPINS OFF SOFTWARE UNITNexVue Information Systems, a provider of financial and business intelligence software for the mid-market, has spun off its software development unit and named John French as its chief software architect. French will lead development operations at the unit, which has been christened Bio Analytics Corp.

In 1990, the editors of a computer magazine planned for a tenth anniversary issue. One of the tasks: find out the prices of technology ten years before for some startling comparisons. The research provided the information that about 1980, a laser printer cost a half-million dollars. Or course, even in 1990, those devices were much cheaper. That kind of pricing collapse is not the exception in the technology market. It’s as close to a rule as technology products become more powerful; they also become much less expensive. A similar thing happened with the change from mainframe-based service bureau processing of tax returns. A colleague once related that an executive of such an operation confided that his company had expected prices to drop sharply with the adoption of desktop tax software. But the company couldn’t cut its own prices quickly enough to compete. Something similar is happening in midmarket accounting software, at the low end. A CPA who does reselling and consulting said he had just replaced a $400,000 system with $3,500 of software from Intuit, its QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions package. It’s not just Intuit chipping away at the bottom of that market. It’s also Sage Software pushing Peachtree Quantum, designed to keep Peachtree users from migrating upward in the same way QES was designed to hang onto QuickBooks users. From grumbling in the channel, it’s clear that Quantum is cutting into the number of users upgrading from Peachtree and MAS 90 while QES is cutting into the number of users moving up to about everything else. Intuit has been taking 12,000 units of a year away from the market and that is a sizable amount. Sol, it’s no surprise that resellers are moving upstream. The Sage channel is pushing MAS 500 and the Microsoft channel is moving towards Dynamics AX (formerly Axapta). Sage says sales of MAS 500 went up 17 percent for its year ended September 30, way above the level for the rest of the mid-market products. And what happens to the mid-market—it disrupts the Tier 1 players in exactly the same way.

What’s the most important skill that a technical support person can have? Technical knowledge? Knowing a product, whether software, hardware, or networking is important. But no one can know everything, anymore than any of us know all of the words in our language. What we do know is how to find the definitions in a dictionary. This is problem-solving, and beyond the essential technical knowledge, it is the one thing I have come to look for when I have spent time trying to solve a problem with computer technology. And I have spent a lot of time trying to solve problems with hardware and software over the last few months. In multiple attempts to establish a home wireless network, I have run into reps good and bad. It got to the point, that if the rep was not following the same process I had been through before, there was a good chance the advice I received was wrong. There were the people from LinkSys, which makes modem routers needed to broadcast a wireless signal, who finally admitted that the company was having problems synchronizing the model I had with the DSL signal. There was the DLink rep who confidently assured me that the steps she had recommended would work. They didn’t. The biggest problem came with Verizon, whose reps seemed very conversant with getting DSL up and running when it went offline, but had widely ranging skills in addressing the Wi-Fi System. The ones who most often went wrong were the ones who started making recommendations before they asked enough questions. The most difficult were those who simply refused to admit that the course they had recommended didn’t work, no matter how many times they insisted I try it. That went beyond Verizon. There was the lady on the Symantec help line, who refused to back up her recommendation that I enter a code to get my Norton Anti-Virus up and running—even though that clearly wasn’t working. She must have trained at the same school as one Verizon rep, who was helping with the problem that the Wi-Fi system could be detected by the receiving computer in our house, but the unit still couldn’t access the Web. After we went through a series of diagnostic steps, the following conversation ensued: “You need a PC card.” “Why?” “To receive the signal.” “No, I don’t. I have an adapter.’

Sage Software has unveiled its annual tax update release for its Sage FAS Fixed Assets product line.

Corporate performance management is garnering a lot of attention, as firms look to leverage technology to gain competitive advantage by focusing on critical financial and operational metrics.The standard guidance for success, such as top management sponsorship, end-user buy-in and careful scope definition, need no embellishment. This article offers some practical advice that can spell the difference between success and failure in a CPM implementation.

In today's market, innovation and security are the primary filters for investing in technology. It's not an easy job to simultaneously manage costs, risks, security and regulatory requirements while driving innovation and growth. Firms that simply spend their budgets on maintaining technology will fall behind, while those that invest in innovation and integration of systems will prosper.To whom technology leaders report will often predict a firm's long-term success, including its return on tech investments. Proper governance is critical, and firms that view technology as a strategic asset get much higher rates of return than those that view it as overhead.

Sage Software has announced the launch of Sage Pro ERP 7.4, the latest version of the company's business management solution for small and midsized businesses.The version includes several new features, such as an executive dashboard, a new desktop interface and two new modules - Return Merchandise Authorization and Request for Quote - as well as several improvements on the software's manufacturing-specific modules.