On-Q Software - The Accountant's Partner

The Accountant’s Partner from
On-Q Software, Inc. provides time
tracking, billing, project due-date
monitoring, staff scheduling, CPE
tracking, an optional report writer,
and basic contact management.

FEATURES – 4 Stars
Client information is very good,
clearly focused on the needs of
small to mid-sized firms. Partner-
and manager-in-charge can be assigned
to clients, along with year-end,
entity type, type of business, client
group, whether to calculate a federal
return due date, billing matters (client bill rate, recurring fee, invoice format), and personal information. Client business notes are stamped with staff, date, subject and follow-up date. A business note can be copied to the Scheduler in order to create an appointment. Events/tasks can be defined for a client and then assigned to staff.

Staff information includes professional organizations, monthly standard/budgeted hours and notes. Unlike many packages, The Accountant’s Partner uses a matrix of service codes and bill rates for each employee. Depending on a particular employee’s area(s) of work and how many employees a firm has, this could be a chore.

Engagements are tracked through Practice Manager. Essentially, engagements are a list of work and due dates. They can be viewed by client or by client, staff and due date. Built-in features handle federal returns due dates and extensions, but not state and other tax entities. Marking engagements as complete could be more efficient. The Work Control file tracks whether or not a task has been completed. The function captures date received, date completed, staff and remarks, and work control reports and worksheets can be printed.

Whether in a batch by client or staff (separate functions) or for real-time update, time and expenses are entered into a form and accumulate on separate screens. Seeing ‘Write Up/Down’ on this screen may seem odd, except for the fact that the same screens are also used to bill. The Accountant’s Partner includes a timer (stopwatch) function, but I found it cumbersome and unintuitive. Also, it is a separate program accessible only from the main menu. PDA time and expense capture involves a third-party package, SmartList To Go from DataViz. With this software, you can also synchronize The Accountant’s Partner clients, contacts, schedules and other information to PDAs.

The Accountant’s Partner supports three billing methods: batch or direct entry time bill, quick bill for recurring bills, and standard bill for invoicing in greater detail. Users can define invoice text to print on any of six predefined invoice formats. Users can view historical information (WIP, AR, etc.) via displayed reports (but not at the same time). Reports are listed on three menu panels; most only sort variations of a smaller number of reports. Billing features are good, including 16 ways to write-up/down bills, but the process could be more efficient and intuitive. An approval process is supported, and invoices can be batch printed as well as reprinted as needed.

INTEGRATION – 3 Stars
Using the built-in import/ export functions that interface with the third-party application, SmartList To Go, The Accountant’s Partner data can be integrated with standard programs in PDAs.

REPORTING – 4 Stars
With over 175 reports and listings, The Accountant’s Partner appears very complete, but many reports are only sort variations. Still, the number and types of reports are good, including scheduling, engagement due date, WIP, AR, aging, worksheets, realization, exposure, reconciliation, contact management and more. On-Q Software offers an optional report writer for The Accountant’s Partner, as well.

EASE OF USE & LEARNING CURVE – 2.5 Stars
While most screens are straightforward, the interface, interaction and other aspects of the program are not as efficient as they could be. Some screens and processes are not obvious, though most are easy to figure out. Overcrowded and poorly organized-and-presented menus raise the learning curve. Hassles such as having to log in to each module is not state of the art. Help is also limited. The new manual (on the CD) contains tutorials, procedures and reference information. It’s better than past documentation, but still has room for improvement. The Accountant’s Partner displayed reasonable speed and stability during testing.

RELATIVE VALUE – 3.5 Stars
The Accountant’s Partner offers fair value for small to mid-sized firms with straightforward needs. Once users become more familiar with and master the parts of the program they use most often, ROI should begin.

2004 OVERALL RATING: 4 Stars

This review examined the following
key areas:

Features – Does the product offer remote processing capability? Is it

designed for online use? Does it have features that
can help your firm become more productive
and/or more profitable? Does it
give you better control over scheduling
or perhaps provide reports on profitability
in a variety of formats? Is the
calendar/scheduling functionality
flexible? Does it offer color coding
by employee or activity? Can group
calendars be displayed? Can e-mail,
notes, phone calls and time tracking
all be attached to a project? What
about document management and document
tracking? Can you use predefined
documents and attach them to each
client’s project?

Integration – If you rely on other products, can the time and billing

product provide or accept data to streamline operations, such as integration with Outlook?

If your firm relies heavily on Outlook for contact management, having the contact

information shared between Outlook and your time and billing product can be valuable. If you

use other products by the same vendor, can information be shared between them?

Reporting – Does the program offer extensive and flexible analytic

reporting that provides information about
productivity and profitability of
staff, clients and services to facilitate
management decision making. Does
it offer customized reports?

Ease of Use & Learning Curve – Does the program offer intuitive, on-screen

entry of time as well as on-screen, on-demand billing? Can the product be tailored and/or

customized to meet your firm’s needs and the way you like to manage your firm? Can the

program conform to your practice? Does it offer real-time updating of data? Does it provide

an easy-to-enter timesheet? Is information readily accessible? Does the program provide

unlimited number of clients, staff and engagements?

Relative Value – What is the cost of the program? What are the renewal

costs? This is a subjective opinion of whether the program and its range
of features, etc., is worth the
cost. It also examines the size
firm that would find the most value
from the product.