Blog Archives
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New Mobile Monitor for Those on the Go
By Isaac M. O'Bannon, Editor - Thursday November 17, 2011I know a lot of professionals who are frequently mobile, whether it's accountants like Jason Blumer, CPA, who prefer to sit in a coffee shop all day, those who are audit experts like Tim Gavin, CPA, and are more likely at a client's than their own office, or those like Joyce Washington, CPA, who work from everywhere with a laptop. One of their biggest productivity challenges comes from growing used to two, three or more monitors in their office, and then having to go back to one while they're on the road. There are a few mobile monitors on the market now, but they don't seem to have really grabbed the accounting profession's love. But a new one from Toshiba has promise, I think. The Toshiba USB Mobile LCD Monitor looks similar to an iPad... -
Crest Payroll Announces New Features to Make Professional Accountants Smile
By Isaac M. O'Bannon, Editor - Monday November 14, 2011I say Crest, you think toothpaste. But as an accounting professional, there's another Crest you might want to check out. Crest Payroll, offered by New Jersey-based Paramount Software , received one of our highest scores in our most recent review of payroll systems for professionals. The completely web-based system doesn't nickle and dime firms, but gives everything and the kitchen sink: any number of payroll runs for any number of clients and employees, automated compliance and reporting (they make the payments- with no impounding), client portals, employee portals, multi-account direct direct deposit, free online firm-branded payroll website, and more- all included for as little as $12 per client per month. They also just announced... -
Flop! The National Emergency Alert System Test Fails
By Dave McClure, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Thursday November 10, 2011For all of the wailing and gnashing of teeth before it happened, you may have thought that the first nationwide test of the Emergency Alert System was something spectacular. And it was. A spectacular failure. Some television and radio stations carried it; some did not. Some cable channels aired it, while their over-the-air counterparts failed to. Direct TV subscribers were treated to a rendition of Lady Gaga's song "Paparazzi" instead of the test announcement. Some viewers of Comcast in Virginia were switched to the QVC network instead. Viewers of Fox News and ESPN were told the alert was coming, but it never did. CNN had the same problem. Many TV and radio stations simply had two to four minutes of dead air. Created in the 1950s... -
Sleeter Group Announces Awesome Add-Ons and Debuts New Mobile App for Conference
By Isaac M. O'Bannon, Editor - Thursday November 3, 2011The Sleeter Group let the cat out of the bag a few days early this year, by announcing the winners of the 2012 Awesome Add-Ons today, instead of making people wait until the event on Monday, Nov. 7. The winners this year are: Bill.com - For its Receivables Module Clearify - For QQube Fujitsu - For ScanSnap ShareFile - For their new ShareFile for Accountants Service Skyhill Software - For Bill & Pay Honorable Mentions went to Avalara and Emochilla. You can read the full press release here; or you can check out Doug's November column, which includes more about the winners, here. NEW MOBILE APP FOR SLEETER CONFERENCE If you're attending the Sleeter Accounting Solutions Conference in Las Vegas next week- you can grab your free mobile... -
How to Make Payroll Insanely Profitable
By Isaac M. O'Bannon, Editor - Wednesday November 2, 2011Payroll used to be tedious, and then several national companies came in and, for the most part, most professionals were fine with that. Their clients were getting "good enough" service through the service providers, without the hassle for the firm. But with advances in technology over the past couple of years, payroll is something you should look at again. If you could automate pretty much every aspect of payroll, and offer it to your clients at a cost to you of under $20 per month including all payroll frequencies, direct deposits, third-party payments and compliance reporting, you can see how it could quickly become a profitable service. You pay $20, you charge your clients a flat fee of $100 or more a month for the all-inclusive... -
Help Clients Avoid "Intaxication"
By Isaac M. O'Bannon, Editor - Thursday October 27, 2011It's November, and hopefully your clients are doing what they can to mitigate tax liabilities by the end of the year. If not, they may end up suffering from: Intaxication: A condition of confusion, denial and frustration brought on by attempting to understand the tax code. Symptoms can include insomnia, headaches, nausea, rage and depression. Remedy: Two sessions annually with a qualified CPA or other qualified tax professional: One to prepare for tax season proactively; and another to actually prepare your return. Alternate Definition, for filers receiving refunds: The temporary feeling of euphoria accompanied with receiving a tax refund, until the realization that the funds received were actually a zero interest loan made by the... -
Advertising and Accounting
By Dave McClure, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Tuesday October 18, 2011Years ago, I worked for a firm whose principal partner, a man with no family or outside interests, kept us at work on Christmas Eve until after a 6pm "staff meeting" -- no holiday cheer in that firm, and we secretly began to call him "Uncle Ebeneezer." I was reminded of that when I saw a BDO ad on television, touting the fact that clients could call a partner of that firm to discuss business at midnight. What they were trying to do was tout their dedication to client service. But I had to wonder what kind of masochist would want to work for a firm where you clients could assume you have no life? Don't get me wrong. I've spent a lot of years in both advertising and marketing, and was doing that in the early days when the industry... -
Time To Dump Blackberry?
By Dave McClure, Contributing Writer/Columnist - Thursday October 13, 2011For most of this week, Research In Motion has had server problems with its signature Blackberry service, frustrating users and leading to the inevitable media speculation that those users will abandon Blackberry. Poor RIM just doesn't get any respect. In a year in which it has released a new tablet whose basic structure was advanced enough to lead Amazon.Com to steal it for the new Kindle Fire...a year in which the company announced a new OS7 operating system for its phones and an eventual migration to their newer QNX-based system...a year in which it has redefined ease of use in touchpads... It has gotten battered by nearly everyone, including me. Hanging out on the forums at Crackberry.Com, users seem pretty evenly divided between... -
Scientist Invents Invisible Key
By Isaac M. O'Bannon, Editor - Monday October 3, 2011I'm not exactly sure how this will directly affect professionals in the near-term, but Japanese scientists have developed a digital key system that works similarly to the Nintendo Wii and Xbox. The technology, which they say is less than two years from commercial distribution, would allow people to make simple hand gestures, which the system would then interpret using 3-D motion sensing detection. It would be usable with virtually any kind of locks and key-based ignition systems, if manufacturers in those industries implement it. While it might be distracting to have to perform the "secret handshake" to get your car started (and I think I still prefer remote key lock clickers), it might have the uninteded benefit of decreasing drunk... -
The Latest "iPad Killer"
By Isaac M. O'Bannon, Editor - Friday September 30, 2011The iPad has been on the market for less than two years (delivery of the iPad1 started in March 2010), but ever since Apple essentially invented the market for tablet devices, competitors have been trying to edge their way into the market. The most notable true competitors have been the Samsung Galaxy, HP TouchPad, Motorola Xoom and BlackBerry PlayBook. There was also the related market of "readers," tablet-sized devices that were primarily, if not only, designed for eBook downloads and reading. The leaders among the "readers" were Amazon's Kindle and the Nook (from the now defunct bookseller Borders). Readers have always been considerably lower-priced, but at the expense of functionality. But the new big news is that the latest version...
