AccountSight, a software as a service (SaaS) company, has added time tracking integration with QuickBooks so that business users can experience a smooth workflow transition from time entry to accounting.

AccountSight Software is excited to announce the QuickBooks integration to their latest cloud-based online application version 2.21, a simple and easy to use time, expense and invoicing solution for customers worldwide. Integrating AccountSight time tracking software with QuickBooks solves the problem of transferring time tracking data to QuickBooks accounting software. Users can manage all their weekly timesheets and project invoices in AccountSight and then easily and quickly export the data into QuickBooks to perform accounting operations.

“AccountSight's intuitive time tracking combined with QuickBook's accounting is a winning combination” said Anita Bist, VP of Marketing and Sales. “Since many businesses use QuickBooks for accounting purposes but would like to have an easy time entry system for their employees, they will be happy to know that AccountSight has integrated their simple and accurate time tracker with QuickBooks. This shows AccountSight’s commitment to its customers by providing them with a user friendly end-to-end solution.”

AccountSight’s integration with QuickBooks has the following benefits:

• Save time and money by eliminating duplicate time entry in QuickBooks.
• Reduce costly data errors by not having to enter time manually in QuickBooks.
• Convenient time entry for the user has workflow notifications and reminders.
• The manager approval process ensures that employee or contractor time is entered accurately.
• Utilize the user-friendly time entry features seamlessly integrated with accounting and payroll.

Sign up for a free 30 day trial to try out the new QuickBooks integration feature. Give it a try now at AccountSight.

AccountSight Key Features:

• Time tracking and expense tracking in seconds.
• Efficient timesheet and expense approval workflow notifications.
• Excel integration for time and expense bulk uploads.
• Fast and easy manual and recurring online invoicing.
• Configurable automatic reminders on timesheet, expense and invoices.
• Quick and professional project estimates for bidding.
• Powerful dashboards and reports for online project management and invoice status.
• Drill-down directly from dashboards into time, expenses and Invoicing reports.

About AccountSight:

AccountSight is a leading global provider for business automation software that shortens the accounts receivables timeframe, maximizes employee productivity and increases company profitability.

Its flagship product is the easy to use online time tracking, expense recording and invoicing software ideal for small to mid-size businesses, consultants, independent professionals and freelancers. It is full of productivity-driven features that are conveniently available to users through a very helpful interface. The many customer benefits and hassle-free user experience make AccountSight unique. For more information, please visitAccountSight.

System Requirements:

AccountSight works with any operating system. Supported browsers are Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Safari.

Pricing:

AccountSight is a subscription based software with prices starting from $7.95 to $9.95/user. Volume discounts available for larger companies and government organizations. Please contact AccountSight directly for special pricing.

Insider Selling: Intuit CEO Sells 100,000 Shares of Stock (INTU)

What's it mean going forward?  Probably nothing, but it sure is nice to be Brad Smith.  Logan Wallace for Ticker Report writes: Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) CEO Brad Smith sold 100,000 shares of the stock on the open market in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.73, for a total transaction of $7,773,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 224,640 shares in the company, valued at approximately $17,461,267. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

A number of research firms have recently commented on INTU. Analysts at Jefferies Group raised their price target on shares of Intuit from $73.00 to $75.00 in a research note on Friday, February 21st. They now have a “hold” rating on the stock. Separately, analysts at Zacks downgraded shares of Intuit from a “neutral” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 20th. They now have a $71.40 price target on the stock. Finally, analysts at Deutsche Bank cut their price target on shares of Intuit from $68.00 to $65.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 13th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. The stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $72.79.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) traded up 0.58% on Wednesday, hitting $77.775. The stock had a trading volume of 305,877 shares. Intuit has a 1-year low of $55.54 and a 1-year high of $78.74. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $74.08 and a 200-day moving average of $70.73. The company has a market cap of $22.088 billion and a P/E ratio of 30.11.

Intuit (NASDAQ:INTU) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The company reported $0.02 EPS for the quarter, missing the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $0.14 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $782.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $778.88 million. Analysts expect that Intuit will post $3.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which is scheduled for Friday, April 18th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 10th will be given a dividend of $0.19 per share. This represents a $0.76 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, April 8th.

Intuit Inc (NASDAQ:INTU) is a provider of business and financial management solutions for small businesses, consumers, accounting professionals and financial institutions.

Should a Married Couple Ever File Separately?

