Financial analysis tools for accountants sounded like a natural hit. Give CPAs software that would help them analyze client financial statements and sell services based on the analysis.

It hasn’t quite worked that way. In May, Thomson Reuters announced after years of promoting its entry that the Financial Analysis CS module from its CS Professional Suite would be given to accountants for free. Profit Driver from CCH is off the market in the United States, as is the Sage Accpac CFO package that was built on the same Australian product as Profit Driver.

Now, Mentor Plus is making another go at financial analysis with a product called ScopeIt that follows the same basic principles as the other applications in that users can manipulate numbers in financial statements and changes will ripple through to connected data. Advisors can use scenarios to  show clients how changes, such as in the cost of goods sold, can affect financial performance.