Morningstar Inc. announced on Tuesday a major enhancement to Advisor Workstation Office Edition, their Web-based investment planning platform for independent financial advisors. The Office Edition now offers portfolio accounting and reporting capabilities at no additional charge.

   Features of note include the ability to import data from a wide range of sources, portfolio tracking, portfolio performance reporting, and accounting functionality. In addition, the Advisor Workstation Office Portfolio Accounting System (PAS) provides the following:

Eighteen new customizable reports, including net worth statements, realized and unrealized gain/loss reports, and management fee reports
Extensive choice of securities, transaction types, and expense and fee transactions, and
Automatic, daily client account importing capabilities

   "Portfolio accounting is a critical element of any independent financial advisor's business, and we're excited to introduce these capabilities to our Workstation Office Edition platform," said Chris Boruff, president of Morningstar's Advisor business. "Workstation Office Edition is the only product that brings together advanced client reporting functionality with detailed Morningstar analytics, providing financial advisors with a single resource for all investment planning, portfolio tracking, and client reporting needs."

    Statements generated within PAS can be produced separately or merged with other information such as Morningstar Portfolio X-Rays and asset allocation summaries in order to provide customized reports to address specific client needs.

   PAS will be included immediately with all new purchases. Existing subscribers will receive the enhancements over the next few weeks so that Morningstar can provide them with basic training prior to the upgrade.

-Joel Bruckenstein