Accountants are well-known for their ability to figure out how fast it takes to get the job done. Every tax season, the tedious activity of manually keying in tax lines takes more hours than any professional would care to count.

In the search for an automated process that eliminates all of that manual work, more and more QuickBooks® users are discovering the benefits of SmartMap technology found in the Trial Balance Utility within Lacerte® Tax software.

This award-winning technology helps tax and accounting professionals with an end-to-end solution, from QuickBooks to Lacerte.  Its innovative design, database and functionality provide time savings during the most critical time of year — tax season — and get tax professionals home earlier.

Work Gets Done Automatically

SmartMap cuts down on work even before accountants get started. The first time the program is used, it intuitively assigns as many account balances as it can to the correct tax fields in Lacerte. Even more importantly, this database learns as the user works, so any assignments that are made are remembered and applied to all their future Lacerte clients.

Once the assignments are made for those clients, all that information travels with that client year after year, saving valuable time.

Users can also integrate with virtually any other accounting data source through Excel® by utilizing the Lacerte Trial Balance Utility. They can utilize the easy-to-use Excel import or develop their own chart of accounts right within the Trial Balance Utility, make adjusting journal entries and generate important trial balance reports.

Quite a Return on Investment

Accountants appreciate SmartMap’s award-winning design because the Lacerte screens they know are placed right next to the accounts they have to assign, all on one screen. From there, the simple drag-and-drop functionality enables users to put amounts in the proper fields. It takes the time and guesswork out of using bulky drop-down menus employed by most programs.

And once those assignments are made, they not only stay with that client, but they also will be applied to future clients in Lacerte.

SmartMap also provides superior control for accountants, who do all their tax trial balance work “outside” the tax return until the information is ready to be “posted” to it.

Award-Winning Technology

In June 2007, SmartMap was awarded the Tax & Accounting Technology Innovation Award by The CPA Technology Advisor. The award is the most significant recognition given to makers of software, hardware, services and other technologies for professional accountants and tax preparers.

According to Gregory L. LaFollette, executive editor of The CPA Technology Advisor, the honor is awarded for “increasing efficiency, productivity and profitability for the tax and accounting professions.”  LaFollette added that “this year’s award winners exemplify these goals.”

Stop Typing, Start Being More Productive

Tax and accounting professionals now have to ask themselves: “With its superior technology and time savings, isn’t it faster and more efficient to use SmartMap than having my firm manually enter hundreds of numbers?” For those who know about the productivity of SmartMap, the answer is clear.

For more information, visit Intuit.