2015 Review of Accounting Power by AccountantsWorld

Accounting Power from AccountantsWorld, Inc., has been on the market the longest, initially as Accounting Relief, offering accounting firms a collaborative client-firm accounting solution for more than a decade. It is sold only to accounting practices, who can use the full-featured system for management of their clients and, if they choose, can set up client-side accounting systems built into the firm system, and that the firm can also fully manage.

Accounting Power can be used as a part of AccountantsWorld’s Power Practice Suite, which includes systems for payroll processing and reporting, practice management, website management, document management and after-the-fact payroll. This integrated solution provides all of the tools needed to run their practices and serve small and medium sized clients with outsourced accounting functions.

Best Fit: Accounting Power is designed for accounting firms who want to regain control over their clients’ bookkeeping by allowing the firm to collaboratively manage business processes, from posting transactions to reporting. The system includes collaborative and period-based write-up functions, such as reconciliation, journal management and financials generation, and includes useful management tools like multi-client dashboards, alerts and detailed user security settings, that allow firms to use the system as an outsourced finance department for clients.

Strengths

Provides good tools for write-up and collaborative accounting with business clients
Offers direct integration with the PowerPractice Suite, which has solutions for practice management, payroll processing and reporting, document management, website management and other tools.
Power Practice has streamlined data entry screens that facilitate high volume processing. It also has tools for importing data from QuickBooks, Sage and most report formats.
AccountantsWorld does not compete with firms for sales. The client-side accounting solution is only available through the accounting firm’s online software, and therefore only the accounting firm is in contact with the small business.
The system includes good reporting tools and customization features, including multi-client dashboards, automatic alerts and trial balance capabilities, and is the only system in this review to include built-in job costing capabilities.
New bank feeds allows users to have access to live financial institution balances when performing reconciliations.

Potential Limitations

Accounting Power does not support multiple currencies.
The system has limited inventory capabilities and few add-ons are available for CRM, manufacturing or other niche needs.

Summary and Pricing

A first-year special that includes the Accounting Power Pro system and the Collaborative Bookkeeping Module (for unlimited clients) costs $160 per month or $1,595 for the first year.