The top apps accountants need to know. by Sandi Smith Leyva Mobile accounting has definitely arrived. A great first question to ask clients that are asking for mobile accounting is to just double-check to see if they have already downloaded their bank apps. If not, that may be something you can help them get set up. But don’t just think about the core accounting system. Get them hooked up with their bank, credit card accounts, PayPal, payroll, and any other peripheral support that has an app, like timesheets, field services, and project management. When you do, they will be ecstatic at your resourcefulness and you will be their latest mobile genius. There are some great new apps that extend core [...]
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Is your accountant ahead of the curve on technology, or behind? Clients find accountants’ tech skills lacking. By Rick Telberg CPA Trendlines As small and medium-sized businesses move increasingly online and adopt technologically integrated accounting systems, many tax and accounting firms will need to evolve or face extinction, according to a new survey obtained by CPA Trendlines.
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Workflow at Tipping Point; XCM Solutions Prepares to Meet Demand Mike Sabbatis Joins XCM Solutions’ Board to Aid in Execution of Aggressive Growth Strategy Braintree, Mass. – March 25, 2013 – XCM Solutions, LLC, the leading provider of cloud-based workflow management software for the accounting profession, today announced the appointment of Mike Sabbatis to the XCM Solutions Board of Directors. Recognized best for his leadership in delivering innovative solutions to the accounting industry, Sabbatis will help the Company in the execution of an aggressive growth strategy, as it prepares to meet the growing demand for workflow management software among accounting professionals. The market for workflow management software is reaching critical mass as firms of all sizes look to technology to [...]
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Welcome to the post-PC world. By Brian Tankersley, CPA.CITP for Intuit Accountants News Central Welcome to the post-PC era. The (desktop) computer as King of the Technology Kingdom is now officially dead! Over the last five years, we have largely moved from desktop computers running locally installed purchased software to running mobile apps, and subscribing to services ranging from Office 365 to QuickBooks® Online.
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Tasty tips from a lousy cook. by Drew West @DeltekDrew You know why I like writing articles? It keeps me out of the kitchen, where from bachelorhood through fatherhood, I still make any culinary task a bumbling trip down a path of missed ingredients and inaccurate measurements – right to the doorstep of “didn’t-turn-out-like-I-expected.” Why is our local pizzeria on the speed-dial? For those (thankfully infrequent) times when my wife is traveling, and I’m on the hook to keep my two youngsters relatively nourished. Unlike my cooking endeavors, yours in public accounting surely go beyond the simplicity of cold cereal or the occasional peanut-butter sandwich. Today’s modern engagements require delicate management of people, their work, the client’s demands and the [...]
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Beyond paperless: CPA firms launch a new arms race for cloud and mobile technologies. by Rick Telberg CPA Trendlines Research Leading CPA firms have clearly broken the going-paperless barrier and are adopting cloud and mobile technologies at a record pace, according to new data obtained by CPA Trendlines Research. Indeed, the question for practitioners is no longer “have you gone paperless yet?” or even “how paperless have you gone?” It is now “how much of your workflows have you moved to the cloud and made mobile and accessible everywhere and any time?” And the rest of the firms are asking themselves, “can I catch up?” The trend is, of course, a daily challenge for the profession, which CPA Trendlines covers [...]
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Will this be remembered as another “tax season from hell?” Join the survey; get the updates. by Rick Telberg CPA Trendlines Research The last time tax professionals slogged through a tax season from hell, it was 2008, the financial world was crashing into a million little pieces, and 1 in 4 accountants was reporting disastrous operations. Before that, long-timers might recall 1995, when the IRS deployed a filing fraud crackdown that delayed millions of refunds. MORE TAX SEASON RESEARCH: Tax Pro’s Turn Negative on Busy Season | Busy Season Outlook 2013 | Top Tax Season Trends, Issues and Opportunities This year, with the IRS opening the filing gates not until March 4, could 2013 become another one for the record [...]
