CPA_Practice_Advisor_April_2020 - 24

FEATURE

16TH ANNUAL

THE RESULTS ARE IN:
TECHNOLOGY HAS PLAYED a vital role in the evolution of
the accounting and tax profession over the past 30 years.
Fortunately, accounting firms have largely embraced
hosted and cloud-based systems that are making it
easier for their staff to work remotely during the current
Coronavirus pandemic.

These remotely-accessible technologies have reached into
virtually all of the service areas that ﬁrms offer, as well as
the management systems used by ﬁrms internally and
for productivity. Likewise, many ﬁrms have helped
their clients adopt cloud technologies that
enable accountants to access live data

READERS'

CHOICE
AWARDS 2020

By Isaac
M. O'Bannon

without transferring ﬁles or ofﬁce visits.
CPA Practice Advisor Readers' Choice Awards, now in their 16th year, give
our readers the chance to spotlight the technologies they most respect and
trust to provide client services, to manage their ﬁrms, and to help their
clients run their businesses. From online programs for tax and accounting
functions, to document automation and workﬂow management processes,
as well as tools for collaboration, mobile productivity and ofﬁce hardware.
The awards also let professionals see the technologies and best
workﬂow practices their peers are using, which can help them stay
competitive in the constantly-evolving tax and accounting
space. Thank you to the thousands of readers who participated in voting this year. Now, on to the results!

IN-FIRM TECHNOLOGIES
FEDERAL/STATE INCOME TAX

PREPARATION
INSIGHT: Always our most active category,
nearly all of this year's Readers' Choice voters
reported using or recommending a professional
tax system. Drake Software has consistently
dominated this and other tax-related categories
in the annual awards, and they did so again this
year, thanks in large part to the company's very
active and loyal customers.

TAX PLANNING SYSTEMS

INSIGHT: With major tax law changes coming
almost annually (and certainly in the forecast for
this turbulent year), tax planning is very valuable
to clients, helping to identify potential issues that
result in direct, identifiable tax savings that clients
see and appreciate. These systems go far beyond
what tax preparation systems can do when it comes
to creating hypothetical situations based on current
and projected tax law, phase-ins and outs, and life
event changes such as variations in income, college
and other family matters.
WINNER: Drake Tax Planner (45.6%)
RUNNERS UP:
* Intuit Lacerte Tax Planner (24.7%)
* Thomson Reuters Checkpoint or Planner CS (10.2%)
* Wolters Kluwer CCH ProSystem fx Planning and fx for
Small Firms (6.9%)
* Bloomberg TaxwIncome Tax Planner (6.7%)
* Other (5.9%)

SPECIALTY SYSTEMS & TAX PREP TOOLS

INSIGHT: Some firms have additional needs when
it comes to taxes, whether for uncommon returns
or for their practice's workﬂow process. So, they
turn to specialty systems.
WINNER: QuickBooks Self-Employed (23.2%)
RUNNERS UP:
* GruntWorx (19.5%)
* Canopy Tax Resolution Services (7.9%)

24

APRIL 2020 ■

www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

* Wolters Kluwer CCH ProSystem fx Suite Scan w/AutoFlow
(7.8%)
* Wolters Kluwer CCH Axcess (7.6%)
* Thomson Reuters UltraTax CS Source Document (7%)
* SurePrep 1040SCAN & TaxCaddy (4.6%)
* Taxfyle (4%)
* Bloomberg Tax 709 & 706 Preparer (2.7%)
* Xero Tax Touch (1.1%)
* DynaTax (1%)
* Sageworks (1%)
* Other: (12.6)%

TAX DOCUMENT AUTOMATION

INSIGHT: These systems help tax firms do more
with less, by removing much of the tedious data
entry work. The data automatically ﬂows into the
tax prep system after it is scanned. Some of these
programs also prepare digital workpapers.
WINNER: Intuit Tax Import for Lacerte & ProSeries
(27.56%)
* GruntWorx Populate (26.73%)
* Thomson Reuters Source Document Processing &
Workpapers CS (9.1%)
* Wolters Kluwer CCH iFirm and ProSystem fx Scan with
AutoFlow (8.4%)
* Canopy Tax (8.3%)
* cPaperless (4.5%)
* SurePrep 1040Scan Pro, 1040Scan Organize (3.7%)
* Other (11.8%)
http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com
CPA_Practice_Advisor_April_2020

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