ATX is a tax solution provided by CCH Small Firm Services with a primary focus on function and value, with bundle options that include tax compliance, research, payroll compliance and document management tools for tax professionals. New for the current year are integration points with PortalSafe, an online portal solution and an improved print manager.
Agile Tax is in its sophomore year as a tax solution. The program was built as an Internet solution, and tax practitioners can process an unlimited number of returns for a fixed monthly cost. The system is designed for high volume tax processing and intended as a standalone product. New for the current release are improvements to the electronic filing functionality and the addition of year-over-year comparative reports.
Bloomberg BNA is typically relied on to provide high levels of tax, regulatory and compliance expertise. Used by thousands of tax professionals, including the IRS, Bloomberg BNA provides a number of solutions for tax, accounting, financial planning and estate planning.
Unlike traditional applications where it is very clear where one module begins and another ends, CCH Axcess users can perform many tasks from a wide range of menus throughout the solution. This flexibility may be confusing to new users, as the time capture functions are accessed from the user’s dashboard and not from within the Axcess Practice application.
ProSystem fx Practice Management was originally built as CPASoftware Visual Practice Management on the Microsoft Access database, but has been updated to support the Microsoft.net and Microsoft SQL Server platforms.
APS Advance Practice Management is a customizable solution which best meets the needs of large accounting firms. The solution is built on the Microsoft SQL server platform. The application is flexible enough that the firm will need to know how they want to work with the application, and should not be expecting a “standard” implementation with this very powerful and flexible tool kit. A number of stock dashboards are provided with APS Advanced Practice Management, but users will want to configure the metrics tracked to meet their firm’s specific requirements.
PowerPM from Commercial Logic, Inc. is a straight-forward module-based practice management application which is offered as a hosted solution for a monthly charge. The PowerPM Suite includes five core modules which provide users with the system. These modules are:
Empire Suite by WSG Systems, Corp. is a high-end practice management tool designed for large firms. Empire Suite includes an optional staff scheduling module called Empire Resource, and is one of the stronger automatic scheduling tools in the industry. The application is delivered as software as a service through the company’s website, EmpireSuite.com, and is sold on a subscription basis.