Maybe the fact that a $49 product like Simply Accounting 2005 offers 30 key performance indicators should say something about the spate of analytical tools hitting the market. And it also says something that Simply Accounting will define terms such as current ratios for its users. The tools available at all levels are getting more sophisticated and easier-to-use. "We don't want to make the assumption that Simply Accounting users would know what a current ratio is," says Scott Zandbergen, marketing manager for the Accpac product. Whatever the level of knowledge users have, vendors believe that they need new products to help make sense of their accounting data. And a flood of new products is hitting the market. But in most cases, vendors don't know just how receptive their users will be. "In general, analytical tools are very hot," says Jack Ades, a partner with Interdyn AKA, a New York City-based Great Plains reseller. "But it's been hard to come up with the killer analytical tool that does it all." The sheer number of products available to the mid-market still remains a problem, says David Cies-lak, a principal with Information Technology Group, an Encino, Calif.-based Best Software reseller.
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