Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/255988
8 January/February 2014 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com REVIEWS: VIRTUAL CFO PLATFORMS Accounting Power is the new name for the collaborative bookkeeping and client write-up solution which is par t of the Accoun- tantsWorld Power Practice suite of applica- tions. STRENGTHS • Solid solution for production write-up and collaborative accounting with clients, and tightly integrated with the other solutions in the PowerPractice Suite. • Te product is designed for heads-down data entry and high volume processing. Accounting Power has utilities for importing most kinds of standing data and transactions, including import from the PC and online versions of Quick- Books, as well as Sage 50 US (Peachtree). • Puts the accountant in total control of the sofware, and user access can be set for each function and menu option. • Te product is only available for purchase from an accounting, bookkeeping, or tax professional, and no services are directly marketed to a frm's clients. • Te product includes many advanced features, such as multi-client dashboards, user-programmable alerts, advanced trial balance features, and job costing tools. • Te product includes features like job costing which are not natively present in any of the other products in this review, as well as a tightly integrated, robust payroll application (Payroll Relief ), a practice management solution (Practice Relief ) and a web-based document management system and client portal (Cloud Cabinet). POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS • Does not have direct integration for automatic fnancial institution/credit card transactions, although data exported from a bank can be manually imported into the sofware. • Like most other products in this review, Accounting Power does not support multiple currencies. • Add-ons for specifc business manage- ment needs, such as sales tax outsourcing, CRM, manufacturing, and inventory which integrate with the data in Accounting Power are not available. • User interface is a somewhat boring traditional website menu structure, which may look dry for those accustomed to products with embedded interactive advertising or options for additional features. SUMMARY AND PRICING Accounting Power is priced at $149/mo. (or $1,495/yr. in advance) with unlimited client access for frst year users. Renewal pricing is $99/mo. (or $995/yr. in advance), with client access priced at an additional $20/mo. per client. www.accountantsworld.com BEST FIT QuickBooks Online will most likely prove to be successful for many service-based small businesses and their accountants, as well as those who need a robust ecosystem of avail- able add-on applications. Te QBO ecosystem has a number of limitations, however, and may not meet the needs of manufacturers, contractors, those who handle multiple cur- rencies, and larger organizations who require more than a handful of proft centers. STRENGTHS • E x t e n s i v e e c o s y s t e m o f a d d - o n applications through the apps.intuit. com platform, and tight bank/credit card integration for data import from fnancial institutions. • Large base of users who are familiar w i t h t h e d e s k t o p v e r s i o n o f t h e application, including most parapro- fessiona l s w ho took book keepi ng courses in the last 15 years. • Includes tools for importing data from the desktop version of Quick Books, as well as the import of standing data using preformating spreadsheets. • C l o u d p l a t f o r m r e l i a b i l i t y h a s improved signifcantly over the last three years as Intuit migrated hosting to new data centers. • Strong multi-client capabilities with t he f r e e Q u ic k B o o k s O n l i ne f or A c c o u nt a nt s t o o l a nd a n b e nc h - mark ing tool ca l led Trends, which compa res f inancia l metr ics for t he active QBO company against anony- mized summar y statistics for others in the same industry group. POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS • Some advanced features of the on- prem i ses appl ic at ion a re m i ssi ng , including job costing and mu ltiple currencies (US only). Most users who need inventory management will have to subscribe to the most ex pensive Q u i c k B o o k s O n l i n e P l u s p l a n ($39.95/mo.) • M a n y c o m m o n b u s i n e s s n e e d s requ ire users to subscr ibe to add i- tional services (e.g. Mavenlink CR M, SOS I nventor y, Sma r tVau lt, E x act Online, etc.) • T he u s e r i nt e r f a c e s f or b ot h t he desktop version of Quick Books (Pro, P r e m i e r) a n d Q B O h a v e b e e n changed to make the user interface for t he t wo plat for ms more si m i la r i n 2013. Te applications are developed and maintained by diferent product teams, resulting in different imple- mentations of similar features. • Te product is due for some reporting enhancements in 2014, including a more robust report writer. Te popular Quick Books Statement Manager tool for creating f inancial statements in Excel does not work with QBO. • Intuit's cloud-based suite of applica- tions for accounting and ta x profes- sionals (e.g. Intuit Tax Online, QBO, QBO4A, Intuit Online Payroll) does not i nclude a plat for m for ma k i ng tax-only adjustments, a f xed asset and depreciation solution, a workpaper management tool, or a portal solution. SUMMARY AND PRICING QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Online for Accountants are respectable solutions for small businesses and the accounting professionals who ser ve them, but are not as robust as the related on-premises solutions in QuickBooks Accountant and other on-premises ver- sions of the product. Client fees for QuickBooks Online range from $12.95/month per company for the limited Simple Start version to $39.95/month per company for Quick- Books Online Plus. A wide range of payroll options are available from Intuit and many other providers. Integrated add-ons solutions are available online at apps.intuit.com, and are priced sepa- rately. The QuickBook s Online for Accountants application, as well as the QBO ProAdvisor Program are free for accountants with multiple paying cus- to m e r s , a n d t h e f re e m e m b e r s h i p includes training and a ProAdvisor cer- tifcation exam for QBO. More informa- tion is available at the Intuit Accountants website, accountants.intuit.com. www.intuit.com AccountantsWorld - Accounting Power Intuit QuickBooks Online & QuickBooks Online for Accountants Read the full review and see expanded ratings for this product online at: www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/11294660 Read the full review and see expanded ratings for this product online at: www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/11294678 cpa_6-9_VirtualCFO Review.indd 8 2/5/14 11:41 AM