Microsoft Corp. has unveiled Microsoft Dynamics Snap - a collection of software programs that integrate with Microsoft Office 2003 to help users handle data and business processes.Microsoft's first set of releases from the Snap collection is a group of four programs specifically geared towards users of MS Dynamics AX 3.0 (formerly known as Microsoft Business Solutions Axapta) and customers of MS Dynamics CRM 3.0.

Tax and accounting software provider CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business, has attained Gold Certified Partner status in the Microsoft Partner Program for its CertiTax suite.CCH's CertiTax suite provides integrated real-time sales and use tax calculations that automate tax compliance for accounting and tax departments. Microsoft Gold Certified Partners receive benefits such as access, training and support.

Karl Grass was named vice president and general manager of Sage Abra HRMS and Sage Payroll Services at Sage Software, a manufacturer of accounting software. Grass will be responsible for overseeing the Sage Abra and Payroll Services for Sage throughout North America, and will report directly to Ray Jimison, vice president and general manager of Specialized Business Solutions.Formerly the vice president and general manager of Intuit's Professional Group in Dallas, Grass was also once a partner at defunct Chicago-based CPA firm Arthur Andersen LLP. His time at the former Big Five firm was spent mostly as general manager of Arthur Andersen Technology Enterprises, the firm's software-producing branch.

Warren Ullman and Timothy Hart, co-owners of Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based CPA firm Ullman & Hart CPAs, have not had a headache from a back-up issue in four years. Ever since they started using NetSuite, an online accounting software provider, their jobs have been made a little easier and their back-up duties have vanished."I can't think of anything I would change," said Hart. "It's one of their selling tools as an online provider. We don't have to worry about back-up, they worry about back-up."

"You don't have to know how to build the watch, but you had better be able to tell time."I made this statement when I acquired my first IBM personal computer. Not only has a lot happened with technology since that date, but the speed of change has increased significantly. Technology has the ability to excite you and cause you to invest too early, or the ability to lull you to sleep and resist change.

CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business and provider of tax and compliance software, launched seamless integration between its CertiTax product and Microsoft Dynamics enterprise resource planning solutions.

Spurred by a double-digit rise in payroll division revenues, payroll and benefits outsourcing provider Paychex Inc. posted a 23 percent rise in third-quarter profits, to $114.5 million, versus the year-ago quarter for the period ending February 28.

The projection of the composite application--an application that incorporates data from a variety of sources such as a financial software--looked very appealing.

NetSuite Inc., an on-demand business software provider, unveiled NetSuite-Software Edition, a version of its online flagship software system specifically geared for software companies.

For some time, ePartners stood for what was wrong with the merger and acquisition excesses that ran parallel with the excesses of the dot-com era.

SOCIUS BUYS CONSULTING FIRM: Midwest business and technology consulting firm Socius has acquired BC Technology Ltd., the consulting division of Bruner-Cox LLP.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

While flying cars, human transporters and robots that clean your house remain a long way off, palm-scans to get into buildings, fingertip readings to log on to a computer, and voice-recognition applications as a form of identification are already here.Authentication technologies - those that verify that individuals are who they say they are - are starting to advance to near science-fiction levels, turning remote workplaces from Dragnet into Minority Report.

TimePlus Payroll Inc., a provider of payroll, tax filing and benefit services, announced the acquisition of Los Angeles-based Payroll Perfect Inc.Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Many practitioners use the terms "practice management" and "time and billing" interchangeably.While these applications have some features in common, time and billing is actually a subset of the practice management application. Exactly where to draw the line separating the two isn't easy, simply because they have a lot in common. With each new product generation, the line slips even more, as time and billing vendors continue to add features and functionality.

Managers trump firms when it comes to the attraction and retention of people. Are your partners acting as managers?According to Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman in their book, First, Break All the Rules, employees leave managers, not companies. I believe the same is true for CPA firms. Employees leave partner/managers, not the firm.

The man sat cross-legged on the floor outside his room on the fourth floor on the Embassy Suites Hotel, a notebook computer in his lap.

A new report from research firm AMI-Partners, titled "Cashing in on the U.S. Small Business Accounting Market," takes an in-depth look at the prognosis for Microsoft Small Business Accounting.

CCH will hold its second annual user conference in Boca Raton, Fla., from Oct. 29 through Nov. 1.

AccountMate is in an odd position. It's a company that is small in a business that has largely consolidated.

AccountMate kicked off its 2006 partner conference in the North Bay on March 5 with president and chief executive David Dierke highlighting changes within the accounting software company and its products.