Printer Ink: Not Just Expensive, but a Blatant Scam?

Are you really sure how much ink you’re buying?
 
By Rick Richardson
Technology This Week

Those incredibly cheap entry-level printers you find when sorting your options by “price lowest” can be very alluring if you’re in the market for a new inkjet printer. However, don’t assume it shows you’re getting a good deal.

MORE: Bill Gates Behind Next-Generation Nuclear PlantYour Boarding Pass Could Onboard Hackers | Generative AI Coming to Microsoft 365 | Electronic Skin That Can Sense Touch Will Transform Robotics | ChatGPT Passes CPA Exam on Second Try | Stanford Scientists 3D-Print Heart Tissue | Four of Today’s New Technologies That Will Be Tomorrow’s ‘Norm’ | Cyber Insurance Costs Rise in Health Care as Attacks Soar | Phishing Attack Hackers Have a New Trick
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Just as a drug dealer can offer a cheap initial “sample” to get you hooked before raising the price on all subsequent transactions, printer manufacturers use a similar business strategy. They can easily make up any loss from the printer’s discounted sale by offering its ink cartridges for exorbitantly high prices. The printer firms then keep you on the hook for paying these outrageous ink rates for the duration of the printer, which is a very lucrative revenue stream for them.

Let’s take a closer look …
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Safe Harbor Compliance Reduces Risk of Fines and Penalties

Protect your clients–and your firm–by being proactive.

By Donny Shimamoto, CPA, CITP, CGMA

In the last few years, we’re starting to see state legislatures and attorney generals recognizing that tax practitioners are trying to protect their clients. They are formalizing this recognition with changes to regulations or laws to include “safe harbor” provisions that limit or eliminate the fines and penalties for tax practitioners who take proactive action to manage their cybersecurity risks.

MORE:  How Hacker-Proof Is Your Firm? | Unleashing the Power of Technology: Transforming Accountants into Trusted Advisors | Future Firm Growth Requires a Mindshift | AI, OCR, NLP & CPAs: Oh My!   |  Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Early Adopters Gain an Edge in Audit | Dustin Wheeler: For Serious CAS Success, Hire Tech Teams | CSR for CPAs: The Missing Ingredient | Donny Shimamoto Explains How ‘Agile’ Applies to CPA FirmsStaff Retention for Remote Workers | Why the Future is in Risk Advisory |  Ready for Non-CPA “CPA” Firms?
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As of December 2022, the following states have some type of safe harbor provision in place:

In contrast, states like California and Colorado are taking the opposite approach and penalizing organizations that have data breaches.[iv]

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Unleashing the Power of Technology: Transforming Accountants into Trusted Advisors



The smartest route to advisory:
Join the survey. Get the roadmap

Imagine the possibilities.

By Donny Shimamoto, CPA, CITP, CGMA
The Center for Accounting Transformation

In today’s rapidly evolving world, technology is revolutionizing the way we work and live. Accountants and CPAs are no exception.

MORE DONNY SHIMAMOTO:  How Trusted Advisors Transform Businesses | The Future of Accounting: A Vision of Trust, Clarity, and Hope | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a Mindshift | AI, OCR, NLP & CPAs: Oh My!   |  Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Early Adopters Gain an Edge in Audit | Dustin Wheeler: For Serious CAS Success, Hire Tech Teams | CSR for CPAs: The Missing Ingredient | Donny Shimamoto Explains How ‘Agile’ Applies to CPA FirmsStaff Retention for Remote Workers | Why the Future is in Risk Advisory |  Ready for Non-CPA “CPA” Firms?
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We need to embrace the power of technology to enhance our services and better serve our clients as advisors. By leveraging technology and focusing on the complicated work that bots can’t do, accountants become trusted advisors, building deeper relationships and unlocking their full potential.

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Overcoming the Five Hurdles to Advisory Services

Face these issues to achieve firm growth.

The smartest route to advisory:
Join the survey. Get the roadmap

By Donny Shimamoto, CPA, CITP, CGMA
The Center for Accounting Transformation

Are you tired of feeling overwhelmed and stuck in the compliance workload, unable to provide valuable insights to your clients? Do you feel that your firm has the potential to grow and create a lasting impact, but capacity issues hinder your progress? 

MORE DONNY SHIMAMOTO:  How Trusted Advisors Transform Businesses | The Future of Accounting: A Vision of Trust, Clarity, and Hope | Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a Mindshift | AI, OCR, NLP & CPAs: Oh My!   |  Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Early Adopters Gain an Edge in Audit | Dustin Wheeler: For Serious CAS Success, Hire Tech Teams | CSR for CPAs: The Missing Ingredient | Donny Shimamoto Explains How ‘Agile’ Applies to CPA FirmsStaff Retention for Remote Workers | Why the Future is in Risk Advisory |  Ready for Non-CPA “CPA” Firms?
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You’re not alone. Many accounting firms are struggling with the same challenges. But what if there was a way to break through these barriers and elevate your firm to new heights? Read on to discover how to overcome the challenges associated with providing advisory services and transform your firm into a thriving, client-centered business.
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Three Fundamental Questions to Ask in Audit

Are you teaching your team the real work or just the compliance work?

