Say no to SaaS sprawl: How to integrate tax and accounting software for CPAs

The digital era of tax and accounting work has unlocked countless opportunities for automation and efficiency, but with it, a new dilemma has emerged. By aggressively adopting SaaS products, some firms are assembling bloated, disconnected tech stacks that necessitate unintuitive workarounds and hurt productivity.  

With new third-party applications sprouting up every day, tax software integration has become more important than ever. Here’s how CPAs can integrate tax and accounting software to form a seamless end-to-end workflow. 

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The hidden cost of SaaS sprawl

How do you ensure better tax software integration?

The end-to-end advantage of Thomson Reuters

Case study: Successful tax software integration with UltraTax CS and SurePrep

Get more tax automation insights

The hidden cost of SaaS sprawl 

SaaS sprawl — the uncontrolled proliferation of software subscriptions across an organization — has quietly become a real issue in the tax space. When firms adopt multiple solutions from different vendors, they end up with systems that don’t communicate effectively. The result? Manual data re-entry, duplicated efforts, and countless hours wasted toggling between platforms. 

Experts define the act of moving from one application to another to complete a task as “context switching,” where each transition requires some degree of mental reset. According to a 2022 study by Harvard Business Review, the average employee moves between applications and websites nearly 1200 times per day and can cost teams up to a 9% loss in overall productivity. 

How do you ensure better tax software integration? 

While its effects are real, the specter of SaaS sprawl shouldn’t dissuade your team from pursuing technology upgrades. With the right roadmap, your practice can still achieve demonstrably better efficiency and smoother processes. Here are some best practices for CPAs to consider when integrating their tax and accounting software. 

1. Prioritize native compatibility: Look for solutions that offer native integrations with your core tax software rather than relying on third-party connectors. Native integrations are more reliable and usually offer deeper functionality. 
2. Map your entire workflow: Document every stage of your tax preparation process — from client data collection through filing and storage. Identify where data moves between systems and look for solutions that cover multiple stages within a single ecosystem. 
3. Evaluate API capabilities: Ask vendors about their API offerings and how data flows between integrated products. Understanding these technical connections helps you anticipate how well solutions will work together. 
4. Consider the client experience: Integration affects your clients too. Solutions like SafeSend create seamless experiences from e-signing to document gathering to delivery, all within a secure interface. 
5. Take it for a test drive: Request demonstrations that showcase actual integration with your existing software rather than standalone features. See how data moves from your client portal through document processing, into tax preparation, and finally to filing and storage. and storage. 
6. Plan for implementation support: Look for vendors that offer comprehensive training programs, proven integration methodologies, and change management expertise. 

The end-to-end advantage of Thomson Reuters 

Thomson Reuters has solutions to address every aspect of tax work within one suite, from preparation, to review, to client collaboration, to research. That means our customers don’t have to worry about makeshift workflows or third-party vendors. Tax software integration is a given. 

Seamless 1040 tax software integration 

UltraTax CS integrates directly with SurePrep 1040SCAN, SPbinder, and SafeSend to create an automated, frictionless 1040 workflow.  

1. Client documents gathered in SafeSend are transferred to 1040SCAN. 
2. 1040SCAN extracts data from the documents and exports it directly to UltraTax CS. 
3. Workpapers in SPbinder are auto-organized into a standardized index that follows the flow of the tax return. 
4. Once the return is reviewed and finalized in UltraTax CS, it exports back to SafeSend for final delivery. 

Thomson Reuters APIs: Taking integration even further 

Every firm is unique. There isn’t a “one size fits all” process that works perfectly for every tax practice. That’s why we believe it’s important to empower firms to work their way. Thomson Reuters offers robust APIs that enable deep tax software integration across most of our solutions. These APIs power seamless connections between core products, maintaining data integrity throughout the entire tax preparation lifecycle. 

Case study: Successful tax software integration with UltraTax CS and SurePrep  

Josh Haislip’s firm provides a compelling example of what’s possible when tax software integration is done right. After years of using UltraTax CS for tax preparation, the firm integrated SurePrep and took their tax process to the next level. 

“SurePrep totally slices through the documentation and builds a reliable, accurate product that is uniform throughout every client that you work with,” Josh explains. “And when that information feeds directly into UltraTax, the entire return comes together seamlessly”. 

The impact extended beyond operational efficiency. “I sleep at night better knowing that there’s not some mistake that’s hidden somewhere,” Josh shares. “UltraTax has always been reliable for calculations, but now with SurePrep feeding it clean, organized data, I know both the inputs and outputs are solid.”

Get more tax automation insights 

Prioritizing tax software integration ensures that your firm is creating the most optimized workflow possible and getting the best value out of your tech spend. For firms ready to move beyond piecemeal solutions and fragmented workflows, the path forward is clear: Partner with vendors who understand your needs and embrace the transformative power of a truly unified tech stack. 

If you’re looking to take a deeper dive into end-to-end tax automation, our playbook highlights opportunities to eliminate tasks and simplify tax work at every stage of the 1040 process. Check it out to get exclusive stats, case studies, and insights! 

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