The elimination of data entry was a major emphasis at the recent Forward Together Virtual conference held by Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting. The move toward automation include the upcoming CCH Axcess Engagement, bringing the K-1 engine into the cloud this year and a release of Client Collaboration in December.

 Overall, the company also emphasized improvements in performance based on changes made to products and services in the last year.

Jim McGinnis, the EVP who manages Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting US Mid/Large Firm Segment, noted during the conference the launch of the Open Compute Platform “which dramatically improved our performance.” That system, he said, reduced the time needed calculations for even the largest returns by 45 percent

He also reported a significant investment in support. “We have invested in support to reduce wait times by 40 percent,” he continued.

The most imminent of the products releases include Multi-user 2.0 this month which supports five users with concurrent print and calculation capability. Expected next summer is bringing the K-1 engine into the cloud. The system, which is in beta test now,  interprets unstructured data and transfers it to the tax software..

On the near horizon is the move of audit into the cloud with beta release CCH Axcess Engagement this fall. TeamMate Analytics, introduced in 2017, will also soon move onto the cloud,

“We will be inviting existing customers for Engagement to try it first for their preps, comps and reviews and then on audits,” said Cathy Rowe, director of product management for accounting and audit solutions. The company promises what Rowe called a “robust migration strategy” for on-premise users to move to the cloud.

New tools in this area include CCH Axcess Knowledge Coach and Knowledge Coach, introduced during the conference. Wolters Kluwer also introduced integration between TeamMate Analytics and Knowledge Coach. Rowe said Engagement Organizer, a cloud-based request list, is being made available to all Engagement users and will become part of Engagement.

Another cloud-based product, Axcess Financial Prep, a trial balance module, will be integrated with Axcess Engagement next year.  Automation in this area means, “We will feed trial balance data directly into the form,” Rowe said.

Chatbots emerged as important tools for state chief information officers in responding to the COVID-19 crisis. The 2020 State CIO Survey, sponsored by the National Association of State Chief Information Officers), Grant Thornton and CompTIA found Chatbots, used for online citizen service inquiries was by far the most common technology implemented this year.

The survey of 47 state and territory CIOs found 76 percent had implemented chatbots for the first time in response to COVID-19. The second most-frequently adopted technology was mobile apps for contact tracing/exposure notification (53 percent), followed by voicebots to support call center interactions (40 percent).

Not surprising, asked which business process, practices or investments will change as a result of the pandemic, the CIOs listed expanded options for working remotely as the No. 1 impact. No 2 was expanded use of collaboration platforms and remote meetings. Increased attention on digital government services/ citizen experience was No. 3; Investments in broadband expansion/adoption, No 4; and Increased priority and investment in legacy modernization, No. 5.

Zoho has introduced an office suite, Zoho Workplace, a cloud-based suite that encompasses nine integrated applications. The applications were built on a common model with common search and AI with a single dashboard.

The suite includes a business mail package, Zoho Mail, that enables users to make audio or video calls from within the application and edit document attachments in Zoho Writer. Users can meet online with contacts, and access all email accounts from within the application.

The platform also offers a control panel with eDiscovery, Backup and Recovery. Another application is Meeting, which  can be used to set up recurring or one-off meetings and is integrated with applications such as Zoho Projects, Bookings and CRM. 

Workplace also features the Cliq messaging application; and Connect, which integrates with HR systems such Zoho People. Additionally, there is Show, a presentation system, which integrates with ‌Atlassian, Unsplash, and Humaans; Sheet, a spreadsheet system; and Workdrive, a document management system; and ShowTime for online training. Workplace pricing starts at $3 per user per month for the Standard version and $6 per user per month for the Professional version.

Digital CPA, a conference hosted by the American Institute of CPAs and CPA.com, will be held virtually. The event will be held December 8 and will be preceded by a November 12 pre-conference session on remote work. 

 The pre-conference session, “Distributed by Design: A Framework for Future Forward Organizations,” will be led by Radical Ventures cofounder Pascal Finette.  It aims to “provide a framework and toolkit for CPA firms to conduct strategic planning and decision-making on remote work, decentralization, and the opportunities and challenges that arise from them.”

Digital CPA keynoters include Jeffrey Rogers, moderator of executive education programs and international summits for Singularity University. He will speak “about change dynamics, managing complexity and transformation in a period of continuous, accelerating change.” AICPA president Barry Melancon will provide “an in-depth professional issues update on accounting and finance” while Erik Asgeirsson, CEO of CPA.com “will discuss trends in firm management, advisory services and technology. 

