The Tech Gap

91st Annual Montana CPA Society Annual Meeting, Bozeman, MT

William F. Ezzell, Deloitte partner and Immediate Past Chairman of the AICPA opened the 91st Annual meeting by leading an at times spirited discussion of the recent revisions to Ethics Interpretation 101-3 regarding client education and firm independence. Bill assured the very nervous group of the AICPA's intention to issue exhaustive "Questions and Answers" to further explain the seemingly near-impossible requirements currently detailed.

Best Software INSIGHTS 2004, Orlando, FL

Best Software CEO Ron Verni's mantra term for Insights 2004 was "We move at the speed of customer." While it's certainly a great tag line for an aggressive marketing campaign, it doesn't, in this writer's opinion, embody the type of leadership our market needs. You'll notice I used the word "NEEDS", not "WANTS". After being an active participant on virtually all sides of "the market" for nearly 30 years I have come to the conclusion that we (my brethren in the practice of public accounting) aren't well-versed enough in the possibilities afforded by modern technology to make reasonable requests of our technology vendors.

California Society Show and Exposition, Los Angeles, CA

The first "major" trade show of the year gathered strong attendance from an enthusiastic group of practitioners. Well-seasoned tech-maven Rick Richardson delivered his now-famous "What's New in Technology" speech at the opening session and left the crowd a bit amazed and completely clueless as to how the gadgets and gizmos relate to them being more productive.