Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey, Author at CPA Trendlines

SURVEY: QuickBooks Rules Internal Accounting

Trend Watch: QuickBooks dominates internal accounting.

Q: Please identify your firm’s INTERNAL accounting system.

Survey answers — Source: Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey

Other answers:

ABC
AME Software Products
CPAS
Dillners Full Contact Accounting
Excel
PC Software
QuickBooks Online Accountant
QuickBooks Premier Accountants version
Sage and Bill.com
SouthWare

More Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey: Referrals Still Top Channel for New Clients | Fewer but Larger Monitors in Use | Tax in the Cloud Gaining Favor | Cloud Usage Still Spotty | Hidden Risks in Document Retention Practices | Keep Pace First, Change Will Come (Like It or Not)
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FEATURED

SURVEY: Referrals Still Top Channel for New Clients

Trend Watch: Referrals remain the primary source of new clients.

Q: Which of the following channels brings your firm new clients?
(Select all that apply.)

Other answers:

Accounting referral service
Direct marketing (2)
Intuit Pro Advisor website
Niche marketing strategy
Speaking and writing
Specific local print advertising

More Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey: Fewer but Larger Monitors in Use | ‘Presence’ Not a Priority for CPA Firms | Security, Updates Top Tech Annoyances | Tax in the Cloud Gaining Favor | Tablet Use Remains Low | Remote Access Use Sliding Down | Cloud Usage Still Spotty | Email Hosting Done Outside Office | Mergers on the Mind | Hidden Risks in Document Retention Practices
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FEATURED

SURVEY: Fewer but Larger Monitors in Use

Trend Watch: Fewer rather than more monitors is the trend, likely caused by the adoption of larger screen sizes.

Q: How many monitors, connected to a single workstation,
do you have on your PRIMARY work desk?

Other answers:

One, but it is a 34” curved monitor
34” curved and laptop (actually covers about four screens)

More Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey: ‘Presence’ Not a Priority for CPA Firms | Security, Updates Top Tech Annoyances | Tax in the Cloud Gaining Favor | Tablet Use Remains Low | Remote Access Use Sliding Down | Cloud Usage Still Spotty | Email Hosting Done Outside Office | Mergers on the Mind | Hidden Risks in Document Retention Practices | Accountants Shaky on Email Archive Policies | How Savvy CPAs Use the AFOT Survey to Make Smarter Business Decisions | Keep Pace First, Change Will Come (Like It or Not) | You’re Not Tech-Savvy If You’re Not Cyber-Safe, Too | Lions and Tigers and Blockchain and Bots, Oh My!
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TECHNOLOGY

SURVEY: ‘Presence’ Not a Priority for CPA Firms

Trend Watch: Indicators show no significant change in real-time availability.

Q: Does your firm use any software that helps show real-time
availability of employees (e.g. “on the phone” or “idle and
available”), sometimes referred to as presence indicators?

Other answers:

Microsoft Skype for Business
Phone system software and messaging software
Practice CS – Thomson Reuters (2)
Skype (2)
Slack
Thomson Reuters and our phone system

More Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey: Security, Updates Top Tech Annoyances | Tax in the Cloud Gaining Favor | Tablet Use Remains Low | Remote Access Use Sliding Down | Cloud Usage Still Spotty | Email Hosting Done Outside Office | Mergers on the Mind | Hidden Risks in Document Retention Practices | Accountants Shaky on Email Archive Policies | How Savvy CPAs Use the AFOT Survey to Make Smarter Business Decisions | Keep Pace First, Change Will Come (Like It or Not) | You’re Not Tech-Savvy If You’re Not Cyber-Safe, Too | Lions and Tigers and Blockchain and Bots, Oh My!
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FEATURED

SURVEY: Security, Updates Top Tech Annoyances

Trend Watch: Security awareness increased notably and change management continues to be an issue.

Q: What are the biggest technology issues or annoyances with your
firm? (Select three.)

Other answers:

Backups, extreme cost of cloud hosting
Ease of use, lack of intuitive design
Effective communication
Frequent cosmetic changes to SAS applications – QBO
Getting all data backed up to the cloud
Hardware/software performance, slow processing issues
Having time to learn all capabilities of the technology
Merger issues
Required to change Windows operating systems
Setting them up and importing the data then maintaining. Takes too much time.
Slow computers/network
Technology companies only care about selling product and training and take little time to really understand our firm and needs.
Unsure
User support
Web portal integration w/UT and ease of use for clients

More Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey: Tax in the Cloud Gaining Favor | Tablet Use Remains Low | Remote Access Use Sliding Down | Cloud Usage Still Spotty | Email Hosting Done Outside Office | Mergers on the Mind | Hidden Risks in Document Retention Practices | Accountants Shaky on Email Archive Policies | How Savvy CPAs Use the AFOT Survey to Make Smarter Business Decisions | Keep Pace First, Change Will Come (Like It or Not) | You’re Not Tech-Savvy If You’re Not Cyber-Safe, Too | Lions and Tigers and Blockchain and Bots, Oh My!
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TECHNOLOGY

SURVEY: Tax in the Cloud Gaining Favor

Trend Watch: Firms are more amenable to get tax in the cloud.

Q: How likely are you to implement a web-hosted / cloud-based /
Software-as-a-Service version of one or more of your firm’s tax
and accounting applications over the next two years?

