WRB3 CPA
We rebuilt a CPA practice's homegrown back office on modern code, and kept the green screens it was built on.
WRB3 CPA is an accounting practice licensed in Nevada and California. We built its public website, a client portal and a back office that runs clients, documents, books, payroll and compliance, with a second mode that looks and types like the System/36 style software the firm ran on before.
- Client
- WRB3 CPA
- Industry
- Professional Services
- Project
- Practice Management Platform
- Status
- Live
- Automated tests behind the platform
- 4,093
- Themes, including a System/36 green screen
- 5
- Green-screen mode that types like the old software
- 80x24
The challenge
The practice ran on accounting software its founder wrote himself, modeled on the IBM System/36 programs he knew. It held the firm's client numbers, reports and payroll rules, but it couldn't share documents with clients, take online payments or encrypt sensitive numbers, and nobody else could maintain it.
Our approach
We rebuilt the work in phases on Next.js and Postgres: clients, contacts and repeating tasks first, then a documents library, an encrypted vault, double-entry books, payroll with check printing on blank stock, filing deadlines, a tax season board and continuing education tracking. Every part also has an RPG mode: 80 by 24 green screens with a numbered main menu, Work with lists, option numbers and function keys, matched to photos of the old screens, so the founder could sign in and keep working the way he always had. He wanted that mode, and for an accountant it is often the better interface: books, payroll and client records are mostly heavy data entry, and green screens keep both hands on the keyboard. Options are typed as numbers, F-keys move between screens, a command line jumps anywhere, and amounts go in without the decimal point, the way a ten-key adding machine works. The modern screens sit one key away (Shift+F12) for the clients, staff and tasks that read better with a mouse.
The outcome
The old system is being replaced one module at a time, with nobody made to relearn their job, and clients now have a secure portal for documents, invoices and payments. The platform ships with thousands of automated tests behind it.
What we built
Inside WRB3 CPA.
RPG mode
Every module also runs as 80 by 24 green screens with a numbered menu, Work with lists, option numbers, F4 prompts and a command line, so the old way of working still works.
Built for heavy data entry
In RPG mode everything happens from the keyboard: typed option numbers, function keys and amounts entered without the decimal point like a ten-key. Shift+F12 flips any screen to its modern version and back.
Clients and tasks
Clients with tax and entity profiles, an address book and repeating tasks with checklists that create the next one when they're done.
Documents and vault
A documents library with versions and requests, and an encrypted vault for logins and sensitive numbers with an access log.
Books and accounting
Double-entry books for the firm and its clients: invoices, bills, reconciliation, reports and online payments.
Payroll and checks
Pay runs with check printing on blank stock, the MICR line, NACHA files and the reports the old system produced.
Compliance and CPE
Filing due dates, a tax season board, an estimated tax planner and continuing education tracking by license.
Client portal
Clients sign in to see documents, invoices, payments and their own books, by invitation only.
E-signatures
Documents sent for signature with field placement, identity checks, a sealed PDF and a certificate of completion.
Take the tour
The real interface.
Captured from a demo workspace with sample data. Pick a screen, or let it play.
In motion
Watch it work.
Deliverables
- Product strategy
- UX and UI design
- Full-stack development
- Accounting system
- Client portal
- Website
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