Perceptions and old habits are hard to break. In the CPA profession, training is associated with continuing professional education. However, in today's environment, training and learning are broader in scope for several reasons.Training reaches well beyond just the accountants and their CPE requirements. Yet firms still devote limited resources to training and learning while expecting employees to "get it on their own."

Beginning in April, end users will see extensions of Great Plains Version 8.0, and by the end of 2005, Version 8.5 will be available, along with Business Portal 3.0, according to Microsoft executives speaking at last week's Convergence 2005 confab. Jeff Young and Dave Coulombe told Convergence attendees that Excel integration with Great Plains will also be enhanced to include another level of functionality, such as deeper access to "slice and dice" data more quickly, and a more inclusive dashboard. A move towards more Web-centric features will also be apparent, as Version 8.5 will provide more Web and integration services to extended portal applications. The duo said that this upcoming release of Great Plains will also include automatic upgrades, a customizable home page in the Business Portal software, along with an Extranet page built-in, and a set-up checklist. A major crowd-pleaser at the meeting was the unveiling of a newer and more customizable Smartlist builder. The upgraded tool allows users to link to as many as 32 different pivotal tables. The next version after that -- 9.0 -- will be a bigger move towards the Web. The 2006 release will be a fully .Net-enabled application, said Coulombe. However, Doug Burgum, senior vice president for MBS, said in a separate question-and-answer meeting later that MBS has no plans as of yet to produce a browser-based software application. Burgum said that there was not enough demand for the products today to warrant the investment, and MBS didn't want to make current users feel that their server-based products were becoming obsolete just yet. "There may come a time in the future," said Burgum, but "we don't want to kill our own progress with visions of our future." By the winter of 2006, Great Plains 9.0 will be released, along with Business Portal 4.0. And two years down the road, Great Plains Version 10.0 and Business Portal 5.0 will be unveiled.

Despite the Securities and Exchange Commission giving the okay for companies to voluntarily file reports using XBRL, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. being poised to require quarterly call reports in the tagged data format, the United States still lags behind Europe, Asia and Australia in the adoption and implementation of the Extensible Business Reporting Language.Now more than five years old, XBRL is the financial reporting derivation of Extensible Mark-up Language, or XML - a framework that establishes individual "tags" for elements in structured documents, allowing specific elements to be immediately accessed and aggregated.

With a choice of features such as multiple-language settings and a large partner base of about 2,000, Navision is growing in the United States at a clip of roughly 30 percent, according to general manager Mogens Elsberg. Addressing attendees at this week's Microsoft Convergence 2005 confab, Elsberg said that the U.S. is expected to become the fastest growing and largest user nation of Navision applications in the coming months. Navision 4.0 -- rolled out in October-- is available in 30 different languages and has been shipped to over 23 countries. That number will extend to 42 come May 1, 2005, as another 19 countries are added to the list. And a total of 1,000 new users will be added to Navision's customer base. As part of Microsoft Business Solutions' Wave Map, Navision plans on sailing out Navision 5.0 by the end of the third quarter of 2005 during Wave 1. The newest version will utilize Microsoft's SharePoint and Business Portal server to allow non-financial users like sales managers and executive officers to see a selected view of the company online. The enhanced Navision will have shortcuts, allowing users to personalize their product, explained Elsberg, "This is what we mean when we say empower users." Plans for Navision 6.0, to be released in 2007 to 2008 in MBS Wave 2, could not be detailed as of yet, said Kati Hvidtfeldt, group product manager for Navision. Said Hvidtfeldt, "Nothing is set yet. It depends on what the technology trends are at that time."

Microsoft will establish a channel of resellers to serve a broad base of businesses with up to 25 employees. Details of the program will be spelled out later this year, said Orlando Ayala, senior vice president of small and midmarket solutions and partners. The program will be designed for Microsoft's "classic" VARs, who sell Microsoft networking and system products such as Small Business Server 2003. "We want the classic VARs to become more specialized," Ayala said in an interview at Microsoft's Convergence user conference, here. A Web-based small business center will be established to provide information to both VARs and the businesses they serve. Microsoft will segment the market by SIC code.

