SafeSend has redesigned the. lower and file of its SafeSend Exchange secure file transfer application. It is also now available within the SafeSend Suite Preferred Pricing Tier, the company said this week.

In a prepared statement, CEO Scott Fleszar said that Exchange’s “inclusion in the SafeSend Suite further distinguishes our tax workflow automation platform from anything else in the marketplace.”

Exchange offers a client portal, file sharing system, and automated PDF encryption in one application with direct Microsoft Outlook integration or accessibility through the online platform.

The product automatically encrypts email attachments from within Outlook and offers s customizable “question & answer” based authentication.

SafeSend Organizers have also been enhanced with improvements including combined Proforma and Batch Organizer reporting, new Organizer reports and expanded capabilities around Source Documents,

Accounting software package FreshBooks is now integrated with SurePayroll’s payroll application. The companies said this month a new application program interface enables users to automatically synchronize payroll expenses and liabilities.

SurePayroll said the EPI automatically transmitts general ledger information once payroll processing is complete.

Owned by Paychex, SurePayroll is designed for small businesses. Besides offering payroll, SurePayroll offers 401(k) plans, workers' compensation, and health insurance to these businesses.

RSM US has won a global partner of the year award and two partner of the year awards for the United States from Microsoft. The awards, announced recently, include product and industry honors for a wide variety of Microsoft products and platforms.

On the global scene the account firm was name Partner of the Year for the nonprofit industry and was a finalist in the government market.Its U.S. awards are partner of the year for Dynamics 365 Customer Service & Field Service and for Power Apps.

The Big Four accounting firms scored in both the global and U.S. honors.  KPMG International was the U.S. and global award winner for Dynamics 365 Finance. Ernst & Young was given the American and worldwide honors for Dynamics 365 Sales, Azure AI, Advisory. Services and Security. 

Ernst &. Young Brazil was the worldwide award for Power Automate

On the global side, KPMG International and Pricewaterhousecoopers were finalists in the Business Advisory segment. EY was a finalist for Customer Experience. KPMG International was a finalist for Global SI & Advisory Digital Transformation and as Sustainability Changemaker; EY Chile for Defense & Intelligence 

Wolters Kluwer’s CCH Tagetik operation has introduced a free online buyer’s guide to Corporate Performance Management Software. The guide is designed to enable finance leaders to compare a variety of CPM software features.

CPM features compared include budgeting and planning, analytics and reporting, close and consolidation and pricing.

Designed for finance leaders, the practical playbook includes a step-by-step process for conducting a successful software evaluation, including assessing and defining the current needs of businesses, creating a project timeline and building a buying committee.

Four tools area aare vailable to create a short list of products.

First is a CPM software checklist. The second includes vendor comparison features within the following analyst reports: a Gartner: Magic Quadrant for Cloud FP&A Solutions; Nucleus Research: CPM Technology Value Matrix and Dresner: Advisory Services Technology Innovation Awards. There is a Business Case Checklist and Sample RFP questions.

The issues surrounding payroll have changed dramatically over the last two years. With a significant percentage of the population working away from the office—and like to stay away, many businesses now have a work force in more than one state, meaning tax compliance is more complicated.

 The Great Resignation in which millions have changed or are changing jobs having clients asking accounting firms questions about hiring and employee retention. Fortunately, payroll software and service providers are responding with tools to answer these challenges. These include employee self-service that can improve the accuracy of employee records and payroll. Read about the trends that are reshaping payroll and drawing accounting and payroll firms into providing people services in the special report “Self-Service Reshapes Payroll”.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought significant changes to most segments of business. That includes payroll where remote work, staff shortages and resignations have steered businesses to their advisors to increasingly ask questions about human resource issues. And there is the complexity of businesses that have unexpectedly found themselves with worker in many different jurisdictions. This special report examines the significant changes faced by accounting professionals who deal with the payroll and people issues faced by their clients.

