Are You Ready for Office 365?

Proceed with caution.

By Roman H. Kepczyk
Quantum of Paperless

To be effective in business today, every member of your firm must optimally utilize the Microsoft Office suite at an intermediate to advanced level for Outlook, Excel and Word.

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Because of the lag of accounting vendors providing support to the latest versions of Office, today’s recommended standard is Office 2013. Many firms continue to utilize Office 2010 because some accounting applications (engagement binders) did not support Office 2013 until this past year. Firms should review their listing of accounting applications now that the busy season is over to determine if they can transition to Office 2013 and the cost to do so, considering that Office 2016 has been out since September 2015 and will most likely be supported by the major accounting vendors in late 2016.

Posted on May 24, 2016

Roman H. Kepczyk

About the Author

Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, serves as Director of Firm Technology Strategy for Right Networks, helping firms throughout North America effectively use information technology and accounting applications by optimizing their tax, audit, and administrative production workflows.

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He is a contributing author to
Bridging the Gap: Strengthening the Connection between Current and Emerging Leaders in the CPA Profession

He has spent the past 20 years consulting exclusively with CPA firms and prior to that, 10 years with the CPA firm of Henry & Horne, Arizona’s largest regional firm, where he was the partner in charge of the firm’s Management Advisory Services and PC Consulting practices. Roman also served as the firm’s administrative partner where he oversaw internal accounting, marketing, human resources, and was responsible for the creation and implementation of the firm’s technology plan and budget. He is a former member of the AICPA PCPS Executive Committee and a former Chairman of the AICPA’s Information Technology Executive Committee. He has served as a member of other AICPA initiatives, including the Special Committee on Enhanced Business Reporting, eBusiness Task Force, IT Best Practices, IT Research, IT Practices Committees, and Group of 100 projects. In addition, he is a former Chairman of the AICPA Top Technologies Task Force. Roman was named by INSIDE Public Accounting as one of the profession’s Most Recommended Consultants for each of the years from 2004 through 2014, CPA Practice Advisors Top 25 Thought Leaders for 2011 through 2015, and Accounting Today’s Most Influential People for the years 2000 through 2005, 2011, 2013 and 2014. Roman is also an Advisory Board Member to the Association for Accounting Administration and has served on the Board of Directors of the Arizona Society of CPAs. On a technical level, Roman is an AICPA Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP) and a Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (LSS BB). He authored technology chapters for the PPC MAP Handbook, PPC Guide to Paperless Engagements, and sections of the AICPA MAP Handbook.

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