The Microsoft Convergence 2005 conference kicked off on Monday with keynote speaker and senior vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions Doug Burgum laying out the vendor's schedule for the near future. After a short history lesson on global trading and business, Burgum gave MBS's product road map for the next couple of years. Some of the new releases coming out between now and late 2006 include Great Plains Version 8.5 by early September 2005 and Great Plains Version 9.0 by the end of 2006; and Axpata 4.0, Solomon 7.0 and Navision 7.0 also in 2006. In 2008, Burgum stated, MBS will be releasing products with more modular process configuration, enhanced Visual Studio .Net tools, and a best-of-process library. But Burgum also said that with the inclusion of five years of tech support for new Microsoft ERP packages, upgrades will not be necessary until 2010. "There is no need for upgrades," he said. "Companies can move at their own pace." The central strategy, Burgum stressed, is to help users "build a better company" by providing rich functionality, low costs, and high adaptability with a more secure system. "Software is a backdrop to business," said Burgum, "and Microsoft is the best software company out there. We eat, live and breathe software." He also suggested, without relaying any specifics, that users will see more unstructured material like e-mail data become integrated with structured processes like financial reporting.

Electronic forms provider STF Services Corp. has entered into a marketing pact with online sales and use tax concern Avalara, to license STF's flagship SuperForm product. Terms were not disclosed. Avalara's AvaTaxST --which automatically calculates and reports sales tax -- will now include a forms utility that would create automated returns. Currently, AvaTax ST has four functional components: o Customer address validation; o Tax jurisdiction research; o Sales and use tax calculation; and, o Secure reporting for tax filing and audit purposes. "STF's interactive forms technology and years of experience in dealing with the myriad taxing jurisdictions will streamline the sales tax compliance burden with Avalara's system, and help deliver value to customers," remarked STF's president, Charlie Ter Bush, in a statement.

NetSuite Inc., a provider of hosted ERP and CRM applications, revealed its NetCRM-Services Edition. The CRM package can function as a stand-alone product or be integrated with other NetSuite software. Modified from its original version, NetCRM, NetCRM-Services Edition includes tools for project- or job-centered client management. The product is geared towards those companies that provide financial, consulting or legal services and need to track continuous data within a client's record. The company said that rather than being deal-focused, like its NetCRM, the new version will be client-focused. The software can be customized to fit a company's needs, and offers such features as service sales management, services item catalog, project/job tracking, a client self-service center, and service personnel-specific dashboards. Pricing for the new NetSuite product starts at $79 per user per month.

Movaris, a provider of financial control management and compliance software, has secured a $10 million round of financing from VC firms Adobe Venture and Granite Venture. Movaris said that the funding would go towards increasing personnel and the reach of their sales, professional services and development departments that deal with SOX and other financial control management applications. "Many public companies went through Sarbanes-Oxley once and did it manually," said Eric Keller, chief executive for Movaris. Today, "about 7,500 public companies have to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley now or by the end of this year." Keller said that these same companies "are looking to do it more effectively and efficiently this time through."

North 40 Systems, which provides practice management software, introduced a reseller initiative aimed at building partnerships with CPAs and accounting professionals for its Office Tools Pro product. The Office Tools Pro program offers professionals the opportunity to choose from the Authorized Reseller or the Authorized Trainers program. Office Tools Pro is a practice management package that includes contact management, time and billing, scheduling, document management, due-date reporting and project tracking. The software starts at $299 per user. To become an Authorized Trainer, the reseller must participate in an in-depth, online training session with their Office Tool Pro account manager and complete a certification exam. The annual reseller program fee is $200, but is waived for resellers in their first year. North 40 Systems hope to have approximately 100 authorized resellers and trainers by March 2006. Benefits to CPAs and accounting professionals include: o- Up to 40 percent commission on sales of Office Tools Pro software; o - The annual program fee is waived for resellers during their first year; o - Free support and training for resellers and their customers; o - A quarterly educational newsletter that includes corporate updates, technical tips, upcoming events and company news; and, o - An account manager to support each partner's needs.

Epicor Software Corp., a provider of integration software for mid-market businesses, earlier this month released Vantage 8.0 -- an ERP application designed for manufacturers. The company said that the product, can be used for multi-plant management, allowing firms to synchronize their manufacturing operations on a global basis. Built on an N-Tier architecture system, the product combines Microsoft's .Net and Web Services technology. The new application aims at providing end-to-end services from point of sale to delivery for PC users in a make-to-order or mixed-mode enterprise. "One of the benefits we saw in Microsoft .Net technologies was the ability to build applications based on an SOA that have either a smart client, or a browser-based user interface, or both," said Paul Farrell, vice president of worldwide research and development for Epicor. With an Outlook-style menu, right-click functionality and grid entry, the new product must be installed on a Windows 2003, 2000 or XP platform. The application can be used, however, on either a Linux or a Microsoft server. Created using Microsoft's Visual Studio .Net 2003, Vantage 8.0 can access any Microsoft-based smart client device, like a handheld bar code scanner.

