What’s New in Accounting Technology?

by Jennifer Bullington

The 2011 California Accounting and Business Show and Conference was held in Los Angeles last week and our Principal, Carol Kulencavich was asked to be part of the panel discussion about “What’s New In Accounting Technology.”

I had a chance to catch up with Carol after the conference and here’s what she had to say. (My questions are in bold type below.)

Technology’s role in the accounting business is growing by leaps and bounds.  The two main products currently affecting change on our workflow are XCM Solutions and 1040SCAN. Both of these products are cloud based applications.  Their impact on BCWS’ business has been dramatic.

Can you describe each product and their role in your workflow process?

·    XCM Solutions  - automated workflow software that manages all the jobs we work on from bookkeeping to tax to financial statements. The software provides real time information on the status of any task, allowing us to see at a glance who has ownership of a task, where it is in the cycle and how long it’s been in our office.  It also provides accountability since it is used firm-wide.

·    1040SCAN – software scans all source documents and client tax organizers to be held in a single location. The information from these documents then populates our tax software (ProSystem Fx Tax) with data.

Has this increased proficiency added value for your customers?

·    Absolutely! 1040SCAN allows us to be paperless, freeing our accountants to focus on maintaining strong client relationships.

·    The increased automation of 1040SCAN has elevated our staff accountants to a review position. Not only is this cost-effective, it has boosted morale for the team during busy season by making them less stressed and more available to their clients.

·    XCM has changed the way we manage – less time is spent on workflow and reporting, which frees us up to provide a deeper level of customer service to our clients. It has increased our efficiency and helped our firm be even more productive.

·    With XCM, the change in workflow has reduced administrative overtime during busy season over our prior workflow software (PPC Tracker). Not only does this allow our team members to spend more quality time with their families.

·    XCM allows our staff to be forward-thinkers by increasing their control over the planning cycle year-round.

·    Additionally, these products free up our firm’s leadership to conduct higher-level reviews and work on special projects. All of this helps our clients grow their businesses.

Have these products changed anything for you personally?

“I don’t ever wake up in the middle of the night in a panic during busy season anymore,” she laughed. “Since XCM is in the Cloud, I can log in online and check the status of any job that might be worrying me.”

What else did you take away from the conference? Is there software you’d like to explore?

I’d like to look more deeply at Cloud computing. My take away from the panel is that the new technology will allow accountants to revisit client services, potentially taking on a greater variety of work and helping clients succeed in their business. These are exciting times for technology.

Below are some interesting links about the latest in accounting software:

·    AICPA 2011 Technology Trends

·    2011 Tech Trends – Accounting and Bookkeeping

·    Current Tech Tips – Journal of Accountancy

·    Mobile Devices Top CPA’s Tech Survey Rankings

What technology trends are having significant impact on your business?

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Do You Have A Business Continuity Plan?

Catastrophic events have saturated the news lately – the Japan Earthquake, the Joplin Tornado. The truth is, a business can be brought to its knees by all types of events – everything from a natural disaster to a short circuit in your wiring can lead to a shut down of your physical site.

Though it’s difficult to plan for everything, some level of preparedness is better than none at all. A good disaster recovery plan is the equivalent of an information insurance plan for your business.

What do terms like “disaster recovery” and “business continuity” mean?

·      Disaster Recovery is more computer-centric and deals with the technology infrastructure.

·      Business Continuance is more people-centric and focuses on providing critical business functions to customers in the event of a disaster.

What key disaster recovery questions do you need to answer?

1.    How much data can you lose and still be in business?

a.    This answer will determine your technology action plans.

b.    According to Gartner, two out of five businesses that experience a catastrophic event or prolonged outage never resume operations. Planning is key.

2.    How quickly can you get up and running?

a.    If you don’t have a remote backup of your server, it could be weeks and even months.

b.    If an online presence is critical to your business, the sooner you get back online the better. These types of businesses typically maintain a continuous disaster recovery “warm site” that allows them to be back online within minutes. This service is expensive but, if your business is dependent on online transactions, invaluable.

Though long-range goals like risk-assessment and business impact analysis should be considered, it’s more important to have a plan for keeping your doors open.

A business continuity plan identifies not only who is going to answer the phone, but also where that phone will be located.

What sorts of questions comprise this first stage of planning?

·      Phones – if you have an 800 number, you will want to add the contact information for that number to your prep list and have a plan in place to move that number quickly.

·      Office location – you might be lucky enough to have another location already for your displaced employees to camp out. If not, you might explore other options such as using a mobile office unit. Our recovery service provides this as part of their package.

