In this issue
August 22, 2016
Ransomware: Is Your Accounting Firm At Risk?
Ransomware is a type of malicious software that encrypts files, blocks access to computer systems then requires an anonymous payment, and has the ability to make a dramatic and devastating impact on your business. A recent report released by the FBI ...
August 19, 2016
The Ultimate “Best Practice” for Accounting Firms
The summer and fall months officially kick off conference season. Where you send out your best and brightest to learn and explore from their peers and “bring back great ideas”. And many conferences do their part to help facilitate the sharing of great ...
August 19, 2016
Growth? Innovation? Productivity? Too Much or Too Little?
Observing the new normal of slow business growth raises the question: what’s the next big thing? Likewise, it is reasonable to ask if we are doing the right thing. In other sections of this month’s publication there is coverage on both document ...
August 19, 2016
Regulations, Executive Orders and Court Rulings: What Employers Need to Know Now
Election years often bring a flurry of legislative and regulatory activity. And this presidential election year is no different, as President Barack Obama tries to push through his final agenda items before leaving the White House.
August 19, 2016
4 Common Change Management Failures Managers Need to Avoid
In today’s business environment, public accounting firms must be prepared to pivot with speed and agility at a moment’s notice. Changing standards and regulations, emerging technologies, and business risks are just a few of the dynamics managers must ...
August 18, 2016
Private Companies, Financial Technology and a Winning Opportunity for CPAs
We live in an era of rapid innovation in financial technology that is transforming how banks, private equity firms and other investors evaluate business opportunities and quantify risk. Yet the prevailing methods for exchanging private company ...
August 18, 2016
Fraud Examples Demonstrate Need for RIVIO Clearinghouse
The new RIVIO Clearinghouse (see accompanying article) is a solution to a problem of financial hijinks with which you might not be familiar. After all, most CPAs perform their services ethically and expect their clients to represent their financial ...
August 18, 2016
ScanWriter Automates Data Entry for QuickBooks Users
ScanWriter works with both QuickBooks Desktop and QuickBooks Online, the product can be used with any TWAIN compatible scanner, or customers can purchase a compatible scanner directly from Personable if desired.
August 18, 2016
How ScanWriter Helped An Accountant Achieve Maximum Efficiency
After having used ScanWriter for more than four years, Luis says the system saves him time that would be wasted on data entry, which lets him take on more clients, which means more revenue. In fact, ScanWriter can enter more than 100 transactions in ...
August 18, 2016
3 Ways Accounting Firms Can Reach Millennials
If you’re part of an accounting firm, there is no denying the importance of reaching this age group. By 2020, 46% of all U.S. workers will be millennialsi. By 2025, that number could rise to 75%ii. While the business world is making strides to attract ...
August 18, 2016
2016 Review of Document Management and Storage Systems
How many hours have you spent searching for document that is nowhere to be found? According to the Wall Street Journal, the average executive wastes six weeks every year searching for documents that are lost or misplaced. It’s been estimated that one ...
August 18, 2016
Back to School Tax Tips for 2016
As the final weeks of summer tick away, back-to-school sales are ramping up and it's time to think about getting those kids back in the classroom. It's also a good time to think about a variety of tax breaks and deductions available for qualifying ...
August 18, 2016
Apps We Love – Time Killers
You’ve got five minutes to spare and your phone in your hand – how do you use your time? We asked members of the CPA Practice Advisor community to share their favorite time-kill apps and this is what we learned.
August 17, 2016
Congress Considers Bill Banning Online Sales Taxes By States
Tired of Congressional inactivity on internet sales tax, a growing number of states have enacted legislation enabling them to tax sales made by out-of-state sellers. The majority of these laws maintain that a connection between a state and seller is ...
August 17, 2016
Is Retirement By 65 An Unrealistic Goal For Gen Xers and Millennials?
People age 35-plus don't think they will be able to retire when they hit the traditional retirement age. While 87 percent of those surveyed who are working full time say they want to retire someday with nearly 70 percent of those hoping to retire ...
August 16, 2016
Education Fringe Benefits Get an A+
If some of your employees are looking to go back to school, or to enroll in college courses for the first time, you might decide to lend a helping hand. An employer can set up a program that effectively pays for all or most of the costs on a ...
August 16, 2016
Dependent Care Assistance Plans: A Fringe Benefit With Tax Benefits
To help ease the burden of hard-working parents, employers may institute a dependent care assistance plan for employees. Under such a plan, payments made to third parties like babysitters and day care centers are excluded from income if the costs ...
August 9, 2016
The Procrastinator’s To-Do List
Most people procrastinate. It’s in our nature to have ebbs and flows of productive time, the time when we can really dig in and get our projects completed. I contend that procrastination is in the eye of the beholder. After all, think about how your ...
July 31, 2016
Taxing Pokemon: States Get In On the Action
Lures aren’t the only way to spend real money in the Pokémon world. Although free to play, “Players can spend real money on PokéCoins, the in-game currency of Pokémon Go.” 99 cents gets you 100 PokéCoins; $99.99 buys you 14,500. According to developer ...
July 26, 2016
Why Attracting Female Accounting Talent is not One-Size-Fits-All
The most important discovery I’ve made, however, is that what works for one woman might not work for another. While many accounting firms correctly recognize the need for female talent in their practice, too many treat related recruiting and retention ...
July 25, 2016
5 Tips and Tools for Accounting Firm Email Marketing
One of the most chronic complaints of clients that leave their CPA to find another is their former CPA’s lack of communication. So if there is a tool that can both help you communicate more in a leveraged, time-saving way while also warming up ...
July 19, 2016
How Accounting Firms Can Protect Their Data, And Their Clients’
There are several measures CPA firms can take to mitigate data risk and manage their security. CPA firms are responsible for tax identification numbers, social security numbers, financial account numbers, and additional data which can threaten the ...
