Tax Software Put To The Test

Keywords

tax software satisfaction, brand switching, software reliability

Abstract

Tax accountants love to grumble about their tax software, telling war stories about how they survived software bugs, tardy arrivals of updates and state editions and occasional erroneous IRS code interpretations. As this in-depth survey of tax preparers shows, most CPAs really dont hate their tax software; in fact, they generally give their brands high marks.

Thats not to say theyre unaware of their products shortcomings. Unlike years past, they show more willingness to switch brands. (For more on the survey and the problems associated with brand switching, see The Business of Tax Software.) Our survey showed that 33% of those who switched brands last year made the move because they were either dissatisfied with their old brands or simply found ones they liked better; another 30% of the switchers gave other reasons, but many of those switched because their vendors either had gone out of business or had stopped supporting the products.

Original Publication Citation

“Taxation Software Put to the Test.” Journal of Accountancy (with M. Romney, R. Worsham, and S. Zarowin), September, 1998: 22 - 41.

Document Type

Peer-Reviewed Article

Publication Date

1998

Publisher

Journal of Accountancy

Language

English

College

Marriott School of Business

Department

Accountancy

University Standing at Time of Publication

Full Professor

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