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So many of us, myself included, make the mistake of talking more about the WHAT versus the WHY of technology (and life for that matter).

The ‘what’ inherently deals with the new, shiny fads of the day.

The ‘why’ is forced to deal with the deeper, relevant, timeless questions.  It’s just what ‘why’ does; it gets to the value behind the ‘what’.

When talking about technology, conversation almost always steers towards the latest device or application – or what I am referring to here as the ‘what’. While this is fun, hyper-relevant, and feel good, it does very little by way of answering the questions leaders have with regards to the impact technology can make on a business. We can talk about the ‘what’ until we are blue in the face and make no positive impact on the bottom line, actually it will likely have the reverse effect. The ‘what’ de’jour is what riddles our IT committee meetings.

Technology, supply of labor and a shift in traditional attitudes have dramatically impacted accounting firms and, importantly, the roles people play at all levels.

Accounting firms do more with less, meaning at all levels accountants do varied things from varied locations. People do their work from home, the office, client sites and the coffee shop.

The new world of a flat accounting firm, along with a rapidly changing business climate, punishes fixed skills and rewards flexible ones. What those in accounting firms do stretches across functional boundaries including client service, sales, project management and workflow, driven almost exclusively with technology.

With all the talk of the cloud it seems that the workstations no longer get any attention. While I can understand why the cloud gets the weight of the attention, I can’t understand how businesses ignore the workstations. You have heard the ‘weakest link in the chain’ adage and this holds true in cloud environments too. The workstation is still the chief tool in using your cloud applications (with the internet being the life blood), and the whole solution is either complemented or compromised by the strategy behind workstation management.

So what are ‘Managed Workstations’?

It’s an approach to managing multiple workstations from a single platform capable to keeping patches, anti-virus, anti-malware, and more up to date in a way that is neither dependent on the end user  nor obtrusive.

The Computer is the Target – Not the Cloud

Hackers are smart. They have realized that by and large cloud computing has increased the level of network security available to businesses so they have turned to the workstation for the path of least resistance. It is much easier to target the workstation, compromise it,

Many practitioners and partners experience a seminal moment as they move towards 50, or shortly thereafter, where the following 4 major shifts occur:

1) You realize your time on earth is finite! That is, you have had many successes, made many mistakes and for someone who ‘feels’ their time is finite you know there are some things that have to change! The sense of urgency you have been waiting for (or avoiding) has finally arrived, don’t let it go to waste! Take a step back and make sure your priorities are in line with the things you value most.  If they’re not, now is the time to do something about it.

2) You have not made enough money. For the hours, stress and risk you have endured, you think you would be making more money. You have held onto that underperforming team member too long, held on to too many small clients, a good client went bankrupt or it always seemed like this year was going to be your breakthrough year. Did not happen.  Don’t let that stop you this year;

The AICPA recently released the survey results for their Top Technology Initiatives for 2013 both within the US and Canada, and further subdivided the list by Public Accounting versus Business and Industry.  Below is an overview of the US Public Accounting Top Ten Initiatives (also listing the Canadian Ranking*) which all firm management should be aware of as they consider IT initiatives in the year ahead:

1. Managing and Retaining Data (C1*): Analysis done by IDC estimated that data within an organization is increasing at a rate of 50% per year.  With the transition to paperless practices, accounting firms are storing more files than ever.  The need to include the management of this digital data into the firm’s overall strategic initiatives has become increasingly important, particularly in how we utilize and protect data in running our practices and planning for future growth.  Firms should annually evaluate their current data storage utilization and infrastructure capacity to ensure they are adequate to maintain growth and their document management applications and retention policies to ensure they are meeting the firm’s access and archival

Windows 8, Microsoft’s latest desktop operating system, has been available since October 2012, but few CPA firms adopted it as they headed into yet another busy season. While there are many articles out on the different user interface, missing Start button and all the other “cool” touch-based features, this article will focus on how and when CPAs should make the decision to transition to Windows 8.

Past experience with operating system upgrades has shown too much pioneering and lost productivity for CPAs to  justify early adoption and, in some cases like Vista, has warranted skipping the entire upgrade all together. Waiting six to 12 months to seriously evaluate operating systems has served the profession well, since it allows the equipment manufacturers to work through the bugs and  roll out printer, scanner and other equipment drivers so that our old equipment works the same way with the new operating system. This also allows the early adopters and training companies to thoroughly test and document the system so that the best features and reasons for switching are well

With the end of tax season comes event season!  We’ll be on the road presenting and exhibiting at various events across the country.  We’d love to connect with you if you happen to be at any of the same events or if you would like to schedule face-to-face time with us while we’re in your area. Let us know!

Where we’ll be

We’re kicking off our event season travels with the BDO Alliance Conference in Las Vegas (April 29-May 1) and the TIAG International Conference in Boston (May 6-8).
In June, we’ll be speaking at the CPAsNET Meeting (June 7-9) and AICPA Practitioners Symposium and Tech+ Conference (June 10-12), both in Las Vegas. The following week, we’ll be at the AAA Practice Management Conference in Detroit (June 17-21) and PrimeGlobal’s Partner Leadership Conference in Chicago (June 19-21).  We’ll have a booth at both AICPA and AAA, so please stop by and say ‘hello’!

Many states are moving to (or hinting at) regulations that require firms to have a written information security plan (ISP). You will find, as with any policy, the hardest part will be maintaining the policy and training your employees. While we can’t help with the latter, we thought we could at least help you get a head start on the endeavor. You have our permission to copy/paste the template below and apply your firm’s nuances as you wish. 

Excerpt

The objective, in the development and implementation of this comprehensive written information security plan (“ISP”), is to create effective administrative, technical and physical controls by [Firm Name] (the Firm) for the protection of personal information . This program is reviewed [annually, quarterly, periodically] and amended as necessary to protect personal information.

I have been at Xcentric roughly 7 years and this is our third new website during my tenure here. Most people, after telling them, look at me like I am nuts. What does this say about Xcentric? What does this say about me? I am not sure I can come to anything certain regarding the above questions, but what I sense being the case is being simultaneously confident in who we are and the value we provide but not being quite satisfied with how that is manifested for public consumption.

 A website as a publishing platform vs brochure-ware

Websites that serve as a substitute for brochures are no longer suitable in today’s web savvy, content consuming, social environment in which we now find ourselves.  You know that. I know that. Thus, I believe truly passionate companies can no longer get away with simply saying that they are so. Rather they must pour their knowledge out like an offering for client and prospect consumption and betterment. People who are passionate about a subject talk about it; what makes us think organizations are any different? I am not