ROSEMONT, Ill. – CCH and Intuit signaled their plans for broad Internet-product suites at the Midwest Accounting and Finance Showcase, suites that won’t quickly replace desktop-based software, but that represent the vendors’ development path over the next few years.

CCH delivered the most specific plans which include an October launch of SaaS-versions of ProSystem fx Tax, Document and Practice applications that will be tied together by a common database that will let them share information to eliminate the need to re-enter data, such as client contact information, into each application.

Rosemont, Ill.  –  SmartVault, which makes document management products for QuickBooks, has introduced the SmartVault Accountant Edition, which the company says is designed to manage all of a firm's client documents and communications.

The new edition is aimed at providing “the ability to streamline the process of setting up your entire firm,” says marketing manager Allie Collins.
The product provides streamlined client setup and management; enhanced security access levels for both firm and client users. Use is free to members of the accounting firm and free training and orientation sessions are available for clients. SmartVault also offers the SmartVault Business Edition, which enables business users to communicate and collaborate with their accountant or bookkeeper. Business can utilize different access levels for users and can also invite an accountant or bookkeeper as a free user.

The new editions will be available on August 31. Both products start at $19 per client, per month, but accountants and bookkeepers can purchase the Accountant Edition for $17.10 per month per client for a limited time. Discounts up to an additional 25 percent for multiple clients are available.

Intuit increased the revenue it received from its professional tax preparation software customers for the year ended July 31, even as the number of units sold to them continued to slide.  The company reported that its Accounting Professionals segment, largely its Lacerte and ProSeries operations, generated $351.7 million in revenue in fiscal 2009, up 8 percent from $314.3 for the prior year. That came despite a drop in units, the second year in a row that has happened as the number of units sold fell to 108,000, down 3.6 percent from the 112,000 sold in fiscal 2007. But revenue generated by those units over the same period grew by nearly 12 percent. Executives told analysts on yesterday's conference call that the company expects the category to yield 3-percent to 7-percent revenue growth for fiscal 2010.