The Tech Gap

TaxWise Acquired --- things that make you go "Hmmmmmm"

Last week's press release announcing that long-time tax compliance company TaxWise had been acquired was no huge surprise. Those of us who watch the vendors that serve our profession were certainly expecting the Rome, GA-based provider to be snapped up by someone. The surprise is here is the who and how much!

My Treo 600

The following is excerpted from my column, Final Thoughts, as published in our July, 2004 issue. [Click here for the full article.]

There’s a new game making the rounds in the technology thought leadership. It’s called, “What’s on Your Treo?” And you can catch the geeks and occasionally a more casual professional user excitedly conversing while BOTH hold their Treos with thumbs a flyin’! They’re in techno-heaven as they compete to see whose hardware is more tricked out. (Note: Airport clubs are a great place to watch this phenomenon.) The reason the game is so popular is that the hardware and its related software is just so darn good.

Saving the Ever Changing Internet

ARTICLE WRITTEN BY: John D. Anderson, CPA.CITP

I field a lot of questions from the other accountants in my firm as well as those firms with which we consult. One of the more interesting questions I’ve been hearing lately regards the challenge of how to “save” a website. As practice methods advance it seems we all depend more and more on various websites. Need to see if a client paid property taxes? Look it up on the Web. Want a valuation of a car for a charitable deduction? Search the web. Need an address for a distant state’s Revenue department? To the web! But what happens when the source CHANGES the website and your earlier research is gone? It’s very frustrating to go back only to find you can’t duplicate your original results. As accountants we need a reliable way to “save” a website. Unfortunately, many of the options to do so result in less than perfect solutions. Below, I explore several of these “less than perfect” options as well as a new option I think you will like.

[Don't] Stop Me if You've Heard This Before

It seems to me that the frequency of "social engineering" scams is increasing faster these days. Either that or I'm getting older!

I received at least four emails in the past few days with this latest Netsky.P virus, all purportedly from Symantec and all claiming to be a virus UPDATE. I'm weary of this nonsense. While my anti-virus and spam filters keep me safe and secure the frequency of these attacks makes me worry more and more. I have a "not-so-computer-literate" spouse, a "less-literate-than-that" Mother, and a daughter who's not yet 30 so by definition knows all there is to know about everything. I worry about THEM! I worry about "Josephine Average" out there practicing public accounting, and I worry about her clients. I don't want to bore you with my worries, but I do want to enlist your help.

Please --- talk to those you know and care about. You are their technological guru (I know for many of you that's very scary, but it's TRUE!). These people need you. They trust you. Perhaps they'll listen to you. Do the world a favor and spread the word --- pay it forward, if you will.

gll

Outsourcing -- 2004 Results

Wow, are we over-exposed to this now highly-politicized hot potato, or what? Not since Mike Dukakis took a ride in a tank has so much been made of so little. Lets go back to basics to start this discussion, OK?

Last year we, the US taxpaying public, collectively filed about 135 million individual tax returns. A bit over half were completed by paid preparers. For those of you not near a calculator, that's somewhere north of 67 million returns! And, while our professions' ~140,000 practice units around the country were busy grinding out those returns the press and professional pundidts were talking about the "effect of outsourcing".

Online Payroll Discussions

This week I'm in Manhattan for the NY CPA Show where, as is usual for venues like this, I spend much of the day (and a lot of the night!) discussing the nuances of the practice of public accounting and how technology impacts it. Yesterday I had a very pleasant breakfat meeting with Rene Lacerte, President of PayCycle. It's exciting to hear firsthand that accountants across the country are busy reclaiming the payroll business. Lacerte's company boasts impressive growth and now serves over 1,000 firms. The company further reports that while the average number of "employers per firm" is slightly over 3, there is a very solid relationship between the term of relationship and the number of employers served. Quite simply, the longer a firm offers payroll services, the more clients they serve. The spectre of more customers every day, and every customer serving more clients has Lacerte smiling!

A Homer Simpson Moment!

Homer Simpson's most famous line escaped from lips during a presentation this morning at the NY CPA Show. an "un-named presenter", while addressing a group regarding CPAs utilizing the web, showed a slide detailing a survey taken by a "sample" firm. The survey is, of course, to be available on the sample firm's website. The rub?

Question number 1 ..... "Do you have access to the Internet?" Yes / No

As Homer would say .... "DOH!!!"

gll

From my Treo 600

Mirra Personal Server

My Mirra Personal Server is one of my favorite pieces of technology. It is elegant in its simplicity of design. It is billed as a tool which gives home office and small business users a simplified and continuous, hands-free way to back up their computer data, and also allows remote access and the ability to securely share digital files. It integrates three technology components into a small network to create a “just-set-it-and-forget-it” solution: a network appliance, software to install on your PC, and a secure web service that provides remote access and sharing with clients. The really great part about this cute, little Linux-based unit is that it works right out of the box and requires virtually no technological care and feeding.

In conversation with Richard Mandeberg, Mirra's CEO, I've learned that the Mirra software upgrade to Version 2 will be available about Labor Day and will include many improvements. This is most definately technology to watch!

gll

Best Software Introduces CPAPractice Manager - Time & Billing Edition

I've heard fellow practitioners complain for years about the sorry state of "time and billing" software. [Note that current vendors have almost all escalated at least their products NAMES to the "Practice Management" level.] The sad fact is that lower-end products don't have enough horsepower and upper-end products are too costly and too complex for many small firms. The Holy Grail in this genre' has always been a "lite" product designed to create a pool of small users all growing [in theory] into ready made customers for the "real" product. Frankly, no one has ever been able to pull it off. In past lives I spent many hours in meetings discussing this very topic and the conclusion was always the same: It's [almost] impossible to determine WHICH features to "leave out" of the starter product! Well, the news of the day is that Best Software has decided to give it a go via their CPA Software business unit. Read the press release here.

Thomson Tax & Accounting Promotes Baron

Jon Baron, currently president and chief executive officer of Creative Solutions, has been tapped for the new role of executive vice president, Professional Accounting Markets, Thomson Tax & Accounting. Jon will be responsible for developing TTA's customer strategies for the professional accounting markets and will continue to manage the Creative Solutions business unit directly. Rich Alfano and his business unit, PPC, will now report to Jon in his new position. Rich has been named senior vice president, Professional Accounting Markets, Thomson Tax & Accounting. He will have special responsibility for all TTA continuing professional education activities and will continue to manage the PPC business unit.