2012 Review of Intacct

Intacct – Intacct Corporation
www.intacct.com
877-437-7765

From the May 2012 review of SaaS Small Business Accounting Systems.

Strengths:

• Has a strong ecosystem of third party solutions to meet most industry requirements.
• Customizable dashboards are very impressive, and provide an alternative to standard reports.
• Full integration between customer relationship management and payroll
• Supports any number of users, with strong user access control tools
• Relationship with AICPA/CPA2Biz has yielded integrations with other solutions
• Works in almost any web browser

Potential Limitations:

• Since the product has the sophistication associated with a middle-market solution, it may have more capabilities or options than some small organizations need.
• Limited capabilities to support manufacturing management
• More expensive than basic programs.

Best Fit: Organizations who need the sophistication and power of a mid-market accounting package. Accounting firms and value added resellers who want to run the system for their in-house general ledger, sell new services, and support their customers on the product. Ideal for businesses in a wide range of industries, although the organization should have an internal accountant or outsourced its accounting to get the most out of this powerful system.

Intacct is a full-featured business management solution for small and mid-sized businesses, and is clearly the most capable product included in this review. The Company’s successful, exclusive relationship with the AICPA and CPA2Biz has resulted in enhancements which are focused on key pain points for accounting professionals, as well as a number of relationships with large accounting firms. Intacct has programs for accounting firms, reseller partners, and third-party solution developers, and has a robust ecosystem of add-ins to meet a wide range of customer needs. The Company reports that it added over 100 partners in 2011, and news reports in early 2012 indicate that Intacct has been selected by Intuit as a recommended product for users who have outgrown QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions.

Basic System Functions - 4.5 Stars
Intacct is an attractive, robust application with support for a wide range of industries, including professional services, wholesale, retail, software, franchises, hospitality, healthcare, education, and nonprofit organizations. There is also a special version of Intacct designed for accounting firms, with custom dashboards for client groups and firm performance. The menus are straightforward and customizable, although the capability of the software results in Intacct having more menu options than other products reviewed.

Intacct supports most major PC and tablet based browsers, however the Company recommends Internet Explorer 8+ or Mozilla Firefox 4+, and will permit users to access the application with Google Chrome and Apple Safari 5+. The Fall 2011 product release added new support for Apple iOS devices such as iPhones and iPads, and Google Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy tablet and the Motorola Droid. Older versions of browsers are not supported.

Core Accounting Capabilities - 5 Stars

This product is clearly the most capable of those included in this review, and its accounting capabilities should probably be compared to mid-market solutions like Sage ERP MAS 90/200 and Microsoft Dynamics GP instead of tools aimed at simplifying accounting for the business owner. The product supports consolidations, multiple currencies, project accounting, has full integration with CRM and payroll, and supports multi-location inventory management. The database structure includes a multi-dimensional general ledger setup, which permits organizations to group the same data for reporting purposes into groups to meet different needs (e.g. line of business, geographical, branch, or division).

The product supports a wide range of industry-specific features, including revenue recognition, fund accounting, subscription management, project accounting, task management, time tracking, recurring invoices, and point of sale either natively or through integrations with third party applications.