Digital CPA “is designed for CPA firm partners, managers and staffers responsible for implementing cloud solutions and practice management innovations, as well as business development, firm marketing and human resources directors”.

Everybody is talking about Client Advisory Services and a lot of people are doing something about them. That is because businesses have never needed advice more than they have during the COVID-19 pandemic..

Sponsor:

.They have been confronted with decision they have not had to make before—how to transition employees to remote work; how to do deal with rapidly changing government requirements; how to keep operating in difficult conditions.

So they turn to the people that are usual at the time of their contact list at times like this: their accountants. Accountants are being called on for advice in area they usually leave to others, such as human resource and other people issues. And accountants need to be able to advise clients on what to do, not just how to reads their financial reports.

This special report looks at the evolving world of CAS, how practitioners are adapting to it and how their technology partners can help them deliver the needed services. 

The coronavirus has helped make the argument for the use of online payroll systems. With the cloud, you can still run payroll and issue checks, even if no one is in the office. But it has also put accountants on the hook for being able to answer an increasing number of client questions about human resources issues, including furloughing and recalling staff, especially with the Paycheck Protection Programs Loans, which are based on payroll.  At once, it has provided the tools for producing paychecks even when practitioners are out of the office and has also given them a new set of problems and new opportunities. In this special report, Payroll and Beyond, The Progressive Accountant looks at the impact of the response to COVID-19 on payroll and HR services.

 Where are we going in the mid-market? Or in general? The economy started out the year with record employment and has moved to record unemployment with the effects of shutdowns of the Covid-19 virus.  For resellers this year, how they are doing depends on where they are located and in what markets they are involved. Bob Scott’s Top 100 VARs for 2020 examines the issues in an era of extreme uncertainty and names 100 firms who are the big players in this market.

For resellers, the issue now is meeting user needs and making money, not worrying about whether software is in the cloud. Certainly, there are many thousands of on-premise mid-market accounting systems in use and a decent number are being sold. But the action is in the cloud and it is a matter of features, which is what users really care about. The issue is which product is better at handling nonprofits, which is good for businesses with inventory, which best suits professional services and which delve into highly specialized markets. In the fact, the thought did not even occur this year to count how many of the Top 100 2019 VARs carry cloud products. It was just assumed they all do. That is why this year’s theme is “The Cloud Rules”  If you are not in the cloud game, you are not really in the game.

Jeff Siegel is the owner of Siegel Solutions, an 11-person firm that provides outsourced bookkeeping solutions usingJeff Siegel is the owner of Siegel Solutions, an 11-person firm that provides outsourced bookkeeping solutions usingQuickBooks to over 300 clients. Jeff knows what it takes to grow a business: efficiency of scale, real-time insights thatbuild strong customer relationships, and a secure data environment. He gets all three from Right Networks.

In this ebook, we’ll examine:In this ebook, we’ll examine:

• Why DIY (Do-It-Yourself) accounting systems created forsmall businesses cause undue pain for both small businessowners and for accountants
• How the right cloud-based professional accounting systemcan not only eliminate that pain, but also open up newopportunities for accountants to better serve their clients

Steven Brewer, CPA is the President of Steven Brewer and Company, CPAs, located in Salem, IN. He talked to AccountantsWorld about how he’s grown his accounting practice without needing to increase his number of clients – and how those improvements have eased his tax season crunch.

BooXkeeping: How White Label Bookkeeping Services Provide Scalability to Your Firm When it comes to running a business the main thing that every business owner wants to do is sell their products or services, create brand awareness and generate profits that they can enjoy later in life. The last thing a business owner wants to do is to worry about bookkeeping, taxes, and the rest of time consuming accounting tasks needed to run a successful business, with limited resources and time, often the bookkeeping ends up being the last on the list of things that need to be completed.

CrossLink Professional Tax Solutions is offering integrated payment processing for tax preparers utilizing its CrossLink Online application. The capability is being offered through an agreement with PayJunction.

The latter company is offering qualified CrossLink clients a ZeroTouch Terminal for use in point-of-sale payments and payment tracking. The integration enables payments to be initiated via the CrossLink Online portal with transaction information flowing into client records.

Amounts due are automatically sent from CrossLink Online and displayed on screen.  Customers pay via a swipe, insert or the tap of their contactless card, phone or wearable. Payment history is paired with clients’ tax returns and digital receipts are securely stored in CrossLink Online, 

The Internal Revenue Service will open tax filing on Friday, February 12. That is the day the agency says it will begin accepting and processing 2020 tax year returns.

