CPA Technology Blog

The Passing of Newt Becker

As many of you know, I’ve taught the Becker CPA Review for the last 15 years.  I learned this morning of Newt’s passing in the following e-mail from the Becker organization, which I am publishing in its entirety.

It is with sadness that I’m sending you this message. Newt Becker, the founder of Becker Professional Education, died Monday evening in Los Angeles after being ill for quite a while. Newt was 83 years old.

Newt started Becker CPA Review in 1957 in Cleveland, his home town. From humble beginnings and with a handful of students, he found a successful formula for dedicated CPA candidates to pass the difficult CPA exam. He was a pioneer in interactive learning for exam preparation, engaging his students in every facet of mastering the curriculum – through lectures, mnemonics, homework, etc. Most importantly, he truly cared about each student who selected the review course that bears his name. His goal was fulfilling their dream to earn the CPA credential and to ultimately enrich their lives.

All of us at Becker owe Newt our gratitude for the painstaking effort that he and his early team of colleagues expended to produce the best product for CPA exam preparation. His legacy of putting the student first resulted in the Becker culture that thrives today. We care about our students and we care about each other.

Newt devoted his life to making the world a better place. When he handed over the CPA Review reins to DeVry in 1996, he immersed himself in charitable and altruistic social endeavors, including the exploration of clean air alternative energy resources. He was truly a generous and good man.

So let’s remember Newt Becker for what he gave to us… A thriving business for sure, but also a commitment to excellence and caring about student success. We honor his legacy.

John P. Roselli

President, Becker Professional Education

At the CPA Tech Blog, all of our thoughts and prayers are with Newt’s family in this difficult time.  Many CPA’s I know are very grateful to Newt and the Becker organization for helping them pass the CPA exam, and I am thankful to have worked in his organization.

Accounting Technology Fashion Weeks, 2011

The last week of October and the first week in November each year is where many of the major conferences are held.  National conferences from CCH, Thomson Reuters, and the Sleeter Group take place this time of the year, and many state CPA societies have large conferences for their members.  These conferences are also where publishers announce new products and services for the coming year.  Most of us in the accounting technology business are running around the country trying to speak on various topics, take webinars on the big announcements from the publishers, write up what we learn, and in our spare time, travel to the next site and, occasionally, sleep.  (Nah – we don’t really sleep.  It’s a blur of receipts, airplane peanuts, taxicabs, and caffeine this time of the year.)

Some major trends have emerged from these announcements.

• Mobile is the new “must have” product offering.  CCH and Thomson Reuters both had big announcements (CCH, TR) about mobile strategy in the last week, and both promise more to come in the year ahead.  The new apps work on smartphones and tablets, and have expanded to include not only Apple’s iOS (iPad and iPhone) platform, but also includes the popular Google Android smartphone platform. 
• Hosting will be the way many locally-installed applications first move away from on-premises installation.  Many hosted offerings are helping organizations move to the cloud without giving up the option of running an application on their internal servers in the future.  Some notable examples include:
• Microsoft’s Office 365 bundle of hosted Exchange, SharePoint, and Lync
• Intuit’s hosting provider program and Sage’s hosting programs (PT, Simply, MAS 90) are making on-premises accounting software available from anywhere.
• CCH announced a new hosted version of its ProSystem fx Scan tax document automation application.
• Cloud-based offerings are moving from the “hot and trendy” category to the “must have wardrobe basics” section.  We are seeing the cloud-based offerings from many of the publishers mature, and there are a wide range of new, on demand offerings from every publisher. 
• Yesterday Intuit announced a new version of its QuickBooks Online product targeted at accountants (the aptly-named QuickBooks Online for Accountants).
• Doug Sleeter’s keynote address yesterday detailed many major cloud offerings, and his conference is the ground-zero for the web-based accounting revolution.  Major releases from Sage, Intuit, Xero, SmartVault, and many others will all be announced at this event, which continues through Wednesday in fabulous Las Vegas.
• Thomson Reuters announced a new product to be launched next year – Workpapers CS.  This tool will be a new cloud-based integrated workpaper management system, and although I didn’t get a chance to see it during my trip to San Diego for their conference, I’m hoping to see it in the near future.
• CCH announced the integration of Speedtax’s SaaS applications into the CorpSystem product line, and also highlighted how the newest versions of their solutions make it possible to rapidly develop, create, and deploy applications such as the new CCH Tax News Highlights App, which was designed, created, and deployed to mobile devices running Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android OS reportedly in just six weeks.

