duce on the status of engagements.
“It was all right at our fingertips,
rather than having to print out different reports, and the price was
not cost-prohibitive,” he said.
Next steps: The firm would like
to use FirmFlow for its assurance,
attest and audit practices, as well
as for administrative needs, which
Wrigley believes “could be realistic
in the next couple of years.”
Workflow
FROM PAGE
28
Next steps: The firm plans to
have its assurance group use XCM
and is looking into setting up a
workflow process for adding new
clients and new employees.
Best season ever
Firm: Braver PC / Needham,
Mass.
Size: 150 staff, five offices
Product: XCM (XCM Solutions)
Commencement: February 2011
On record: Suzanne Longone, tax
administrator
Challenge/objective: To improve efficiencies around the firm
and transition from paper control
sheets. The firm processes thousands of returns, and needed any
manager to be able to see the status
of all returns at any given time.
Amount spent: $65 per user, $3
per client and $3,500 for training.
Process: While at another firm,
Longone experienced another
popular workflow product and felt
there needed to be “something bet-
ter out there.”
The firm then devised a research
and implementation strategy by
first establishing a “power users”
group comprised of tech-savvy
partners, tax managers and office
reps. This group was involved in the
very early stages of evaluating the
firm’s workflow needs and select-
ing the software itself.
The group met XCM personnel
at an accounting software conference and sat in on product use and
information sessions. Longone also
spoke to other firms using XCM and
decided to use it for her firm.
Once the software was selected,
the firm held training one Saturday
in January, where everyone in the
firm attended in person or via video
conference. XCM conducted full
training and followed up with other
training options as well, including
videos and free webinars. XCM then
set up a test Web site approximately
six weeks before going live, where
users could practice with test data
and run reports “with the safety of
knowing mistakes could be made
and we could work through any is-
sues,” said Longone.
‘A link to everything’
Firm: Azran Financial /
Los Angeles
Size: Two staff
Product: ProSystem fx Workstream
(CCH)
Commencement date: June 2011
On record: Joshua Azran, partner/
owner
Challenge/objective: This year
Azran went through its first tax
season as a new firm and realized
what was missing was “a link to
everything,” specifically the ability
to track all documents and assign
work when needed, complete with
due dates and times.
Amount spent: $200 per user
per year.
Process: Azran was already fa-
miliar with CCH and spoke to them
about their ProSystem products.
The company introduced him to
Workstream and he felt it was the
right solution for the new firm.
