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ENGAGEMENT & TRIAL BALANCE Reviews For Your Firm Thomson Reuters — Engagement CS 2011 OVERALL RATING BEST FIRM FIT Firms that utilize PPC Practice Aids should consider this product. T e seamless integration with the PPC Practice Aids will allow for increased productivity and quality during the execution of engage- ment tasks. STRENGTHS • Integration with PPC Practice Aids • Integration with other T omson Reuters products, including 800-968-8900 document management and tax applications • Web hosted version available POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS • User interface & workfl ow may have a longer learning curve than some other applications SUMMARY & PRICING Engagement CS is a full-featured product that off ers some robust workflow/integration tools. If your firm is interested in inte- grating its engagement product with other products in the fi rm, Engagement CS needs to be researched. The distinguishing feature of this product is the integration with PPC Practice Aids. For fi rms using PPC Practice Aids, I recommend a close look at this product. PRODUCT DELIVERY METHODS: ■ ✔ On-Premises ■ ✔ SaaS ■ ✔ Hosted by Vendor BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTIONS ENGAGEMENT MANAGEMENT WORKFLOW & COLLABORATION INTEGRATION/IMPORT/EXPORT HELP/SUPPORT Read the full review of this product exclusively online at www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/10290921 CS.ThomsonReuters.com Specialized Tools Aid in Audit Engagements Audits are not the realm of only the Big 4 and other very large practices. Many small and mid-sized fi rms also off er A&A; services to their clients. But audits can certainly be complex and labor intensive, not to mention the considerable regulatory obligations that accompany them. With the right tools and services, such as those in this section, even small fi rms and sole practitioners have found audit services to be a valuable and highly sought aſt er off ering. institutions. Instead of relying upon name and contact information provided by the organization/client being audited, the offi cials are identifi ed, prequalifi ed and verifi ed by AuditConfi rmations, and must register and authenticate their own account with the online system. T is helps to reduce unoffi cial sign-off s, one of the most frequent methods of confi rmation fraud. T e system includes collaboration tools and functions for tracking the status of confi rmations. companies were able to certify bogus accounts and balances. With services such as Confi rmation.com from Capital Confi rmation, however, only authenti- cated offi cials at banks are able to respond to confi rma- tion requests, and Capital Confi rmation guarantees that these offi cials are authorized to represent, report and make such confi rmations. In addition to the security and assurance off ered Audit Confi rmations www.AuditConfi rmations.com AuditConfi rmations provides a web-based utility for directly verifying an entity’s account balances by contacting the institutions, lenders and other organi- zations that hold the business’ assets and liabilities. Because the system uses electronic communication, verifi cation and authentication tools instead of relying on paper-based processes and mailed forms, the program greatly streamlines these tasks, helps increase accuracy, and speeds them up dramatically. AuditConfi rmations is designed to give audit teams these productivity benefits, while also providing security features that ensure sign-off s come from appropriate authorities at the third-party banks and 14 August 2011 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com Capital Confi rmation www.Confi rmation.com Capital Confi rmation was the fi rst to develop a secure electronic confi rmation service, is used by most financial institutions in the United States and is endorsed by the American Bankers Association. T e system provides an alternative to the formerly labor- and paper-intensive process of account balance confi rmation that increases the accuracy and effi ciency of audit teams. Prior to electronic confi rmations, the methods used during audits were more at risk for fraud, and resulted in notable cases of fraud such as those at Parmalat, CF Foods, HealthSouth and others, where unauthor- ized persons within fi nancial institutions used by those by Confi rmation.com, the electronic confi rmation process also reduces the average time that auditors wait for a confi rmation request from more than a week to about two days, which signifi cantly improves the productivity of audit engagements and also provides the benefi ts of a paperless engagement. Confi rmation. com was a recipient of a 2009 Tax & Accounting Technology Innovation Award from CPA Practice Advisor. CaseWare IDEA www.CaseWare.com CaseWare is a well-known developer of technolo- gies that enhance the management processes involved in auditing, fi nancial compliance, risk assessment, and time and project management. Designed by auditors for auditors, the vendor’s IDEA system offers advanced fi nancial data analysis features that help mitigate fraud and ensure data integrity.