Alden Wicker for LearnVest.com writes: One of the very first things you’ll choose this tax season is your filing status, which determines the deductions and credits you can take.

Generally, there are two common filing statuses: married filing jointly and single. But it’s a third, less common status that we’ll be discussing today: married filing separately.

As with most things tax-related, choosing whether to file jointly or separately as a married couple is a highly individual and complex decision. That’s why we consulted two certified public accountants to find out how common it is for a married couple to file separately, what it means for your taxes and in which situations it may apply.

What Does It Mean to File Separately?

If you were legally married as of December 31, 2013, then you have two choices for your filing status this year: married filing jointly and married filing separately.

Married filing jointly means you file one return as a unit, with your incomes and expenses lumped together for the purpose of calculating and paying taxes.

Married filing separately is not the same as filing as a single person—it means that you’re married, but you each file your own return, so you don’t take legal responsibility for your spouse’s return, and your incomes and expenses are considered separately. The federal government now recognizes same sex marriages, which gives married same-sex couples this same choice between filing statuses.

When Should You Consider Filing Separately?

If you and your spouse have a simple financial situation—two straightforward salaries that are about equal, without any large deductions to take—you can be almost positive you should file together. To put it another way, if you don’t plan on itemizing, then don’t worry about it and file jointly.

“About 95% of married people are better off filing jointly,” says Joseph Boyce, a New York–based certified public accountant. “It’s a lower tax rate. Married filing separately is actually the highest tax rate.” In other words, filing separately isn’t for many of us—and filing incorrectly could be expensive. 

So how are you supposed to figure out if filing separately is for you? “It’s difficult,” cautions Boyce, who mentions this is a good time to get a professional opinion tailored to your exact situation. “Especially if you have deductions. I would highly recommend not doing it on your own.”

That said, here are seven situations in which you may want to consider filing separately. Note that, as with most things tax-related, they’re just general guidelines, not iron-clad rules. If you think one of the following situations applies to you, you may benefit from going to an accountant or running the numbers with your go-to tax preparation software.

1. You Have Significant Deductions

For many deductions, the amount you can take depends on your adjusted gross income (AGI). If you and your spouse have unequal AGIs and you need to itemize significant deductions, it may make sense to file separately.

One common example is medical deductions, which have to total more than 10% of adjusted gross income in order to qualify. Let’s say that you and your spouse file jointly, and together you have an adjusted gross income of $250,000. In that case, the two of you need to have spent more than $25,000 (10% of your combined income) in medical expenses in 2013 in order to deduct them at all. But, if you make $50,000, your spouse makes $200,000, and you file separately, you only need $5,000 in medical expenses to qualify. If you make less than your spouse, and have more potential deductions, it might make sense to file separately.

Other deductions tied to AGI include miscellaneous itemized deductions like unreimbursed employee expenses, tax preparation fees and gambling losses. But watch out! There are some deductions and credits that you are simply not allowed to take at all if you file separately. (See why you might want to consult a professional?)   [snip....the article continues @ LearnVest.com, Click here to continue Alden Wicker's article "Should a Married Couple Ever File Separately?"

Can't Pay Your Taxes? 10 Steps to Take Now

 Kathryn Buschman Vasel for FoxBusiness writes: If you’ve just finished filing your taxes and can’t afford the amount you owe Uncle Sam, don’t panic -- you have some options.

“The best tax planning is to always owe something to the government," says Mike Robbins, CPA and principal-in-charge of the tax department at Rehmann.“People wrongfully think that a refund is the government giving them free money. There’s no such thing. It’s actually them giving you your money back that you just loaned them tax free.”

Upper-income filers are facing higher taxes this year due to taxes associated with the Affordable Care Act, but tax experts say it’s common for individuals to be surprised when they have to cut the IRS a check.

If it comes down to paying your mortgage or credit card bill or the IRS, Stephen DeFilippis, an enrolled agent at DeFilippis Financial Group, recommends choosing the latter. “You don’t want to have the IRS as a creditor. They have a lot of power: they can garnish wages, levy bank accounts and put liens on credit cards.”

Filers have a variety of options if they can’t afford their tax bill, but experts agree the key is taking action.

File Anyway. Even if you can’t afford the bill, file your tax return, advises Laura Blasberg, tax attorney and partner at Meltzer, Lippe, Goldstein & Breitstone in New York. “The penalties for not filing are 10 times as much for not paying. You can get the penalties removed pretty easily for not paying on time, but the IRS almost never removes charges for not filing on time.”

