Tech and tax companies provide free services during pandemic

March 20, 2020 2:28 PM

The coronavirus pandemic has hit the United States hard and fast, and the domino effect is being felt. As people practice social distancing, they are spending less, and companies are struggling to survive. In the midst of the crisis, tech companies are doing what they can to help vulnerable customers and frazzled accountants dealing with the rapidly changing reality. Below is a list of companies and what they're offering. This list will be updated periodically.

Bill.com offers 90 days free to new customers

Bill.com is offering a limited-time promotion of 90 days’ free subscription services to new customers, including accounting firms and their business clients.

Rivio provides free access to financial document exchange platform

Rivio is offering its Basic plan for free through September 30th when you sign up by June 30th. The promo code is RIVIO2020. Rivio is an online financial document clearinghouse that enables private businesses to exchange key financial information with their investors and lenders as well as retrieve information from their CPA firm, ensuring data is submitted from an authenticated source. For more information, visit https://www.cpa.com/transitioning-aa-services#resources.

Rivio is a product provided by CPA.com, the tech arm of the American Institute of CPAs.

Sovos offers free sales and use tax return for retailers

Sovos is offering retailers and direct-to-consumer manufacturers one file-ready sales and use tax return for any U.S. state at no cost. The

free offering

is available throughout June 2020, and aims to alleviate some of the burden that COVID-affected businesses are facing.

ADP hosts free virtual conference on getting staff back to work

ADP will host a free virtual summit on May 29 titled “Looking beyond the curve: recovery and engagement in the new world of work.” The day-long event will provide insights, best practices and actionable guidance to help employers get their staff back to work when the time is right, as states relax stay at home orders. The event will run from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ET and feature ADP experts presenting research and data on topics including business continuity, evolving legislation, navigating compliance, and activating a workforce in flux.

To sign up, visit www.adp.com/virtualsummit.

Oracle offers free financial planning and scenario modeling tools for 12 months

Oracle is offering free access to Oracle Financial Statement Planning, including Strategic Modeling, to all existing Oracle Planning Cloud customers for the next 12 months (starting in May 2020).

Oracle Financial Statement Planning helps customers run detailed “what-if” scenarios for a wide array of possible economic situations, including payment delays, inventory fluctuations, and supply disruptions. It will also help increase the accuracy of revenue and cash flow forecasting and capital structure scenario modeling, and assist with bank covenant compliance, funding compliance, and credit rating calculations.

The company has made online tutorials and a step-by-step guide available to help businesses use the tools to their fullest capabilities.

Oracle partners assisting in iplementation include: Accenture, Alithya, Baker Tilly, Deloitte, EPMI, Grant Thornton, Hackett, Huron, IBM, Inlumi, InterRel, KPMG, Oracle Consulting, Peloton, Perficient, Performance Architects, PwC, Qubix, SC&H Group and Strategy Lighthouse.

Tenenz provides free client communication portal with COVID-19 resources

Tenenz has created a COVID-19 Tax Resource Portal, delivered through its Mostad Cloud service. The portal is a communication tool for small accounting and tax prep firms featuring timely articles that provide recaps of tax law changes and help for clients to navigate the pandemic; tax videos; and continuously updated quick links to federal, state, business and other coronavirus-related tax and financial resources.

There is both a generic version of the site and a branded version option. Firms can brand their portal if they wish to use the portal to push the content to their clients through social posts and use it to identify their clients that need help.

The resource is free to use and can be found here: https://covidfirmresource.com/.

Grant Thornton intros Pandemic Risk Assessment tool

Grant Thornton has introduced the new Pandemic Risk Assessment tool to help companies benchmark their operations against factors critical to business resilience during the coronavirus pandemic.

The tool allows companies to enter business data into a quantitative risk-modeling engine that generates tailored resiliency scorecards. The tool uses a sliding scale in four key categories:

Cashflow management;
People and labor;
Supply and demand; and
Hard-to-predict external factors.

The resulting scorecards benchmark companies against a pandemic risk-assessment index – and against the measures public companies in similar industries are taking to blunt the impact of the coronavirus crisis. The scorecards also provide information related to removing blind spots and proceeding with resilience efforts.

Bill.com waives first 3 months fees for affected businesses

Bill.com is taking the following steps to provide support to the small business community during the pandemic:

Waiving the first three months of subscription fees for new customers experiencing a significant decline in revenue as a result of COVID-19;
Extended support and service hours and resources to help those dealing with different schedules as they balance work and home life remotely; and
Donating to GoFundMe’s Small Business Relief Initiative.

Thomson Reuters offers summary videos, research, and other resources around COVID-19

Thomson Reuters is offering free access to the COVID-19 page of its Checkpoint Edge platform, which provides research and guidance around tax and accounting questions of all kinds.

