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Drake Electronic Training Center

Drake Software launched its
Electronic Training Center (ETC) in the summer of 2006. Made available at no charge to our customers, Drake's ETC is an online, interactive site offering tax courses, tutorials, and practice returns, all designed to enhance tax professionals' and preparers' knowledge of tax preparation and Drake Software.

Almost 11,000 students of varying levels of expertise and experience from 4,400 tax businesses participated in ETC's first year. ETC's training materials benefit single preparers as well as offices with multiple preparers and are designed to accommodate any skill level.

Drake's ETC includes basic and intermediate individual tax courses and a basic corporate tax course. The basic course consists of eight study units and a final exam. It covers subjects such as filing status, dependents, exemptions, deductions, child care and earned income credits, and Schedule C for reporting income. Students can earn up to four CPE credits through the basic tax course. The intermediate course is similar to the basic course but delves more deeply into Schedules C, F, and E, and takes a more thorough look at depreciation. CPE credits are also available for the intermediate course.

The Basic Corporate Tax Course describes and explains the various parts of a corporate 1120 return and shows the student how to use corporate "books" to complete an 1120 in Drake Software. The course includes an in-depth look at Schedule L, Assets and Liabilties (L-1 and L-2), Reconciliation of the Income Statement (M-1), Retained Earnings (M-2), Depreciation, and the use of form 4562. CPE credits are also available for those who take this course.

ETC's online tutorials impart the basics of Drake Software through step-by-step movies. Practice returns provide hands-on data entry experience in which students enter various taxpayer scenarios into the software and then compare results to available solutions. Electronic filing and banking exercises allow students to e-file returns, study any rejections and make corrections, then re-file the returns and print bank products.

In offices where many students are taking courses, administrators will find it invaluable to easily set up student accounts, track students' progress, view electronic report cards, and print CPE certificates when all requirements for certification have been met.