The last two years have been like nothing else the mid-market has experienced--indeed like nothing most peope alive have experienced. But for the ERP channel, the pandemic produced opporuntity as remote work accelerated the move of businesses to the cloud

But new opporunties and new problems usually go hand and hand and the demand for web-based financial products has been accompanied by a shortage of the consultants needed to install and implement them. This Special Report "Beyond the Pandemic" discusses these issues, as it announces the 2022 edition of Bob Scott's Top 100 VARs. It tells you where the leaders rank and examines how several of them have addressed the problems and the opportunities.

The title of this special report "Reselling the Era of COVID" sounds even more relevant with the recent outbreak of the Omicron variant. But one thing is for sure, the move to the cloud was accelerated by the pandemic in a way no one could have anticipated.

It has not beneftied everyone in the midmarket who sells ERP software. But a large number of resellers and software publishers have benefited, even as they work around issued such as remote work. So within that framework, we are pleased to announce the 100 resellers who have been chosen as
VAR Stars for 2021 and share some of their experiences of the last year. 

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.

The Internal Revenue Service must continue to reduce the amount of paper it processes, the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council has said it its annual report for 2022.

The body outlined areas in which the IRS should use tools such as electronic filing and secure email to reduce the amount of paper it processes and made specific recommendations, including the following:

*Find ways to handle paper processing of employment tax returns such as adding the amended Forms 941-X and 945-X to the Modernized eFiling system; It also suggested use of bots to automate the transfer of data from MeF to the Business Master File Transcript Delivery systems.

*Develop a secure email system for sending and receiving time-sensitive penalty correspondence or correspondence that contains private taxpayer information

*Supply more information through the BMF system. Currently, data such as entity, wage and data information; forms 1041, 941x Series, 990 and 2290 are not included

Three tax professionals, including two owners of a Waxahachie, Texas-based CPA firm, have been accused of helping a lawyer who helped clients falsely shelter $1 billion in income from the Internal Revenue Service.

A superseding indictment this week claimed the professionals, Craig Fenton, and CPAs Kevin McDonnell, James Richardson, owners of McDonnell Richardson, P.C., were handpicked by attorney, Joseph Garza of Dallas, who promoted the illegal shelter, which the Department of Justice says caused a $200-million tax loss. Fenton is a tax manager at the firm and McDonnell is also reportedly a licensed attorney.

The indictment of Garza on October 18 says from about 2012 to 2021 hepromoted a tax shelter that allowed high-income clients to claim bogus tax deductions. He and the co-conspirators allegedly told clients to transfer funds into shell companies, which was then returned untaxed to clients.

The group then allegedly concealed the circular flow of funds by commissioning fictitious business valuation reports, creating  invoices for fake business expenses, and drafting sham contracts.

McDonnell, Richardson and Fenton are accused of aiding the fraud by filing phony tax returns for clients and the shell companies.

 All four have been indicted on charges of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, helping clients file false tax returns, and conspiracy to defraud the United States.

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 Thomson Reuters is acquiring SurePrep for $500 million in cash. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2023.

Based in Irvine, Calif., SurePrep markets software for tax offices, including 1040 SCAN. It was founded by CEO David Wyle, who also founded the former ePace Software. That organization was purchased by CCH Inc. (now part of Wolters Kluwer), which renamed its product ProSystem fx Engagement.

1040Scan is a scan and populate package that is designed to capture information from source documents and export that data to tax preparation software package.  The company’s other core products are Spbinder, workpaper management software for tax preparation, and TaxCaddy, a client tax portal for uploading documents.

The newest release of CCH Axcess IQ can now notify customers about pertinent federal and state legislative changes. The company said this week the system can also explain their impact on tax returns and provide advice, recommending next steps.

Utilizing the software’s dashboard, users can identify specific clients affected by the legislative changes. Automatically generated communications can help practitioners “engage and strengthen relationships with clients by offering strategic advice and recommended next steps”, according to the announcement from Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting

Jennifer Warawa has been named as president of QuickFee’s North American operations. QuickFee, based in Australia, offers payments services for professional businesses such as accountants and law firms.