·      Computers, printers and faxes – a current list of the types of equipment and PC’s is essential so you are guaranteed that your software will work on your replacement machines.

·      Network connection – a satellite dish at the recovery site, along with cables, routers and modems should more than meet your needs.

·      Power generators and starter fuel in case the power is knocked out for your entire community

·      Technical support – this might be from your remote site or from a vendor you set up in advance.

·      A plan to return to your site (or not) – Whether it’s the removal of your mobile site or the setup of a new office location, it’s important to have a plan to resume your business operations at the completion of a disastrous event.

Here is a link to a site with some free templates to help you in your disaster recovery and business continuity planning. You might also meet with your IT team to see what contingencies they are prepared for. ReadyOC has a great checklist focusing on Orange County while Ready Business is a little more global. All of these functions can also be outsourced quite easily – BCWS uses Agility Recovery Solutions.

What sorts of disaster preparedness techniques have you found the most helpful? Have you ever had to recover from a severe business outage?

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What's New At BCWS?

The reading list has been pretty eclectic around the firm this week. Topics have ranged across the following subjects:

• Funding your child’s college education
• Client referrals and what drives them
• Hiring the best people

As always, we want to share our knowledge with our clients, friends and referral sources. In addition to the links above, we’ve included a mash-up of some of our favorite articles below.

BCWS has done a few blogs on social media in the last month – one on Getting Started and another on Building Your Business Network with LinkedIn. We’ve continued reading about the latest trends in technology with the following posts:

• My 5 Golden Rules for Twitter that attracted over 15,000 Followers…
• Four Ways To Make Your iPhone Battery Last Longer

Some of our team has been reading about leadership:

• Business Owners: Who Keeps You On Track
• Collaboration is a Team Sport, and You Need To Warm Up
• Public Speaking Tips from the CEO of Deloitte

Last, but not least, BCWS is excited to announce the launch of BCWS University. Starting this summer, we will be offering classes each month on requested applications like QuickBooks as well as financial topics such as Preventing Fraud in Your Business. We look forward to hearing your requests about the courses that would be valuable to you.

What’s on your reading list these days?

We want to connect with you!  Please come find us at:

Our BCWS Blog or Our Website

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On Twitter

Build A Business Network With LinkedIn

We’ve been talking about Social Media here at BCWS and the question came up:

“Why do I need so many different kinds?”

You want to go to where your people are. It’s as simple as that.

As a rule of thumb, Facebook is focused on connecting with the people you already know. Twitter and LinkedIn are both geared toward meeting up with the people you want to know.

If you are using Social Media to build a network, you are simply going to do it faster on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Why LinkedIn?

LinkedIn is a very easy, passive way to build your social network with individuals that you might already know, as well as those you meet in the course of your networking events.

Through LinkedIn’s Status Updates, Reading Lists, Groups and the amazing Answer feature, you will have the opportunity to be a solution provider, which is golden in today’s world.

Getting started

1.    Go to http://www.linkedin.com

2.    Choose your LinkedIn account type

Note: Anyone can sign up for a free Basic LinkedIn account. Free accounts allow you to invite available connections, manage your own profile, join Groups and sign up for LinkedIn events. Free accounts do not allow you to send InMails (which allow you send mail to anyone whether you are connected or not), see all LinkedIn contacts or organize your contacts beyond a basic name listing.

For the LinkedIn users that want to use the application more fully or for targeted tasks like job recruiting, there are several other business options available for a monthly charge.

3.    Add connections

You can allow LinkedIn to check your existing address books for your current email addresses or enter your contacts manually.

It is easiest to allow LinkedIn to comb through your current address books for your various email applications. You will get a list of the people you know who are already using LinkedIn and can invite them to connect with you.

Note: If you don’t want to do this when you begin, you can return here later. This is the Import Contacts option that is located inside the People You May Know section in the upper right corner of your LinkedIn home page.

What do you do once you’re connected?

Listen

Listening in LinkedIn means watching the Status Updates that show on your home page each day and commenting on them. These updates are a treasure trove of conversation openers.

Read

In LinkedIn, there is an application to discuss and recommend what you are reading. When you use this application, it will update your home page. People will comment, and you can do the same on the books they recommend. Part of why so many people love books is because they are so easy to bond over.

Browse

Be sure to look around in LinkedIn. You’ll come across the greatest stuff just poking around. Explore the LinkedIn toolbar at the top of the page to see your Connections, Update your profile, or look for Jobs. Incidentally, all the recruiters we know say they find the best talent through LinkedIn.

