Website of the Month: My Accounting Portal

My Accounting Portal (www.myaccountingportal.com) launched only in January, but its act seems to have been in good shape from the get-go. Touting itself as combining “the best features of consumer portals by giants such as Yahoo and Excite with the reference tools and resources of a traditional accounting website” and including “extensive customization technology, a wealth of original content, powerful tools, and carefully screened links,” the “about us” page does not overstate the case.

A user can recustomize the layout at will.

• Personal/professional features. The portal has an accounting website module that provides a range of accounting news and research and access to web-hosted applications. The portal also offers general and business news, links to websites in myriad areas, a personal information manager, stock quotes, weather, and other modules.
• Editors’ top picks. The portal’s editors select articles from listed websites they think will be most helpful to accountants and organize them into convenient categories.
• Personal information manager (PIM) and QuickMail. These areas contain the familiar contacts, notes, calendar, task list, bookmarks, and e-mail functions, available through a web-based interface for easy accessibility.
• Office tools. The portal’s tools for doing business on the Internet include basic telephone directories as well as collaboration tools for storing data and sharing information electronically.
• Client interactivity. The portal is developing a number of client-interactive features, such as web-hosted applications, downloadable tax-returns, a tax due-date calendar, a client scheduler, and time and billing functions.

For accountants that already have office management and PIM tools, My Accounting Portal may offer more than needed. But the anywhere-anytime advantage is a real one, the online research archives are impressive, and the portal’s website listings are well organized.

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