Suralink

Vantagens

Gone are the days of having a DRL or PBC that you manage in an Excel spreadsheet over e-mail or in a Dropbox, Box, or Sharepoint. Suralink does it for you with individual line items for each request, easy drag & drop to upload files, easily download all or just new files, track status, assign owners to requests, make requests private, and more. Can be used for any audit or advisory project where you need evidence from the client. Pay per firm user. Storage is unlimited, client engagements are unlimited.

Desvantagens

Suralink is still developing new functionality. Just released some new APIs that should help. Security only has 2 levels: Staff or Manager.

Vantagens

Very simple to use, the client view is just like the audit team view so I can walk them through the site, easy to upload, has almost every feature we were looking for, and they are constantly upgrading based on my feedback

Desvantagens

No setup to send automatic status updates to clients throughout an engagement. Must remember to send them manually

Vantagens

It works. I do not have experience with other software's so not certain how to compare. It would be great if it could integrate with iChannel

Desvantagens

I work for WEST Growth, LLC which is a subsidiary of Wiss and Company, LLP. I do not have any other experience with secure portal except for Suralink so I am not sure how useful my opinion is, however, I have several clients who complain about the UI. Basically, it is not very straightforward/learning curve involved.

Vantagens

I love how easy it is to correspond with the client and reject/accept workpapers. I have heard only good things from the client regarding this.

Desvantagens

I wish the client was able to add the users they would like to add - not a big deal and can easily be added from the accountant side.

Vantagens

I really like the ability to go in, as an audit manager, and get an idea of the status of the audit is. I can see how responsive the client is. I can see how responsive staff is being. This allows me to focus on my attention on the clients that are being responsive. This is very important during busy season. I am constantly in Suralink during busy season, even if staff is doing the interacting with the client.

I am also quickly finding the power of the status reports that are sent out to the client and I am beginning to only send communication to the client through the status report function rather than email from Outlook.

Desvantagens

The process of switching from one engagement to another takes one or two steps more than I would like. Maybe having a tool/navigation bar on the side could help.