CPA Practice Advisor

SEP 2011

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

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PAYROLL Reviews For Your Firm Cougar Mountain Software — CMS Professional 2012 Payroll 2011 OVERALL RATING BEST FIT Users who want an on-premises applica- tion for processing large payrolls and those who use other Cougar Mountain Soſt ware off erings. It's also a good fi t for those who want to prepare and transmit their own payroll tax fi lings or outsource to a third party (Aatrix). STRENGTHS • Supports unlimited number of busi- nesses with multiple department codes, pay frequencies & job costing data, as well as custom fi elds. • Tight integration with other CMS modules; however, integration with other packages not natively supported. • Custom reporting & branding of reports with add-on module. • Supporting documents can be at ached to the master records, i.e. PR employees, from within the applica- tion. POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS • Internet-based employee & company portals not supported. SUMMARY & PRICING Although Cougar Mountain Soſt ware licenses its software to a number of wholesale and nonprofi t businesses, CMS Professional Payroll provides functionality for any business type. Cougar Mountain Soſt ware prides itself on the service and support off ered to its customers as well as the tight vertical integration of its products. Payroll can be purchased with CMS Professional or as a stand-alone product. Single-user licenses start at $699 with four-user and unlimited user licensing starting at $899 and $1,149, respectively. All licenses also come with the ability to upgrade to Cougar Mountain Soſt ware's Soſt ware Assurance program. Service fees for any Aatrix subscription services are not included with the above pricing and are billed separately. AccountantsWorld — Payroll Relief 2011 OVERALL RATING BEST FIT Any accounting fi rm that wants to off er payroll services directly to their clients. T is cloud-based payroll service is private- labeled and can be confi gured to meet the needs of diff erent clients. It is also a good fi t for fi rms that would like to work with a web-based suite of tax & accounting fi rm tools. STRENGTHS • All-inclusive with features such as direct deposit, federal & state elec- tronic fi ling, & employee self-service portals at no additional charge. • Client-facing websites can be rebranded to show the fi rm's logo, as well as client company logo. • Control of tax fi ling & paying process, as well as the multi-client dashboard, protect the accountant & client against errors with tax payments. • Strong integration with the AccountantsWorld suite of applica- tions. POSSIBLE LIMITATIONS • AccountantsWorld only sells to practicing accountants, and does not off er a direct sales model where an accountant is not involved in a sale. SUMMARY & PRICING AccountantsWorld prides itself in partnering with accounting professionals to off er payroll services through Payroll Relief. T e product is specifi cally designed with accounting professionals in mind and off ers features to aid fi rm profi tability. First year pricing for accounting fi rms is set at a base price of $997 and includes the ability to process an unlimited number of payrolls. Subsequent years are dependent upon the number of payroll runs or paychecks that are processed on an annual basis. A fi rm processing 10 paychecks or less for a weekly payroll frequency starts at $5.95 per payroll. A per paycheck option is more benefi cial for firms processing 1,500 or more paychecks annually, with 25,000 or more paychecks priced as low as $0.50 per paycheck. Red Wing Software, Inc. — CenterPoint Payroll 2011 OVERALL RATING BEST FIT CenterPoint Payroll is a good solution for most small businesses and payroll service providers who process payroll for multiple companies and who may want some limited HR management capabilities. It's also a good fi t for orga- nizations that use Red Wing's CenterPoint or TurningPoint accounting soſt ware applications. STRENGTHS • Check Designer natively supports printing of paychecks, signatures & MICR data on blank check stock. • Employee documents can be output in multiple languages. • Time data can be imported from a wide range of applications in a text fi le format. • Direct deposit (your bank may charge a transmit al fee) and electronic fi ling available at an additional charge. POTENTIAL LIMITATIONS • Does not natively support integration with accounting soſt ware other than CenterPoint or TurningPoint, other than exporting a text fi le from the CenterPoint Payroll application. Red Wing does off er an API allowing for direct integration; access to the API is normally limited to third-party partners. 32 September 2011 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com • A web-based employee self-service portal is being developed, but no fi nal release date has been announced. SUMMARY & PRICING Red Wing Software handles unique payroll functions for many agriculture and nonprofi t businesses; CenterPoint Payroll provides many customization options that may benefi t any business type. T e program off ers a variety of customization options and straightfor- ward navigation. Pricing for a single-user license is $795. Network users will pay $295 for each seat, and other add-on modules are available starting at $95. ✔ On-Premises ■ SaaS ■ Hosted by Vendor {DIRECT CLIENT/BUSINESS USE} PRODUCT DELIVERY METHODS: ■ BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTIONS REPORTING & MONITORING INTEGRATION/IMPORT/EXPORT HELP/SUPPORT N/A CLIENT SELF-SERVICE Read the full review of this product exclusively online at www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/10317517 800-388-3038 www.cougarmtn.com {PARTIALLY ASSISTED} PRODUCT DELIVERY METHODS: ■ On-Premises ■ ✔ SaaS ■ Hosted by Vendor BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTIONS REPORTING & MONITORING INTEGRATION/IMPORT/EXPORT HELP/SUPPORT CLIENT SELF-SERVICE Read the full review of this product exclusively online at www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/10317502 888-999-1366 www.accountantsworld.com {FULL-SERVICE PROFESSIONAL} PRODUCT DELIVERY METHODS: ■ ✔ On-Premises ■ SaaS ■ Hosted by Vendor BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTIONS REPORTING & MONITORING INTEGRATION/IMPORT/EXPORT HELP/SUPPORT N/A CLIENT SELF-SERVICE Read the full review of this product exclusively online at www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com/10318204 800-732-9464 www.redwingsoftware.com

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