Comprehensive Microsystems Inc. ‘ THE SYSTEM

MANAGEMENT FEATURES – 4 Stars

THE SYSTEM’s calculation capabilities
support a wide array of depreciation
methods, including ACRS, MACRS,
straight-line, 125/150/200% declining
balance, sum-of-year’s-digits,
and various declining balance methods.
It also supports mid-month, mid-quarter,
half-year and additional conventions.
THE SYSTEM automatically calculates
depreciation and amortization, but
users can override amounts if warranted.
THE SYSTEM automatically determines
and applies mid-quarter convention
or half-year convention to MACRS
assets and provides the justification
for doing so on the depreciation
expense reports.

The Lite version of the program
supports only one depreciation schedule
per company, limiting it to use
by entities with no need for multiple
depreciation schedules. The standard
version of THE SYSTEM, however,
enables up to five depreciation
schedules per entity, including
Federal Tax, Book, AMT, ACE, State
and a user-defined book, but does
not allow users to view all books
simultaneously. The program automates
AMT and ACE depreciation schedules
and enables recreation of depreciation
information using the program’s
historical calculation function.
THE SYSTEM can generate depreciation
expense projections for five- and
10-year periods. It does not support
barcode technologies. (The company
noted that the newest release of
the THE SYSTEM, which was not available
until after this review was completed,
handles up to 25 schedules per company
and offers a new asset template
management feature to allow for
greater accuracy and consistency
with data entry.)

INTEGRATION – 3.5 Stars
THE SYSTEM includes a wizard-guided
import utility that can import asset
and client data from competing programs,
including Best, BNA and Prentice
Hall, and from delimited and fixed
record files. THE SYSTEM can export
journal entry information in a format
usable by MAS 90, Cougar Mountain
Software and to delimited text,
enabling importation into spreadsheets,
databases and other programs, including
the ability to import asset data
into tax preparation programs. Although
this is not as ideal as direct integration,
it does reduce data-entry time.

REPORTING – 4 Stars

THE SYSTEM includes customizable
reporting features that provide
supporting documentation for some
calculations as well as several
report formats. The program’s
depreciation schedules let users
report tax and book schedules in
a variety of formats. Standard reports
include projections, asset additions,
historical depreciation, sales,
trades, transfers, abandonments
and an asset detail report. THE
SYSTEM also enables printing of
up to five schedules on one report,
which is convenient since users
cannot view them on the same screen
in the program. Reports can be previewed
on-screen prior to printing, and
journal entries are always displayed
before printing. THE SYSTEM can
generate IRS form 4562, and can
create worksheets for 3468, 4255
and 4797, in addition to preparation
of property tax worksheets. An optional
Custom Report Builder provides additional
formatting control and generation
of customized reports.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT/UPDATES – 4 Stars
THE SYSTEM offers a good indexed
help system that provides task-specific
assistance for many functions, including
guidance on asset lives and depreciation
methods, and it includes a tutorial
to assist new users with program
installation and operation. As part
of its annual maintenance package,
Comprehensive Microsystems offers
updates to THE SYSTEM as necessary
due to tax law changes, which is
usually two or three times per year.
The company notifies users of changes
by e-mail and provides downloadable
updates that are also available
on CD. Technical assistance is also
part of the maintenance package,
which costs $195 for the standard
stand-alone version, and starts
at $295 for the networked enterprise
version.

SUMMARY

THE SYSTEM provides reliable asset
management and depreciation tracking
for small and mid-sized companies,
and offers good reporting features.
While the ability to view and compare
live multiple books at the same
time on-screen would add value to
the program, the program does provide
easy access to reports with this
view.

2004 OVERALL RATING: 4 Stars

These applications were reviewed
in the following categories, which
were determined to be areas of high
importance for asset management
and depreciation programs through
feedback from professional accountants
and software developers.

Navigation & Ease-of-Use. This area covers the design and layout of the interface, including accessibility to primary program
functions and data entry, as well
as general operation of the program,
thereby providing an overview of
how easily a user could get up and
running and be proficient with the
system.

Management Features. This section identifies the number of books supported by the software, as well as depreciation methods available, asset editing functions, and various capabilities including splitting assets, mass edits and dispositions. Additionally, whether the program supports barcode scanning technologies is addressed.

Integration. The ability of the program to integrate or provide export/import capabilities can save significant time during
tax season. This section identifies
the program’s ability to share
data with tax software, GL programs
and other accounting systems.

Reporting. Asset management and depreciation activities need a paper trail (even if it is a paperless paper trail). This section looks at the reporting functions of the program, including customization and report writer features, as well as support for various IRS forms and schedules.

Technical Support/Updates. This section assesses a program’s built-in help utilities and gauges available support options and whether
they are included with the software
license or require an additional
purchase. It also examines whether
updates are included or must be
purchased as well as the frequency
and method of delivery of the updates.