Acct1st Technology Group, LLC — Acct1st

The development team at Acct1st has been working hard to continue to move the application forward in its breadth of features and functions. Their signature pricing model of $1.00 per user per day remains intact as the product continues to mature. Acct1st is built for accounting and tax practices. The system is designed so that you can effectively deploy it in a practice using any combination of accounting and tax software applications by leveraging the vendor’s Queue Enterprise integration tool.

Core Product Features & Functions

The Acct1st interface continues to get simpler, which is a good thing! The toolbar along the top provides one-click access to all of the core functionality. Files are retrieved using a search bar along the left side of the screen, and you can search on a variety of values: client, document type, etc. The document hit list will display multiple attributes, including the document type, title, date created/modified, version number, file holder and more.

A print driver is included to send output directly into Acct1st as a PDF file. Management reporting is available through the depth of the search tools and through the workflow module to track document information at the engagement level. Reports can be exported to Excel. There is no OCR functionality included with Acct1st, so this will need to be addressed with your scanning solution. 4.25

Integration

The integration with other application software is going to be handled primarily through the Acct1st print driver and through the use of Queue Enterprise integration tool, which allows you to develop customized imports of files from other applications. There are some pre-defined imports included for UltraTax CS, ProSeries, ProSystem fx Tax and Lacerte. The “Check-in to Acct1st” button is presented in the Office applications to facilitate storing documents directly into Acct1st. The system will support storage of any file type.

The workflow module offers a comprehensive solution for managing the flow of paperless engagements. The associated documents are linked directly to the workflow tool. A log of comments relating to the workflow is maintained so that you can easily get up to speed on discussions related to the engagement as it flows through the office. 4.5

Remote Capabilities

Acct1st is available for deployment as an on-premise solution or as a SaaS (Software as a Service) solution that is completely browser-enabled, facilitating anytime, anywhere access out of the box. The portal feature has two designs, one for on-premise deployments of Acct1st and one for hosted deployments. For on-premise, a new “portal synch” feature lets you replicate selected documents from the DMS database to the portal database. When you post a document to the portal, the client receives an email notification. Clients can also upload files through the portal. The hosted model simply extends the DMS to the portal by presenting the documents that you have selected and providing clients with a limited access login. 5

System Management

The system does a good job of providing security settings at the client, folder or document level. A complete audit log of all document activity is maintained. Version control tracks multiple versions of a document with date and time stamps and is available based on user permissions. A traditional method for tracking documents that are checked out for editing is also included. 4.5

Summary & Pricing

At $365 per user, per year for the hosted version, I think Acct1st provides a good value, especially considering the fact that it includes all of the server infrastructure and network management as a bi-product of the offering. Acct1st is one of those solutions that gets more attractive for firms that have not standardized on a single vendor application suite for their accounting and tax applications.

2010 Overall Rating 4.75