Keep in mind that if you file an extension, you will only be granted more time to file the return, not pay the bill.

Re-evaluate Your Withholdings. Robbins says owing money to the IRS is normally a sign of the wrong number of withholdings on a W-4. Employers deduct taxes based on the allowances on this form; if you have too little withheld, you will most likely end up owing the IRS money.

Robbins recommends reading the form’s instructions carefully. “Mistakes on W-4s are common because employees don’t get a lot of guidance from employers on how to fill them out. Use the worksheet and plug in your information to get the proper withholding exemptions to avoid tax day surprises.”

Pay What You Can. If you can’t afford the entire bill, pay what you can.

“Even if you make a partial payment, let’s say you owe $4,000 and you pay $1,000, that will limit the interest you will get hit with under the failure to pay penalty,” says DeFilippis.

Sell Assets. If you don’t have the funds sitting in your bank account to cover your tax bill, Robbins says it’s time to evaluate your discretionary assets. “Do you have a boat, art, a vacation cottage, stocks or any other tangible asset that you can sell?” 

Work with the IRS. The IRS offers repayment plans, so don’t be afraid to reach out. “If you approach them, they will generally work with you, but you need to give them the chance to work with you and find the right plan,” says Blasberg.

The IRS offers installment programs that allow you to set up monthly payment plans to pay down the debt. If you owe less than $50,000 you can apply online, if you owe more than that, you must submit Form 433-A. The maximum term for an installment agreement is 72 months, and there are fees for setting up the agreement.

The IRS also has Offers in Compromise plans, but DeFilippis says this option is only for extreme situations. “You must prove not only do you not have the ability to pay now, but you won’t have the ability to pay in the future.” There is a statute of limitations that limits the IRS from collecting owed taxes that have been outstanding for more than 10 years. “They will weigh their chances of whether they will ever be able to collect what is owed. If it looks extremely unlikely, then they will take a percentage since it’s better than nothing. “

When calling the IRS, Blasberg warns to set a lot of time aside. “Plan to be on the phone and on hold with the IRS for at least an hour. This isn’t something you can do walking out the door.” She also recommends having the appropriate financial documents including bank account statements, paycheck stubs, asset information and bills readily available.

You can follow Kathryn Vasl

Put it on Plastic. Putting the bill on a credit card only makes sense when the interest rate on the card is lower than the IRS’ penalty. “Sometimes you can get a deal with a 0% interest rate for a set period of time, which is smaller than then 3.5% fee coming from the IRS. If you can pay off the debt in that period, it’s not a bad option,” says DeFilippis. 

He adds that some companies do not allow users to charge their tax bill, so be sure to read the fine print before opening up a new card.

Ask Family Members for Help. If a family member is willing to loan you the money, the experts all agree to put the loan terms in writing.

Robbins adds that the IRS doesn’t allow loans to be made at below-market rates, a number it publishes every month. “Under normal circumstances, it’s likely they won’t know you got an interest-free loan, but if you get audited, it could come up and you are in more hot water.”

Tap Your Home Equity Line.  DeFilippis says if you have a home equity line of credit available, it might make financial sense to tap it. “The one benefit there is that if the amount of credit line you borrow is under $100,000, you can deduct the interest on home equity debt.”

Consider Borrowing from Your 401(k). If you are younger than retirement age (59 ½ ) any funds taken out of your 401(k) will be taxable and hit with a 10% penalty. “The interest on installment agreements could be less,” says Robbins. “When you see people rob their 401(k) for their tax situation, that often means their retirement is going to be cut short since they often don’t put the money back. If you take this route, you better pay it back.”

Blasberg says borrowing from a 401(k) can be a much better option. “If you borrow from your account, you are paying interest to yourself and it doesn’t show up on your credit report.”

Be Watchful of Scams. Radio and TV are filled with “tax professionals” claiming they can reduce the amount you owe to the IRS to pennies on the dollar, but Blasberg warns to be leery of professional making promises that sound too good to be true.

“People panic and they are just looking for any help, but you need to take a step back and do your homework and research a company and its workers before committing to work with them,” she says.

You can follow Kathryn Vasel on Twitter Here.