List of survey answers — Source: Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey

More Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey: Tablet Use Remains Low | Remote Access Use Sliding Down | Cloud Usage Still Spotty | Email Hosting Done Outside Office | Mergers on the Mind | Hidden Risks in Document Retention Practices | Accountants Shaky on Email Archive Policies | How Savvy CPAs Use the AFOT Survey to Make Smarter Business Decisions | Keep Pace First, Change Will Come (Like It or Not) | You’re Not Tech-Savvy If You’re Not Cyber-Safe, Too | Lions and Tigers and Blockchain and Bots, Oh My!
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TECHNOLOGY

SURVEY: Tablet Use Remains Low

Trend Watch: Limited work is done on tablets/iPads.

Q: Please estimate what percentage of your accountants and staff
use tablets/iPads to complete work-related tasks.

More Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey: Remote Access Use Sliding Down | Cloud Usage Still Spotty | Email Hosting Done Outside Office | Mergers on the Mind | Hidden Risks in Document Retention Practices | Accountants Shaky on Email Archive Policies | How Savvy CPAs Use the AFOT Survey to Make Smarter Business Decisions | Keep Pace First, Change Will Come (Like It or Not) | You’re Not Tech-Savvy If You’re Not Cyber-Safe, Too | Lions and Tigers and Blockchain and Bots, Oh My!
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TECHNOLOGY

SURVEY: Remote Access Use Sliding Down

Trend Watch: Remote access is trending down with exception of a tethered smartphone.

Q: What does your firm use for wireless access outside of the office?

List of main answers provided — Source: Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey

Other answers:
• Clients’ internet
• Clients’ internet or WiFi at home
• CradlePoint
• Thanks
• Verizon Hotspot

More Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey: Cloud Usage Still Spotty | Email Hosting Done Outside Office | Mergers on the Mind | Hidden Risks in Document Retention Practices | Accountants Shaky on Email Archive Policies | How Savvy CPAs Use the AFOT Survey to Make Smarter Business Decisions | Keep Pace First, Change Will Come (Like It or Not) | You’re Not Tech-Savvy If You’re Not Cyber-Safe, Too | Lions and Tigers and Blockchain and Bots, Oh My!
Exclusively for PRO Members. Log in here or upgrade to PRO today.

TECHNOLOGY

SURVEY: Email Hosting Done Outside Office

Trend Watch: Outsourcing an exchange server is more common.

Q: Does your firm utilize an exchange server internally or is your email hosted outside of the office?

Chart of survey results — Source: Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey

More Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey: Mergers on the Mind | Hidden Risks in Document Retention Practices | Accountants Shaky on Email Archive Policies | How Savvy CPAs Use the AFOT Survey to Make Smarter Business Decisions | Keep Pace First, Change Will Come (Like It or Not) | You’re Not Tech-Savvy If You’re Not Cyber-Safe, Too | Lions and Tigers and Blockchain and Bots, Oh My!
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OUTLOOK & ANALYSIS

SURVEY: Mergers on the Mind

Trend Watch: Firms continue to look at acquiring other firms.

Q: Have you considered expansion via merger or acquisition?

Source: Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey

More Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey: Hidden Risks in Document Retention Practices | Accountants Shaky on Email Archive Policies | How Savvy CPAs Use the AFOT Survey to Make Smarter Business Decisions | Keep Pace First, Change Will Come (Like It or Not) | You’re Not Tech-Savvy If You’re Not Cyber-Safe, Too | Lions and Tigers and Blockchain and Bots, Oh My!

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Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey

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Randy Johnston, Chairman and CEO, Network Management Group Inc., and Leslie Garrett, PhD, CEO of Insight Research Group, are the principal authors of the Annual Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey Report. Other contributors include Brian F. Tankersley, CPA.CITP, CGMA, Daniel Hood, Editor-in-Chief of AccountingToday; Gail Perry, CPA, Editor-in-Chief of The CPA Practice Advisor; Rick Telberg, President and CEO of CPA Trendlines Research; and Bob Scott, Editor-in-Chief of The Progressive Accountant.

Published by CPA Trendlines, available in softcover and in ebook formats, here:

Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey – for Firms of All Sizes

Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey – for Medium and Large Firms

Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey – for Solo and Small Firms

Accounting Firm Operations and Technology Survey – Tax Software Report

The report provides easy to understand bar charts and tables featuring three consecutive years of data which highlights trends in the profession. The survey results book also provides tables where survey respondents are segmented by size of firm, making it easy for accounting and tax professionals to benchmark their firm against others of the same size.

Randy Johnston has been an entrepreneur, technologist, and teacher for most of his career. He has helped start and run many businesses and currently owns both Network Management Group Inc. and part of K2 Enterprises. Randy is not afraid to tackle a business management problem or to get his hands dirty answering a low-level technical question. He is best known for his early and on-going expertise in networks, accounting software, paperless, and CPA firm technology. His expertise has grown to touch virtually every technology in the marketplace. He is particularly well known for his Technology Update overview presentation. He helps businesses with strategic technology planning, accounting software selection, document management selection and planning, and business continuity planning.

Leslie Garrett, PhD, is the CEO and founder of Insight Research Group, a company dedicated to delivering powerful industry-precise surveys and research data analysis. Leslie serves Edge Marketing, Inc. as a marketing executive and industry analyst with expertise in marketing, public relations, search engine optimization, lead generation, and management. She is instrumental in leading Edge’s corporate consulting and Search Engine Optimization website analytics services, and has experience serving in the accounting and legal industries. Prior to joining Edge, Leslie served as an executive in marketing and management positions in industry and taught marketing and management at the University of Saint Thomas in Saint Paul, Minnesota and at Saint Cloud State University in Saint Cloud, Minnesota.

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