Research tools are becoming increasingly important for tax and accounting professionals as these solutions enable them to keep pace with the latest developments in legislation, regulatory pronouncements and judicial decisions that impact tax administration and tax practice. The industry also has to contend with the problem of finding and retaining quality staff because many accounting firms today are trying to accomplish so much with fewer employees. Firms are increasingly turning to a single platform to help them easily manage workflow processes. In May 2007, Thomson Tax & Accounting merged the PPC and RIA brands with Checkpoint to offer broader access to many integrated data. Checkpoint offerings incorporate with UltraTax CS, GoSystem Tax and other Thomson Tax & Accounting tools. The combined Accounting & Auditing guidance from PPC and e-Practice Aids runs on the Checkpoint platform and is incorporated with main source materials. In 2006, PPC also started offering tools and guidance for putting the AICPAs new Risk Assessment Standards into practice. In spring of 2007, Checkpoint is releasing a new daily online newsletter, called the Accounting and Compliance Alert to keep professionals up to date with the latest developments. In April 2006, LexisNexis rolled out an online research tool, called LexisNexis Tax Center, which provides contains tax cases, codes, regulations and analytical materials from various sources, including CCH, BNA, Tax Analysts and Matthew Bender. In July 2006, LexisNexis enhanced the Tax Center with the launch of the LexisNexis Shepards for Tax Professionals, LexisNexis Company Dossier and Industry Dossier reports.