REVIEWS

Tax Research
One of the greatest assets of financial professionals is found in their professional knowledge. But sometimes it's not what you know, but whether you know how to find the answer to a question, and how quickly you can do so. In addition to primary documents and analysis, many online tax research programs now offer daily tax and financial news updates that can even be tailored to notify users of significant developments in their practice areas. Many disc-based programs have also improved integration between the tax research program and compliance software, allowing users to access research related to specific clients' needs and even electronically attach corresponding materials to their returns for future reference. This review includes disc-based and online research applications, with some focusing exclusively on federal tax law, while others also provide research and additional information for state taxation. Click here to view the entire article.

Property Management
The role of a good property management software product can vary from company to company, depending on their needs. For instance, the software requirements of a small company that manages single-family homes distinctly varies from those of a multi-national corporation that handles residential, retail and commercial property management. The products reviewed here vary in much the same way. This review will hopefully answer some of your questions or at least point you in the right direction. Click here to view the entire article.

If so, please contact Melody Wrinkle, managing editor, at melody@cpatechadvisor.com.

SPECIAL FEATURES

Tax Season Survival Guide
This year's tax season survival guide features an expanded marketing column that can help you discover marketing opportunities during tax season and throughout the rest of the year. You'll also find a special feature on outsourcing. Some believe the future re-balancing solution of supply and demand in the accounting profession is outsourcing - that this path into the future holds dramatic opportunity and rejuvenation of the accounting profession. Others follow a different supply-and-demand path, believing that resources will rise in a few years when young people see the opportunities for a challenging and rewarding career. This group also believes technology has much more to offer the profession, including substantial productivity enhancements. Technology Editor, Isaac O'Bannon also offers some tips to ensure that your technology (hardware, software, etc.) is ready for tax season. We also have a guest feature that talks about how small firms can save time and become more efficient with the right practice management and time & billing solution. Finally, you'll find a table with numbers for the various state departments of revenue as well as one for the tax season support hours of several tax software vendors. Click here to view the entire article.

The Marketing Cycle of CPA Firms

State Departments of Revenue

Outsourcing for Accounting Firms

Tech Tips For Tax Season

Tax Season Vendor Support Hours

Re-tooling The Small Accounting Firm: Practice Management Programs Can Save Valuable Time During Tax Season

COLUMN HIGHLIGHTS

Accountant TechTalk:
Instant Messaging Comes Of Age In Business
Instant Messaging (IM) has historically been looked at with some level of disdain in a corporate environment for some good reasons. Many of these historical concerns are now being addressed. Find out how. Click here to view the entire article.

From The Trenches: Real-life solutions for real-life accountants:
Is Microsoft Exchange The Right Answer For Your Firm?
As firms continue to change their technology to the latest Microsoft Server 2003, Windows SBS Server 2003, Novell NetWare or Linux operating systems, frequent questions asked are these: Should I use Microsoft Exchange 2003? What are the alternatives? Mr. Johnston helps you with these questions. Click here to view the entire article.

Tricks & Tips:
Tech Tips For Tax Season
Here are a few of the primary areas of concern when preparing your office technology for tax season. If you haven't already done so, perform these checks as soon as possible: It's obviously better to find out if there's a problem with your system in early January than in late February when the crunch is on. Click here to view the entire article.

The Bleeding Edge:
Tech Predictions for 2005
Mr. McClure gives his top 10 predictions for technology in 2004 and reports on how well he predicted the future last year. He believes 2005 will be spectacular in the technology market! Click here to view the entire article.

Marketing Hot Spot:
The Marketing Cycle of CPA Firms
Tax season represents one of the best opportunities to build your lead pipeline for the upcoming year. Your firm will touch almost every client in the next few months, which increases retention, presents cross-selling opportunities and provides the chance to ask for referrals. Find out what you can do to get the most out of your marketing during tax season. Click here to view the entire article.

The QuickBooks Advisor:
Awesome Add-ons For QuickBooks Consultants
One of the most important strategic moves made by Intuit recently was opening up the QuickBooks database to software developers. At the recent QuickBooks Consultant's Conference, Mr. Sleeter awarded the first 11 winners in the Awesome Add-on category. Here is the list along with a brief description of each product. Click here to view the entire article.

Final Thoughts:
Search Is The New OS
In the '90s it was all about operating systems (OS). Microsoft led us through a dizzying parade of "new and better" OS's, from all the flavors of DOS into Windows 3.1, 95, 98, SE, ME, NT, 2000 and finally XP. Now it appears the "OS juggernaut" is about to end. Microsoft has all but formally announced that Longhorn, the much-awaited replacement for the XP operating system, won't be released until probably 2007. But fear not, we have a replacement to confound and confuse us! "Search" is the new OS! Click here to view the entire article.

Reader Poll

Reader Poll Results

We asked if you will pre-schedule your tax season appointments this year?

Yes - 41%

No - 59%

Editorial Calendar
The following features and products will be highlighted:

We invite you to share your thoughts and opinions on current issues relating to the accounting profession. You may submit them on our forums and feedback page (forums.cpasn.com) or e-mail them to our managing editor (melody.wrinkle@cygnuspub.com) for possible publication in a future issue. The views and opinions expressed in this independent and open forum do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of The CPA Technology Advisor staff and management.

Founded in 1991 as The CPA Software News, an independent source for information on accounting software, The CPA Technology Advisor is dedicated to providing practicing public accountants with the knowledge they need to make an informed software purchasing decision. Through in-depth software reviews and comparisons, detailed due-diligence charts, tables and graphs, The CPA Technology Advisor helps accountants explore, purchase and implement software productively.

The CPA Technology Advisor is also the only CPA-focused technology magazine that assists public accountants in advising their business clients on their accounting and business management software decisions through our "Client Consulting" section, featured in every issue.

With an audited circulation of more than 50,000 practicing public accountants, The CPA Technology Advisor has earned a loyal readership by maintaining unparalleled editorial independence and integrity with valuable software reviews, columns from industry leaders and user-oriented features in every issue. Respected as the only completely objective magazine covering software for the accounting profession, The CPA Technology Advisor is the publication practicing public accountants rely on when they are ready to make a technology purchase or recommendation to a business client.

At The CPA Technology Advisor, we pride ourselves in our independence from outside influence. Unlike many publications in the accounting space, neither The CPA Technology Advisor nor its parent company, Cygnus Business Media, Inc., own or invest in the products or services reviewed or covered in the publication. It is this independence that has enabled The CPA Technology Advisor to become the most respected and widely distributed magazine focusing on software and online resources available to practicing public accountants and financial professionals.

The CPA Technology Advisor
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