Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/528834
8 June/July 2015 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com FEATURE Te awards were presented on Monday, June 1 by CPA Practice Advisor during a reception and ceremony at the California Accounting and Business Show & Conference at the LA X Hilton in Los Angeles. THE 2015 WINNERS ARE: Avalara CertCapture Avalara, Inc. A change in IRS regulations under FATCA has caused us to reexamine how W8/W9 forms have been col- lected. No longer can we just accept the vendors tax ID number and fle 1099/1042 forms accordingly. Te IRS has announced audits will b e g i n o n t h e b a c k u p paperwork to show compli- ance with the full process. Te Avalara W8/W9 system allows companies to do mass mailings, catalog collected forms, build reports and also track expirations. Te key feature that improves efciency is the online web portal that walks a vendor through the compli- cated W8 forms asking simple questions to allow them to complete exactly what is needed. No longer are they calling the requesting company and asking them how to complete the form (which they most likely do not know either) and they no longer need to review the complicated and overly detailed IR S regulations/ instructions. A n automated solution for completing and col- lecting W8/W9 forms will ensure compliance with the new FATCA reg ulations, reduce paper work, and i mprove t he vendor e x per ience by accelerat i ng onboarding and payments. Tis is a signifcant new addition to the Avalara CertCapture product suite, extending the functionality beyond core Exemption Certifcate Management automation capability and assisting tax and accounting professionals with other compliance issues. Expensify Expensify Inc. Expensify's patented SmartScan receipt OCR transcrip- tion technology that auto-matches receipts to imported transactions has transformed what modern expense management looks like. Te efectiveness of expense management sofware h inges on t he employee's w i l l ing ness to use t he product. Tat is why Expensify's innovative design and simple end user experience is valued on par with its industry-leading technology. While most products in the space were built to be sold, Expensify was built to be used. Users ofen thank them for increasing the eff iciency of their ex pense reporting process; for example, SmartScan reduces the amount of time it takes to do expense reports by automating what used to be a manual, data entry process. As a result, companies are more efcient in how they do their expense reports, from frst expense to reim- bursement. A testimony to Ex pensif y's simple yet powerf ul nature is the range of customers ser ved. Expensify works equally well for solo-preneur CPAs as it does for accounting departments in the Fortune 500. Te product is thoughtfully structured to only expose as much complexity as the end user wants/needs without stifing functionality. "Expensify ofers an amazing product that com- pletely disrupts the old model of expense reporting," said Doug Sleeter, founder of Te Sleeter Group. "Its slick interface and ease of use makes it a no-brainer decision to use it in your business. Your employees will love it!" FileThis Pro FileThis, Inc. FileThis Pro is a new cloud-ba sed ser v ice aimed at streamlining the gathering, organizing and sharing of fnancial documents from clients for time- crunched accountants, CPAs, bookkeepers, and other busy tax and fnance professionals. Te customizable service ofers tax and accounting pros a revolutionary new way to help their clients with organizing their tax Awards Spotlight Innovations in Tax & Accounting Technologies By Isaac M. O'Bannon S uccessful business leaders and their accounting profes- sionals are increasingly turning to cloud-based solu- tions to help achieve greater productivity and proft- abilit y, both more necessar y than ever in today 's competitive environment. The winners of the 12th annual Ta x & Accounting Technology Innovation Awards, all cloud-based solutions, are examples of this new reality of on-demand information and business agility. Tis year's Innovation Award recipients include systems for expense management, business planning, document management and sales tax automation.