Beating The Master Limited Partnership ETF Tax Bite With Closed-End Funds

MLP Data for SeekingAlpha writes: In a comparison between exchange-traded funds and closed-end funds, the low expenses and low portfolio turnover features of an ETF provides a built-in advantage over a comparable CEF with a typically much higher annual expense and tax consequences from capital gains distributions. You have probably seen the statistics and articles stating that an index stock fund on average outperforms 2/3rds, or 75% or 90% some other one-sided number of actively managed funds. However, when it comes to running an ETF based on an MLP index, the rules shift, putting the chances for out-performance into the closed-end fund camp.

Income Pass-Through Doesn't Work Twice

A company organized as a master limited partnership does not pay corporate income taxes, and profits are reported to limited partnership investors to include on their personal tax returns. For many MLPs, there are sufficient tax write-offs so that investor will have little or no taxable income to claim from MLP holding. Distributions paid by an MLP classify as a return of capital and are not taxable income. ROC payments reduce the cost basis in an investment.

A fund typically registers as a regulated investment company, which allows the fund to also not pay income taxes as long as all portfolio earnings and realized capital gains are passed through to investors. The tax characteristics of the income earned by the fund's portfolio passes along with the fund distributions.

However, for an MLP focused fund, to maintain regulated investment company status, the holdings of MLP type investments must be less that 25% of the fund's portfolio value. As a result, and ETF, mutual fund, or closed-end fund that focuses on MLP investing must organize as a corporation and pay corporate income taxes on the earnings produced from the fund's investments.

Paying Taxes Hurts

An ETF or other MLP focused fund organized as a corporation realizes the consequences of functioning a taxable entity in two ways. When the fund earns taxable K-1 income or sells holdings for a taxable gain, taxes must be paid, and those payments increase the total expenses reported by the fund. For example the current reported expenses for the largest MLP ETF, the ALPS Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP) total 4.85%, with a 0.85% management fee and much of the other 4% will be taxes paid. In addition, an MLP fund will also track its deferred income tax expense -- taxes that would be due when currently held investments are sold. The deferred income tax amount is included in the fund's calculated net asset value. This means the reported NAV will lag the actual investment gains as the fund's MLP positions go up in value.

The effects of the corporate structure and owning MLPs can be seen in the returns posted by ALMP compared to the benchmark Alerian MLP Infrastructure Index. For the 3-year period which ended on January 31, 2014, the index recorded an average annual total return of 15.62%. However, over the same period, the Alerian MLP ETF only earned 9.52% annually for investors. This means close to 40% of the MLP index return was sucked away by the expenses and tax liabilities of the ETF structure.

Closed-End Fund Advantages

Compared to an ETF, which must hold securities to mirror a selected index, a closed-end fund has a more wide open charter concerning investment choices and holdings. One feature that helps an MLP CEF is the ability to use moderate leverage in the portfolio. With the usual 20% to 30% leverage used by a CEF, the value of the portfolio holdings is larger than the equity assets of the fund, allowing the extra earnings to offset some of the tax bite on an NAV per share basis.

As an additional hedge against corporation taxes, you can often find CEF shares trading at a discount to the NAV. Today - 2/25/14 - 22 of the 26 MLP CEFs tracked by MLPData were priced at a discount to NAV and 13 had discounts greater than 5%. Buying a CEF at a discount adds another layer of leverage to your return and yield potential. Almost every CEF will trade at a discount at different points in time, so the patient investor can either wait for a favorite fund to move to a discount or find an alternative that is already trading for less than NAV.

MLP CEFs to Look at Now

Here is a short list of MLP focused closed-end funds that are near the top of the list for NAV discounts and have produced above average, two-year total returns.

Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund (TTP) currently carries the largest discount to NAV at 13.4%. Over the last two years, TTP has produced an average annual return of 13.8% and sports a current distribution yield of 5.7%. The distribution rate has been level since the fund's inception in October 2011.

Kayne Anderson Midstream/Energy Fund (KMF) has a share price trading at an 11% discount to NAV. Over the last two years, KMF produced a 19.3% average annual return and the fund currently yields 5.5%. Historically, this fund has paid on a different dividend schedule, with payouts in the 2nd and 3rd quarters and a double dose in the 4th quarter. The total annual distribution has been growing by about 5% per year.

First Trust Energy Infrastructure Fund (FIF) shares are currently at a 9.9% discount to NAV. The fund returned 10.83% annualized over the last two years. The fund's current yield is 6.4% with monthly distributions.