In addition, the company is offering free access to a range of other educational resources focused on the pandemic, including podcasts, webinars, a special report on coronavirus risk disclosures, and video summaries of recent tax updates.

All the resources can be viewed here: https://tax.thomsonreuters.com/en/accounting-solutions/c/covid-19

Summit Hosting offers free QuickBooks and Sage cloud hosting through June

Summit Hosting, which provides managed cloud hosting services, has launched an initiative to help small and mid-sized businesses who have been impacted by the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. The Summit Cares campaign offers free Sage hosting or QuickBooks cloud hosting to new customers now through June 30th, 2020, so businesses can run their financial operations remotely in accordance with social distancing. During the 90-day period, new customers will pay $0 in up-front costs, including no set-up fees, for a month-to-month dedicated server hosting subscription service. No 12-month commitment or contract is required to begin.

ADP creates COVID-19 information website, releases employer preparedness toolkit

As details surrounding the Paycheck Protection Program are rapidly changing, ADP created a dedicated website updated with critical information for employers as they seek to apply for the program. This includes dedicated step-by-step directions regarding the reports they need to run and how they can run them.

ADP also recently launched the ADP Employer Preparedness Toolkit that includes links to COVID-19 specific blog articles, webinars, FAQs, and checklists all surrounding the workplace and to guide employers’ efforts to manage their workforce during this time.

Taskade offers 6 months free on collaboration platform for remote work

Taskade, a Y-Combinator backed startup, is offering a 6-month free upgrade to the Pro version of its real-time organization and collaboration platform for distributed teams to support businesses and individuals adopting remote work during the coronavirus pandemic. Taskade is a real-time workspace for remote teams to manage tasks, write notes, and video chat together, on the same page.

To try the app, visit https://www.taskade.com/ to create a free account.

To download Taskade’s mobile and desktop apps for all your devices at https://www.taskade.com/downloads/.

The Woodard Alliance offers free 60-day memberships

The Woodard Alliance is offering a free 60-day membership to accounting and bookkeeping professionals to provide the opportunity for increased professional interaction during this time of social distancing and the resources to guide their clients through the national economic and health emergency.

The Woodard Alliance is a membership group made up of small business advisors, offering access, sometimes discounted, to tools, systems, and shared knowledge.

The free 60-day membership in the Woodard Alliance is available to accountants and bookkeepers who are not current Alliance members and provides access to all Woodard Alliance resources and benefits, including the Woodard Alliance Forum, the VIP resource library, the members only webinar and included software and software discounts.

Accountants and bookkeepers can access the free 60-day Woodard Alliance membership at Woodard.com/Alliance.

Trintech offers task management product for free

Trintech, which makes financial corporate performance management software, is offering its product Adra Task Manager for free for up to six months to help mid-sized organizations close their books while they work remotely during the coronavirus crisis. The company states that the SaaS-based solution is deployed remotely and can be up and running in minutes, and fully functional within a day or two. For more information visit https://www.trintech.com/adra/suite/adra-task-manager/.

Avii makes Workspace platform free for firms with up to 25 users

Avii has made its Workspace cloud platform for tax, audit, advisory, compliance and management consulting firms at no cost in its full version for up to 25 internal firm users with up to 1GB of data storage and unlimited client users free of charge until at least June 1, 2020.The platform offers the following tools:

Client portals;
Secure document exchange and archive;
Workflow management system with customized projects and tasks;
Resource status and planning powered by workflows;
Team and client collaboration;
Resource and team management;
Expense and invoice tracking; and
Unified dashboard and KPIs.

For more information, visit https://www.avii.com/.

AccountingSuite offers 3 months free to new customers

AccountingSuite is offering 3 months free to all new clients with the code 3FREE2020. Click here to sign up.

Dynatrace offers its cloud platform evaluation software free through May 19

Software intelligence company Dynatrace is providing new users with extended, free trial access to its Dynatrace Software Intelligence Platform, through May 19, 2020. New users will also receive free access to the Dynatrace Real User Monitoring (RUM) for SaaS vendor experience, through September 19, 2020. These actions are designed to help global organizations, especially those on the frontlines in the travel, logistics, and healthcare industries, keep their teams productive and maintain digital performance during the global response to the coronavirus.

Dynatrace’s software has inbuilt artificial intelligence and complete automation designed to provide answers, not just data, about the performance of applications, the underlying infrastructure and the experience of all users in an enterprise cloud environment.

For more information, visit https://www.dynatrace.com/covid-19-response/.

Beanworks waives fees for customers in vulnerable industries

Beanworks, an accounts payable automation software company based in Vancouver, is waiving all fees for up to 6 months to support businesses hardest hit by the COVID-19 crisis. To learn more about Beanworks’ current offer, click here.

