A named five-vendor shortlist method for accounting software decisions — criteria, weighted scoring, scenario demos and a recommendation directors can approve.
Software decisions in accounting firms stall for a predictable reason: no shared method. One partner champions a product, another distrusts the enthusiasm, and the decision waits for certainty that never arrives. The five-vendor shortlist method replaces the stalemate with procedure — named candidates, weighted criteria, scenario demos, and a scored recommendation any owner-director can interrogate line by line.
The Method, Step by Step
- Name five candidates. Wide enough to be credible, narrow enough to finish: typically two integrated platforms, one or two specialist tools for your heaviest need, and the incumbent status quo as candidate five — because "change nothing" is a real option and pricing it keeps the comparison honest.
- Fix the criteria before the demos. Six to ten, weighted by your practice's reality — for most firms: deadline automation, portal quality, document workflow, integration seams, implementation effort, total cost, security posture, vendor viability. Criteria chosen after demos inherit the demos' biases.
- Demo by scenario, not by feature. Every vendor walks the same three real cases — your messiest client's onboarding, one recurring compliance cycle, one peak-season week. Score each criterion 1–5 per scenario, in the room, before impressions blur.
- Price with the five-line model. Licence, implementation, seams, switching, risk — the true-cost model per candidate, three years.
- Write the one-page recommendation. The scored table, the price table, the recommendation and its two strongest counterarguments answered. That last element is what converts sceptical readers — it shows the case survived opposition.
Why Five, and Why Named
Fewer than three candidates reads as a decision already made; more than five makes the evaluation its own project. Naming matters because named comparisons are checkable — a director can call any vendor on the list, and knows it. The method's authority comes from being reproducible: anyone following the same steps would reach the same table. That is also why it wins approvals that enthusiasm cannot, as covered in the cost-averse directors guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long should the whole method take?
Three to four weeks elapsed: one to shortlist and fix criteria, two for scenario demos, days to score and write. Longer evaluations do not add certainty; they add staleness.
What if two candidates tie?
Ties break on the seams line and the exit terms — the two factors that diverge most after purchase. If still tied, pilot the better-priced one; the method's job was narrowing to a safe experiment, and it has done it.
Should vendors know they are in a scored comparison?
Yes — it improves demo discipline and pricing honesty. Send the scenarios ahead; a vendor who cannot prepare your cases in a week is answering one criterion early.
Put Risper CRM in the five and run the method — book the scenario demo.
