SAN MATEO, Calif. - NetSuite, which markets Internet-based business applications has launched the NetSuite Accountant Program, as the effort to enlist accountants in promoting the new generation of software is picking up steam. NetSuite's action follows the path taken by rival Intacct, which is enlisting accountants to promote and use and resellers to sell its Web-based program.
"It's open to anyone with a real practice around accounting and bookkeeping," says Craig West, channel vice president. Members, who can join for free, can receive free access to their clients' accounts, if clients permit this.
They receive "demo accounts with sample data in it so they can kick the tires," says West. That means means they can perform transactions and see the impact on reporting. Members also have access to training classes and to the NetSuite User Group, which is normally limited to paid subscribers and are entitled to join the company's referral program, which offers a 10-percent commission on new business referrals.
There are already some accountants, who had been working with NetSuite clients, who have joined the program. West says accountants were requesting such as program while there has also been demand from end users who wanted to engage accountants with NetSuite experience.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind