Planning and budgeting features are being added to QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced. Intuit this week. Intuit said only that the features are coming soon to the two editions.

 The company said users will be able to build budgets directly in Plus and Advanced using historical data instead of manually exporting it to spreadsheets. 

Advanced can also be used to work with budgeting data via use of the two-way Spreadsheet Sync. Custom roles can be assigned to those managing budgets. Plus users can also import budgets from Excel into QuickBooks.

Checkpoint Engage Single Audit has been released by Thomson Reuters. The web-based application was described by company as automating the entire single audit process.

The software offers step-by-step in-product guidance and it is embedded with the Office of Management and Budget’s Compliance Supplement.

Users enter a client’s federal award information and expenditures and answer a few questions with the application determining which awards must be audited.  A compliance audit program is then prepared, containing the procedures to be performed.

Single Audit is designed for financial statement audits of local governments, nonprofits, school districts, and HUD engagements

Zoho has enhanced Bigin, its CRM application for small businesses.

Introduced in the new release is Team Pipelines, which the company says enables customer-facing teams to manage operations via distinct set of pipelines and sub-pipelines within a single Bigin account. 

Another new feature is Connected Pipelines, aimed at connecting customer records across different processes. Businesses can automate movement of customer data across various pipelines, Zoho’s prepared statement notes, “once a deal is won, sales teams can automate the creation of a connected record in the customer onboarding pipeline.”

Also with Toppings, additional functionalities and third-party integrations can be added on-demand to address business needs that go beyond the standard offering. Zoho’s examples note that the 'Email-In' topping ensures emails sent to different email aliases in an organization are automatically mapped to the relevant customer records in each pipeline. 

Finally Zoho said it is insuring all new mobile features are available on iOS, iPadOS, Android, and macOS

Earned Wage Access has been added to the Wisely payment platform from Automatic Data Processing. EWA is being offered through a partnership with DailyPay.

ADP says its research shows EWA is important to 91 percent of millennial workers and 82 percent of Generation Z workers and 57 percent of Generation X and baby boomers.

Wisely, which integrates with enterprise resource planning and payroll systems, offers employees  secure digital accounts to access their pay, putting all sources income in one place, It is accessible to both W-2 and 1099 workers.

Wisley also offers members the ability to snap a photo of a bill within the myWisely App and have payments deducted through their accounts via BillPay. In addition, members can utilize Cash Back Rewards to earn cash back on spending with the cash going to the savings envelope in the mobile app.

Members can add Wisely accounts to their digital wallets.

It was a good year for the 2022 Class of Bob Scott’s VAR Stars. It could have been better for many if they could have found more consultants. Finding qualified staff was the major problem facing all of the mid-market channel with both resellers and software publishers grappling with ways to get fresh bodies into the channel. The good news behind the problem is that many businesses have not made the move to the cloud and the future looks brigh for sales. Download our special report and view the list of 100 VAR Stars and read about the factors shaping the industry.

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.

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 number of tax returns received by the IRS has fallen behind last year’s total for the second week in a row. Returns received through March 17 were .5 percent below those received by the Internal Revenue Services through March 18, 2022.

The prior week’s report showed returns down .1 percent from last year’s corresponding period. There were 71,861,0001040s received as of the latest report, down from 72,223,000 a year ago.

Efiles were flat with last year, down .1 percent from the prior year, but it was the first report to show a drop with the total of 71,861,000, down from 72,223,000. The number from paid professionals stayed up from 2022 totals with 35,239,000 returns efiled, an increase of 2.5 percent from 34,395,000 a year ago.  Self-prepared efiles fell 2.6 percent to 34,535,000 from 35,457,000.

The number of refunds rose to 53,912,000, up 4.1 percent from 51,775,000. Average refunds remained behind 2022 levels, as they have all of this season dropping 11 percent to $2,933 from $3,305

The Internal Revenue Service has posted frequently asked questions about whether certain costs can be covered under various medical accounts. The questions are part of the National Strategy on Hunger, Nutrition, and HealthPDF.

These address costs related to nutrition, wellness and general health are medical expenses and if they can be paid or reimbursed under a health savings account (HSA), health flexible spending arrangement (FSA), Archer medical savings account (Archer MSA) or health reimbursement arrangement (HRA).

FAQs address issues such as whether the cost of nutritional counseling, weight-loss programs, gym memberships and treatment for substance use disorders are considered medical expenses that may be paid or reimbursed under these plans.

 Five Texas tax preparers have been sentenced to prison for submitted bogus returns with the manager of Waco-based Tax World, Labanda Loyd, drawing a term of four years three months.

Jaleesia Sais  drew a term of three years four months, while Deidra Brandon, who served as Loyd’s assistant manager at time, was sentenced two a year and a day, while Jaleesia Sais  to 40 months

Shaterian Parr and J Lashamekwa Alexander received probation and each of the five must pay $918,396 in restitution to the United States.

According to the court record, Loyd instructed some of her coconspirators, concerning how to prepare the false returns. They used a variety of techniques to boost client refunds, such as fabricated employment, wage and tax withholding information. The group are believed to have caused a tax loss of more than $1.8 million.