By Alan Anderson, CPA
Transforming Audit for the Future

Instant download:
The New Manifesto for Accountants.

When I started in accounting, we wrote audit programs out by hand, and we thought about what it was we needed to do to carry out our audit procedures.

And then, the firm got a copy machine. That started the arts and crafts period of public accounting.

MORE: The Big Issues in Audit: Frustration, Inconsistency and TechnologyFive Ways to Increase Audit Efficiency | Early Adopters Gain an Edge in AuditTalent Retention: Five Tips for an Audit AdjustmentSix Benefits of an Internal Audit | The Ten Financial Controls That’ll Make You a Hero | Five Cash Reports You Can’t Live Without | When an Audit Is a Great Thing
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Because we were going to do the same as last year, every year we would make a copy of last year’s hand-written audit program, cut out the sign-offs, tape that on a new page, make sure to draw the lines for the sign-offs, and then we’d make a copy of that. Then we had our audit program for the new year.

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How Auditors Can Beat AI

Ignore the coming tsunami of change at your own peril.

By Alan Anderson, CPA
Transforming Audit for the Future

Instant download:
The New Manifesto for Accountants.

The other day, I picked up a college textbook on auditing from 2001.

MORE: The Disruptors: Re-Inventing Accounting with Tyler Anderson | The Big Issues in Audit: Frustration, Inconsistency and TechnologyFive Ways to Increase Audit Efficiency | Early Adopters Gain an Edge in AuditTalent Retention: Five Tips for an Audit AdjustmentSix Benefits of an Internal Audit | The Ten Financial Controls That’ll Make You a Hero | Five Cash Reports You Can’t Live Without | When an Audit Is a Great Thing
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Even back then, that book listed these as “critical forces on the profession:”

  • Increasing market saturation with relatively little opportunity for growth
  • Perceptions that financial statement audits have become a commodity
  • Price competition and continual pressure to reduce fees
  • Cost pressures that have resulted in the reduction of time devoted to engagements
  • Perceptions that the incidence and severity of alleged audit failures have increased

In the 20-plus years since that book was published, not much has changed. Today many of the college students who learned auditing from that textbook are in leadership positions at audit firms. They were warned about what we were up against.

That we are still facing those same “critical forces,” which have only exacerbated since then, is an indicator of the ossified state of leadership in the audit profession.

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Is Your CAS Practice Trapping You?

Look for these five signs and implement simple changes to get back the life you want.

By W. Michael Hsu

Are you working tirelessly but not seeing the benefits and results you deserve?  Essentially, do you feel trapped in the cycle of your business? If so, you’re not alone.

MORE W. MICHAEL HSU: Seven Principles to Work Less and Achieve More |  How Do Firm Leaders Learn? | Why Your Approach to CAS and CFO Services Is Wrong | When it Comes to Pricing, it’s About ‘Can’t Afford Not To’ | Your Client Base Is Global |

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Many firm owners and the entrepreneurs they serve feel exhausted by their businesses, but it doesn’t have to be that way.

But we can identify common signs that your business is trapping you and show you how to optimize for freedom. By addressing these issues and implementing some simple strategies, you can reduce stress, achieve more, and live a life you love.

5 Ways Your Firm Is Trapping You READ MORE →

It Takes a Village to Stop Cybercrime

We’re all in this together.https://cpatrendlines.com/2021/11/09/russian-solarwinds-hackers-at-it-again/

By Donny Shimamoto, CPA, CITP, CGMA
On Cybersecurity for Accountants
Center for Accounting Transformation

I’ve been warning accountants about the treasure trove of taxpayer information they are entrusted with since 2014. That was the first year I spoke at an AICPA conference about IT risk management and the need to self-assess information security risks. Every year since then, via numerous conference sessions and webinars, I’ve taught both non-techie accountants and IT professionals about the cybersecurity jargon, key threats, how to understand the risks, and how various types of administrative and technical controls help mitigate those risks.

MORE:  Donny Shimamoto: Future Firm Growth Requires a Mindshift | AI, OCR, NLP & CPAs: Oh My!   |  Accounting Nerds, Unlock Your Super Powers  | Early Adopters Gain an Edge in Audit | Dustin Wheeler: For Serious CAS Success, Hire Tech Teams | CSR for CPAs: The Missing Ingredient | Donny Shimamoto Explains How ‘Agile’ Applies to CPA FirmsStaff Retention for Remote Workers | Why the Future is in Risk Advisory |  Ready for Non-CPA “CPA” Firms?
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As quickly as cybersecurity practices mature, new threats, threat delivery vectors and other schemes arise. What many people don’t realize is that identity theft is a lucrative business. Whether taxpayer identification (e.g., social security numbers), bank account information, credit card information or healthcare information—these records have value on the dark web. Fraudsters will pay handsomely for this type of information.

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