Vol. 27 I No. 2 I February 2013
SEC AUDIT SCORECARD p. 13
Our first quarterly report on which firms are
winning in the market for SEC audit clients
STARTING IN THE CLOUD p. 22
Web-based solutions are changing the face of
entry-level accounting software
accountingtoday.com
NONPROFIT NICHES p. 25
It’s not enough to say you’ll serve nonprofits
— you have to pick which ones to target
Our fourth annual selection of the best new and
improved technologies and tools for accountants
THE 2013
TOP NEW PRODUCTS
list is a good representation of what is truly worthy of attention.
Every year, it seems products for the account-
ing profession are getting better, and we’re privileged to be on the front lines of seeing what’s
coming and, more important, where technology
is moving.
It should come as little surprise that many of
our top products and honorable mentions have
a mobility component to them, as well as a solid
representation in tax, practice management,
audit, and useful information for the tax and
accounting profession. Business intelligence is
also getting some attention and — believe it or
not — spreadsheet tools.
There were, however, very few strong entries in the cloud and accounting categories
— not that there aren’t several on the market,
but none really qualified as a top new product.
(Membership in the list is limited to products
that were initially released in 2012, or that underwent a significant upgrade.) We suspect this
will likely change for next year’s report, but in
the meantime we are confident that this year’s
Mobile
H&R Block Mobile
If there was one overwhelming
theme in technology this year, it was
mobility. Everywhere we looked, developers were releasing apps that gave
smartphone and tablet users access to
their solutions, with the goal of letting
them work anywhere at any time. But we
didn’t choose our Top New Product in the
Mobile Category, H&R Block Mobile from
the eponymous tax prep chain, because it
helps accountants or tax preparers. Most of
them, in fact, will never use it, since it’s for
Block customers, to let them upload and
send in tax documents, make an
appointment, track their re-
See TOP PRODUCTS on 36
Q&A: Billy Atkinson
Getting the wind in their sails
Late out
of the gate
The late start to this year’s filling season
has both good and not-so-good implications, according to Roger Harris, president
of Padgett Business Services.
“At least the changes — the tax rates and
the Alternative Minimum Tax fix — are
permanent, so we won’t have to go through
this again next year,” he said. “But we’re
faced with a late start to the filing season
as a result of the late passage of the legis-
lation. The earliest to file would be after
January 30 for Form 1040s, but for those
of us that deal with small businesses, we
won’t start tax season until late February
or early March.”
“What they settled on was to keep ev-
erything the same, unless you’re in the
$450,000 range. Other than tinker with
the upper rates, if you don’t hit one of the
thresholds, everything is as it always was,
and that’s permanent and that’s good. It
just happened too late, and now we’re
faced with a delayed filing season,” he
BY ROGER RUSSELL
See LATE on 37
The delayed start to tax
season may mean
hardship for millions
Private company stakeholders have never been in a better position to
have their concerns addressed in the standard-setting process, accord-
ing to Billy Atkinson, the chairman of the brand-new Private Company
Council: “We have the wind in our sails.”
The council was created by the Financial Accounting Foundation last
The chairman of the new Private Company Council on its process and purpose
year to work with the Financial Accounting Standards Board
to recommend exceptions or modifications to U.S. GAAP
for private entities, and represents the start of what Atkinson
described as a “cultural change” in accounting standard-setting. It met for the first time in December 2012, and will meet
five more times this year, in February, May, July, September
and November.
As part of its process, the council will identify issues that
it wants to focus on, ask the FASB staff to gather information
and canvas the latest thinking on the issues, and then use that
information to determine whether to proceed to issuing recommendations for exceptions or modifications to GAAP. It has
already identified four areas for consideration in its first meeting. It will also serve as a resource for FASB and the Emerging
Issues Task Force on a for ward-looking basis.
Seeing daylight
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