These funds provide investment exposure to the MLP universe without the hassle of K-1 forms. Buying superior returns - compared to an ETF - at a discount helps closed-end funds make up for the internal tax challenges an MLP fund faces.

New Unique CEF Investing Feature: MLPData now includes Price to NAV premium or discount changes on the fly. Look under the Find Funds top menu bar tab to start tracking share price discounts and premiums on the full list of MLP CEFs.

You can reach MLP Data @ their website here.

Yes, In Fact, Some Tax Avoidance Is Legal

Steve Parrish for Forbes writes: This week, I’m doing a lecture for new financial advisors entitled, “Planning Techniques in the Gray Zone: The Good, Bad and Ugly.” The lecture is intended to show the history of a number of “gray” tax concepts and how they have sometimes lead to unpleasant outcomes for taxpayers – particularly when these tax tricks lacked a foundation in tax law. My concern is that I don’t leave these advisors with the impression that you can’t avoid taxes. Of course you can. In many cases, Congress has passed laws for that very purpose. You save money for your retirement by investing in your 401(k) plan at work …and you also avoid current taxes. You help a good cause by donating to a charity … and you get a tax deduction.

Legal tax avoidance is possible. It’s just that sometimes it’s not all that obvious.

• Sometimes avoiding taxes is more subtle. It may be due to the interaction of differing tax regimes.
• Sometimes the IRS objects to the tax avoidance technique being used, but can’t do anything about it until Congress changes the rules.
• And, sometimes certain financial products have been granted tax-favored status.

Below are examples of each of the above tax avoidance opportunities, using three different tax regimes.  In all three cases, it is crucial to obtain knowledgeable tax advice in order to make the concepts work.

Employment Tax: It is not uncommon for companies to offer nonqualified deferred compensation arrangements, in which a highly compensated employee defers receiving (and paying tax on) earned compensation. Much like deferring money into a 401(k), the income is currently taxable for FICA employment tax purposes. So, even though an executive defers receiving some salary, he or she pays FICA on that deferred income. Because of the way FICA works, however, this is an opportunity to avoid paying some employment tax. There is a cap ($117,000 currently) on the amount of wages that are subject to the employee FICA tax of 6.2%. Since deferred compensation plans are typically limited to highly compensated employees, these employees have often already reached the FICA income cap through their regular wages. Consequently, it is to the executive’s advantage to have deferred wages treated (currently) as income for FICA. It counts as FICA wages without actually having to pay FICA taxes.

Estate and Gift Tax: Successful family business owners sometimes sell their businesses to a trust for the benefit of the family. By selling the business for an installment note at a low, fixed interest rate the seller has converted an appreciating asset (the business) into a fixed, frozen asset (the installment note).  Selling the business to the family trust for a note essentially freezes the value of the business in the seller’s estate. This can save a wealthy family a significant amount of gift and estate tax. The IRS has objected to this concept as a tax avoidance technique, which it can be, but they have been largely unsuccessful in challenging its use. The simple fact is that even though laws have been proposed to limit the tax effectiveness of this technique, they have never been passed by Congress. With proper design and execution, this estate tax freeze concept can save, or totally avoid, gift and estate taxes.

Income Tax: Over the decades, financial products have been created which offer sufficiently positive social outcomes that Congress deems them worthy of tax-favored status. Municipal bonds, for example, can potentially avoid federal income tax on the interest paid. Deferred annuities, used to build retirement capital, are allowed to defer income tax on growth until they are either annuitized or surrendered in later years. And, while the owner’s cash values grow tax-deferred in a life insurance policy, the death benefit can be paid out income tax-free to the beneficiary. A specific tax provision declares death benefits income tax-free.  All these are examples of ways to avoid taxes because Congress wants to encourage certain consumer behaviors.

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You can follow Steve Parrish on Twitter Here.

MYOB AccountRight Live – How it Works

Sholto MacPherson for BoxFreeIT writes: AccountRight Live is MYOB’s flagship among its cloud accounting programs. It’s unique hybrid construction – part desktop application, part cloud database – can sometimes cause confusion when compared to other cloud accounting programs.

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MYOB stresses that although AccountRight Live can store the company file on the local computer, the program is not designed to save to the desktop first and sync the file to the cloud. How exactly does it work then?

BoxFreeIT asked Dale Dixon, MYOB’s product strategy manager for the business division, for an explanation.