Avalara, a sales and use tax software provider for small and midsized businesses, revealed a new enterprise resource planning product fully integrated with Version 8.0 of Microsoft's Great Plains. AvaTax ST is to be used in combination with Great Plains for sales and use tax calculation, mostly for companies that sell in a number of different tax jurisdictions. The new software will instantly validate customer addresses, and perform tax jurisdiction research so that the correct amount is paid and can generate remittance reports for further evaluation, said Rory Rawlings, president and founder of Avalara, in a statement. For companies who sell in multiple tax jurisdictions, the software will create a single specific tax schedule for all customers, rather than one for every jurisdiction. The software will take into account sales tax information, customer exemptions, product taxability, amnesties and sourcing rules. Avalara will be at the Microsoft Convergence Conference in San Diego, March 6 to 9, 2005, to further explain and demonstrate the product.

Tax and financial software provider Intuit Inc. said that a double-digit rise in general and administrative costs, plus higher research and development expenses, trimmed second-quarter profits by roughly 1 percent, to $147.3 million, compared with the prior-year quarter. For the period ended Jan. 31, Intuit said that systemwide revenue rose nearly 5 percent, to $662.6 million, compared with the second quarter of last year. Intuit also said that its latest quarter had a $1.6 million loss stemming from discontinued operations, copmpared to a loss of about $455,000 for its last fiscal second quarter. With regard to the performance of its business units, Intuit said that consumer tax revenue rose 9 percent, to $141.1 million; professional tax revenue hit $150.6 million, a drop of 4 percent, while its flagship QuickBooks product climbed 10 percent, to $222.3 million.

As most everyone knows, e-business is the act of conducting business on the Internet.

Business and financial software conglomerate Best has launched a comprehensive advertising campaign targeting its client base of roughly 2.3 million small and midsized businesses.

KINTERA NAMES SCHENCK TO ACCELERATE ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT: Kintera Inc., the company that bought Fundware from Intuit, has named Jim Schenck as vice president of accounting and membership to direct the development of the company's accounting solutions. His duties will include the architectural design and development of Kintera's accounting solutions, including the support and enhancement of Kintera FundWare for the nonprofit and government sectors. The San Diego-based company bought the Greenwood Village, Colo.-based nonprofit division, formerly known as American Fundware, from Intuit in an $11 million cash deal in December 2004. Intuit, which acquired the unit in 2002, put it on the block in August 2004, citing lack of sales growth as the main reason for the decision.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, along with the Securities and Exchange Commission's accelerated reporting guidelines, appear to be improving the accuracy of companies' earnings forecasts, according to a report by management consultancy Parson Consulting.The percentage of companies among the Standard & Poors 500 index that missed analysts' earnings-per-share projections by at least 10 percent fell to 29.7 percent in the 2004 third quarter - the lowest level since Parson began the quarterly study in the first quarter of 2003.

Many accounting firms funnel time, energy and money into products to maintain network security. However, despite the continued efforts to secure their networks, the biggest threat to these organizations frequently comes in the form of the uninformed computer users on the inside. A security program is only as strong as its weakest link - that is where the human element comes into play.

CPAs become creative when pushed to solve problems without their traditional resources, and their primary resource has been an abundant supply of affordable labor. That has changed, and firms must look at ways to do more with less, while maintaining or increasing profitability.

Open Systems, a provider of business management and accounting software, announced the appointment of Darlene McQueen as partner recruitment manager. McQueen has 20 years of experience in the accounting software industry, most recently with Accpac International, now part of Best Software. She held the position of business partner account manager for the New England region. She also served as director of sales and marketing at RealWorld Corp., where she was employed for 15 years. In her role at Open Systems, McQueen will be responsible for recruiting and developing a reseller channel for the OSAS and Traverse products. "Open Systems is a refreshing change for the VAR community. With the recent acquisitions and consolidations, I think the VAR community has been forgotten. Many VARs are looking for a place they can call home. My goal with Open Systems is to educate the vast VAR community to one of the industry's best-kept secrets," says McQueen. "What partner doesn't want a product that provides open-source, unlimited-platform support, the best margins in the industry, and a friendly voice at the end of phone? We have partner-friendly programs designed to provide all the key components necessary for a partner to be successful and profitable," she adds.