Find Groups that have other people with the same interests as you.
Some people take an opposite track and join Groups with members that have knowledge you want to have.

On the right hand side of the LinkedIn toolbar, there is a search box that defaults to say “People.” Hit the drop-down and choose Groups. Type in your interest (i.e. financial planning, parenting or gardening). Trust me, you will find wonderful groups.

Other helpful tips:

·         All the usual rules of social media apply – spamming and lying are not appropriate.

·         You do not have to be introduced to anyone you are in a Group with. This is the perfect chance to go where your target audience is and rub elbows with them. We’ve all met amazing people this way.

·         Browse the People You May Know section on the right side of your screen every few weeks. New people show up in there based on things like who has joined LinkedIn or which searches you’ve run. I nearly always find someone I’d been wishing to have as a connection.

We’ll have more LinkedIn discussion over the next few weeks about Events, Answers and the Search capabilities. You can also feel free to ask questions about the program in the comments below.

In the meantime, are you already on LinkedIn? Do you like or dislike it? We’d like to connect with you! Please come find us at:

Our BCWS Blog or Our Website
On Facebook
On Twitter
BCWS’s Company Profile on LinkedIn

Audits Add Shine to Firms

by Melinda Taylor

Cash flow is a continual challenge for many small businesses.  The recent economic downturn has affected many of our clients’ day-to-day operations and, ultimately, their working capital and cash flow. 

The repercussion of this is that many of our clients are accessing their lines of credit or obtaining funding to meet cash flow requirements.   Suddenly these business owners are tasked with providing financial statements to the lender in order to obtain funding. In times like these a good certified public accountant (“CPA”) becomes a lifesaver to your business.

What level of service (audited, reviewed or compiled financial statements) should a small business owner obtain from their CPA to meet the lender’s requirement? Will the lender accept a lower level of service that will not be as costly as an audit?

Compiled financial statements - An accountant prepares financial statements from information that is the representation of management (owners) but does not express any form of assurance or confirmity with generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) on the financial statements.

Reviewed financial statements – An accountant must obtain a reasonable basis for expressing limited assurance that the financial statements meet the requirements of the GAAP and are free of material misstatements or false/missing information. 

Audited financial statements – An accountant will certify and provide an opinion that a company’s financial statements and accounting practices do or do not meet the requirements of GAAP based on the audit conducted. 

This Wall Street Journal article can provide some assistance in making a decision about the level of service you need. Though it emphasizes the importance of obtaining an audit, it also provides a cost benefit analysis.

Benefits of an audit:

• Improved chances for funding based on the lenders trust in the audited financial statements.
• Audited businesses save an average of $6,900 for every $1 million in outstanding debt every year due to lower interest rates.
• An audit provides third-party assurance that a Company’s financial statements are correctly prepared.
• Audit provides additional information on Company’s internal processes and focuses attention on areas that need improvement.

The Down Side:

• The cost of audited financial statements can be prohibitive for a struggling business.
• The time and preparation for an audit (records, personnel, etc.) can tax team members.
• Is it necessary?

Depending on the client’s situation, an audit might not be the right choice. 

Here at BCWS, we work closely with our clients and their bankers to ensure that the right level of service (audit, review or compilation) is provided as part of the funding requirement.

What has been your experience with your bankers, lenders and CPAs?

 

We’d like to connect with you! Please come find us at:

Our BCWS Blog or Our Website
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Filing 2010 W-2s and 1099s

Filing 2010 W-2s and 1099s

Form W-2

Ramping Up On Social Media

In today’s world of immediacy, social networking is a valuable tool for growing your business.

One of our 2011 goals here at BCWS is to put more time into our social media efforts as a team now that the tax season is behind us.

Several excellent articles have been floating around our offices over the last few weeks:

Are You Talking To Me?
This Wall Street Journal article give best practices for engaging with customers via social media.


LinkedIn Tips for CPAs
Are You Linked In?
Both these articles from the March issue of the Journal of Accountancy explain how CPAs can use LinkedIn to grow their business and stay on top of industry trends.

IRS Launches App for iPhones and Droids
This article from the December issue of Accounting Today discusses the launch of a Smartphone application that lets taxpayers check on the status of their tax refund and obtain helpful tax information.

An Insider’s Guide to Social Media Etiquette
Chris Brogan is a fantastic resource for using social media for business. Our team has found tremendous value in his blogs.

We enjoy hearing from you! What articles or resources have you found the most helpful?


We’d like to connect with you! Please come find us at:
Our Website
On Facebook
On Twitter
BCWS’s Company Profile on LinkedIn
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