Thomson Reuters — Small Firm Research Tools
Dec. 22, 2008
From the Jan. 2009 Review
of Tax Research Systems
[Ed. Note: This product brief appeared along with the review section.]
In addition to the Checkpoint tax research platform from Thomson Reuters (reviewed
above), the company’s Tax and Accounting arm also offers a variety of
tools and utilities geared toward providing research assistance to small and
mid-sized practices that might not need the overwhelmingly comprehensive capabilities
of Checkpoint. Among the more notable of these are Quickfinder Online and PPC’s
eTools Suite.
QUICKFINDER ONLINE
(www.QuickFinder.com)
Quickfinder has offered tax reference handbooks and aids for more than 35
years. The primary materials are grouped into categories for Tax Preparation,
Tax Planning, Accounting & Bookkeeping, and CPE. While print and CD-based
materials are still available, most of the content is also available through
Quickfinder Online, which provides additional search tools and, because it is
web-based, is kept up-to-date with the latest tax information. Content available
through the online version includes the Quickfinder Handbooks for 1040, Accounting
& Bookkeeping, All States, Depreciation, Small Business, Tax Planning for
Businesses, Tax Planning for Individuals, and Special Tax Situations, all of
which can be subscribed to individually or bundled.
The Handbooks provide primary source materials, along with expert analysis,
guidance, planning guides and practice tools. The online interface for Quickfinder
provides intuitive navigation, with a Table of Contents menu on the left that
displays and provides direct access to all content. A tab at the top of this
menu allows users to jump to advanced search functions, while a Quick Search
field at the top of the screen provides an alternative method.
Advanced search options enable queries to be made across multiple book titles
and give multiple phraseology choices, including finding alternate forms of
a word, searching for synonyms or including similar results. Online versions
of Quickfinder products are priced the same with substantial discounting provided
if both media are purchased together at the same time.
PPC’S ETOOLS SUITE
(www.PPC.Thomson.com)
The core components of PPC’s eTools Suite are primarily focused on practice
and workflow optimization, although they also include electronic and automatically
linked versions of PPC’s print-based and CD/DVD research materials. These
include the 1040, 1041, 1065 and 1120S Deskbooks, which provide practical guidance
and cover virtually all issues involved with taxation for these entities. The
Deskbooks highlight significant recent changes to taxation rules and provide
examples of workable solutions to problems common or complex. The CD-based version
of PPC’s Deskbooks offers direct integration with UltraTax CS and provides
quick access to research and guidance from data input screens in the compliance
system.
PPC’s Tax e-Practice Aids are built into the eTools Suite, giving users
the benefit of streamlined checklists, comparison features, automatic entry
of common engagement information, calculations and built-in formulas, tick-mark
functions that can work on all Word and Excel documents, and other productivity
features. The eTools Suite also includes PPC’s Tax e-Workpapers, which
are Excel templates that help firms standardize workflow processes, increase
accuracy and save review time.
Most of the content and utilities in PPC’s eTools Suite are also available
online as a part of Thomson’s Checkpoint research platform, but the CD
and print-based versions can be purchased, as well.