CPA Technology Blog

Off Topic: Entertaining a Young Child for $1 or Less

Many of us are taking vacation time with our kids before school starts back in a couple of weeks, and are wondering - "what will this kid like to do?" in the back of our mind.  Whether you're working with a known quantity (like your own kids) or an unknown quantity (your nieces/nephews from far away), Lifehacker has you covered with a post called "Ten Ways to Entertain Young Children for $1 or Less (Without the TV)"  I'll be using some of these next time I find myself with time to kill with my son - too much TV in my house lately.

Question on Information Return Software

As many of you know, I also work with a site on CPA Firm Technology (www.cpafirmtech.com) through my teaching with K2 Enterprises.  Today's mail included the following message (name and location changed to protect the innocent).

Dear Brian:

I can't find information return preparation software listed in your website software listing.  We are a  CPA firm preparing information returns for our clients.

Can you direct me to a spot on your website?

W-2less in Washington

______________

Dear W-2less in Washington:

Most of the major write-up packages offer this functionality from within their product (e.g. Thomson Tax & Accounting’s Write Up CS, ProSystem fx Client Write Up, Intuit’s EZAcct), and all of the entry level solutions (QuickBooks, Office Accounting,Peachtree)offer 1099-MISC preparation and W-2 prep.  If you’re looking for after-the-fact payroll (and all that it entails, including 941 prep), look at the following products:

·         Quickbooks Enhanced Payroll Plus for Accountants

·         Intuit’s EZAcct

·         Thomson’s Write Up CS and Payroll CS

·         CCH’s ProSystem fx Write Up

·         Accountant’s World.com / Accountant’s Relief

The best solution for forms I’ve run across is the Information Return System which comes with Intuit’s EZAcct product line, but I’m not sure if it’s still offered as a separate solution.  Click on (http://accountant.intuit.com/member_programs/easyacct/index.aspx?page=features)  for information about EZAcct. 

If all you’re looking to do with this application is print some forms, the above applications may be more than you really need. 

1.       Paycycle does a good job of preparing small business payroll , and has a separate service to prepare 1099’s  if you’re just doing a few here and a few there (max per company is 50), but they only offer the service during the January-February time frame.  You can learn more about them from www.paycycle.com.  PayCycle also is offering a year of free payroll for your firm (up to 25 employees) and 90 days of free payroll for your clients.  (For more information, please visit www.paycycleseminar2007.com. )                                                                                       

2.       There are some online services which will prepare these returns in a web browser window.  One I’ve used (and been very pleased with) is www.FileTaxes.com.  FileTaxes will even mail the printed forms to the recipients for you from their site as part of the charge for their service.  Other K2 team members have also used this application for either their own businesses or for the small business client who needs a few 1099’s prepared.  FileTaxes charges on a per-form basis, and is very reasonably priced.

3.       I’ve been using the software that I purchase with the 1099’s from Staples every year, but seem to have deleted it from my PC.  The application I’ve been using is published by Adams Business Forms, and is included when you buy a pack of 1099’s or W-2’s from your office supply store.  I do this very infrequently, so all I have is the printed reports and a data file from this year’s software, but next year, I’ll be able to import the data into their new software, enter the amounts for 2007, and print the reports easily. 

4.       The IRS has a list of software providers in this space on their site at http://www.irs.gov/efile/lists/0,,id=100422,00.html

If I can be of further service, please drop me a line.  I hope to see you at a future K2 seminar.

Best regards, Brian

Accounting Blog Festival

I'm sponsoring my first "Accounting Blog Festival" over the next month or so.  If you are a CPA, CA, or otherwise blog on topics related to accounting, accounting technology, or other topics related to being a practicing public accountant, I'd like to hear from you and have the opportunity to drive more readers to your blog or site.

To submit your blog, please just drop me a line to blogfest@bftcpa.com with the information about your blog, and I'll consider it for the Festival....

