AccountantsWorld — Accountant’s Practice Online

From the Dec. 2007 Feature on
Website Builders for Accountants

AccountantsWorld offers a large suite of programs designed for professional
accounting firms, with many of them available as hosted, online programs. Accountant’s
Practice Online, provides a customizable website for the firm’s clients
and Internet visitors, along with online access for client access to programs
and data the firm wants them to have. The system also acts as the work hub for
the firm’s staff, allowing them to access all of their online professional
programs. This includes access to Accounting Relief for write-up, GL, bank reconciliation
and other general accounting functions, as well as the fully featured Payroll
Relief, After-the-Fact Payroll, Sales Tax Online, Time2Money for time and expense
tracking, a Merchant Account for accepting credit card payments, and CyberCabinet
for document management with client collaboration functions.

The
website building system offered by Accountant’s Practice Online is simple
to use, with the professional logging in initially through the AccountantsWorld
website. But after the firm’s website is created, everything is managed
by logging on from the firm’s own website. A wizard guides users through
setup and website editing processes, and the system includes a broad collection
of website design templates with customizable components such as menus. Up to
18 preconfigured pages are available for standard items like service description,
firm and staff profiles, contact information, resources and FAQs. Firms can
also add up to 12 custom pages. Pages support all standard image types and Flash
files, and website templates are clean and professional, with intuitive navigation
menus and structures.

Users can easily select the features they wish to offer on the site, including
various calculators, calendars, small business newsletter articles, links to
accounting resources and news from the AccountantsWorld RSS news feed. The user
interface makes it easy to update the system and change logos, photos and other
graphics whenever needed, and all template information is available in English
and Spanish. For firms using the Accounting Relief AC system, which includes
an online bookkeeping solution for clients, as well as those using other programs
that enable client collaboration, the firm website can include a secure client
login function. The accounting firm always controls and customizes exactly what
each client is allowed to see or have access to.

In addition to tools for clients and website visitors, Accountant’s
Practice Online also comes with a great collection of free practice tools, including
Time2Money, a system for tracking time and expenses and then billing clients.
CyberCabinet is also included, providing document storage and client sharing
capabilities, with the system maintaining the documents on the professional’s
computer but also automatically maintaining a secure backup of the documents
online. Online tax organizers are also included. Pricing for the Accountant’s
Practice Online website also includes registration of a web domain name for
the business (www.yourfirmname.com). Website hosting is also included, and the
e-mail system offers 10 e-mail addresses (name@yourfirmname.com) and mailboxes,
with client and contact address management, broadcast functions (for newsletters,
etc.), firewall and anti-virus options. Up to 15 additional e-mail addresses
can be added for forwarding purposes.

Websites are added to the online Directory of Accounting Professionals, which
is included in major search engines, and firms are given tutorials on search
engine optimization and website submissions. Monthly statistics provide basic
visitor tracking.

Accountant’s Practice Online costs $995 per year or $95 per month, which
includes the firm website and custom web address (URL), 10 full e-mail accounts,
and all of the content and features listed above. AccountantsWorld can do
initial website setup for firms for a one-time cost of $99. Additional custom
website development options are available for $99 per hour. N