 The deadline returns to the traditional April 15, after last year’s COVID-19-triggered extension to July 15.

The IRS said the later season-opening date gives it time for additional programming and testing of its systems following the December 27 law that provides a second round of Economic Impact Payments.

Programming changes ensure eligible individuals will receive any remaining stimulus money, such as Recovery Rebate Credit when they file their 2020 tax return, the IRS said.

Refunds are expected to be issued for many taxpayers claiming the  Earned Income Tax Credit or Additional Child Tax Credit to be issued the first week of March for those who file returns electronically with direct deposit and if there are no problems with 

The Internal Revenue Service should have done a better job of informing taxpayers about refund delays during the past tax season, according to the annual report of the National Taxpayer Advisor. The report to Congress this week by Advocate Erin M. Collins said the IRS should create a regularly updated “COVID-19. Dashboard” and by issuing weekly news releases.

Millions of returns were not processed because IRS personnel were not on-premise during the coronavirus pandemic. But information about the problems was not given in a timely fashion to the public.  For example, on December 31, the IRS website had an update dated December 1 that stated there were 7.1 million unprocessed  individual and 2.3 million unprocessed business returns as of November 24 with some of those dated back to April 15.

The Advocate’s reports says the IRS should update the backlog information weekly, which should result in fewer calls from taxpayers.

Refunds continued to be delayed by IRS fraud detection filters. The report said for about 25 percent of the reports flagged for income verification, refunds took longer than 56 days. About 18 percent of returns marked for identity verification took longer than 120 days.

There was also a problem with millions of individuals not receiving some or all of the Economic Incentive payments to which they were entitled. Although the IRS agreed to fix some EIP problems that could be resolved by automation, the agency was unable to resolve many cases last year, meaning those individuals will have to wait until they file 2020 tax returns to receive payments.

Additionally, taxpayers received more than 20 million notices that had dates that had passed and in many cases, response or payment deadlines that had passed. The IRS used inserts with about 1.8 million notices to explain taxpayers would have additional time to respond but failed to include inserts with many other notices.

Seven tax return preparers in Charlotte, N.C., have pleaded guilty to charges relating to preparing fraudulent tax returns. The individuals include the owner of Kapital Financial Services and its employees.

Joseph Octave and Vonyeda Carson pleaded guilty this week while Melissa Greene, Natisha Holloman, Kimberly Joline, Whitney Vargas-Medrano and Wendia Courtois pleaded guilty earlier. 

All pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States by preparing and filing false tax returns while Octave also pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting in the filing of false tax returns.

Octave owned and operated two Kapital offices in Charlotte and from 2014 through at least 2019, she and her employees used a variety of techniques, including inflated deductions and fake business losses,  to increase refunds their clients received. Octave trained employees on how to file false returns, providing  them with scripts and cheat sheets.  She also instructed them not to review completed tax returns with clients beyond the refund amount.

Octave received the largest share of $700,000 in preparation fees received by Kapital.

Anthony Pugliese, CEO of the California Society of CPAs, will become president and CEO of the Institute of Internal Auditors in March. He replaces Richard Chambers.

Pugliese has headed the California Society and the CalCPA Educational Foundation since January 2019.

Before that, he spent 19 years with the American Institute of CPAs where he was COO from 2005 through May 2016. He moved on to the Association of International CPAs as EVP of membership, learning and technology from July 2016 through February 2018..

Intuit has named Ted Callahan as leader of its accountant program. Callahan, who has been with the software company since August 2017 joins the team of Ariege Misherge, VP and expert segment leader of the small business self-employed group.

Misherge was previously leader of the accountant program Callahan is responsible for products such as QuickBooks Online Accountant and for the ProAdvisor program. He was previously director of Intuit’s QuickBooks Live product, the company’s bookkeeping program. He held that position from May 2019. Before that, Callahan was director of the self-employed ecosystem from August 2017 through May 2019.

CliftonLarsonAllen has named Jen Leary as CEO. The firm also announced the names of five executives who are serving on her leadership team.

 Former CEO Denny Schleper has become CEO emeritus role and willremain actively involved in the firm  this year.

The members of the leadership team are  Nancy Brown, chief culture and engagement officer; Cathy Clarke, chief quality officer; Scott Engelbrecht, chief geographic officer; Yassir Karam, chief solutions officer; and John Langan, chief industry officer

Leary, who has been with the firm since April 2009, was most recently, chief strategy officer; and a member of the board of directors of CLA and Nexia International

The American Institute of CPAs has hired Marta Zaniewski as VP of state regulatory and legislative affairs. She will serve the AICPA’s primary voice and contact on those areas.