Total tax returns received through March 10 were .1 percent lower than the number received by the Internal Revenue Service through March 11, 2022. But the number of efiles submitted for the same period were up 2 percent year-over-year, according to the latest numbers from the IR

The last three seasons have been unusual because of the pandemic’s impact on number of returns and deadlines, but one trend has held since the beginning of the 2023 season—the number of efiles from tax professionals rose while DIY efiles dropped.

Overall, t­here were 63,442,000 returns submitted for the season to date, compared to 63,474,000 in last year’s corresponding period.

Efiles rose 2 percent to 61,713,000 from 61,605,000 with 30,215,000 efiles submitted by pros up 3.1 percent from 29,303,000 a year ago. Self-submitted efiles continue to lag the 2022 season with the 31,498,000 down 2.1 percent from 32,302,000.

 Armanino has promoted partner and Midwest market leader Tony Caleca to the position of manufacturing industry leader. The accounting firm said that move comes as it is expanding its analytical and operational technology offerings for manufacturers.

Armanino plans to introduce new service offerings throughout this year. It also will expand its ESG-related advisory services for the manufacturer market.

The firm said Caleca, based in St. Louis, “will now spearhead the development of key technology service offerings to directly address manufacturer and distribution client needs.”

Caleca joined Armanino with the acquisition of Brown Smith Wallace, where he was managing partner, in August 2021. He joined that firm after graduating from Fontbonne University in 1992.

 Jason Marx, who heads North America Tax & Accounting for Workers Kluwer, will become CEO of the company’s global Tax & Accounting division next month.

That move is made possible as the current leader, Karen Abramson, will take over as CEO of the newly formed Corporate Performance & ESG  (environmental, social and governance) division next. Abramson has headed the tax and accounting operations for nine years.

The new group is designed to serve corporations and banks and brings together CCH Tagetik, Enablon, Finance Risk & Reporting and TeamMate. That reorganization leaves tax and accounting smaller, as TeamMate and Tagetik, which are currently under the division, and are among the company’s growth products.

Tagetik is a corporate performance product and TeamMate is designed for internal audit.

WK says the Enablon Integrated Risk Management software platform enables users to “manage risk, drive sustainability and boost productivity across your entire value chain—from EHSQ to GRC, and from Operational Risk to ESG.”

Industry veteran Matthew Jagst has become VP of product management at Drake Software this month. Jagst spent a combined  27 years with Creative Solutions and then Thomson Reuters, which purchased the former company in 1997.

Jagst had key roles at Thomson in marketing and product strategy in its tax and accounting business.

Jagst comes to Drake from Botkeeper where he held the position of VP of product from September 2021. He started his career in this tax and accounting arena with Creative Solutions in May 1994 and stayed with that company through its purchase by Thomson late in 1997. From July 2016 through August 2021, he was senior director of product development for that company.

The last two years have seen major changes for Franklin, N.C.-based Drake.  Private-equity firm Cinvin made what was described only as a “substantial investment” in privately held Drake in February 2021 announcement. Then Cinvin agreed to buy TaxAct from Blucora for $720 million in November 2022.

Drake named Dominic Morea as president and CEO in May 2022, replacing interim CEO Euan Menzies, who remained as chairman

Abbott, Stringham & Lynch, based in Campbell, Calif., has promoted four of its CPAs to principal. These are Helena Bouron, Anu Joshi, Charlie Shureen, and Amy Whitcomb Price.

The firm’s clients include emerging and middle-market privately held businesses and high-net-worth individuals

Helen Bouron, promoted to principal, assurance and advisory, joined the firm in June 2004, and serves firms with $5 million to $50 million in revenue. Co-chair of the ASL Nonprofit Group with work including compliance audits, she  focuses on technology and manufacturing and distribution clients.

A member of ASL’s Family Wealth & Individual Tax Planning Group, Anu Joshi, began her work at the form as a tax manager in June 2015. She provides tax compliance and tax planning services for a wide variety of clients.

Charlie Shureen, who came to AST in January 2020, is a member of ASL’s Corporate Group. He works with small and closely held businesses, venture-backed companies, and middle market enterprises in a wide variety of industries.  Shureen came to the firm after eight years 10 months with Crowe, where he was a tax senior manager, and before that he was with Deloitte for two years six months where he was a tax senior.

Amy Whitcomb Price, principal, tax and advisory, is a member of ASL’s Real Estate Group, was with BDO for three years where she was national tax director, before joining the firm in November 2021. She has extensive experience working with partnership entities in the following industries: real estate, private equity, and venture capital. Prior to working at BDO, she was at EY where she was for six years 11 months.

 QuickBooks Online can now recommended appropriate sales tax item categories for products and services.

Part of the November enhancements to QBO, the ability means when clients map a product or service to an item category, the rate will always be correct—even when the rate changes.

When items in Products and Services are setup, QBO will make category recommendations when sales tax machine-learning model has high confidence in the sales tax item category. It will prompt customers to edit categories for recommendations when the model has medium-high confidence in the selection.

In addition, Intuit said it has made it easier to migrate desktop QuickBooks data to BQO via the addition of a view-only mode feature. Clients can use this to view their data up to one year after their desktop subscriptions end.

The QuickBooks Online app for Windows QuickBooks Desktop uses who are using a QBO Essentials, Plus or Advanced subscription. The app must be downloaded by December 31 or before 25,000 app downloads have been reached whichever comes first.

 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.