MYOB’s entry-level cloud accounting program, LiveAccounts (soon to be replaced by MYOB Essentials), is built in an identical manner to Xero, Saasu, QuickBooks Online, Reckon One and other cloud programs. A LiveAccounts user accesses the program by opening up a window in their internet browser, visiting the LiveAccounts website and typing in their password and username.

The data in LiveAccounts is stored in MYOB’s cloud data centre and no information is stored on the user’s computer.

AccountRight Live is similar to LiveAccounts in that information is stored in MYOB’s cloud data centre. However, an AccountRight Live user must have the AccountRight program installed on their desktop or laptop computer to access the program.

The most common point of confusion is how AccountRight Live stores its data. The program doesn’t store the information in a database on the computer and then sync that database with another database in the cloud in the same manner as cloud storage services such as Dropbox.

Instead, the desktop application functions as a custom browser which sends and receives information directly to MYOB’s cloud data centre, says Dixon.

MYOB says this model gives traditional desktop software users the benefits of the cloud – accessing the data from multiple locations, sharing files easily with others, a secure online backup – without moving them to an unfamiliar interface or the perceived insecurity of a browser interface.

AccountRight Live can also be used by a business that never wants to use the cloud. In that case, the company file is stored on the computer in just the same way as previous versions of MYOB in the My Library section.

Larger accounting firms that store clients’ company files on a central server can still do so with AccountRight Live. The data files are located in the Network Library section which also stores point-in-time backups.

Users can direct the program to save to the cloud at any time by selecting the Online Library.

The AccountRight Live licence allows up to five people to use the software. A bigger licence adds more users.

The Local-Cloud Tango

But how does the local company file work for AccountRight Live cloud users? While the company file in the cloud data centre remains the primary version, AccountRight Live saves a hidden copy to the user’s computer.

“It’s almost like a shadow copy of the company information on your computer,” Dixon says. When an AccountRight Live user is offline the program will automatically open the locally saved version and set the cloud file to read-only. Once internet access is restored, the local file copies the changes to the cloud file and the latter again becomes the primary point.

“The people who use that the most are those who have lousy internet connections where browsing the web is really painful,” Dixon says.

The program can also take point-in-time backups such as just before submitting a BAS (business activity statement).

An accountant can file away the company in the state it was in when they carried out a compliance action. Point-in-time backups were useful for when a user made a mistake importing a list and could then restore the company file to its previous state.

“An accountant needs to know if any transactions have been changed in that period after their BAS was submitted. AccountRight Live tells you all the things that have changed,” Dixon says.

Is there a Browser-Based Interface Coming?

Given that the business logic and the data already reside in the cloud, the company could build a browser interface so that it functioned the same way as LiveAccounts or Xero. In fact, MYOB began work on a project to do just that. Some progress was made on an HTML5 version but instead the company decided to double down on mobile.

MYOB is building a string of mobile apps suited for particular roles such as employee, business owner and accountant.

“It’s something we call mobile moments,” Ross says. An app for a business owner could show who owes money and when the invoices will be paid, for example.

The mobile focus also fits with the point in development of AccountRight Live’s API, or application programming interface. The API is the set of instructions that allows a program to talk to other applications, whether that’s a mobile app, a browser interface or a third-party program (or add-on).

MYOB has invested in adding as many features as possible to its API so that it can connect to lots of third-party programs. It claims to have met 80 percent of requests from its add-on partners. But that breadth of features came at the expense of depth. For example, although add-on programs have access to payroll and invoices in AccountRight Live, they can’t perform more complex functions contained within the program.

Until the API is complete it isn’t possible to create a browser-based interface with an identical depth of features and functions as the desktop application.

Software Updates

One of the drawbacks of using a desktop application as an interface for a cloud program is that users are still responsible for updating the software. Ross admitted that accountants complained about maintaining new versions but said MYOB had come up with a solution.

A team of developers was working on automatic updates that would happen invisibly without the input of the user – in the same way as Google’s browser Chrome.

“With Chrome it seamlessly updates and you don’t even know what version you’re on. We have some pretty big steps that will happen this quarter that will bring a seamless update experience,” Ross said.

By Q2 this year, subscribers will automatically be bumped up to the latest upgrade. However, users who bought their software outright (a “perpetual” licence) will remain on the version they bought which means their accountants will need to maintain several versions of the software.

M-Powered Services – When Are they Coming?