Zaniewksi will work with state CPA societies, state boards of accountancy, the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy, the Alliance for Responsible Professional Licensing and state legislative and executive branch officials. 

She was previously assistant VP for advocacy and external engagement at the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards. Prior to taking that petition, Zaniewski served as director of external engagement at the American Institute of Architects, and as a Political Action Committee manager for the National Association of Realtors.

 Firms are being offered the opportunity to outsource sales tax prepared through Avalara Managed Returns for Accountants. Accountants can provide a complete array of sales tax return preparation and filing through Avalara.

 Accounting firms are increasingly being asked for advice on indirect taxes, according to Sona Akmakjian,  global head of strategic accounting partnerships.  

“Market dynamics are dictating this for us. We are in the COVID world we are in the post-Wayfair world,” she says. Wayfair refers to the cases in which the Supreme Court made it possible for states to impose taxes on sellers outside of their boundaries.

In the past, firms that assisted clients were placed in a position that most accountants do not like. “It’s been a low-margin, high-risk service,” Akmakjian said. 

Avalara sees outsourced sales tax preparation taking a familiar form with firms. “I think sales tax compliance is going to be no different than payroll,” Akmakjian said. 

Firms will be able to make money on the services, with volume discounts available via a tiered system.

Avalara has entered the business license market through the acquisition of Monsey, N.Y.-based Business Licenses. The sales and use tax vendor is paying $97 million in stock and cash.

 Business Licenses markets software and services for the research, acquisition and management of business licenses, acquisition and permits for organizations of all sizes.

CEO Scott McFarlane noted this month licenses cover a wide range of businesses.These  include basic business licenses, occupancy permits, permits for healthcare and childcare facilities, and a myriad of licenses and permits

”It’s a natural and complimentary step beyond tax,” McFarlane said during an Avalara earnings webcast. BL research, acquisition and management of business license, acquisition and permits for organizations of all sizes.

The past six months have delivered more challenges to clients than anyone could have anticipated. Business that were primarily brick-and-mortar at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic have rushed to establish an online selling presence in order to survive. 

In doing so, they were also hastily introduced to state-by-state economic nexus laws resulting from the 2018 S. Dakota v Wayfair Supreme Court decision, requiring sales tax registration in each jurisdiction, and the collection, reporting and remittance of sales tax once sales or dollar amount thresholds were reached. Hence, the former mom and pop store entered a new world of compliance complexity that existing ecommerce merchants have been wrangling with for several years.

Wayfair also ushered in a wave of advisory work for accounting professionals, who’ve helped clients, often small businesses, untangle compliance scenarios previously reserved for larger companies. Clients who previously did business in just a small handful of states now have nexus wherever new customers buy their products online, and they need step-by-step guidance to get a handle on their new obligations.

Global aspirations meet cross-border compliance complexity

And what about those ambitious clients who look at the entire globe as their total addressable market? While many of us are hearing about trends related to ecommerce sellers going international, in lock step with more consumers shopping online around the world, and more sellers wanting to take advantage of a total addressable market, the data is still surprising.   According to IDC, by 2022, cross-border ecommerce is expected to account for more than 15% of the world’s online retail market. eMarketer estimates that the global online retail market will grow to $5.7 trillion by 2022.

While demand for cross-border ecommerce has risen, so has the complexity surrounding country-level tax and customs regulations. For would-be international sellers, mastering cross-border compliance – the value-added tax (VAT), goods and services tax (GST), customs duties (also called tariffs), import fees, and the variations of each from country to country -- can mean the difference between success and failure, in addition to staying competitive, in the up-for-grabs ecommerce world market.  

In addition to different tax systems, your clients will need to accurately assign Harmonized System (HS) codes to all their goods. The first six digits of the code are standardized across all participating countries; however, each country appends its own set of digits to classify a product based on specific parameters and regulations. Every country sets its own laws governing what can be sold by whom. For example, tax rates applied to imports from Canada to Brazil may be applied differently than those same products when coming from the United States.

Shipping and pricing transparency are key success factors

Your clients’ ultimate success in global sales will hinge on their ability to provide a good (or great) customer experience, regardless of where the customer is located. And shipping is an essential factor in the equation, in terms of how long it takes to reach the customer and how much it costs. The bar has already been raised high for shipping time, with ecommerce sellers racing to compete with tech giants who have defined and set customer expectations for delivery service. For international transactions, setting up an efficient fulfillment system and clearly communicating shipping times is mission critical to starting the experience on the right foot.

