CPA Practice Advisor

FEB 2012

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

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Connector, available with a minimal sepa- rate licensing cost, off ers direct integration with Microsoſt Word and Excel. T rough CaseWare Connector, users may perform a majority of the engagement functions within the familiar interface off ered through Word and Excel and still maintain access to underlying information housed within Working Papers. Working Papers also directly integrates with PPC Practice Aids. T e PPC integra- tion provides connection to the engage- ment fi le data as well as access to Working Papers. Strong PDF features are included within Working Papers, including a built-in PDF generator. Users may also use the PDF generator to scan documents directly into the soſt ware and annotate on any PDF contained within the engagement. Working Papers includes full tax data export to most 800-267-1317 CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business – ProSystem fx Trial Balance ProSystem fx Trial Balance is the stand-alone trial balance off ering within the ProSystem fx product lineup. ProSystem fx Trial Balance is geared toward smaller accounting fi rms and sole-practitioners with a focus on tax return compliance and small bookkeeping and audit engagements. With strong import capabilities and fi nancial statement lines to aid in tax return and financial statement preparation, respectively. Accounts may be mapped individually or in batches. Users also have the ability to fully customize the tax and fi nancial grouping schedules. ProSystem fx Trial Balance supports reporting options as well as tight integration with ProSystem fx Tax, ProSystem fx Trial Balance provides an eff ective tool set to complete a variety of workpapers and tax returns. The interface of ProSystem fx Trial Balance is simple in design and maintains a spreadsheet style presentation for most data screens. T e trial balance home screen view is fully customizable and may be set to display a large array of columns, including prior year balances, current year unadjusted balances, adjustment columns for each type of journal entry made and various tax and fi nancial grouping sched- ules, among others. Each account may be mapped to specific tax code lines and 800-PFX-9998 virtually any journal entry type. All journal entries may be hard coded by hand by users that are familiar with the underlying client account numbers. Alternatively, users may rely on various menu options that guide users through the journal entry process. In either instance, journal entries are excep- tionally easy and intuitive to enter. Users may also create new accounts throughout the system and do not need to be on the home screen to start the process. One strong feature of ProSystem fx Trial Balance is the ability import data from nearly any accounting system, including Creative Solutions Accounting and the most recent versions of QuickBooks. ProSystem fx Trial Balance also has strong file import and conversion support for legacy products such as ATB and many older DOS based accounting systems. Traditional file import and conversion support is available for Excel, basic text, delimited fi les and copy-and-paste func- tions as well. ProSystem fx Trial Balance currently provides users access to over 70 reports. Most reports may be customized to fi t the needs of each client. Aſt er reports have been customized, users may save the reports as favorites for recollection at a later time. T ese reports may also be shared with other client fi les to prevent constant customiza- tion of popular reports. All reports may easily be exported to Excel for further manipulation or editing as necessary. Ratio analysis reports are included and allow comparison of up to fi ve years of data to help spot potential trends and/or problems. Perhaps the strongest feature of Pro- System fx Trial Balance is the tight integra- tion with the ProSystem fx Tax system. Full integration is achieved through the included Dynalink technology for business and nonprofi t tax returns. Dynalink pushes all data directly to the ProSystem fx Tax software and does not require any pre- populating or data fi le imports. Further, any changes made to the trial balance are automatically captured within the tax soſt ware. T is allows users to immediately see the eff ects of a journal entry inside the tax return. Support is also available for the Lacerte Tax and GoSystem Tax RS tax systems. T e support for these systems is not automatic though and requires users to manually import data fi les to initially populate the return as well as to account for any additional adjustments made. For accounting fi rms currently in the ProSystem fx product ecosystem, Pro- System fx Trial Balance provides a strong feature set to increase productivity. T e Dynalink integration will certainly save tax practitioners time performing tax returns regardless of complexity. Firms not cur- rently utilizing ProSystem fx products may still benefi t due to the strong import and fi le conversion features. T e ProSystem fx Trial Balance product is intended for smaller accounting fi rms primarily focused on tax compliance work. Pricing for ProSystem fx Trial Balance starts at $1,750 for a single user license that includes all noted features above and can be networked or used as a stand-alone system. Additional users can be added for $285 each major tax software vendors including ProSystem fx, UltraTax and GoSystem Tax. One other item of note is that, unlike most competitors, Working Papers allows direct integration with web based document solutions available from Microsoft and Google. HELP/SUPPORT Working Papers has an exhaustive list of help and support options available, most of which may be found through the drop down Help menu. T rough this menu users are provided links to traditional program help as well as web based links for online support options. The traditional help includes a table of contents and full searchable index. The web based links include a variety of manuals, get ing started guides and fully searchable frequently asked questions and knowledgebase articles. Short videos are located on the support website to introduce users to products and various features that are available. CaseWare also maintains a YouTube channel for Working Paper users. Live telephone and email support is available to users as well during normal operating hours. Due to the platform, Working Papers is supported through a variety of third-party vendors for training and add-on custom modules. CaseWare works with instructors across the country to develop in-house and online training courses. T ese courses are typically NASBA certified and are more hands-on and may be specifi cally tailored to meet users training needs. SUMMARY & PRICING CaseWare Working Papers is a fully com- www.caseware.com prehensive engagement management system and provides fl exible installation options. Built on a single platform, Working Papers is built for use by accounting fi rms of all sizes and client focuses and easily adapts to meet required needs. Working Papers is priced as an all-inclusive solution and multiple pricing options are available. For accounting fi rms, pricing for a single user desktop license is $500. A fi ve user network license is $1,500 with additional users priced at $290 per user. Annual renewal licenses are heavily discounted from original license costs. CaseWare Connector, an optional add-on that off ers direct integration with Microsoſt Word and Excel, is priced at $60 per user. www.cchgroup.com February 2012 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 17

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