CPA Practice Advisor

NOV 2011

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

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well-targeted solution for the accounting profession. T e ScanSnap one-but on document scanners are a fast and easy way for accountants to digitize any type of paper, including client documents, tax forms, expense report receipts and more. Models include both mobile and desktop devices. T e S1500 scans up to 20 pages per minute in color, grayscale, or black and white at an uncompromising 300 dpi resolution. With 50- and 10-page automatic document feeders (ADF), the S1500 and S1300 capture both sides of each page in a single pass. ScanSnap scanners automatically recognize the size of each document, detect and correct for skew, and show images in their proper orientation with blank pages removed. With an easy mouse click, documents can be saved, emailed or e-faxed to clients as well as directly uploaded to client portals or Cloud-based document repositories … not to mention converted to Word or Excel fi les, enabling content to be edited. ShareFile for Accountants ShareFile www.sharefi le.com Pricing: Starts at $29.95/month (2 users, 5GB storage, 5GB bandwidth) Target Customers: Accounting fi rms of any size that need to securely transfer fi les that are either too large or too confi dential to send by e-mail. Whether you are dealing with large QuickBooks fi les, sensitive Excel spreadsheets or tax estimate vouchers that contain social security numbers, ShareFile can help you communicate with your clients securely, professionally and easily. Target Customers: All businesses that want to streamline their Accounts Receivable processes and who are looking for a robust online payment solution. T is SaaS product really helps businesses reduce costs and increase cash fl ow by automating the A/R collections process. Bill & Pay automati- cally uploads invoices from QuickBooks, Sage Peachtree, Great Plains and other accounting soſt ware into a Web portal where they can be tracked and managed. An "Easy Invoice" feature allows you to create your own invoices without using any accounting soſt ware. You can send e-reminders for open or late invoices, accept online payments by credit card or via ACH, and it integrates with several merchant accounts (including Intuit Merchant Solutions). So it doesn't require extra steps for batching deposits into the bank account. T is is a great product at a very low price. QQube™ CLEARIFYSM ® ® Our commit ee simply loves ShareFile. By specifi cally targeting the fi le transfer and secure data sharing needs of accountants and their clients, ShareFile has developed a winning, easy-to-use tool for the profession. T is product is a must-have in your client support toolkit. ShareFile for Accountants was specifi cally designed for tax and accounting professionals to securely exchange confi den- tial documents and large business fi les. Accounting fi rms can make documents available to clients through ShareFile's encrypted, password-protected, custom-branded client portal or securely through email with ShareFile's Microsoſt Outlook Plug-in. ShareFile's client portal allows you to create online folders that allow clients to see only those folders where specifi c access is granted. Bill & Pay Skyhill Software, Inc. www.billandpay.com Pricing: $16.95 per month, $0.55 per payment transaction www.clearify.com Pricing: $425 single-user version, $895 multi-user ver- sion (2-users), $195 per additional user Target Customers: Small businesses that need to develop complex reports and/or "dashboards" that cannot be created with QuickBooks alone. Helps companies develop data analytics, and helps multi-company operations or franchises develop cross-entity reporting. When we looked at QQube for the fi rst time, it opened our minds to the pos- sibilities for mining QuickBooks data like never before. This is a VERY powerful tool for accountants. What impressed us the most was that QQube is so deeply "aware" of how data is stored in QuickBooks, what the relationships are between different data types, and how it can free us to create pretty much any report imaginable. There is a learning curve, but once you get the hang of it you'll be amazed at how much you can do with this tool. And think of the new revenue you can generate by providing analytics and mentoring services with QQube. This is a game changer. QQube is a data extraction technology tool that allows you to drag and drop information into Excel, SAP Crystal Reports, or any desktop/Cloud business intelligence tool of your choice. QQube enables you to create reports or analysis in minutes because it eliminates the need to know tables and relationships, deal with ODBC drivers, wrestle with unrec- ognized fi eld names, or endure hours of reverse engineering and trial by error. Honorable Mentions In addition to this year's winners, we were very impressed with two other products and will be looking closely at them in the months and years to come. AvaTax Certs Avalara www.avalara.com Pricing: Starts at $375 for 50 certifi cates, plus $249/year Target Customers: Any size business with customers qualifi ed for exemption from paying sales tax. Typical industries include manufacturing, technology, education, wholesalers and retail- ers, although hospitality customers are growing. The target customer can be an e-commerce, wholesale, distribution or retail com- pany using any accounting, ERP, retail POS or e-commerce software. When we saw this product, several members of the commit ee immediately said, "Wow, where has this been all my life?" It's a great idea, and Avalara has done a fabulous job of building it. T ere are still several features to build and more integration with accounting systems to come, but we thought this product defi nitely warranted a mention. AvaTax Certs limits your audit exposure on non-taxed transactions with end-to-end certificate lifecycle management. It integrates with ERP, e-commerce and POS systems to digitally create, process and store customer exemption certifi cates for easy access, renewal and reporting. An online, rule-based wizard automates the paperless collection of certifi cates and ensures you only collect valid certifi cates. All collected certificates are stored digitally in a central database to speed tax-exempt transaction processing and to simplify audit preparation and defense. CONTINUED ON PAGE 20 November 2011 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 19

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