More complicated is setting expectations for price. Between assigning the correct HS code and properly applying the correct taxes, tariffs, shipping and import fees, transparency at the point of sale can be difficult. The customer in Ireland who purchased a sweater from your online seller client in Brooklyn expects a seamless drop-off delivery at their location. Some businesses are tempted to omit these fees at checkout, but surprising customers with costly fees upon delivery is never a good experience. Abandoned online shopping carts are one thing, but a rejected shipment at the destination doorstep results in an unhappy customer, and potential brand reputation damage via social media and other complaints, not to mention placing the cost of return on your client, if they decide it’s worth undertaking those costs.

Automation tames cross-border complexity

Automation solutions are a key ingredient for businesses entering the global retail space. For many international sellers, the task of manually assigning tariff codes and calculating customs duties and taxes is resource intensive, costly, prone to human error, and ultimately not a path to ongoing compliance. It’s only through modern technology that your clients can ensure that customs duties and import taxes are accurately calculated at the time of checkout to mitigate compliance risks and avoid negative customer experiences with surprise costs at the time of delivery. 

Depending on the number of countries, breadth of products, and staff available to handle rates and regulations, an automated tax solution may be the most efficient, cost-effective way to manage tax compliance. Software programs such as Avalara Cross-Border are readily available for item classification, rate calculations, reporting, and returns filing. Make sure your client’s cross-border compliance system integrates with their other business applications, such as accounting/ERP, enterprise content management (ECM), and online retail platforms. Absent fully integrated technology solutions, 21^st Century commerce expectations won’t be realized, from multi-channel commerce to selling internationally.

Advising for your clients’ (and your firm’s) growth

Cross-border compliance falls squarely within the ongoing demand for enhanced business advisory services as we wend collectively through a global pandemic. And keep in mind that clients of all sizes, including emerging small businesses, will require technology automation and advisory in this area. Learn the basic terminology associated with cross-border selling and compliance in preparation for client conversations. Determine whether you want to develop expertise internally around this practice area, or partner with a firm that focuses on compliance international sellers. Then vet the available technology automation solutions that automate the most complex aspects of cross-border compliance at the moment of transaction. The numbers tell the story—this is an ideal opportunity to demonstrate added value for clients embarking on a new path to global growth.

The spread of ecommerce has meant an increasing number of businesses have transactions in other countries.  That means those businesses also need to deal with tax, tariffs and duties imposed by other countries which has made cross-border taxation an issue for many organizations that previously did not need to even know the term.

 “Cross-border used to be more of a back water,” says Craig Reed, SVP of Avalara’s global trade business. “Increasingly retailers are considering it a core component of their business.”

To handle the confusing mass of taxes, Avalara recently introduced its cross border system which is comprised by Avalara AvaTax Cross-Border and Avalara Item Classification. The latter product is important because providing taxing authorities with the correct classification code for goods being sold. “If you don’t give customs the correct, code, your goods can get stuck at the border,” Reed said. The complex process of code goods has been largely manual and Reed says that each country has a book ‘about six inches to a foot thick” that defines goods.

Reed says companies sometimes turn the issue over to carriers. But he adds, “They are not very accurate because it’s not the core of their business.”

Avalara’s products utilize a natural language process and algorithms to classify a product and calculate duties and taxes. Reed notes the company has a global research team that uses direct government connections to stay current on tax rates and information.

SAP has taken a different approach to handle cross-border issues. In March, the giant software company, entered an alliance with Goldman Sachs Transaction Banking. 

“Cross border is about adding a layer of simplicity to a complex system,” says Sean Thompson, EVP of the business network and ecosystem, SAP Procurement Solutions. The deal enabled SAP to incorporate Goldman’s cross-border capabilities in SAP’s Ariba applications, making the services available to the member’s of the Ariba Network.

Thompson notes there are many issues in cross border, including gain and loss on currency differences. Thompson says in cross-border taxations the financial systems of the buyer and seller both need to be integrated since the ERP system “is where the payment file is”. Bank systems has generally not been integrate in the process.

The SAP-Goldman combination means foreign suppliers can be paid in local currencies with “competitive” foreign exchange rates and also easier reconciliation of payments to corresponding invoices. There is also real-time payment tracking, cost transparency on bank fees and optimized payment routing offered.