2013 Readers Choice Awards: The Votes are In

by Isaac M. O'Bannon, Editor
Created:

Insight: For businesses dealing in sales to tax exempt entities, reporting is still a necessity, as is managing and maintaining copies of their exemption certificates. While these programs aren’t as widely used or recommended by accounting professionals, business in some industries rely on them to keep their reporting organized and automated. As with last year, Avalara’s AvaTax Certs was the clear favorite, with systems from Thomson Reuters and Vertex following.

  1. Avalara – AvaTax Certs 65%
  2. Thomson Reuters – ONESource Exemption Certificate Mgmt. 22%
  3. Vertex Inc. – Exemption Certificate Manager 9%
  4. Others 4

 

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Write-Up

Insight: Bookkeeping, journal and ledger management, correcting transactions, recurring transactions, after-the-fact payroll and financial reporting… These are the core functions of write-up, and they aren’t going away. Strong multi-client write-up systems are still a staple in professional accounting firms, with most practices using Accountant version of QuickBooks, whether because they favor it or because most of their clients are using other versions of QuickBooks, which makes data transfer generally simple. However, there are still many alternatives on the market. Following QuickBooks this year are Thomson Reuters and PC Software Accounting Inc..

  1. Intuit QuickBooks Accountant 57%
  2. Thomson Reuters Accounting CS 18%
  3. PCSAI Client Write-Up 17%
  4. Others Combined 8%

 

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Trial Balance

Insight: Trial balance is a core part of the bridge between financial management and taxes, and the market for trial balance systems continues to be dominated by a few key vendors. In this year’s voting, Thomson Reuters’ Trial Balance CS was by far the favorite, with CCH’s ProSystem fx Trial Balance and CCH Small Firm Services’ ATX & TaxWise Trial Balance systems following

  1. Thomson Reuters Trial Balance CS 61%
  2. CCH ProSystem fx Trial Balance 19.5%
  3. CCH Small Firm Service ATX & TaxWise 15%
  4. Others 4.5%

 

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Insight: For firms that provide audit services, significant attention must be devoted to managing processes and checklists. Engagement management systems are designed to streamline these functions, providing increased productivity, heightened managerial insight, and stricter controls. In this year’s voting, Thomson Reuters was again the favorite, followed by systems from CCH and CaseWare.

 

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Audit/Engagement Tools

Insight: In addition to systems designed for managing audit engagements, firms also often use specialty audit tools that aid in various tasks required during engagements. Some of the programs work well with each other, and they are not necessarily competitive, so voters could select more than one. The leaders were Thomson Reuters’ PPC SMART Audit Suite, Confirmation.com from Capitol Confirmation, and CCH’s Knowledge-Based Audit tools/Knowledge Coach.

  1. Thomson Reuters PPC SMART Audit Suite 49%
  2. Capital Confirmation Confirmation.com 21%
  3. CCH Knowledge-Based Audit tools/Knowledge Coach 18%
  4. Others 12%

 

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Insight: More and more firms are taking back their client payroll, because new programs, most of them web-based, are making managing payroll much more automated, less tedious and a better revenue stream than it once was. Plus, it strengthens the client relationship and helps them avoid potential penalties. There are so many payroll systems on the market, but our readers definitely have their favorites. Once again this year, the After-the-Fact Payroll system from AMS was out in front, followed by QuickBooks’ Payroll Enhanced for Accounting Professionals, Thomson Reuters’ Accounting CS Payroll, Intuit Online Payroll, PayChex and RUN, Powered by ADP.

 

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Budgeting/Forecasting & Business Intelligence Tools

Insight: Professionals often turn to specialty programs for various engagements, particularly financial reporting, cash flow management, business planning and benchmarking. In this year’s voting, readers selected Thomson Reuters Financial Analysis CS as number one, followed by Sageworks ProfitCents, Sage Business Intelligence and Active Planner, CCH ProSystem fx Profit Driver and Tableau Software’s business intelligence solution.

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