Intuit continued its move toward opening up its professional software packages with third-party products, The tax software company had signaled that direction in December when it announced a plan to integrate professional tax applications, starting with ProConnect Tax Online with Karbon, a practice management software line.
The plan was announced by Barry Pennett, Intuit ProConnect general manager this week. But it added little to what the company said last month and named no additional integrations. The company has said it will integrate Karbon with ProSeries and Lacerte and possible with other practice management products
"We believe that meaningful relationships are at the heart of every interaction between clients and tax professionals, and reducing the compliance work will free up time so that professionals can focus more of their time giving valuable advice to their clients, helping them reach their goals," Pennett said in a prepared statement.
The usual step for opening up a product to development is to make a software developments kit available to third parties. An SDK has been available for years for QuickBooks, but Intuit has not announced one for the tax packages.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind