Here are a few gadgets to consider:

DisplayLink Field Monitors – These portable USB displays will soon be a standard accessory outside the office. Not only is setup a breeze, they also give you additional digital workspace to view documents without adding additional bulk.

iPad2/Facetime – Simple isn’t always easy and Apple has made video conferencing accessible to everyone- and their grandparents, too! Even though Facetime is not the only game in town, the ability to quickly wave goodnight to your kids at 8pm on April 15th will be well worth the investment. Not to mention that any technical questions can be answered at the Apple genius bar.

Ergonomic Keyboard – An ergonomic keyboard can potentially save you years of pain in the future. Depending on your area of practice, an accountant can spend just as much time typing on a keyboard as they spend in bed. The Microsoft Natural keyboard is inexpensive and only takes a short time to get comfortable with.

Herman Miller Chair – The age of large and plush desk chairs has given way to modern chairs that can adapt to size and shape of the body. Although we can’t guarantee that you will be more productive in a Herman Miller chair, it will definitely make being at your desk more comfortable.

Kindle Fire – A good compromise between an e-reader and internet tablet, the Kindle Fire is an economical and powerful tool for the busy professional. Whether you want to take a break from reviewing taxes or audits and catch up on some reading or check your email, you will never leave home without this sub-one pound gadget. The $199 price point definitely makes the impulse buy much more difficult to resist.
 

Genius Scan – Of course, a scanner or fax machine is never around when you need one! Whether you are in the field or at lunch with a client, the Genius Scan application turns your iPhone into a portable scanner. The app will turn any picture into an optimized PDF document that would give most fax machines a run for their money. 

Eye-Fi – Ever wonder what happened to all of those digital pictures that you took on your camera? Well, most likely you will find them still untouched on the memory card since the last time you used the camera. The Eye-Fi memory card will wirelessly transmit the pictures to your computer for you and save you the headache! Once the pictures are uploaded, you simply select which ones you would like to share. Yes… it’s that simple.
 

Sharp 80 inch LCD TV – Is this big of a television really necessary? The answer is: probably not for most households, but this is a perfect Christmas gift for an office conference room. Direct view televisions outperform projectors in settings that often require the lights to be on. Not only will presentations be more clear, but the staff will probably fight over the largest computer monitor in the office.
 

Apple Airport Express – Will you be traveling this holiday season with your laptop, ipod touch, ipad, kindle and other wireless gadgets? If you are, you understand the frustration that ensues when your destination does not have wireless internet access. The Apple Airport Express will cure your woes by creating an internet hotspot for up to 10 devices from an available Ethernet connection at your destination. Just don’t forget to pack everything when you leave!

Regardless of whether you spend countless hours away from your family, on the road, or at your office desk during the upcoming busy season, these gadgets will undoubtedly be the gifts that keep giving in 2012. Merry Christmas!

Instructions:

To browse Western CPE’s inventory of CPE products, go to www.westerncpe.com and select a link in the navigation bar on the left side of the screen. To purchase a product, click “Add to Cart”.  When you are ready to purchase CPE products, click “View Cart” in the row of tabs along the top of the screen. Click on the grey “Enter Promotion Code” button at the bottom of the screen. Type the given promo code, R88J, in the box and click “Apply”. A 20% discount will be applied to all purchases based on prevailing rates. Please note: Shipping is not eligible for the discount.

Here is a look at some of the programs they offer:

Self-Study
Self-Study coursework empowers you to get the quality education you deserve on your terms. Choose from On-Demand video courses, online courses, hard copy courses, and DVD courses. Guide your own education and work at your own pace. Meet your deadlines with online exams and instant certificates sent directly to your e-mail. Save money while learning from world-class authors.

Webcasts
Webcasts provide a virtual classroom experience that’s delivered directly to your computer. A broadband Internet connection is all you need to receive the same quality and comprehensive training you would at a live seminar. Discover a new and easy way to learn, interact with the experts, reduce your environmental footprint, and earn CPE credits without taking exams—all from the comfort of your home or office.

Tax Updates
Federal Tax Updates
Federal and California Tax Updates
» More access to the nation’s premiere tax instructors, including unrivalled training from Vern Hoven, Sharon Kreider, and Karen Brosi.
» More time to master federal tax legislation changes and to understand the issues surrounding California nonconformity.
» More resources to keep you informed of breaking tax news.
» More ways to receive the instruction you need—instruction that fits your schedule and your preferred learning style. We offer Seminars, Webcasts, and Self-Study.

Resort Conferences
Resort Conferences are value-packed and tax deductible. You can meet an entire’s year’s CPE requirements in 5 days, or you can take fewer courses and enjoy the time away. You’ll be impressed with their outstanding instructors and course topics.

Western CPE is a leader in continuing professional education and strives to deliver quality CPE by providing a unique variety of options, including resort and theme conferences, seminars, webcasts, self-study courses, and in-house training.  They offer a broad range of subject areas, including Accounting & Auditing, Computer Applications & Technology, Corporate Finance, Management & HR, Ethics, Government & Nonprofit, Personal Development, Taxation & Financial Planning. Western CPE is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as both a Quality Assurance Service (QAS) sponsor and Registry sponsor of CPE.

No problem. Xcentric has extended its sale with reduced prices in conjunction with the best practice specifications for your CPA computer needs. We have made these deals available to you for year-end planning and are here to help make your computer purchasing easier.

Four Computer Fits for Administrative, Bookkeepers, Auditors and Partners:

For administrative staff we recommend the OptiPlex 790 desktop:
Sale Price: $879.00 (originally $899.00) *
• Windows 7 Professional, 4GB RAM
• Video card supports 4 monitors
• 8X DVD+/-RW

For bookkeepers and staff accountants we recommend the Latitude E6420 laptop:
Sale Price: $1,239.00 (originally $1,299.00) *
• Intel Core i5 Processor
• ExpressCharge™ battery charges 80% in one hour
• Docking station compatible

For auditors we recommend the beefy Latitude E6520 laptop:
Sale Price:  $1,549.00 (originally $1,599.00) *
• Ten Key integrated
• Bluetooth, camera/microphone
• Backlit Keyboard

For partners we recommend the Latitude E6320 laptop:
Sale Price: $1,999.00 (originally $2,104.00) *
• Small, ultra-thin, and portable
• Microsoft Office Pro with Adobe Acrobat
• Wireless Card

* Prices include tax, warranty, best practice specifications, and multiple monitor capabilities.

What Deals Are We Running?
DEAL #1: Order 3 OptiPlex 790 desktop and receive a $159 discount (equivalent of 1 free monitor).
DEAL #2: Order 5 auditor Laptop E6520 and receive a $200 discount.
DEAL #3: Order any 10 items and receive free configuration (up to a $990 value); this could be 5 desktops, 3 laptops, and 2 monitors, OR 9 monitors and 1 desktop, etc.

Take advantage of these deals today by ordering online at Xcentric Store and entering the corresponding discount codes below:
DEAL #1: WCJE1E
DEAL #2: DGX7EJ
DEAL #3: 5VS128

Happy Ordering!

True story.  One practitioner told me, when I inquired about his partner group’s decision-making style, “Oh, we don’t make any. Honest, we just let things happen. That’s why I am talking to you!”

Here is how the story often goes inside many firms. You have a great idea or you hear one at a MAP meeting or conference.  Perhaps you read about something you want to try in a newsletter . At the next partner meeting, you introduce the idea to your partners.  Everyone seems to like it and you discuss it at great length.  The decision is to do more research and put it on next month’s agenda.  This is usually repeated for several months (even years).

As it turns out inside many CPA firms, no decision is the decision.

Here’s the saga I hear repeated from firm leaders: 
• It’s December, we don’t have time to do anything before busy season.
• It’s April, we all need some down time to recover from busy season.
• It’s June, we have to get our annual performance evaluations completed.
• It’s July, too many people are on vacation.
• It’s September, we’re too busy with the September 15th due date.
• It’s October, we’re too busy with the 15th deadline. 
Guess what?? – It’s December, again.

It’s December, you are engaged in the holidays, involved in talking to clients about year-end tax planning and facing another busy season. Stop for a moment and take time to think back over what has happened since April 16th.

Here are some questions to ask:
• What did you accomplish this year to lay the groundwork for succession?
• Did you learn more about meeting the needs of your multi-generational team and put some programs in place?
• Did you establish and communicate steps that your entire team can take to truly distinguish your firm when it comes to client service?
• Have you taken steps to understand the value of social media and put it to work for your firm?
• What did you do to improve overall firm culture?

Hesitation in decision-making and procrastination isn’t something that only happens inside CPA firms, many people suffer from it and it affects their ability to fulfill their potential.

Here are Five Tips for Making Better Decisions from Entrepreneur.com:
1. Stop seeking perfection.
2. Be independent.
3. Turn your brain off.
4. Don’t problem solve, decide.
5. Admit your mistakes.

Take a moment to follow the link and read more about each tip.

Has this been another year of “we don’t have time?”  Time is running out for a lot of baby boomers.  Meet with your partners in December or January, before you get too busy, and identify TWO things you need to accomplish in 2012 for the inside health of your firm.

“Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.” – - Napoleon Hill

About the author:
Rita Keller is the Founder and President of Keller Advisors, LLC and a widely respected voice to CPA firm management. She interacts with thousands of CPAs each year through her presentations and workshops. Named as one of the Top 100 Influential People in the profession, she acts as an advisor, counselor and coach to CPA firm leaders across the country.  She can be contacted at rkeller@ritakeller.com or you can visit www.ritakeller.com/blog.

Business Cards- Often the first contact with a prospective client ends with the exchange of business cards with scribbled notes for follow up.  If you have a stack of these cards, CardScan Executive scanners will capture all of this information quickly into Outlook or into many of the popular customer relationship programs with optical character recognition (OCR).  If you carry a smart phone you can also take a picture of that business card and send it to administration for immediate processing. There are even smart phone applications (Android and Apple devices, for example) that will take that photograph and run OCR to capture the data much the way the card scanner does. 

Business Receipts- While we are at it, today’s smart phones are also a great way to immediately capture photographs of business receipts that can be used for expense reports. If you save these photographs as PDF documents in a grayscale format, they are actually better than most copied or faxed images.

Faxes- Speaking of faxes, most firms continue to use paper ones, which often sit on a shelf until they are manually delivered or scanned in after the fact, then sent to the recipient via an email attachment.  Instead, use a fax service such as Nextiva or eFax that will capture and deliver the fax as an attachment to an email, so that it can be delivered electronically without having to go through the paper handling step at all.

Client Checks- Depositing these is another manually intensive process that can be dramatically streamlined when firms use their bank’s remote check scanners.  In most cases, banks will provide a scanner to the firm for free and charge a minor monthly fee, but the savings can be significant compared to the cost involved when someone has to complete a deposit slip, make copies of the checks and have the checks delivered to the bank. The bank will provide a digital image of all deposits, which can either be accessed online or saved to the firm’s network and then used to post payments to the firm’s practice management, as well as the accounting system.

Vendor Invoices- A firm’s administrative department also generates a lot of paper in the form of invoices received by vendors, which once again go through a manually intensive process to be paid and filed.  Instead, arrange to have invoices sent to your firm either by email or through a portal so they are delivered natively in an electronic format that you can save to a firm payable directory.  By having the regular payments automatically charged to a firm credit card, you can also reduce administrative processes to write and send a physical check. Hint: If you save the invoice image with a naming convention such as “20110815 Verizon RK,” you can easily search for payable images in one directory either by the date it was entered into your accounting system, the vendor that was charged, and/or the person/office to whom it was charged.

Document Storage- Some of today’s accounting products also can attach the image of the source document to the actual source entry within the accounting program so you can “drill down” from the same accounting screen.  For instance, within QuickBooks, tools such as Personable SourceLink allow you to attach these directly on your computer. There is also an Internet-based storage service where you can save the images securely on the web for a minor fee.  In either case, there is no further need for manual accounts payable file folders and the long-term storage needs associated with them.

By taking a moment to ponder how information is being handled by your administrative department and then using digital tools to capture it up front, your firm can make significant progress in automating your own operations and transitioning administration to a more digital environment.

With that said, Xcentric is trying hard to find ways to improve how you interact with your clients’ needs. Currently, we’ve found there is no standardization of the process of exchanging QuickBooks files between accountant and client. Few have provided a solution to the industry’s need for a scalable, branded, intuitive technology. So, we took the process of small business accounting and asked, “How do CPAs interact with their clients as it relates to QuickBooks?” After a series of interviews with Xcentric Cloud clients here is what we found…

How do CPAs interact with their clients as it relates to QuickBooks? It depends. There is no standardization of process.  Each firm has its own method, whether intentional or not.

How do CPAs retrieve, back up, restore, and return data (related to data transfer process workflow)?  Flash drives, CDs,  emails, and share file arrangement are the most widely used medium to transfer data from CPA to client and back to CPA. Some CPAs use what is called Accountant’s Copy.

What version of QuickBooks do you use with your clients?  Some firms maintain two years (ex. 2009, 2011) and roll forward every two years. Some standardize based on their clientele to only use one edition, such as Pro.  Still others offer all versions and editions.

What are some of the frustrations associated with your current communication practices with your clients? Oftentimes, clients have older versions of QuickBooks that the firm doesn’t support. Concerning communication, many of the clients aren’t accounting experts and when it comes time to work alongside them in QuickBooks, the software doesn’t allow for this. Data takes a long time to upload as well and getting it back and forth is a hassle for many.

Above is a taste of what some firms are doing and the frustrations they are incurring. If interested in reading  the entire case study developed from this series of interviews, email jhull@xcentric.com OR comment here with your thoughts on improving firm/client data workflow.  Where is your firm?

1. We are in a global economy – yes, even small firms! The way you do business has changed drastically, particularly in the last decade. Computers and the internet have become synonymous with business. Reliance on computers, particularly in the accounting industry, has increased ten fold.  Your firm needs computers to conduct any kind of transaction, which means that without computers your firm cannot operate. Most large computer manufacturing companies that operate in the US receive portions of their computers from various worldwide distributors. Your computer is an example of a global economy.
 
2. 90% of hard drives are made in Thailand. Currently, Thailand ranks as the world’s second largest producer of Hard Disk Drives (HDD) . 4 out of 5 of the world’s largest manufacturers of HDD produce and export from their Thailand operations. So what does this mean for your firm? It means that if Thailand is unable to meet the demands for hard drives, the computers sitting in your office might become obsolete.

3. Flooding in Thailand will affect hard drive production. Recent flooding in Thailand has hit the Tech industry hard. A lot of HDD manufacturers such as Western Digital and Toshiba have had to shut down their factories. This has resulted in less drives being manufactured. There are also plenty of predictions about “shortages of hard drives” which has caused prices to go through the roof. Drive manufacturers have raised prices by 20 to 40% and analysts speculate there is room for further price hikes. Even neighborhood computer repair shops in the US are also wrestling with scarcity and higher prices for hard drives as lingering inventories are quickly snatched up.

4. So how should you react? It will get worse before it gets better. Your firm needs to assess its current situation and act rationally. If you do NOT need hard drives at this moment, there is no need to purchase one. This an unfortunate situation for all parties involved, keep in mind this is still only a temporary situation. Once the flooding subsides, things will go back to normal.  If you feel your firm has a dire need for hard drives, only then should you move forward.

For further reading, please see the following links:
• http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/28/us-thai-floods-drives-idUSTRE79R66220111028
• http://www.techzone360.com/topics/techzone/articles/235890-irrational-demand-causes-price-hikes-hard-drive-market.htm
• http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/242913/thai_floods_hit_q4_hard_drive_production_says_research_firm.html

Question: What desktops is Xcentric currently recommending and how should they be configured? (processor, processing speed, RAM, disk drives, CD/DVD/Blue Ray, graphics card, etc.)

Answer: The Dell 790 Small Form Factor with the Intel Core i3 processor, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit operating system, 4GB RAM, 8X DVD+/-RW, 2 x 512MB AMD Radeon HD 6350 video card (4 additional monitors), and 3-year Pro Support.

Question: What laptops is Xcentric currently recommending and how should they be configured? (processor, processing speed, RAM, disk drives, CD/DVD/Blue Ray, graphics card, etc.).  We think we want 15 or 17 inch screens. 

Answer:

1) Dell Latitude 6420- 14” with the Intel Core i5-2410 processor 2.3ghz, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit operating system, 4GB RAM, 8X DVD Reader, Nvidia4200M (supports 3 external monitors) , and 3-year Complete Accidental Care
2) Dell Latitude E6520- 15.6” with the Intel Core i5-2410 processor 2.3ghz, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit operating system, 4GB RAM, 8X DVD+/-RW , Nvidia4200M (supports 3 external monitors) ,10 key integrated keypad, and 3-year Complete Accidental Care
3) Dell Latitude E6320- with the Intel Core i5-2540 processor 2.6ghz, Windows 7 Professional 64-bit operating system, 6GB RAM, 8X DVD+/-RW, Nvidia4200M (supports 3 external monitors) , Microsoft Office Pro 2010 with Adobe Acrobat X, and 3-year Complete Accidental Care

Question: What monitor configuration do you suggest for individual use?  Should we replace old 20” monitors?

Answer: Monitor size is a personal preference. Many firms use triple monitors (3 x 21.5”), however ,if  using one large screen, we suggest  the 24’’. No need to replace monitors unless they are fading.

Question: When or what software training should we perform?

Answer: Training is best performed when new software is implemented or during off season to sharpen skills. Two places for this training are below:
1) CPA Crossings (http://xcentric.com/about/friends-and-alliances)
2) Windows 7 Training (http://cpe.cpacrossings.com/CXWNTT1 )

Question: What else should we be considering?

Answer: The importance of Complete Care that comes with all of the laptops we recommend. This covers liquid spills, drops, falls, electrical surges, damaged LCD, or accidental breakage.

Question: What process should we use for purchasing and implementing the hardware?

Answer:
1. Order online at Xcentric Store
2. Xcentric will contact you with additional questions regarding these machines
3. Laptops ordered that need configuration will be shipped to Xcentric then shipped to the firm all ready to go. Close your old computer at the end of one business day and open your new one the next morning. Minimizing downtime!

The firm said, “We want to work closely with everyone at Xcentric, and we know that your help will be essential for the achievement of our goals and objectives (Loomis).” Xcentric hopes to meet these needs with the Xcentric Store to expedite the ordering process and configuration. Our goal is to deliver precisely what our client desires which is for, “people to stop using their existing computers at the end of one day and start with their new computer the next day with no more than an hour of start-up on the new computers before resuming normal activities (Loomis).”

Xcentric has made recommendations regarding upgrading your firms desktops, laptops, and software. We have gone a step further to develop a site where you can do all your ordering for desktops, laptops, and monitors online. All of our recommendations are already built into these computers and ready for purchase.  During the month of October, order 5 items from the Xcentric Store and get free shipping. Order 10 items and get free configuration, a value of $990. So take action and order today.

If I can assist in any other way, email jhull@xcentric.com.

Previous post: Is It Time to Replace Your Computer? Part 1

Set up phone redirect. Your telephone system is often your chief communication tool and crucial to the livelihood of your business. We recommend that you have your phone system set up to re-route calls via your Telco provider so that, in the event that your telephone system goes down, your phone lines can be redirected. In some cases, the phone service provider will have a web-based interface that allows temporary forwarding of your line(s).  In other cases, you may have to call the provider to have them change it for you.  Configuring a failover option ensures that your firm always has an operational line to make calls. Google Voice is another great web based option to ensure that your phone line is always accessible. Google Voice is essentially a call routing system that allows you to either forward the call to a cell phone or send the caller directly to voicemail.  Google Voice messages are then transcribed and sent via SMS or email to your device of choice.  

2X your internet connection. We always advise that our clients maintain a secondary internet connection, either a business grade DSL line or T1 connection. With a second internet connection in place, if your primary internet connection goes down, most firewalls will automatically fail over to the back-up line so can you continue work as normal. This is preparedness. 

