App recommendation database Trusted by over 8k accounting firms
200+ apps for accounting firms, across 13 app categories. And whether or not I recommend using them.
Why I built this
The software decision that cost my firm 14 months and $100k+
This database exists so you don't make the same mistake.
5 years ago
I was running a 40 person, 80 year old tax firm, in the middle of switching tax software. That was the right move. What we did next was not.
The pitch
Our new tax software vendor had a practice management system to sell us, too.
- It's the only one that integrates with your tax software.
- Bundle the training and move everything over at once.
- Next to nothing for the first few years on a 3 year contract.
A tale as old as time. We signed.
After 14 months…
…of our bravest change management faces, pushing the team through every step, we went live January 1. By March the second shoe dropped: we'd chosen the wrong platform. Staff had left, we were two months into a three year contract, and now we had to tell an exhausted team we were changing again.
What I wish I'd known
The person selling you software isn't your friend.
A rep's job is to close the deal, not to tell you what's best for your firm. No amount of integrations, bundles or discounts makes the wrong software worthwhile. Buy tax software from your tax vendor, and pick everything else on its merits, with input from people who don't profit from your answer.
So I built the shortlist
Your peers are the real source of truth. So I asked firms what they used before, what they use now, and whether the switch was the right move, and built what I learned into every rating here: Leaders, Contenders, Watching and Laggards, with the reasoning behind each one.
It cost me partnerships with 50+ software companies. But I don't work for software companies. I work for accountants.