The vendor also operates automated utility bill payments.

Warawa spent 11 years eight months with the Sage Group, holding executive roles in managing the company’s reselling and accounting firm channels during that time. She was most recently chief commercial officer of Dirtt Environmental Solutions.

QuickFee reported revenue of about $734,000 for the first quarter ended September 30, an increase of 21 percent over last year’s corresponding period.

QuickFee is undergoing management changes as CEO Eric Lookhoff resigned in August for personal reasons. A search for a U.S/-based CEO is underway. Also in October, executive chairman Barry Lewin said he would not seek re-election. He has been succeeded by executive director Dale Smorgon. The company also discontinued its Buy Now Pay Later operations in the U.S., but it continues to operate in Australia.

Xero will change CEOs in February with Steve Vamos retiring from the position he has held for five years.

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, who is joining the company on November 28, will move into the top position for the New Zealand-based cloud accounting software company. Vamos said this week he is staying until the end of May as an advisor.

Previously, Cassidy was president of StubHub, an eBay subsidiary, from 2018 through 2020 where she was responsible for the platform’s operations its sites in the United States and internationally. Cassidy was founder and CEO of Joyus from January 2011 through February 2017. The company was purchased by StackCommerce in September 2017.

She has also served on the boards of Upstart, Canada Drives and Urban Outfitters.

 Maddox, Thomson & Associates, a CPA firm based in Houston, Texas, has named Rebecca McElroy as president and Jennifer Youngblood as VP.  They are taking over from Larry Maddox and Joe Thomson, who founded the firm in 1985.

McElroy, who joined the firm in August 2011, has been a tax partner since July 2013.  She came to the CPA business from Hines, a real-estate firm, where she was senior accountant from February McElroy will lead MTA’s accounting and tax practices and direct the firm’s future growth

Youngblood, who joined MTA in 2013 and was elected partner in January 2022, will co-lead MTA’s accounting and tax practices. Youngblood will continue to support individuals, trusts, family partnerships and closely held businesses with tax compliance and tax planning.

She was previously a manager with Calvetti, Ferguson, Wagner, and worked there for one year four months and prior to that was an associate with Kainer &. Co. where she was employed for 10 years one month.

 Anders CPAs has named six individuals who will become partners in the St. Louis, Mo.-based accounting firm.

 The six are Brent Kaniecki, Lesley Sanchez, CPA, Beth Schulte, CPA, Justin Marty, CPA, Luke Luckett, CPA/PFS, CEP, and Nathan Stoner, CPA 

Kaniecki, who joined Anders in 2004 and has served as director and strategic growth advisor. In his first 16 years at the firm, he helped build the technology practice. His industry experience includes manufacturing and distribution, real estate and construction,

Serving as an intern with Anders in September 2008, Sanchez was hired in July 2009. She primarily works with privately held companies, particularly those in banking and financial institutions as well as manufacturing, hospitality and construction, and  also specializes in conducting employee benefit plan audits for defined benefit plans and employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs).  

Schulte came to Anders in 2021 as a principal and outsourced CFO. Prior to that, she worked for five years with UHY where she was a principal. She also worked at the Stewardship Center for 15 years, where she was CFO. Schulte has experience in directing strategic planning efforts for companies in industries that include  real estate, construction, mortgage lending, manufacturing, health care, technology, e-commerce and not-for-profits.

After joining the firm as an intern, Marty worked his way through the Anders Tax Department, He has specific experience in labor, welfare, pension, vacation and other funds with experience in serving including real estate companies, startups, manufacturers and distributors,

Luckett started with Anders in October 2010. Prior to that, he was a tax preparer for Jackson Hewitt from January 2009 through April 2010. A Personal Finance Specialist and Certified Exit Planning Advisor, his specialty areas include individual and trust tax planning, estate planning, executive cashflow planning, business transition planning and stock option planning.

