CPA Practice Advisor - 8

FEATURE

2020 Innovation Award Winners Announced

By Isaac M. O'Bannon, Managing Editor

AS BUSINESSES AND accounting professionals continue to endure through the
Covid-19 pandemic, cloud-based technologies have moved from tools that aid
in productivity, to solutions that provide a central and essential role in all professional firms. Without these digital collaborations, workflows, and remote access
technologies, firms would not be able provide business-critical services during
these challenging times.
Now in their 17th year, the CPA Practice Advisor
Tax and Accounting Technology Innovation Awards
highlight technologies that are shaping the profession
and small businesses through increased collaboration
and productivity. These tools are allowing firms to
better manage workflows, and to be more productive
and more secure, while engaging with clients in ways

that are convenient and productive for them as well.
The Innovation Awards debuted in 2004, serving
as a spotlight to honor new or recently enhanced
technologies that benefit tax and accounting
professionals and their clients through improved
workflow, increased accessibility, enhanced
collaboration, or other means.

"We've crossed the threshold of accounting firms
and their clients knowing that they need to embrace
new technologies. Now the questions are around
which technologies provide the best solutions," said
CPA Practice Advisor Editor-in-Chief Gail Perry, CPA.
"Each year we have the opportunity to examine and
test new and improved products. It is our hope that
these awards provide some guidance and insight
into new technologies that are available to make the
work-lives of accountants and their clients better, more
efficient, and more successful." Perry also manages a
tax practice and is the author of more than 30 books,
including Mint.com for Dummies, and Surviving Financial
Downsizing: A Practical Guide to Living Well on Less Income.

2020 INNOVATION AWARD WINNERS
(listed alphabetically)

AccountingSuite by Accounting Suite
www.AccountingSuite.com

AccountingSuite recently announced
the ability to customize the cloud
accounting software by user through
new extensions. This advanced
functionality builds upon the robust
inventory management and eCommerce
solutions to support complex
organizations in a tailor-made model.
AccountingSuite uses extensions to
extend the functionality of the software.
So instead of supplying the users with
all types of features that they don't need
which can make their software clunky,
the technology focuses on a model
that empowers the users to install
extensions on an as-needed basis.
Perhaps one of the easiest customization tools on the market, within the
software, users install the Customization Selection Tool which allows them
to add items to various panels using
a multiple selection window or by
continuously adding items one by one.
The selection window remains open
until the work has been completed.

8

AUGUST 2020 ■

This extension works within purchase
orders, items receipts, assembly builds,
disassembly builds, drop-ship deliveries,
bills, purchase returns, quotes, sales
invoices, sales orders, credit memos,
shipments, warehouse transfers, and
cash sales.
An example of a unique extension is
the Advanced Barcoder, which extends
the regular barcode functionality by
adding the ability to scan a lot or multiple items barcodes. In addition, quantities on documents are increased by 1
each time the item is scanned ensuring
accurate receiving records. Other
extensions include Blank Check Stock
Printing, Choose Item Purchase Costs,
Customized Selection Tool, Generate
Sales Invoice from Item Receipt, Inventory Journal and many more with the
list of extensions continually growing.

CCH Axcess Client Collaboration - by Wolters Kluwer
Tax & Accounting
https://taxna.wolterskluwer.com/
Gathering information from clients is
often the most time-consuming part of

www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

the tax workflow. This year's extended
tax season has only prolonged the
pain. Fortunately, CCH Axcess Client
Collaboration makes data collection
easier, providing a simple and intuitive
electronic organizer questionnaire and
document request list that clients will
actually use. In addition, electronic
engagement letters, financial data
connections, and at-a-glance engagement tracking help firms and clients
save time.
CCH Axcess Client Collaboration
helps firms save time when gathering
data from clients and reduces workload
compression during a busy tax season.
Part of the award-winning CCH Axcess
suite, this cloud-based expert solution
enables firms to:
* Create organizers that clients will
actually fill out and return, which are
already prepopulated with past year
information
* Spend less time tracking down information by leveraging automatic reminders
and notifications for clients as well
as at-a-glance visualizations of client
progress for staff

* Make data gathering easier for clients
and enable year-round data collection
with automatic data connections
* Reduce costs with a paperless process,
including integration with CCH ProSystem fx Scan, which eliminates the
need for paper/ink supplies, postage &
shipping and printing/collating/mailing
organizers
"With the clients that used Client
Collaboration, we had more of their
documents and there were fewer follow
ups because we knew whether they
were going to provide us a document or
not," - Kari Rockwood, Gallacher, Bosen
& Goodman, PLLC, Mesa, AZ

CCH Axcess Knowledge
Coach - by Wolter Kluwer
Tax & Accounting
https://taxna.wolterskluwer.com/

CCH Axcess Knowledge Coach takes
CCH ProSystem fx Knowledge Coach's
award-winning & patented risk-based
audit workflow into the cloud. Addressing AICPA's peer review reform and its
Enhancing Audit Quality initiative,
this software focuses on risk assess-
http://www.AccountingSuite.com https://taxna.wolterskluwer.com/ https://taxna.wolterskluwer.com/ http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
CPA Practice Advisor

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CPA Practice Advisor
