Isaac M. O'Bannon is the managing editor and digital content manager for CPA Practice Advisor (www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com), drawing on two decades of experience covering the areas of professional accounting, taxation, business productivity and consumer technologies.
Prior to CPA Practice Advisor, O'Bannon was a consultant at firms in San Francisco, Denver and Tulsa, serving clients that included Logitech, Polycom, Hilti, Microsoft, the Stanford Research Institute, the University of Oklahoma's College of Engineering and other technology leaders. He is a U.S. Navy veteran.
Email: isaac.obannon - @ - cpapracticeadvisor.com
August 2, 2011
888-999-1366 www.AccountantsWorld.com/AR 2011 Overall Rating 4.75 Best Fit: Firms who want to bring both their practice and their clients onto a web-based accounting system that gives the firm greater control over data and the ability to monitor and control what their clients can do with their collaborative bookkeeping system. Strengths: Simple navigation &...…
August 2, 2011
800-267-8379 www.accountant.intuit.com 2011 Overall Rating 4.5 Best Fit: Firms whose clients mostly use QuickBooks and who provide general write-up and reconciliation work. Strengths: Comfortable, intuitive navigation & interface Good reporting with PDF, Word, Excel output Email invoicing & electronic payment options Most commonly used program Mobile apps for client-focused work Potential Limitations: Financial statement...…
August 1, 2011
When we first started writing about web-based programs about 10 years ago, the focus frequently centered on how the concept could benefit modern practices. Key among the benefits was anywhere/anytime access to client and firm data and the enhanced security of data stored in online systems.
July 28, 2011
Yes, yes… I’m writing about sales taxes again. This time, however, it’s not about the Amazon vs. California battle or the general difficulties facing online sales taxation. I know it’s still July, but kids and parents are already getting ready for the coming school year, which means a lot of shopping for clothing, books, computers...…
July 26, 2011
Not too long ago, I wrote about “the problem with online sales tax” on our CPATechViews blog. There’s a long-reaching history with states wanting to get reveunes from sales to their residents when the merchant isn’t in that state. It started long before the internet (think mail order catalogues), but e-commerce has certainly aggravated the...…
July 26, 2011
Sales and use tax compliance is an area of widely varying complexity. For many of the smallest entities that conduct taxable transactions, particularly physical retail businesses with only one or two locations, the process of applying the appropriate tax rate and reporting it to their states is often quite simple. And almost all states that...…
July 18, 2011
14,817 It’s beginning to look a lot like … what? How many shopping days are left? You still don’t have a clue for what to give your boss, your friends or some of your family? Well, as I do each year, I “grudgingly” spend hours looking at and playing with dozens of new tech gadgets...…
July 1, 2011
Not too long ago, I wrote about “the problem with online sales tax” here on this blog. There’s a long-reaching history with states wanting to get reveunes from sales to their residents when the merchant isn’t in that state. It started long before the internet (think mail order catalogues), but e-commerce has certainly aggravated the...…
June 24, 2011
Sometimes, things need mixing up. Chris Farmand, who grew up in a Florida family centered around the accounting practice led by his father and two uncles, was destined for a career in accounting. His parents knew it, the rest of his family knew it, and his teachers knew it. But even though he’d been in...…
June 6, 2011
CPA Practice Advisor Presents 8th Annual Awards in Los Angeles LOS ANGELES – June 6, 2011 – Accountants, tax professionals and their clients are increasingly turning to the cloud and SaaS-based technologies, and this year’s Tax & Accounting Technology Innovation Awards highlighted many new workflow tools, programs and devices that aid in professional and business...…
May 25, 2011
When it comes to work-life balance, family-friendly employers and general professional satisfaction, some companies are much better than others to work for. In a list of the top 25 corporations that have these attributes, Intuit ranked #24. Technology firms placed well on the list, including MITRE Consulting, SAS, Autodesk, Agilent and National Instruments. Other recognizable...…
May 11, 2011
Estate tax professionals, whether CPAs, tax attorneys or other financial advisors, have long honed their skills at finding the most beneficial wealth transfer strategies. The goal in most cases is to reduce or eliminate tax liabilities, while also ensuring for other distributions such as charitable giving. There are many such strategies and the result is...…