 Stoner came to Anders in 2011 as a tax intern and became a tax associate in November 2012. He works with high net-worth individuals, business owners, and flow-through entities on tax planning and advisory. Working within the Anders Health Care Group, he has served physician-owned health care practices. 

 Indirect tax specialist Avalara is being acquired by Vista Equity Partners for $8.3 billion. At $93.50 per share, the all-cash deal is 27-percent higher than the closing share price on August 6.

CEO Scott McFarlane heads Avalara, which he founded in 2004.

At the same time, it reported a loss of $55.8 million second quarter ended June 30, up from a loss of $31 million a year earlier. Revenue for the most recently ended period rose 23 percent to $208.6 million, from $169.1 million a year ago. Subscription revenue of $189.8 million increaed  24 percent from $152.4 million in last year’s corresponding period

Avalara has introduced Transfer Pricing Reports for Accountants. The indirect tax software company this week said the product is designed for use by both transfer pricing experts and non experts at accounting firms.

The system automates the production of U.S. and OECD transfer pricing reports, documenting the process andenabling firms to produce reports for clients in three steps: data collection, documentation review and report generation. 

The application creates templated reports by combining predetermined, fixed benchmarks with a guided questionnaire, which prepopulates data based on transaction types selecied.

Transfer Reports covers both local file and master file for countries that have adopted OECD guidelines. Built-in databased on best practices from publicly available data, covering the Americas, Europe, and Asia.  Reports included built-in, noneditable date and time stamps, benchmark-related appendices, and analysis.

The software also offers management tools with built-in visibility and tracking.

Sales tax vendor Avalara has laid out its plans for Crush Global, its annual conference. The free virtual conference, the company's sixth annaul event, will be held May 17 and 18, the company said this week as it opened registration

Besides offering breakout sessions about industry topics, the conference will again feature Crush City, described as “an experiential activity center with access to a variety of on-demand resources, including videos, podcasts, downloadable guides and reports, and more, specific to the needs of different industries and business sizes.” Attendees will have experiences based on their country or region.

Major sessions include “Managing Growth in the Global Economy”. Moderated by global economist, Todd Buchholz, ecommerce experts on the panel are Craig Cohen, CRO at WooCommerce, and  Miriam González Durántez, international trade lawyer with Cohen & Gresser, and founder and chair of Inspiring Girls International,

Siri Bulusu, former tax reporter with Bloomberg Industry Group, will moderate “Staying Ahead of Shifting Government Regulations” with panelists Daniel Bunn, VP, global projects at the Tax Foundation, Gino Dossche, principal, U.S. VAT practice at EY, and  Dr. Lindsey Piegza, chief economist for Stifel Financial,

The moderator, Mickey North Rizza, program VP, Enterprise Applications and Digital Commerce at IDC, is hosting “Discover the Value of Embedding Tax Within Finance” Panelists fopr this session are  Catherine Barba, a digital revolution pioneer and expert in omnichannel retail and digital retail, Dara Meath, Ddvisional CIO, Digital/Ecommerce at Conair Corporation and Avalara customer, and Paul Farrell, VP, product management at Oracle NetSuite.

 Thomson Reuters has introduced Indirect Tax Determination Anywhere. The company this week said the platform sits on top of private and public cloud or on-premise applications to provide tax calculations.

The company said the application, gives tax professionals “the power of a tax determination engine at any point of transaction, within any channel.”

Determination was launched in conjunction with the Thomson Reuters Institute’s new2021 Tax Technology Report, Indirect Taxes – Much More than Just a Process, The inaugural product “shows how the growth and complexity of indirect taxes continues to impact compliance and operational efficiency across the global business landscape.”

The company said “Determination Anywhere's proprietary cloud-based technology ensures that tax rates and jurisdictional regulations are current and accurate, enabling reliable tax compliance, a frictionless customer experience and increased revenues for businesses. “