Intuit is dropping the ProLine brand that it had launched as a method of tying together its product lines. ProLine debuted two years ago this month. And was immediately noticeable by the phrase "Intuit ProLine Products and Services for Accounting Professionals" that was placed on the top of the Web pages for its tax and accounting products such as ProSeries, Lacerte and QuickBooks.

The Tax & Accounting business of Thomson Reuters has rolled out a news service for users of its Checkpoint research platform that is accesible from the desktop, tablets or smartphones. Thomson Reuters News & Insight draws its content from articles by Reuters business editors, the company's newsletters and a team of accounting and tax journalists that has been recently assembled.

After many years with no test available for the Certified Information Technology Professional, exams will be mandatory for new applications in 2012. However, the 1,800 existing credential holders will be forever grandfathered, according to Jim Bourke, the CPA who heads the CITP committee of the American Institute of CPAs.