A Day at the Beach

From the Nov. 2008 Issue

Another Day at the Beach

At this time of the year, many of us long for the warmth and relaxation of “somewhere a little further south.” And with December’s chilling air bringing snow to many parts of the country, it’s understandable to daydream about going even further … the sights and sounds of island life, whether as a long-term escape or at least a brief vacation. Linda Ribble’s island adventure has been going on for nearly two years now, but instead of an escape from work, she’s been able to relocate her practice, at least in a virtual sense.

The Texas native, long-time accountant and credentialed CPA has been the principal of her practice in Dallas, Linda A. Ribble, CPA, P.C., for about 12 years. At first glance, the firm was, and continues to be, fairly traditional. Linda, her mother and sister run a family based practice that provides tax compliance, write-up and financial services to a diverse client base of businesses and individuals. She earned her CPA credential in 1985 and, prior to opening her own practice, had worked in various accounting and bookkeeping positions at companies in the insurance and residential construction industries.

The firm does have a few differences from most professional practices in the United States, however, most notably that Linda’s office is about 4,500 miles away, on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix. She initially went to the islands for an extended vacation with her boyfriend John, a former client who had owned property in the Caribbean for several years. Pretty soon, she found that she could do most of her professional work remotely just as well as she could in the office.

FIRM SNAPSHOT
Linda Ribble President, Linda A. Ribble, CPA, PC St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands & Dallas, TX Specialties: Tax, Write-Up Productivity Score: 150
	Linda & John relax at a favorite hangout in St. Croix

“When I first came to St. Croix, it was just for a few months, and it was during the non tax season,” Linda says. “But after we got the technology in place, I didn’t need to go back and forth as often. So by 2006, I processed all of our corporate returns remotely.” She returned to Dallas for the 2006 individual tax season, but says she has since made the remote process permanent, and was able to manage the entire corporate and 1040 tax seasons remotely this past season.

Linda and her practice obviously depend upon technology for their workflow processes, with clients either visiting the office in Dallas or sending files electronically. Linda’s sister Sherry and mother Sally then scan items into their document management system. At this point, the rest of the process remains paperless, at least on Linda’s side. Her St. Croix home office has high-speed Internet, and she uses a dual-screen monitor when preparing and reviewing returns. Her practice scored a 150 on the Productivity Survey (www.CPATechAdvisor.com/Productivity), The CPA Technology Advisor’s free online tool that helps public accounting firms assess their use of technology and best practice processes.

In addition to the technological challenges she faced with long-distance remote working, Linda is licensed to practice as a CPA in both Texas and the Virgin Islands, but all of her clients are still in Texas, so Linda noted that she and her staff also had to retrain a few clients to some extent. “Some people were used to coming in and chatting, but they’ve all gotten used to the new process. During tax season, I do spend a lot of time on the phone, though, and the current situation with the financial markets has some clients asking for more advice.”