2011 Review of AccountantsWorld — Accounting Relief

AccountantsWorld — Accounting Relief
888-999-1366
www.AccountantsWorld.com/AR 

 Best Fit: Firms who want to bring both their practice and their clients onto a web-based accounting system that gives the firm greater control over data and the ability to monitor and control what their clients can do with their collaborative bookkeeping system.

From the Sept. 2011 Review of Client Write-Up Systems

AccountantsWorld offers several web-based programs specifically designed for accounting firms. Many of these applications are integrated into a firm’s website through a related product, Website Relief,

which allows clients and staff to log in from the company’s site. Accounting Relief is an online accounting system that includes a professional/firm side and online bookkeeping functions for the firm’s clients. The accountant has full access at any time to the live bookkeeping system because it is actually a small part of the larger firm accounting system. Clients use a program that is monitored and controlled by the accounting firm. This eliminates the need to transfer large data files, and offers additional client collaboration tools. Other programs available from AccountantsWorld include payroll, after-the-fact payroll, practice management, document management and website development tools.

Basic System Functions:

Accounting Relief includes full GL, AP, AR, payroll, client management and financial reporting utilities. The suite of applications provides alerts and other tools that assist practitioners with the management and performance of write-up services. Its most distinguishing feature is the way it combines a SaaS professional accounting system with interactive client bookkeeping. One way to think of how the system functions when deployed is as if the accountant’s client interactions were modeled as a bicycle tire, with the center being the core professional accounting system, and each of the spokes allowing clients access to smaller parts that serve as their business’ bookkeeping system.

Using this model, the accounting professional and the client are actually working with the same data at the same time, although the professional has access to far more functions and features and is able to control which functions and features the client can see and use. The accounting firm and its staff can use Accounting Relief to manage the books, write-up client transactions for the month, reconcile accounts, and process live or after-the-fact payroll for any number of client businesses. Additionally, the application can support any number of concurrent accounting firm users, with checkout features preventing overwriting of data, and the ability to customize the access rights of each staff member at the firm, including access to specific clients or functions.

When used as an integrated part of a firm’s website built with AccountantsWorld’s website builder, firm staff and customers log into the programs from the firm’s website. Clients see only the bookkeeping functions they’ve been granted access to, along with collaboration features such as document and data sharing tools, and newsletters and other information that the firm wants to share with its clients. Accounting Relief is sold only to accountants who can then offer the customized and collaborative bookkeeping module as a service to their firm’s clients for a nominal fee. For firm staff, the system can also display employee information, news, social media feeds, firm news and other data.