sions. Additionally, its “Cell Explorer” feature allows users to thoroughly analyze any
cell within their financial model by drilling
down into the sequence of values and formulas used to calculate the final result, and
is now available within the reports module.
It also extends its integration with NetSuite’s
on-demand business management suite.
Honorable mentions in this category go to
Cougar Dtails (Cougar Mountain Software)
and Indicee (Indicee Inc.). Cougar Dtails is a
new financial dashboard that provides an at-a-glance visual representation of a company’s
financial performance. It is tied to the general
ledger so users can easily view their profit and
loss, cash flow, and key financial indicators.
It is also built into the company’s Denali 2. 9
accounting system, and its CMS Professional
nonprofit software.
Indicee is a true SaaS app from the makers
of CrystalReports — the reporting backbone
of many of today’s ERP systems. Indicee’s offering is simple: It sits on top of existing ERP
and CRM solutions and extracts specific reports for specific people within a company
or organization.
CALCULATORS
Judy’s Tenkey
Judy’s Applications
http://www.judysapps.com/tenkey.htm
Calculators have evolved light years since
accountants and other financial professionals rushed to purchase such long-defunct
electronic handhelds as the Bowmar Brain
in the early 1970s. An example of that quantum leap in functionality is Judy’s Tenkey, the
Windows-based calculator used by many of
the top-tier accounting firms, as well as users
in 45 countries, and our unanimous selection
as the Top New Product in the Calculators
Category.
The newest version of Judy’s Tenkey showcases such features as an editable tape that
automatically recalculates changes, a multi-level undo function, better PDF integration,
a zero-install option, optional sounds and the
ability to use numbers in other Windows applications, or paste results into a report.
FINANCIAL REPORTING
Company IQ SEC Comment Letters Solution
LogixData LLC
www.logixdata.com
When you think of comparability in public
company financial reporting, it’s usually
from the perspective of the statement user.
But those doing the reporting can benefit
from comparability, too, if it helps them fig-
ure out how other companies have reported
things before. Our Top New Product in finan-
cial reporting, LogixData’s Company IQ SEC
Comment Letters Solution, helps develop
that kind of comparability for filings with
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
They’ve taken SEC staff comment letters
and broken them down into a database of
over a million individual comments, which
they’ve matched with registrant responses
and made searchable by word, phrase, ac-
counting literature, form type, and over 20
other variables. Search responses include
links to the full comment letter, company
response, the actual filing in question, and
more, and comments can be traced through
multiple rounds of correspondence. It’s an
excellent way to profit from other companies’
successes — and mistakes.
LEARNING
Checkpoint Learning
Thomson Reuters
https://checkpointlearning.thomsonreuters.
com/
One of the critical components to charting
a successful career path in the accounting
profession is completing the required hours
of CPE. In a large firm, the difficult and time-consuming logistics of ensuring that your
staff members are meeting their mandated
CPE requires a sophisticated tracking platform like our Top New Product in the Learning Category: Checkpoint Learning.
Checkpoint Learning consolidates Thomson Reuters’ other CPE and CPE-track-ing platforms — MicroMash, PASS Online,
Reqwired and Checkpoint — into one central
learning management repository. It includes
the CPE requirements for all 50 states, as well
as 15 specialty affiliations, and features a personalized dashboard and allows firm administrators to select and design individual CPE
curricula. Checkpoint Learning’s interactive
courses include video and audio clips, animated graphics, and case studies.
Earning honorable mention in the category was Whetstone Growth Academy
(Whetstone Group), an online sales training
and leadership program tailored for all levels of a CPA firm’s hierarchy, from the first-year employee to the managing partner or
shareholder, to help them develop a common
marketing and sales approach.
NONPROFIT
Sage Fundraising Online
Sage North America
www.sagenorthamerica.com
Much like its for-profit counterpart, the non-
profit world is moving towards cloud-based
solutions, and the winner in this category is
representative of how the move can benefit
government and other nonprofit organiza-
tions — in this case, in the area of fundrais-
ing. Sage’s Sage Fundraising Online is a SaaS-
based application that allows nonprofits to
create multiple giving forms with marketing
messaging to better reach new and exist-
ing donors. Multiple giving forms can help
organizations boost results for event-based
fundraisers, rapid response campaigns, and
annual appeals. Sage Fundraising Online in-
tegrates with the on-premise Sage Fundrais-
ing 50 Version 8. 2, and is expected to be able
to do so with future Sage products. The ser-
vice also integrates with Salesforce.com, and
maps to a number of other customer relation-
ship management products in the nonprofit
software market.
PAYMENT TOOLS
GoPayment
Intuit Inc.
www.intuit.com
Making payments easy from anywhere, anytime, including from mobile devices, is what
makes Intuit’s GoPayment the winner in the
Payment Tools Category. The application lets
small-business owners process credit card
payments via their mobile phone and an Intuit GoPayment merchant account. QuickBooks is not needed to process with GoPayment, but transactions can be downloaded
into QuickBooks Pro or Premier 2009 and
later, ensuring that accounting professionals
are reviewing accurate data.
Honorable mentions in this category go to
two SaaS applications, Bill.com ePayments
( Bill.com) and Sage Exchange (Sage North
America). The ePayments service allows
businesses and their accountants to pay any
vendor, employee or individual electronically
via direct deposit, rather than through paper
checks. The direct deposits can go to utility
companies, credit card providers and other
vendors. The service will work with any U.S.
bank, as well as with QuickBooks, QuickBooks
Online and Intacct. Sage Exchange is a secure,
cloud-based Payment Card Industry-certified
payments system that allows small and mid-
sized businesses and organizations to accept
all forms and methods of payment.
PORTALS
NetClient CS Virtual Client Office
Thomson Reuters
http://cs.thomsonreuters.com
While the use of portals is not quite ubiquitous in the accounting industry, a growing
number of firms are embracing their advantages for secure and convenient file exchange
— regardless of size — as well as collaboration
for data and information within the firm and
with their clients. NetClient CS Virtual Client
Office from Thompson Reuters, our Top New
Product in this arena, builds on its previous
document-transfer capabilities by enabling
the accountant to deliver hosted software
to business clients with options for client
accounting, document management, and
Microsoft Office applications. This puts the
CPA in the role of trusted technology partner,
improves client retention, and is designed to
enable CPA firms to provide better service at
a low price point.
PRACTICE MANAGEMENT
KnowledgeConnect
CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business
http://tax.cchgroup.com/lp/pfx/knowledge-connect
One of the big frustrations in a CPA firm or
any business is having a question or problem
but not knowing the right person to ask.
KnowledgeConnect, our Top New Product
in the Practice Management Category, helps
solve that long-standing problem. Billed as a
knowledge management system, it encom-passes the collective experience and knowledge of a firm’s leaders and presents it in a
centrally indexed and re-usable system to
ease and manage the question-asking process. As a result, a firm is able to make faster
decisions, avoid redundancies and reduce
cycle times for projects.
Its “Ask Question” feature allows users to
pose their own questions to specific knowledge leaders, or to an entire community, providing collaboration across the organization
— even if it conducts business in multiple
locations or has remote employees. KnowledgeConnect arranges firmwide knowledge
