Daily News - AccountantsWorld Appoints Jeff Gramlich President.

[Carolbeck]

I guess someone has gone on to greener pastures....

http://www.accountantsworld.com/newsletter/dailynews/ShowNews?NewsID=919250

[rfassett]

Wow - and not about the article per se. I just had finger lock. So much I wanted to say but my fingers just would not move. So all I can say for Accountants World and its customers is good luck. For all of those credentials that Gramlich brings to the table, how could he allow the melt down of ATX? OK - I will stop there. Momma said if you do not have anything nice to say, say nothing at all. Wow!

[Lynn EA USTCP in Louisiana]

I am so glad I have not purchased any of Accountants World's products.

[Guest Taxed]

Perhaps a better fit for a man with his background and talent.

[JohnH]

Most of us have needed a fresh start at one point or another in life. I'd hate to think that every mistake I made would have dogged me for the rest of my career, especially since many of those mistakes were muti-faceted, complex, and often involved other people also dropping the ball along with me. I also know from personal experience that I have learned much more from my mistakes than from my successes - that's just the way things work in life.

So I wish him well and hope he succeeds in his new endeavor.

[Guest Taxed]

Let's hope ATX learned a valuable lesson and will not repeat the same mistake again. CCH must have deep pockets because Taxworks (that i loved) threw in the towel this year.

[Jack from Ohio]

Let's hope ATX learned a valuable lesson and will not repeat the same mistake again. CCH must have deep pockets because Taxworks (that i loved) threw in the towel this year.

In the next three weeks I will discover, first person live, if CCH has learned any lessons or not. Stay tuned...

[rfassett]

Most of us have needed a fresh start at one point or another in life. I'd hate to think that every mistake I made would have dogged me for the rest of my career, especially since many of those mistakes were muti-faceted, complex, and often involved other people also dropping the ball along with me. I also know from personal experience that I have learned much more from my mistakes than from my successes - that's just the way things work in life.

I agree - and I do not walk on water either. But the mistakes that I have made and learned from over the years did not affect the number of lives and livelihood that this person's did. Yes, I agree that there others involved and I think all of the decision makers should be tarred and feathered. And it is not just the fact that the mistakes were made - I have yet to see anyone owning up to it and putting any meat behind any sort of apology. No remorse whatsoever. Gramlich was the fall guy but that goes with the territory. He was at the top of the CCH Small Services organization when the systematic problems grew to the point they are. Those kind of problems start at the top and trickle down. He should remain out of executive positions forever in my opinion. And that is only because I care for the unsuspecting victims. I agree with Lynn - I am very glad I do not use any Accountants World's products.

[Lee B]

Since I am a user of their products, I will definitely need to have a backup plan in place.

Accounting Relief actually works fairly well. Right now Payroll Relief is struggling

due to a total rewrite of the program. This is also troubling because AW support

is below average and corporate communications is focused on marketing &

public relations, sound familiar !

[Gail in Virginia]

I thought the two comments at the end of the article were interesting; apparently the only people commenting so far are ATX users. I do wish him well, though; if he doesn't do well, an entirely new group of people may be paying the price.

[Guest Taxed]

If you think about it logically, ATX was a very good tax prep software prior to 2012. I know the platform was ancient and they wanted to rewrite it for the next generation of software evolution.

The question is how much was Mr Gramlich involved in the "weeds" of that development. What sunk their ship was an inappropriate implementation of the Raven DB (we went over this stuff 6 months back). I don't think the top executive is involved in that deep weeds but ultimately bears the responsibility for the success and failure.

I would put the blame more on the leadership of their software development dept. May be the beta testers know this but has any major change happened in their IT dept since this fiasco? Did they ever fix the responsibility and accountability for the root cause of this problem?

[Jack from Ohio]

If you think about it logically, ATX was a very good tax prep software prior to 2012. I know the platform was ancient and they wanted to rewrite it for the next generation of software evolution.

The question is how much was Mr Gramlich involved in the "weeds" of that development. What sunk their ship was an inappropriate implementation of the Raven DB (we went over this stuff 6 months back). I don't think the top executive is involved in that deep weeds but ultimately bears the responsibility for the success and failure.

I would put the blame more on the leadership of their software development dept. May be the beta testers know this but has any major change happened in their IT dept since this fiasco? Did they ever fix the responsibility and accountability for the root cause of this problem?

There have been many changes in the IT dept. since May. I have spoken with 3 different heads of departments concerning this. In fact, 5 different e-mail communications with them today already. The development leadership has been changed as well. I have spoken to the new director of development. They seem to be completely and honestly sincere about making the software work for 2013. You can still paint me skeptical, but I am onboard to help with the process.

I don't know about the responsibility and accountability question. I have spoken the words "If 2013 doesn't work, you won't be around for 2014" and received acknowledgment that they are keenly aware of that. 2013 is "do or die" for the CCH SFS group.

[Guest Taxed]

So if ATX 2013 works out to your satisfaction are you going to switch back from Drake or is Drake still a backup option for your firm?

[Jack from Ohio]

So if ATX 2013 works out to your satisfaction are you going to switch back from Drake or is Drake still a backup option for your firm?

We will have both, if we decide to try ATX for 2013. Can't take the chance. I just spent 40 minutes on the phone with a new (3 1/2 months) design manager for 2013. After some in-depth technical discussion, my hopefulness is increased. Still waiting to see what happens when "the rubber meets the road" in the beta testing.

[FormerCCHEmp]

I added a comment to that article that was deleted. I moved it to a blog post:

http://formercchemp.wordpress.com/2013/09/10/is-gramlich-the-right-pick-for-accountantsworld/

It may provide some insight as to why ATX had problems.

[Lee B]

Thanks for the inside info, since I am a user of Accounting Relief and Payroll Relief.

I definitely need to start putting a backup plan in place.

[Guest Taxed]

Very interesting article by FormerCCHEmp.

Let's see if they can bail out ATX 2013!