BlackLine opens educational tools, CPE courses and more

Month-end close accounting software provider BlackLine is offering the following:

1. Open access to the entire BlackLine U library of educational online resources and self-led training, including CPE-eligible courses;
2. A new curriculum focused on closing in a distributed work environment including 15- and 30-minute “snackable” videos, live virtual instructor-led training sessions and virtual “coffee breaks” featuring interactive Q&A;
3. Pre-scheduled one-on-one time with a BlackLine subject matter expert to get real-time guidance; and
4. Task management and reporting tools free for six months to existing customers who haven’t yet licensed these solutions, as well as complimentary expert coaching sessions for those who subscribe to the software already.

Customers who don’t yet have tasks and reporting can visit https://www.blackline.com/free-support-resources/ to get started.

SmartVault adds free and flex options to document management and portal accounts

SmartVault, which provides cloud-based document management and client portals — essential tools for working remotely — has put in place some offers to assist accountants and tax providers during the pandemic.

For new customers:

Flexible month-to-month option. With the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, and the urgent need to enable teams to work remotely, SmartVault has extended its annual discount to monthly plans from now through July 31, 2020 for new accounts opened by April 30, 2020.
SMartVault will Waive all fees for onboarding and training through April 2020, so firm teams can get started quickly.
Get started with eSignature with the first 100 envelopes free. SmartVault has added 100 free DocuSign envelopes to all new accounts, removing the need to handle paper documents or meet face-to-face.

For existing customers:

Extended access for seasonal licenses at no charge. Seasonal licenses will be extended to July 31, 2020 at no additional cost. The extension will be applied automatically to all existing & newly purchased seasonal licenses. If firms would like to add seasonal licenses to accommodate more team members during this time, they can find instructions here.
Complimentary access to eSignature. If you don’t have eSignature enabled on your account, schedule time with SmartVault reps and they will help get you started. Plus, we’ll add 100 free envelopes to your account. To request the free envelopes, or get help setting up an account, schedule a 10-minute appointment.

CountingWorks Pro opens COVID-19 resource hub

CountingWorks Pro, which provides website and marketing automation for accountants, has opened a resource hub that accounting professionals can use to adapt to the new remote environment. The hub offers resources including:

Workshop videos for adapting to digital client engagements,
Small business and tax-specific information relating to COVID-19; and,
The latest guidance from the IRS, Treasury, CDC, WHO, and other agencies.

Avidxchange offers AP and payments software for free

Avidxchange has introduced a new program to provide quick set-up and configuration of automated accounts payable and payments for firms and businesses to process invoices and payments at no cost for one year.

Expensify.org redirects efforts to help SNAP participants

Expensify.org, the charitable arm of expense software provider Expensify, had focused on paying off school childrens’ lunch debts, but with schools closed, it will now devote its efforts to matching SNAP grocery purchases up to $50 per family. It works like this:

1. Purchase food as normal with a SNAP card.
2. Download Expensify on iOS or Android, for free.
3. Join the Expensify.org/hunger policy.
4. SmartScan the receipt, which will tell Expensify how much you paid and show that it was paid for with an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card.
5. Submit it to volunteer@expensify.org.
6. Set up a bank account to receive the funds.

Expensify.org will reimburse up to $50 per family once a day until it runs out of funds.

1-800Accountant offers free services to small businesses and more

National virtual accounting firm 1-800Accountant is offering the following free services:

Free assistance, tax preparation, and consultation to small businesses, freelancers, gig workers, and independent contractors who have been impacted by the coronavirus.
Free tax analysis to determine if businesses qualify for various forms of coronavirus tax relief.
Tax return preparation for free for very small businesses like sole-proprietors and freelancers.

Business can visit the company's site or call (800) 888-6113 to learn more.

Jared King and Parag Patel, cofounders of Invoiced.

Invoiced offers free AR to nonprofits

Accounts receivable solutions provider Invoiced is offering its software free to nonprofit organizations until Sept. 16.

The free services are available to U.S. based nonprofit organizations. Nonprofits must verify their eligibility with Invoiced using an EIN and nonprofit official email address. The free services are limited to Invoiced's "Basic" plan. Invoiced Basic is normally $100 per month. A credit card or other form of payment will not be required to secure the free services. The new program is available immediately.

To enroll, nonprofits should follow these steps:

1. Sign up for a free Invoiced trial at invoiced.com/signup using the business email address. No credit card or payment method will be required at signup.

2. Connect the accounting system with Invoiced.

3. Send an email to nonprofit@invoiced.com including:

The business email used to sign up for the account; and
The EIN of the nonprofit organization.

4. Upon program acceptance, Invoiced will extend the nonprofit's free trial until Sept. 16, 2020.