[And remember - it's not just a blog listing - it's a Festival]

Using Social Networking Sites to Recruit Staff and Referrals

Neil McIntyre (a young aspiring future CA in Toronto) recently posted to his blog that many accounting firms in Toronto are using Facebook, the social networking site, to recruit staff and solicit referrals from others.  He’s right to say that few public companies probably look for auditors on Facebook, but I think he sells the prospect short.  New and recent college graduates have always been leaders in adoption of new technologies (for a host of reasons), and while he’s right that nobody’s going to pick a new auditor based on their Facebook page, I think he needs to also consider that recruiting and retaining qualified staff is one of the biggest issues facing CPA firms today.  As such, any technology that lets a firm find candidates looking for positions inexpensively is probably a good thing for us (and a bad thing for recruiters).  One example I found upon setting up my Facebook account was a CPAmerica facebook identity for “CPAmerica International Careers”.  While anybody who suggested that this would have been an effective recruiting strategy when I graduated from college 15 years ago would have immediately been laughed out of town, this isn’t costing a lot in time or fees, so why not try it???

Another site I’ve used is LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com) , a social networking site where people “link” to each other and can help others meet other people of interest online.  Where the introduction to an associate was a “push” transaction in the past (e.g. the referrer somehow divined that you needed to meet someone in their network and set up lunch for the three of you), LinkedIn makes it possible for the person looking for referrals to query the networks of those linked to them for introductions.   Where Facebook was created by hipsters looking for a date and for ways to interact with their friends online, LinkedIn is a hard-core business machine designed to help you extend the reach of your personal network.  I was introduced to LinkedIn by a friend from church who was in a top Executive MBA program a couple of years ago, and have been amazed by the people you can meet by just logging in periodically.  All of the recruiters I know use sites like LinkedIn to find mid-career candidates for open positions, so if you’re looking for a job (or looking for people looking for a job), this may be a good place to spend a little time.  The above-mentioned Neil McIntyre also compares Facebook and LinkedIn in an earlier post.

So if you’ve had your head down and elbows out working for the last few months, you may do well to come up for air and take in some of the new social networking sites for you and your firm.  Just as social events helped us with perspective on our education in college, social networking sites may help us with perspective on our careers, and others we meet on these sites may help our careers, job searches, and firms more productive and profitable.  (Who knows – you might even get a date!)

Treo 650's..... a Verizon T650 for Sale

As I mentioned two posts ago, I just got a Sprint Treo 755p as a replacement for my Treo 650.  Same device, more RAM, faster internet.  I have already sold my Sprint Treo 650 (that was fast!), but have a friend who has a Treo 650 for Verizon which is available.  I'm not trying to turn my blog into a swap meet, but if you're interested in this Verizon unit, please send me an e-mail (spam@bftcpa.com) and I'll forward your note of interest to the guy who wants to sell his phone.  Seller is a board member of the Tennessee Society of CPAs, so he's fairly particular about his gear - if I needed one for Verizon, I'd buy it.....

Thanks, and best regards - Brian

Create a Working Trial Balance from a QuickBooks Excel Export File

I used an example in a class recently which parsed QuickBooks data to create a working trial balance.  Some participants of a class requested the file, so I'm posting it to the Blog to make it available.  It's underdocumented if you don't have the manual from K2's Excel Financial Reporting class.

Download MSP-EFR-Example.xls

If you would like to attend the EFR class (sponsored through your State's CPA organization/society), click here to see where the course is being offered in 2007, or contact me directly (brian at kay two e dot com) for more information about the course and having it in-house for your financial staff.

Treo 650 (Sprint) For Sale

I’ve at last replaced my trusty Treo 650 (Sprint) with a Treo 755p, and now have a surplus Treo 650 (works great, refurbished about four months ago) which is available if you know of anyone who needs it.  I’ll probably list it on eBay later this week, but wanted to check with all of you to see if you know of anyone who needs a used 650, along with extra styluses (styli?), sync cable, charger, a case, and some other accessories.  You will want Sprint service with this one, but it runs Palm OS Garnet, has lots of RAM, and it even comes with a mammoth 32MB SD card - huge by 1990’s standards, but it still does great for backing up your Treo to SD  (and who would want to listen to music on their phone anyway?).

If you are interested, please e-mail brian att Bee Eff Tea Cee Pea Aaa dott commm. (sorry to be cryptic - misspellings required to slow down the spambotters)