{"id":746,"date":"2007-08-01t20:20:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-02t01:20:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30t00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-30t05:00:00","slug":"what-cpas-want-in-accounting-software","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.g005e.com\/2007\/08\/01\/what-cpas-want-in-accounting-software\/","title":{"rendered":"what cpas want in accounting software"},"content":{"rendered":"
with only one in 10 fully satisfied, they want a lot more than they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re getting. new study pinpoints buying plans. join the study; get the benchmarks.<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n by rick telberg<\/b><\/p>\n no doubt about it, finance managers and cpas love software. in the past couple of decades, accounting applications have gone from useful novelty, to powerful tool, to absolute necessity. no matter how much you like the good-old pencil-and-eraser solution, it just won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t meet today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demands of financial regulations, tax codes and competitive urgency.<\/p>\n but that doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mean that finance professionals love the software they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got.<\/p>\n some do. some don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. which means about one in three are in the market for something better.we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been canvassing a broad spectrum of accountants to learn more about how well they like their accounting software or enterprise resource planning (erp) packages \u00e2\u20ac\u201d what they like about them, what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d change if they could and how likely they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be looking for new software solutions in the near future.<\/p>\n the answers to all these questions depend a lot on how well finance professionals like their current software.<\/p>\n atlanta-based consultant gary smith traces some of today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s dissatisfaction with the y2k rush in the late 1990s. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153a good number of cpas in industry work for companies that implemented new integrated business software systems or erp systems just before the year 2000. there was a great rush due to concerns that existing software would not work in 2000,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d smith told us. <\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153many implementations were done in a rush,” he said. “the result was user dissatisfaction. however, the pain of changing systems is such that few companies will change software systems like they do company vehicles. i have read estimates that companies keep their systems for an average of seven or eight years. so it would not be unreasonable that a third are now ready to change.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n overall, only about one in 10 professionals is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153completely happy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with their software. and the satisfaction rate among only finance professionals (excluding cpas in public practice) is even less.<\/p>\n so if i were an accounting software designer \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and i\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m \u00e2\u20ac\u0153completely happy,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d i\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not \u00e2\u20ac\u201d i\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d be paying attention.<\/p>\n and here\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what i\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d want to learn from the finance professionals: what would you like to see in software, and how likely are you to shop for something new?<\/p>\n in hopes of endowing the profession with better software, we asked what one thing these users would change in their software packages if they could wave a magic wand and have it happen.<\/p>\n ninety-nine percent wanted to see pigeons fly out of their pcs, but not one would admit it. rather, they said things like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153an all-integrated system\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ease of use\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153drill-down everything.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n some offered intriguing new ideas.<\/p>\n kevin cerutti, of mbia muniservices in fresno, calif., is \u00e2\u20ac\u0153somewhat happy\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but would use his magic wand to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153have the ability for customers to modify or customize the application and reports \u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 there is very little flexibility to customize and we are required to run our reports outside of the system.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n some wanted to get back to basics.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153burn it and replace it with anything else,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said berlan crouch, a senior staffer with angel & co. in cassville, mo., who described himself as \u00e2\u20ac\u0153not very happy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the less-than-happies of the world who will be in the market for new software. what they won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be in the market for, however, are more problems.<\/p>\n asked how important various criteria were in selecting an application or erp package, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153ease of use\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was chosen overall by 97 percent as important. but \u00e2\u20ac\u0153features and functionality\u00e2\u20ac\u009d came in a close second at 95 percent. the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153vendor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s long-term viability\u00e2\u20ac\u009d followed.<\/p>\n there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s something disturbing about so many cpas being unhappy with the tool of their trade, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s encouraging to know that so many of them aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t going to put up with it much longer. they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in the market. let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hope the market\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ready.<\/p>\n now it’s your turn: <\/b>what do cpas want in accounting software? join the study; get the benchmarks report.<\/a><\/p>\n comments<\/b>: rants, raves, idle thoughts or questions? post your comments below. with only one in 10 fully satisfied, they want a lot more than they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re getting. new study pinpoints buying plans. join the study; get the benchmarks. by rick telberg no doubt about it, finance managers and cpas love software. in … continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-resources"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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\n[first published by the aicpa]<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"