Security

Data is king. Keeping it stored safely and securely is critical. Whether you are operating in the cloud, from an office, or from your home you need to be thoughtful about your data. In my professional life, strategies for keeping data safe have been mandatory for over 40 years.

Business as usual, well, just is not usual anymore. With mobility at our fingertips, we are no longer tethered to a hardwired environment and the now-standard workplace stretches beyond an office or cubical. Let us not forget that you can forget working 9 to 5.

Winston Churchill once said “It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than we can see” which is applicable to many CPA firm partners that are so busy and focused on getting today’s work done that they seldom take the time to think about how they can improve their practices to operate more effectively in the future.

The Treasury Department agency tasked with overseeing the Internal Revenue Service has issued a report saying that the nation's taxing authority needs to do a better job of tracking its efforts to eliminate identified flaws in the security of systems involving taxpayer data.

More CPA firms are embracing cloud solutions to transform their business, although with a greater focus on data security than a year ago, according to a recent survey by CPA2Biz, the technology subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs.

Identity theft is so common now that even the investigators who pursue identity theft cases and the financial counselors who help consumers get back on track have become victims.

A server authentication issue was the cause of a few headaches last Friday, as some users of Thomson Reuters' Virtual Office CS and SaaS for CS Professional Suite had difficulty logging into their cloud-based accounting solutions.

A long time ago…at least in terms of the life of a blogger…I did a quick overview of the PC-Matic utilities for personal computers. I wasn’t overly harsh, nor overly kind, and did mention that that in my mind the best service they provided was their newsletter.