INTUIT TAPS SCHAR AS VP, CMO: Intuit Inc. named Procter & Gamble veteran Mark Schar to the post of senior vice president and chief marketing officer of the financial and tax software provider.In that role, Schar will lead the company's efforts to acquire new customers and will be responsible for product marketing efforts - including Internet and direct marketing - advertising, customer research, business development, and communications.

I am a student of the topic of leadership, mostly because my career calling requires it, but also because it is so difficult to define and impossible to master. By turns, leadership is hard to define, teach and quantify, but also easy to spot, be inspired by and follow.In public accounting, leadership has become an increasingly popular topic, as the entrepreneurial leaders who formed so many thriving practices begin to seriously contemplate retirement, only to be faced with the big question - who will lead this practice in my absence?

CCH, a provider of tax and accounting software and services based here, has, via a licensing agreement with 10-K Wizard Technology - an online provider of Securities and Exchange Commission filings - given its Accounting Research Manager customers access to SEC Edgar listings via a new feature titled 10-K Lookup. Terms of the pact were not disclosed.ARM is CCH's proprietary online database of accounting, auditing, SEC and governmental authoritative literature and interpretive guidance.

Marilyn Sudbeck, a Denver-based CPA with her own firm, worked in retail management for 17 years. As an accountant for retailers, today she finds a variety of benefits to installing point-of-sales systems for her clients - and the benefits to herself as their CPA are just as noteworthy."The reports are much more precise, more accurate," she explained. "The clients have a better handle on their inventory - it's an expensive thing for a retailer to carry inventory they don't need. Now they can tell what's selling and what's not selling."

Firms are investing heavily in digital document management, in the hope that they will receive a significant return on their investment. Some will be disappointed and frustrated, due to the fact that they did not do enough planning and thinking up front.Don't misunderstand: The investment is necessary and the benefits are huge - if your firm approaches the project properly. Electronic documents are growing exponentially in firms, and the main reason for this is that they can. The technology is affordable and easy to use.

Net@Work, a provider of business software and a Best reseller, has acquired New York competitor American European Consulting Company Inc. - a Best Premiere Accpac provider.

RIA, a provider of tax compliance software and research, has partnered with SurePrep, a tax productivity and outsourcing concern to sell its proprietary SurePrep Express to RIA GoSystem clients.

Best Software, a business applications provider, this week unveiled its latest FAS application.

Blackbaud, provider of software for nonprofits, has partnered with Northwest Software Technologies to provide an integrated fundraising and auction management solution.

NetSuite, an online business software provider, has doubled its employee and customer base in Canada in the last six months.

Financial management and compliance software provider Movaris has released Version 8.1 of its flagship Movaris Certainty -- an upgrade that includes a series of functions to allow for changes in user management.

Online business applications provider NetSuite plans to unveil a new customer relationship management application in June.

SERENIC LAUNCHES NAVIGATOR 4.0: Financial management software provider Serenic Corp. has unveiled Version 4.0 of its flagship Serenic Navigator product for nonprofits.

When the former chair of Enron, Kenneth Lay, sent e-mails to his staff assuring them that the company's future was sound, he probably never thought about how these pieces of unstructured data could one day be used to indict him on 11 counts of fraud.

Redmond, Wash. - Officials at Microsoft said that independent software vendors would play a key role in the planned fall launch of its Office Small Business Management Edition.

Time and billing software was one of the first applications to make the leap from paper to PC, with the earliest forms appearing in 1979. Normally, this is a simple and straightforward process - record the time, send the bill, track the receivables - that doesn't require much change from year to year.Until now.

Education and training have always been an important part of the accounting profession.

Nowadays, communications plays a larger role than ever in strengthening customer service, as well as bottom-line results, yet not every accountant has the right system to meet their needs.

San Mateo, Calif. - Veteran Intuit executive Jay O'Connor was appointed vice president of worldwide marketing for NetSuite Inc., a provider of on-demand business software.

Microsoft Corp. has named Chris Liddell as its chief financial officer, replacing long-time executive John Connors, who left the company last month.