2012 Readers’ Choice Awards

Insight: We’ve all heard or used the term, “American is built on small businesses,” and one of the core requirements for any type of small business is payroll. There are literally dozens of payroll options on the market, from completely outsourced client DIY systems, to completely firm-based, to hybrid versions in between that take much of the tedious work out of processing and compliance and allow collaboration between firm and client. In our annual review of payroll systems, we discuss the benefits of each of these types of systems, as well as what types of firms and clients they are best suited for. In this year’s voting, AMS once again led the field, but was more closely challenged by Intuit’s QuickBooks Payroll Enhanced for Accounting Professionals. Rounding out the top of the list were solutions from PayChex, Intuit Online Payroll, Thomson Reuters, ADP and CompuPay.

See our 2011 review of Professional Payroll Processing systems at: www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/ 10318407.

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Budgeting/Forecasting & Business Intelligence Tools

Insight: There are many specialty tools that tax and accounting professionals use in their firms to aid in their engagements, whether for financial reporting, cash flow management, business planning and benchmarking. While this field varies greatly, there are some technologies that some professionals really stand by. This year the voters selected Reinvent Data’s TopCAATs system first, which adds audit-focused tools to Excel. Following were the SageWorks ProfitCents financial statement system, Thomson Reuter’s Financial Analysis CS and Sage Business Intelligence.

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Business Valuation

Insight: Establishing the correct value of a business entity is essential when planning for a sale, transfer of a family business or in support of litigation. Although not a widely-practiced specialty, it’s one that some firms have found great success in, and several programs are available specifically to address business valuation functions. The Thomson Reuters PPC Business Valuation Specialist once again led the field among voters with a preferred product, with MoneySoft placing second and systems from NACVA and ValuSource tying to finish out the top four.

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Practice Management/Time & Billing Systems

Insight: Value-based pricing is catching on, but effective time management can still be an essential tool for productively managing the workflow and efficiency of your practice. Sage Timeslips led the voting in this year’s awards, just ahead of Thomson Reuters’ Practice CS. Next up were CCH’s ProSystem fx Practice Management, Office Tools Pro, ImagineTime, AccountantsWorld and TPS Software.

See our 2011 reviews of Practice Management and Time & Billing systems at: www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/10294100 and www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/10346630.

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Time Tracking & Attendance Tools

Insight: In addition, or sometimes as an alternative, to full practice management or time and billing systems, sometimes firms want a simplified time and attendance system, either for themselves or to help their clients. This was a new field last year, and has grown a bit this  year, with the QuickBooks Time Tracker add-on coming in first, followed by systems from SwipeClock, Wasp Barcode and Chrometa.

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Online Invoicing/Bill Payment Solutions

Insight: Paper-based invoicing invites trouble, whether from misplaced bills, misplaced checks or missed due dates. The new breed of online invoicing and payment options, whether used in-firm or by a small business, enable greater control and management of these processes, with a lot less work and headaches. This is a new category this year, and LessAccounting.com led in votes, followed by Bill.com, Sage Billing Boss, FreshBooks and B2Bee.

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Client Portals

Insight: Client portals have quickly become an integral component of client communication and collaboration, but they’re quickly evolving into much more. Among the latest developments, portals can integrate with the professional’s programs and also allow the firm to offer clients access to not just documents and files, but also web-based programs for bookkeeping and productivity. The leaders in votes this year

See our 2012 review of Client Portals at: www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/10457012.

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Document Management & Document Storage