The most cutting-edge tools available to accountants

A panel of experts from firms with thriving client accounting services practices share their insights on the technology, training, marketing, clients and more that you need to make the most of this popular service offering.

Whether they're software or hardware, a training course or a certification program, or maybe an outsourced service or consulting engagement, this year’s crop of Top New Products represents our editors’ annual selection of the cream of the past year’s crop of tools and solutions created specifically for the accounting space.

They all aim to solve a problem, whether it’s managing a newly remote workforce, or mastering the basics of data analytics, or fixing a company’s tax provisioning process. And while they all aim to solve a problem related to the accounting profession in one way or another, some segment it even further, focusing on small businesses, or tax practitioners, or CAS practices.

There are also two major themes running through many of this year’s selections: the enormous value of data and the need to analyze it properly to improve businesses (including accounting firms), and the importance of workflows and streamlined processes to the success of a practice, a firm or a company. Many of the tools recognized in the list touch on one or both of these concepts, with the goal of helping accountants help themselves and their clients.