As reviewed in the November/December 2006 issue.

The Internet is perfect for transactions that involve multiple folks across the country and the globe, such as when you need to create and share corporate financial documents that involve a team of company financial wizards, in-house and outside counsel, a small army of paralegals and assistants, and last but not least, a trustworthy financial printer.

While you might be familiar with the Bownes and Merrills of the world, an innovative competitor named Pacific Financial Printing provides Qwikdox, a secure online “deal room” that allows distant participants to virtually manage, prepare and file financial documents without burning money on travel expenses and locking themselves in a conference room.

When you log on to Qwikdox, you will find a refreshingly simple layout with accurately labeled “cells” of information such as Announcements, Links, Member Directory, Tasks and Calendar. The cells and general layout can be customized to fit a particular project’s needs.

Adding projects is a breeze. The “EZ-Draft Project” wizard walks you through the entire process, allowing you to add members and define security parameters for viewing and editing various documents.

Documents are the key ingredient to a financial transaction, so Qwikdox makes sure documents are easy to upload, organize, edit and publish.

Depending on their security settings, members on a project can edit drafts of the documents just like they would if they were sitting around a big conference table. Individuals can be assigned specific portions of a document to reword and then upload those changes to the site, where others can view their changes. Qwikdox is file-agnostic — you can upload any type of file you need, but you must have the particular application installed on your machine to actually view the document (e.g., you need Microsoft Word installed to view Word documents).

Qwikdox offers three types of document folders. The “EZ-Draft” folder helps keep track of various document drafts. A “Web” folder contains hyperlinks to an uploaded document. And a “Secure” folder can be locked down tight to prevent specific users from seeing certain documents.

When all of the arduous drafting and redrafting is finished, Qwikdox features a built-in PDF generator that allows you to publish a print-ready document that can be sent to Pacific Financial Printing for the final printing. You also can request that Pacific Financial Printing convert your documents to EDGAR format so they are ready to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Managing and balancing the workload on a project is made easier with the use of “tasks,” which can be assigned to specific members. When users log on, they can see their tasks and the due date. The calendar feature is extremely helpful in keeping everyone on necessary deadlines. Reminders can be e-mailed to the proper parties. Last but not least, Pacific Financial Printing offers phone support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, which can be a lifesaver when you have a last-minute question and are facing a deadline.

Overall, while it can’t replace face-to-face contact, Quikdox is a great solution for collaborating on documents.