Blog Archives
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Now that Windows 7 is released should our Firm Upgrade?
By John D. Anderson, CPA.CITP, CIA, MCP, MSA - Wednesday August 12, 2009Microsoft Windows 7 is here! Three years after the release of Windows Vista, we have the first major upgrade of the operating system from Microsoft. The first week of August Microsoft released to manufacturing the final code in Windows 7. At the same time, it made available to certain customers downloadable copies of Windows 7. These downloadable copies are available to some Microsoft Partners, Microsoft Software Assurance subscribers, and TechNet subscribers. For those who do not fit these categories it will be about two months before Windows 7 reaches stores either on a new computer or as a boxed product. Windows 7 is important because it is actually what Windows Vista should have been. Microsoft has taken Windows Vista and... -
Why CPAs Should Acquire a Systematic Approach to Selling
By , - Saturday May 16, 2009By Hugh Duffy When firms adopt a systematic approach to marketing and selling, the results are far more effective than if using a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-approach. The logic is simple: A systematic approach is far more predictable and consistent in delivering the results desired. Systematic Approaches Are Used Everyday Consider leading athletes. The best athletes use a systematic approach to deliver consistent, superior results. In basketball, the systematic approach used by Steve Nash, Dirk Novitski, and J.J. Redick for free throw shooting is far more effective than the approach used by Shaquille O’Neil and Ben Wallace. In golf, Tiger Woods and Phil Michelson use a systematic approach for every shot—and just look at what... -
Pollyanna or Polly-Glutton for Punishment
By Scott Cytron, ABC; President, Cytron and Co. - Thursday April 23, 2009Whether we’re talking about the recession or the latest celebrity mishap, my close friends sometimes refer to me as a “Pollyanna” – always seeing the brighter side of the situation. You know the type: the eternal optimist … the glass really is half full … give a person five chances. That’s why a Financial Times article, “Four Reasons to be Cheerful,” caught my eye. Just before the writer prognosticates the four reasons, he offers a quick antidote from Peter Shaw, a partner with Praesta. One of Shaw’s C-Suite executives asked his chairman to tell him about the most important thing he should be doing in a financially turbulent economy like this. The answer? “Smile.” The writer’s second reason out of four... -
Leveraging Social Media to Build Your Business
By Scott Cytron, ABC; President, Cytron and Co. - Tuesday April 14, 2009Do you Facebook and Tweet? What’s LinkedIn all about? Why is a blog important? When I work with tax and accounting professionals, they are constantly asking me to explain what social media is, what it can do for their practice, and most importantly, how to determine ROI. I’m not surprised. After all, accountants are logical, numbers-oriented people, so it makes perfect sense for them to want to talk about what kind of return they expect to get through their investment in time spent doing social networking. If quantifiable results can help a tax and accounting professional determine if he or she should put up a Facebook page, why is the “getting to the results” such a mystery? Let’s go back to Marketing 101. In traditional... -
In Firm Line Up of CES Gadgets
By Roman Kepczyk, CPA.CITP - Tuesday April 14, 2009From the April/May 2009 Issue You know the New Year is kicking into gear with the sight of new gadgets being touted at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES; www.cesweb.org) where a cadre of The CPA Technology Advisor's contributors converged to see and experience the latest and greatest digital products. While many of these products are targeted to the consumer rather than business user, there are opportunities for use in accounting firms when you look at them with the right perspective. Here is my 2009 line up of the coolest new tools and technologies and how they may show up in your firm some day! Lenovo W700 Dual Screen Laptop The most practical application of technology I witnessed came from Lenovo (www.lenovo.com), integrating... -
Tough Times Call For Working Smarter
By , - Tuesday April 14, 2009From the April/May 2009 Issue How would you or your client like to place this ad in the Employment Section of your local newspaper? Help Not Wanted:Our accounting department doesn’t need another person to keep up with the Excel spreadsheets or do data entry. We’ve been paying $40k for this job, but now we have a system that is so efficient at handling our processes that we eliminated a position. Do not send your resume. ALL SYSTEMS GO FOR A RESTAURANT GROUPA restaurant group with 25+ locations said they eliminated just such a position when their new business management system got up and running. It wasn’t part of their plan, but it was a direct result of eliminating so much manual work that there was no need for the position... -
QuickBooks Hosted on an ASP – Why it Makes Sense
By Doug Sleeter, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Tuesday April 14, 2009As you continue on your path towards taking your practice online, you should take a close look at using an Application Service Provider (ASP) to host QuickBooks for you and your clients. This is a fantastic service for accountants and their clients, and with some of the new developments in the marketplace, I predict there will be a new surge in ASP adoption by both accountants and clients. Some firms don’t yet see the benefit of moving off their local desktop/LAN systems because they have in-house technical people to keep everything running smoothly, and they’ve figured out other remote access solutions to facilitate the accountant/client collaboration. However, even if firms have all that figured out, they are most likely providing... -
Client Portals: The Time is Now!
By John Higgins, CPA.CITP - Tuesday April 14, 2009From the April/May 2009 Issue Are you concerned about the amount of confidential information in your organization that is being delivered via e-mail attachments? Is it being delivered securely? Is it being delivered to the proper recipients? Are you keeping track of who is sending which files to whom? If you’re not comfortable with your answers to these questions, then it’s time to give serious consideration to deploying a portal in your practice. This article provides you with an understanding of what a portal is, how it can benefit your firm, what you should know about portals and how to develop your portal deployment strategy. Register for our April 30 webcast on portals at www.CPATechAdvisor.com/webcast. Earn 2 hours of FREE...