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Insurance company beats accountant in court over lost client data. How to make sure it doesn’t happen to you. CPA Trendlines Research In yet another warning to firms about safeguarding client databases, insurance policies won’t necessarily protect you if the data gets lost or stolen, according to a CPA Trendlines reading of a new legal case. The highly influential U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh has ruled that Nationwide Insurance Co. has no duty to defend or indemnify an accountant who lost sensitive personal information from client files. Here’s the case, analysis and comment:
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Feeling the frustration? by Dustin Hostetler Flowtivity How many times has your CPA firm implemented a process change or new technology, only to find out on the back-end after implementation, that only a fraction of the firm is following the new process or using all the features? RELATED: The Coming Storm in Staff Turnover (VIDEO) If you answered something along the lines of “all the time” don’t worry, you are not alone. Obtaining the much needed buy-in for process and technology improvements within firms is a concern I hear regularly.
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The hacker transfers receivables credit balances to payables in GP Dynamics (from the white paper) PRO members: Get the details in an instant download. by Rick Telberg When finance and accounting professionals worry about computer security, they may think about stolen laptops, purloined passwords, or lost backup drives. But few worry about hacker attacks against their accounting system software, the kind of attacks that could bring down an entire business or even up-end part of the global accounting system. Well, start worrying. A pair of computer science security experts has unveiled new research that shows just how easy it might be to crack into such commonly used software systems as SAP, Oracle, or even QuickBooks, Sage or Microsoft’s Dynamics. Get [...]
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New data and analysis cited in CCH cloud technology report. Accounting, tax and audit leaders are using cloud computing to improve speed, agility and collaboration, while also increasing productivity and profits, according to a new report on technology trends. Nearly 40 percent of accounting and tax firms plan to migrate some systems to the cloud within the next 12 to 18 months, and about one-third plan to do so this year, according to market research and consulting firm Bay Street Group, which publishes CPA Trendlines. As recently as two years ago, the adoption rate was in the single digits. “The environment is changing rapidly,” CEO Rick Telberg points out. The research is cited in the latest edition of Partners Magazine, [...]
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Cloud and mobile top the list of emerging technologies transforming the tax and accounting profession, according to a new CCH survey. “We’re now at a point where all the benefits that have been talked about from emerging technologies are here – firms using these technologies today are seeing tremendous benefits in productivity and the value they can deliver to clients,” says Kevin Robert, president and CEO for Wolters Kluwer Tax and Accounting, which runs CCH. Complete conference coverage: Cloud & Mobile Technologies Drive Change in Tax and Accounting | How Apple Is Changing Your Business | 10 Ideas to Keep Your Firm Moving Forward | According to professionals surveyed, [...]
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And the plethora of new tablets. by Randy Johnston Network Management Group Microsoft Surface has shipped, and I was one of the lucky people to get one of the very first units. We are going to see many new tablets released this fall including the iPad Mini, which I have on order ($634.99), as well as the new iPad4 and replacements for the Google nexus7 and Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 that I own, like and use. The tablet operating systems, usability and applications improve daily. I am the most productive on a tablet with a keyboard, but that may not be true for you. My skin type requires touching a screen multiple times for the touch to be recognized. For example, it is normal [...]
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Billing rates and partner incomes gaining strongly. Most CPA firms are reporting some measure of revenue growth, according to one widely followed survey obtained by CPA Trendlines. “And while the profession has yet to rebound to pre-recession levels,” the authors say, “it is steadily gaining momentum.” Furthermore, the smallest firms appear to be the biggest winners, with 33% growth in net client fees per professional and per partner. The report includes data and trends on: Increase in net fees Fees per partner Net remaining per partner Average partner billing rates Average partner compensation Utilization rates Paid time-off Firm technology Online technology
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If you own or manage a small CPA firm, you can’t ignore effective workflow management. If you do, you are losing money, clients, and your sanity. Here’s one CPA’s story. By Frank Stitely, CPA, CVA Stitely and Karstetter Every year around March 25th, the following telephone conversation happens in small CPA firms, probably yours as well. You or one of your staff picks up the telephone to hear, “I’m calling to check on the status of my tax returns. I dropped them off in February and haven’t heard from you since.”
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Robert Chandler, president and CEO of Cloud 9 Real Time, a cloud service provider, says accountants should think first about going to the cloud with their tax prep applications.
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90% already using SaaS for some work. by Rick Telberg The debate, if there ever was one, is over. The leadership at virtually every mainstream accounting firm in the US. now recognizes that they are already using software-as-a-service or “cloud-based” software applications and they regard the move to the cloud as inevitable for the profession. According to new survey results, they differ only on when, and how fast.
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