CCH Australia’s parent company, global publisher Wolters Kluwer, has begun selling the CCH iFirm practice management suite to Singapore, the US, Canada and the UK.
CCH Australia acquired iFirm in July as part of a strategy to expand the number of software programs it sold to accounting firms. Last week it acquired another local software company, Best Practice Solutions, which created the Paper Buster apps.
“We are delighted with the progress we are making” with iFirm, said Russell Evans, CEO of CCH Australia, although CCH said it didn’t release sales figures for its programs.
“When we initially acquired the business we thought the main attraction for iFirm would be from the smaller firms. We are now getting quite a lot of interest and sales from mid to large firms,” Evans said. CCH has sold the suite to several firms with over 100 staff.
Although CCH already sold a practice management suite CCH Access to medium and large accounting firms in the US, it was looking at taking iFirm into the small firm segment.
CCH was also working to integrate iFirm with its client accounting program Twinfield which was sold throughout Europe.
One of the drivers behind iFirm’s success was its job-based approach. “Rather than tracking time sheets, a partner can look at each job and see how it’s progressing versus the hours allocated to the job,” Evans said.
A large number of iFirm users found that moving to a job-based workflow had boosted profitability and reduced the amount of write-offs each year, Evans claimed.
Prominent Melbourne accountant Jason Cunningham had reduced his write-offs by $280,000 a year by ditching time sheets, according to CCH.
“It shows the difference that technology can provide. It’s an app that can deliver quantitative benefits to a firm so it’s not surprising we are getting very good growth,” Evans said.
“For a small business coming out of Christchurch we are now turning iFirm into a global success story.”
CCH’s Australasian accounting program, iBizz, was still in beta development but “going very well” with firms testing it in Australia and New Zealand, Evans claimed. CCH refused to reveal how many firms were participating in the beta program but said training sessions had been booked out.
A formal launch for iBizz was planned for February. CCH had software development teams in Christchurch, Melbourne, Malaysia and India.
Image credit: CCH