Aplifisa vs a3: A Comparison for Tax Firms

Positioning

Aplifisa, part of TeamSystem, offers a Comprehensive Tax Service for accounting firms covering bookkeeping, tax, personal income tax and corporate tax returns. Wolters Kluwer offers the a3 family for professional firms, with accounting, tax, payroll and practice-management solutions.

Coverage depends on the modules, version and plan contracted. That’s why it pays to fix which modules go into each proposal first: a basic Aplifisa package and an expanded a3 configuration aren’t comparable, even when they’re competing for the same firm.

Comparison at a glance

This table is no substitute for a demo run on the specific plan.

Firm requirements

Before requesting a demo, the firm should document its own working profile. This requirements sheet is what makes it possible to compare real proposals rather than sales brochures:

• Number of companies and staff.
• Tax profiles.
• Companies and sole traders.
• Payroll volume.
• Personal income tax and wealth tax.
• Electronic notifications.
• Documents and client portal.
• Banks and invoices.
• Users and offices.
• Remote work.
• Integrations.
• Historical records.

Guided demo

Each vendor should run through:

1. Client onboarding.
2. Invoice import.
3. Journal entry and reconciliation.
4. Tax settlement.
5. Personal/corporate tax return.
6. Payroll and social security.
7. Electronic notification.
8. Document request to the client.
9. Closing and ledgers.
10. Export and account closure.

The demo should use anonymised data and edge cases.

Productivity

Productivity shouldn’t be judged from a single demo, but from weeks of repeated work on the same client portfolio. Worth measuring:

• Minutes per journal entry.
• Documents processed.
• Reconciliations.
• Incidents.
• Filings per user.
• Rework.
• Closing time.
• Client communications.

Automations must preserve an audit trail and allow correction.

Migration

Before migrating, the firm should classify which information will run live in the new system and which stays as a searchable historical archive. The usual blocks are:

• Companies.
• Chart of accounts and sub-accounts.
• Journal entries.
• Tax records.
• Payroll.
• Fixed assets.
• Client portfolio.
• Documents.
• Historical records.
• Users.

Run a pilot with a complex client. Reconcile balances, filings, employees and obligations. Keep a searchable archive and a rollback plan.

Cloud and operations

Cloud or desktop mode shapes the firm’s day-to-day as much as the software itself. Worth comparing, using vendor data rather than brochures:

• Browser or desktop.
• Availability.
• Performance.
• Updates.
• Backups.
• Remote access.
• Regions.
• Sub-processors.
• Export.
• Continuity.

Cloud doesn’t remove the need for recovery or access control.

Integrations

A tax ecosystem rarely works alone: it connects with other tools used by the firm and its clients. The integrations most worth checking are:

• Invoicing.
• Banks.
• Client portal.
• E-signature.
• Notifications.
• Office.
• BI.
• CRM.
• Storage.

An advertised integration should be tested on the real version and volume.

Security and GDPR

The firm handles tax, payroll, health and disciplinary data. Require:

• Individual user accounts.
• MFA.
• Portfolio-based roles.
• Logs.
• Encryption.
• Deprovisioning.
• Data processing agreement.
• Sub-processors.
• Transfers.
• Incidents.
• Deletion and offboarding.

Support shouldn’t have standing, unrestricted access.

Regulatory updates

A firm depends on the vendor keeping pace with regulatory change, not just on the first version working well. Worth asking about:

• Release calendar.
• Change communication.
• Testing before updates.
• Support during filing season.
• Critical incidents.
• Historical compatibility.

Personal income tax season, year-end closes and filing campaigns require proven capacity.

Total cost

The licence price rarely reflects the real cost of running the system over several years. Total cost of ownership should include:

• Licences/modules.
• Users.
• Implementation.
• Migration.
• Training.
• Support.
• Filing campaigns.
• Integrations.
• Infrastructure.
• Exit.

The proposal should state what it doesn’t include.

Support

Assess the real team, SLA, hours, filing-season coverage, escalation path, documentation and continuity. A firm can’t be left stuck mid-filing.

Decision matrix

Once the data above has been gathered, it’s worth scoring each proposal with a weighted matrix rather than deciding on general impression. An indicative 100-point split could be:

Common mistakes

1. Comparing different modules.
2. Choosing by brand.
3. Not testing the filing season.
4. Migrating everything without reconciliation.
5. Ignoring the client portal.
6. Not reviewing logs and permissions.
7. Not budgeting for training.
8. Underestimating integration.
9. Not testing the export.
10. Depending on a single implementation lead.

Most of these mistakes don’t show up in the initial demo — they surface months later, when the first personal income tax season or the first year-end close arrives on the new system.

Checklist

Before signing, review this list with the firm’s team and the vendor in the same meeting:

• Comparable functional scope.
• Real test cases.
• Multi-company and filing season.
• Pilot migration.
• Integrations.
• Security/GDPR.
• Updates.
• Support and SLA.
• TCO.
• Exit.

Frequently asked questions

Which one is better?

It depends on the client portfolio, modules, way of working and support. It should be decided through a guided trial.

Can everything be migrated?

Not always advisable. You define what needs to run live and what can stay in a searchable archive.

Is the cloud mandatory?

Not by definition. Specific plans and the firm’s capacity should be compared.

Sources consulted

• Aplifisa: Comprehensive Tax Service.
• Aplifisa: tax software and training.

Summum Sistemas can prepare requirements, demos, TCO and a pilot migration.