Page 413 - TaxAdviser_2022

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT

users did. Prices of ATX and ProSeries were noticeably more satisfied with
Price was far and were liked by 65.2% and 29% of their those products’ integration with other
software than other products’ users, at
users, respectively.
away named as the Under 8% of users of CCH Axcess 20.6% and 21.5% liking it, respectively.
most frequent ‘dislike’ Tax, CCH ProSystem fx, Lacerte, and That result correlates with those two
products’ higher ratings for integration
UltraTax CS approved of these products’
for four products. price. Price was far and away named as in the “Overall Ratings” table.
the most frequent “dislike” for the latter
four products. By the same token, only Technology, training, and
For all major products combined, the 5.5% of Drake Tax users disliked its support
best-liked feature was their number of price. Over three-quarters of users of By and large, CPAs are reluctant to
forms and comprehensiveness, at 54%. Lacerte and UltraTax CS disliked those adopt cloud operation of their tax soft-
CCH Axcess Tax and CCH ProSystem products’ price. ware, despite recent years’ pandemic-
fx stood out here, both with nearly 77% Support, another area where users driven disruptions to office life. At least
of users liking their number of forms often have strong opinions, also showed that’s the impression left by the 78%
and comprehensiveness, the highest per- some striking differences among the of users of all major products who said
centages of “likes” for any feature of any products in both tables. Drake Tax it resided on their own hard drive or
of the products. CCH ProSystem fx was users gave the highest approval of its network. That percentage holds steady
also a clear winner with 72.3% of users support at 72%, with only 3.3% dislik- from 2021 and is only a slight decrease
liking its accuracy, against an average for ing it. Support was the highest dislike, from 2020 (82%). The shift corresponds
all major products of 50%. On the other however, among users of ATX and with a 4-percentage-point upward blip
hand, Drake Tax users seldom chose second highest (after price) by users of between 2020 and 2022 in respondents
number of forms and comprehensiveness the five remaining products other than saying the program lived on their ven-
as a prized trait, at 25.3%. Drake and ATX: CCH Axcess Tax, dor’s server (from 18% in 2020 to 22%
Not shown in the tables are responses CCH ProSystem fx, Lacerte, ProSeries, in 2022). Wide disparities among the
to a separate but related question of and UltraTax CS. Another question, products were evident on this feature,
whether the software contained all discussed below, delved further into however. More than 84% of CCH
necessary forms. The highest percent- users’ assessment of the products’ tech- Axcess Tax users reported that the pro-
age answering yes were UltraTax CS nical support. gram was on their vendor’s server, but
users (91%), followed by users of CCH Lacerte and ProSeries users liked only 34.7% of UltraTax CS users said
ProSystem fx (88%) and CCH Axcess those products’ learning curve more the same. Fewer than 10% of the users
Tax (86.3%). than did users of other products, at of the other top software programs said
Drake Tax’s users were most likely to 16.2% and 16.7%, respectively. Users the program was in the cloud. (Anec-
approve of its price. Nearly 84% of its of CCH Axcess Tax and UltraTax CS dotally, some CCH Axcess Tax users

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY marks for integration with other price, but price was a pro-
software. Lacerte also was highly nounced dislike for users of CCH
• CPA tax preparers using seven rated for ease of e-filing. Axcess Tax, CCH ProSystem fx,
return preparation software prod- Lacerte, and UltraTax CS.
ucts in the 2022 tax season gave • CCH Axcess Tax and CCH
those products an average rating ProSystem fx were well liked by • A large majority of respondents
of 4.3 out of 5. Drake Tax, used their users for those products’ said their tax software oper-
predominantly by single-preparer number of forms and compre- ated on their own hard drive or
and small firms, had high ratings hensiveness, and CCH ProSys- network, little changed from two
for ease of updating and installa- tem fx users liked its accuracy. years ago. Most respondents
tion, how well it handled updates, Users of Drake Tax, ATX, and using technical support obtained
and ease of e-filing but low ProSeries liked those products’ it by telephone.

30 August 2022 The Tax Adviser