The complete set of MYOB’s M-Powered services have taken a while to arrive for AccountRight Live. Several have already made the transition including M-Powered Invoices which let users take payments through BPay, Australia Post and by credit card.

M-Powered Payments, with which a business can pay employees and suppliers, is also in place. M-Powered Bank Statements was superseded by BankLink and already available.

But the “banking 2.0 stuff” in version 19 is not yet in AccountRight Live. MYOB is working on it in the first half of this year, Ross says. MYOB is also working on bringing advanced inventory to AccountRight Live this quarter.

The next service to be ready for launch i M-Powered Super, which has a target shipping date of May. MYOB was already alpha testing its M-Powered mobile payments service and hopes to release it this quarter.

Multi-currency is not in AccountRight Live yet, although work has started.

Visit BoxFreeIT to comment.

You can read Sholto MacPherson & BoxFree IT Here.

Keep Investing in the Cloud, It's Working / "Intuit Leads The Way"

Lee Samantha for the Motley Fool writes: ......excerpt..."what are the tangible benefits of cloud computing for these companies?"

Intuit leads the wayAll the companies focused on have two objectives in common:

• To increase the lifetime value, or LTV, of their customers via shifting to their solutions to the cloud

• To increase the cross-selling opportunities within their products by having a customer shift to the cloud

Intuit is best known for TurboTax and its accounting software Quickbooks. However, the company also offers payroll, payments, and marketing tools to small businesses, with which it has the opportunity to cross-sell these products to its customers in the cloud. Simply put, customers using SaaS have far more interaction with the software provider than they do by using traditional on-license, on-premise software. Investing Fools can see the result of this with Intuit's attach rates (customers who add on other services) with its QuickBooks online service. Quoting from the recent Intuit conference call:

[W]hen you look at the attach rates, the people who are actually attaching our merchant services, our Payments business, that's up 50% versus the old QuickBooks Online. And the Payroll number is actually up a little over 5%.

So, Intuit is able to increase the LTV of a customer by shifting them into the cloud, and then selling them add-on solutions like payments and payroll. In fact, the company estimates that the LTV of QuickBooks online is 40% higher than with the desktop version. In addition, Intuit is also shifting its existing QuickBooks online customers onto its new QuickBooks online service, and with only 12% of them having made the move, there should be plenty of runway in future.

Intuit recently reaffirmed its full year guidance of 10%-12% growth in its small business group, with revenue expected to grow at 6%-8% and non-GAAP operating income at 7%-10%. Moreover, its attempts to simplify its TurboTax offering appear to be bearing fruit, because it reported 7% growth in TurboTax units to mid-February versus the IRS estimate of 6.6% growth in the same period".

Xero says it now has 100,000 paying Australian customers after adding 25,000 new customers in the six months since the end of August

Peter Dinham for ITWire writes: Xero Managing Director Australia, Chris Ridd, says Australian customer numbers have grown by two and a half times at the same time 12 months ago, and include nine of Australia’s top 10 accounting firms.

Ridd said Xero (ASX:XRO) had 75,000 paying Australian customers at the end of August last year and had now reached the 100,000 milestone.

“We have seen a real shift in accountants, bookkeepers and small business owners wanting to use a pure cloud based accounting solution to manage their finances. Our customers are tired of managing software installs and paying for the required hardware upgrades that typically follow new releases. When they switch to Xero, it’s the last update they ever have to do.” 

Just last week, the New Zealand and Australian-listed company announced it had surpassed over a quarter of a million customers worldwide, passing the 250,000 mark at the end of January. 

Ridd said the 100,000 Australian milestone comes off the back of Xero’s “record breaking annual February roadshow, where the registered number of attendees totaled 5,500.”

“It was the biggest accounting and bookkeeping roadshow in Australia.” In a campaign launching in April, Ridd said the company was offering 10,000 free conversions for partners in Australia to switch to Xero from competitor accounting software packages. 

Melbourne furniture designer Anton Gerner was one of the first customers to use Xero in Australia.

“I was impressed with Xero from the get-go,” Gerner says. “I’m involved in every aspect of crafting furniture, so I don’t have a lot of time on my hands. Xero makes my life so much easier and more productive.

“From materials to accounting software, my business philosophy is to source the best suppliers in their respective fields and continue to work with them over time. Xero is certainly one of those partners, which is why I am happy to proudly endorse what they do. Because at the end of the day, Xero transformed how I did business when I first started using it, and it continues to do so years later.”