2009 Readers' Choice Awards

From the Jan. 2009 Issue

What a roller coaster 2008 has been! As we prepare to usher in the New Year filled with uncertain possibilities, there are several things we know we can rely on staying the same, and one of them is that technology will continue to play a core role in the modern tax and accounting practice. No longer thought of as only productivity-enhancing amenities, various technologies have taken on such key importance in firms that most simply could not perform their client engagements without it. This rings true for all types of client work, from write-up and trial balance, to tax preparation and planning.

So as we sit on the cusp of what is the busiest season for many professionals, now is the perfect time to announce the results of the 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards, which offer annual insight into the minds of tax and accounting professionals. With results in more than 30 categories of applications, hardware, services and other technologies, the Awards give professionals a way to express appreciation for the systems that help them in their practice. As usual, some of the findings are expected, but others reflect interesting potential trends.

It is important to note that The Readers’ Choice Awards are not a scientific survey, but rather an informal, web-based polling of the readers of the online and print editions of The CPA Technology Advisor and The NSA Technology Advisor. In essence, they amount to somewhat of a popularity contest that lets professionals vote for their favorite programs and other technologies. The vendors of these products and services were encouraged to campaign for votes, often using their own customer contact information to promote get-out-the-vote activities. The results in many cases are remarkable, particularly in the case of Drake Software, whose tax compliance suite continues to be strongly supported by its users.

The active support and voting by Drake users skews the awards noticeably away from actual market share in the areas of tax preparation, document management and website builders (the latter two because Drake includes basic systems with its suite), but that’s okay. That’s what the Readers’ Choice Awards are all about — rallying your base and getting them to vote. Likewise, users of AMS software voted strongly for the company’s W-2/1099 and after-the-fact payroll systems.

But while smaller technology vendors like these performed well in a few categories, the larger ones generally ruled the day, with Intuit’s domination of write-up and client-side SMB accounting systems, and CCH, Thomson Reuters and BNA’s control over areas such as practice management and tax research coming as no surprise. Emerging areas continued to show promise, especially document management, tax document automation and workflow optimization.

In addition to technologies focused on tax and accounting, the 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards also surveyed reader preferences in categories for general business devices and hardware like computers, cell phones, printers and scanners. And it is evident through our questions on post-tax season vacation planning that, despite the current U.S. economic situation, a vast majority of these financial professionals still plan on taking significant vacations later in the year, with upwards of 25 percent even planning to travel abroad. Perhaps they don’t see the gloomy conditions lasting too long, or at least are trying to keep a positive attitude and help “think ourselves out of the recession.”

The CPA Technology Advisor’s 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards are an opportunity for our readers to collectively voice their opinions on technology products and services that help them be more efficient, productive and profitable. Thank you to the thousands of professionals who voted in the 2009 Readers’ Choice Awards. We look forward to hearing from you again next year.