Subscribe to hosted email. Email is critical to the functionality of business operations. Even a slight interruption of email can have a substantial financial impact on a firm. Simply stated, hosted email allows you to manage your email from any web browser or device of your choice.  Web-based email frees you from keeping track of licenses, downloading software, or managing it on your server, and guarantees the continuity of your email.  

Test your data back-up. Ensuring that you have a proper data back-up is critical to withstanding a disaster.   Most firms check to see whether the back-up job, typically tapes, was successful.  Rarely do firms actually test the restore process.  It’s a bummer to learn that the backup tape media has gone bad right when you really need that client file recovered.

Verify that your servers and workstations are protected from malware or an external breach. Do you know how much information your firm is putting out there that could be used against you? Security assessments are helpful when determining the vulnerability of your firm and a roadmap for improvement. Think of it as a routine physical where the doctor checks your cholesterol levels. While not everyone’s cholesterol levels are dangerous, the doctor’s objective is to minimize the risk of a heart attack.

Create an online list of employees, clients, and vendors. People are your firm’s most valuable assets. It is crucial that you are able to contact your people if a disaster ever occurs. Online enterprise collaboration tools exist to unite people, data, and applications. Group texting or Twitter are other ways to contact your people for mass communication purposes. A firm’s client base is another asset of incalculable value. During disasters, clients need assurance that their records are secure and that their business is being attended to. We recommend that firms upload their current employee contact list, key vendor contact information, and business-critical software license keys on a quarterly basis.   It’s also a good idea to have a hard copy in the hands of your key trusted personnel in case the internet is unavailable.  

Set a date for your next Business Continuity planning meeting. When we ask firms why they haven’t worked on their DR/BC plans, the most frequent response is that they “just didn’t around to it.”  Don’t let that be the case for your firm.

Once again, here are the 7 Must Do’s: 1. Set up phone redirection 2. Obtain a secondary internet connection 3. Use hosted email 4. Test your backup 5. Verify that your servers and workstations are protected 6. Create an online list of employees, clients, and vendors 7. Set a date for the next planning meeting. Now, get it on the calendar today and discuss these must-do’s with your team.

In this article we’ll look at a few places that email piles up that you might not think about right away. We’ll also suggest a few ways to locate potentially unneeded email and email that is taking up the most space.

Checking the Size of Your Mailbox

1. In Outlook 2003 or 2007, click on the Tools menu and select Mailbox Cleanup. 
2. Click the View Mailbox Size button. 
3. Locate the size to the right of the text that reads Total size (including subfolders). 

1. In Outlook 2010, click the File tab at the top of the window. 
2. Locate the size of your mailbox in Mailbox Cleanup section under the bar graph.

Where should I look first to clean out mail?

• The obvious first choice is the Deleted Items folder. Make sure that your Deleted Items folder is emptied regularly. As a business best practice, don’t get in the habit of using the Deleted Items folder as a holding pen for “just in case”. 
• The second choice is the Sent Items folder. Make sure that you purge your Sent Items folder at some point. Occasionally, users have a copy of every email they’ve ever sent. Go ahead, pick a date, and delete all sent items prior to that date. 
• Next, look for items with large attachments. Although each deleted email helps with cleanup, deleting a message with a 5MB attachment helps a lot more than a 4KB text-only message. You may have either sent or received multiple messages that have a different version of the same attachment. Delete the messages containing the earlier versions of the attachments when you only need the final one for reference.

Deleting Items Older Than a Certain Date

1. In Outlook, select the folder that you want to clean up. 
2. Sort the message items by date by clicking the Received column heading. 
3. Click on the most recent message that you want to delete (you want to delete this message and all messages older.) 
4. Scroll to the oldest message, hold down the Shift key and click the oldest message. All messages from the oldest to the most recent one that you want to delete should be selected. 
5. Click the delete button on the toolbar to delete the selected messages.

Deleting Items Based on the Size

1. In Outlook, select the folder that you want to clean up. 
2. Sort the message items by size by clicking the Size column heading. The larger items will be listed at the top. 
3. Now select messages that you don’t need and delete them. Deleting messages with large attachments can quickly reduce the size of your mailbox.

To view this article on the Xcentric Knowledge Base, click here.  To see other helpful tips and articles on our Knowledge Base, go to http://kb.xcentric.com.