Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/123770
Reviews For Your Firm TAX COMPLIANCE: ADVANCED WORKFLOW REVIEW SECTIONS CORE PRODUCT FUNCTIONS/ FEATURES • Product depth/multi-state • Navigation/ease-of-use • Support for special situations • Analytical Review • Electronic Filing INTEGRATION • W/in Publisher's own suite • W/tax research tools & guidance • W/other or external programs • W/practice management • W/external services PAPERLESS WORKFLOW • Paperless creation • Paperless open items • Paperless review • Access control for limiting access into returns • Digital document storage/ management • Data import/output REMOTE CAPABILITIES • Portal • Remote access • 1099 depot • Outsourced document prep • Hosting • Web-based Steven Phelan Steven is a tax manager for North Bay Associates, a family group ofce, and manages a tax and technology consulting practice in Oklahoma City. He has served on the Board and has recently served as chairperson for the Oklahoma Society of CPAs' (OSCPA) Technology Commitee. Steven has given numerous presentations and training sessions on various technology topics for the OSCPA and other organizations throughout Oklahoma. 12 The 'Busy Season' That Almost Wasn't A s we wrap up another busy season, we have the chance to catch our breath and reflect on the past few months. When thinking about the beginning of 2013, many of us recall the fear of the unknown on various tax guidance and advice we had given the previous year. Tankfully most of this guidance was remedied in early January as a variety of anticipated changes and extensions to the tax code came to pass. Today's tax and accounting vendors need to be efcient and proactive about changing user needs and tax laws. Tis year, they deserve praise for delivering updated products quickly afer the new laws were enacted. With few exceptions, the tax vendors were forward thinking to include anticipated changes and quickly adapted as the code and forms were fnalized. Adapting to Current Trends As technology changes and is widely adopted, vendors must adapt as well. Te advanced tax workfow compliance systems reviewed in this section are all compatible with Microsof Windows 8 and recent versions of Microsof Ofce. Touch technology is still rather sparse for tax sofware however. With the Internet being a key component of our work lives today, many vendors are modifying their products to work in a web-based environment. Not all vendors are treating this modification the same, however. Some vendor are providing programs built exclusively as web-based solutions, while others are simply hosting the desktop version on a virtual server. Regardless, traditional desktop sofware is still available in most instances, so tax professionals have a number of viable options to choose from to fit their current and near-term needs. Other current technology trends May 2013 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com focus on fling requirements. For tax year 2012, the IRS is requiring all electronically transmited returns to be on the Modernized e-File (MeF) platform. Most vendors have been developing their electronic fling systems to integrate with the MeF platform over the past few years. Tis year all vendors have converted to this new platform which may result in additional data entry that historically has not been required. Diagnostic systems also help inform users of potential issues and additional or diferent requirements. TODAY'S TAX AND ACCOUNTING VENDORS NEED TO BE EFFICIENT AND PROACTIVE ABOUT CHANGING USER NEEDS AND TAX LAWS. Vendors are also enhancing the interfaces used to display electronic return fling status. Tax professionals now have more information displayed to them and keep them up to date. Tax vendors are also introducing web interfaces to checkup on electronic fling status. These sites can generally be accessed on-the-go from any Internet connected device with a browser, including smartphones and tablets. Import and Integration is Key Data entry efciency is a focus of current year releases. Although manual data entry screens remain unchanged from prior years, integration points continue to improve. All of the advanced tax workflow systems reviewed in this section area part of a broader vendor suite, and ofer integration with other accounting and practice tools. This allows changes in one product, an address or email address, for instance, to be changed in one product and refected in all other products in the suite. The uniform interworking is also apparent in importing trial balance and fxed asset data. Continued support for third-party import is improving as well and most data entry may be imported through Microsoft Excel or CSV file formats. This import capability may drastically reduce the amount of time spent on data entry and allow more time to focus on tax planning and guidance aspects. Tax research is another key integration point. Te tax compliance systems reviewed each have integration with their respective tax research oferings. Tis integration is now advanced to the point where research is automatically focused based on the data input or tax return form currently in view. This allows users to directly log in and access pertinent information with minimal additional efort. Tax compliance is an involved process and we are reliant on vendors to help us along the way. Tough tax systems are geting more complex in their development, the data entry required by tax professionals is lessening. A variety of tools are now being integrated to reduce manual data entry eforts. Tis will ultimately reduce the time spent on the preparation side of tax compliance. Compliance systems are also maturing to work not only on the desktop but also on the go. As technology changes and as the profession changes, tax vendors are making thorough eforts to converge the two. ● For more professional tax software reviews, see page 16.