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.

Users of QuickBooks Online Accountant can now tag clients or team members in Notes. The feature was among those added by Intuit to QBO in May.

Notes mentions can alerts others of notes that contain information relevant to a client or staff member.  If someone is tagged @ mention, they receive a notification about notes needed their review.

Intuit noted other recent enhancement to Notes include threaded notes, private notes, and Rich Text Format/

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. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has had changed the world of payroll. It put a premium on using cloud-based products since most employees were working remotely.

It forced accounting firms into offering human resource advice as they helped clients obtain Payroll Protection Plan loans and then pursue forgiveness of those loans, along with dealing with questions of possible furloughing employees and also bringing them back to the office. This special report, ”Payroll Moves into a New Era” examines issues involved in a new way of doing things.

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.

A Richmond County, Ga., man and his daughter have been sentenced for filing inflated client tax returns. Ezra Hatcher Sr., 67, who had previously been imprisoned for tax return fraud, was sentenced to two years in prison.

His daughter, Sherry Hatcher, 42, of Augusta, Ga., received five years' probation and was ordered to pay $4,141 in restitution after pleading guilty to aiding and assisting in the filing of a false tax return

Ezra Hatcher of Hepthziba was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $69,684 after pleading guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States. The Department of Justice press release did not state how long Hatcher served in prison following his previous conviction.

The Hatchers were accused of filing 21 inflated returns on behalf of seven individuals between 2014 and 2018.

The Internal Revenue Service has named eight individuals to its Electronic Tax Administration Advisory Committee (ETAAC). The new members have been appointed to three-year terms that start this month.

The committee promotes paperless filing of tax and information returns and work with the Security Summit  a joint effort of the IRS, state tax administrators and members of the tax industry to fight ID theft and refund fraud.

Committee members include state tax officials, consumer advocates, cybersecurity and information security specialists, tax preparers, tax software developers and representatives of the payroll and financial community.

The members are the following:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Austin Emeagwai, CPA, Ph.D., Collierville, Tenn., an associate professor of accounting at LeMoyne-Owen College, also is president of ABC Accounting and Tax Service, a CPA firm.                     Jerry Gaddis, EA, MBA, Winter Haven, Fla.. is the founder and CEO of Tropical Tax Solutions, a boutique firm headquartered in Florida that provides tax consultation, preparation and representation solutions for individuals and small businesses                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Nikia Gainey, Orlando, Fla., founded Carriers Choice Logistics, in central Florida this year. The firm provides a wide range of advice to the low-income community.                                               Robert Gettemy, Marion, Iowa is a full-time instructor at the University of Iowa teaching both undergraduate and graduate courses in entrepreneurship. He also consults in the tax software industry.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  v                                       Argi O'Leary, Voorheesville, N.Y., is a principal in the advocacy practice at the New York office of Ryan LLC i providing tax strategy and audit assistance, including tax issue negotiations and resolution, policy advice and advocacy for all tax types.                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Hallie Parchman, Austin, Texas. Amazon's senior manager of product Management within its Corporate Tax operations focuses on the end-to-end customer experience as it relates to tax information reporting and withholding,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  RaeAnn Pilarski, Tucson, Ariz., is senior nanager at Code for America, scales and supports VITA partners that participate in the GetYourRefund program.                                                               Keith Richardson, Philadelphia, Pa., is deputy CFO and tax Cxmmissioner for the District of Columbia and has spent more than 15 years in tax administration.

The Internal Revenue Service noted this week proceeds from loans under the Paycheck Protection Program are taxablei if they are improperly forgiven . The IRS issued the guidance recently dealing with forgiveness based on taxpayer misrepresentations or omissions.

The agency said taxpayers must include the portion of loan proceeds that was forgiven based on these problems in income. It encouraged those to whom this guidance applies to file amended returns.

The IRS noted the criterion that recipients must meet to have proceeds excluded from income. These include the requirements the recipient was a small business concern, independent contractor, eligible self-employed individual, sole proprietor, business concern, or a certain type of tax-exempt entity that was in business on or before Feb. 15, 2020  and had employees or independent contractors who were paid for their services, or was a self-employed individual, sole proprietor or independent contractor.

Proceeds must have been used to pay eligible expenses, such as payroll, rent, interest on the business' mortgage, and utilities and the loan recipient needed to apply for forgiveness.

The IRS asks those with information about tax-related should submit Form 3949-A, Information Referral.
 

Ryan has acquired OneSource Property Tax from Thomson Reuters.The software line includes a system for managing property tax, including real and personal property. 

Onesource also includes a suite of transfer pricing products. 

“This acquisition makes Ryan the largest property tax software provider in North America,” CEO G. Brint Ryan said in a prepared statement. The company noted itw as already a “significant user” of Onesource.

Terms were not disclosed. About 25 employees will move to Ryan with the deal, which is said to include more than 600 customers.

Ryan offers products in the areas of indirect tax for Canada and the United States, unclaimed property and property tax.

 Brown Schultz Sheridan & Fritz has hired Eric Wendler as the firm’s first director of business development. He is responsible for developing new business relations with organizations and business owners for the Frederick County, Md.-based accounting firm.

Wendler collaborates with the BSSF leadership to determine new business strategies and develop new service and lines alsp represents the firm in business and industry affiliated groups.

He spent 14 years 11 months with BDO before assuming the. new job this month and was director of business development from August 2017. 

A sales executive with Catalyst IT Services from March 2006 through October 2007, from November 2002 through February 2006, Wendler was  an assistant VP of Riggs, Counselman, Michaels & Downes in the Baltimore, Md.-based area November 2002 through February 2006.

Kevin Cumley has retired from the accounting profession after leading the accountants program for Sage Intacct from September 2014 through August this year. The announcement was made this week  in a LinkedIn post

Cumley spent 35 years in the accounting profession, which included more than 22 years with Forepoint, a Helena, Mont.-based value-added reseller he founded in January 1992. Active with the membership group, the Information Technology Alliance, he served as chairman of its board of directors from  August 2020 through August 2014.

Cumla was VP of strategic alliances for the former Abila from August 2011 through August 2014. 

Crowe has named Sheila Enriquez as chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer. The accounting firm also named two other leaders in the areas of DE&I and purpose and sustainabiliy.

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Rachel Gibson was picked as deputy chief and firmwide leader of DE&I and Farrell Calabrese was selected for the newly created role of purpose and sustainability leader 

Enriquez joined Crowe in January as Texas Market Leader and a member of the firm’s management committee as a result of a transaction with the former Briggs & Veselka where she worked for 15 years and served as managing partner and CEO from July 2018 through the merger in January this year.

Gibson came to Crowe from Marcum where she was director of DE&I from September 2020. She joined Marcum via its merger with Raffa, where she started in July 2014.

Calabrese was the global corporate sustainability manager special materials company, Eastman, for the past five years and worked for its predecessor Eastman Chemical Co. for 10 years.  The company changed its name after a spinoff.

Dark Horse CPAs has promoted Riana Linsky to principal this month. The firm said Linsky, who entered the Dark Horse Principal Accelerator Program when she was hired in December, quickly built a six-figure book of business.

Based in Tucson, Ariz., Linsky, who is also a QuickBooks ProAdvisor, provides tax and accounting services to small businesses.

She was previously a senior accountant with Talley LLP from September 2020 through October 2021. Before that she was a tax manager for the Royce CPA Firm for one year 10 months, both in Arizona.  She worked in Eugene, Ore., for Emge & Whyte CPAs from one year nine months and with  Isler CPA for three years one months.

 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. “