There is some consolidation going on in the marketplace, especially for venture-funded companies.  This summer, major acquisitions include Drake’s purchase of tax document automation provider Copanion, CCH’s purchase of sales tax provider SpeedTax, Sage purchased Alchemex (the publisher of most of the Sage business intelligence offerings), and enterprise computing giant Citrix purchased secure portal provider ShareFile.

Where in the world is Brian?  Well, I spoke at the Thomson Reuters User Conference in San Diego and at the PA Institute of CPA’s Emerging CPA’s Conference last week.  This week, I’ll be speaking at the Tennessee Society of CPA’s Accounting & Auditing Conference (today), then jumping on a plane to the CCH User Conference in San Antonio, and wrapping up the week at the Arkansas Society of CPA’s Technology Conference on Thursday and Friday.  (I really wanted to go to the Sleeter Conference in Vegas, but there were not enough hours in the day for me to make all of that happen). For more information about the goings-on, follow me on Twitter (@BFTCPA).  There’s some really fabulous stuff rolling out to the profession this week, dah-lings.

(Now, where’s that sugar-free Red Bull I just opened….)

Mobile Monitors 2011

As a recovering auditor, I try to review the options for mobile hardware to be able to advise conference participants on the devices they should be considering for their summer retooling process.  This year, I’m fortunate to have a Field Monitor Pro from Mobile Monitor Technologies (15.4" LCD, clamshell case with keypad on the other side, image gallery of this unit at http://mmt2.com/fmp/gallery.html).  It has 32/64 bit drivers, works and plays well with the DisplayLink drivers for my docking station (it actually is a DisplayLink compatible device) , and is designed to take the level of abuse that road warriors dish out.  Although I just got it a few days ago, it appears to be a BIG WIN, and I love it so far.  I'll be taking it on the road this year, and I'll post an updated report on it to my blog once I have adequately tested it.

The Field Monitor Pro from Mobile Monitor Technologies (mmt2.com) is a USB-connected 15.4” second monitor for use in the field.  Designed for auditors, this should be on your short list for evaluation and purchase this year if you work at client sites 2+ days at a time. For more information, visit www.mmt2.com

 

I also have one of the older Samsung LD displays which are designed for laptop users (mine is a 19").  The 22" is as small as you can buy the Samsung monitors - I asked the Samsung people at CES about this directly this year.  I broke the LCD on one of these a couple of years ago by putting too much pressure on it, and had abandoned using it for fear of breaking it.  As such, the FMP is going to be a big win this year.
 
I love the Samsung LD220 (Staples is closing them out at $160 each at http://bit.ly/LD220), and it has full 1080p (1920x1080) resolution.  The major technical concern I have with this device is that it's using a traditional VGA cable, and 1080p is an awful lot of data flowing over a VGA cable - I would prefer an HDMI input so I could use it with other home theater gear.  The thing really stopping me from carrying one of these is the size of the unit.  If you are traveling by car, it's fine, but if you are doing air travel or train travel, unless you put the monitor in your clothing suitcase, it's just too darn big.  It also takes up a lot of desk real estate, and unless you have lots of desk room, it's simply too much.  But boy, it’s pretty.

I am notoriously hard on equipment since I travel over 100,000 air miles a year, and spend 150 nights a year in hotels, so I think the rugged design of the FMP should be a major consideration for buyers, and I think it will serve users well.  It IS a little more expensive, but it's a very high quality LCD unit, and the dot pitch and resolution matches my laptop display nicely.  At $289, it's about $50 more than the Toshiba unit after you add the $40 external power supply to the Toshiba, but it is a LOT more substantial, and is 1.4" more display area as well.

Toshiba’s Mobile Monitor was unveiled at CES this year, and it hit the market about six weeks ago (http://bit.ly/tosmmt).  I was excited about it before I discovered the Field Monitor Pro, as there aren’t many choices for mobile monitors in this area.  Some things to consider about it:
+ The case is a soft case, and I am not comfortable that it gives the LCD the protection it needs to survive planes, trains, and automobiles.  Although it is an inexpensive device, it feels a little cheap
+ Although it says that it will run off of USB power, and it technically will run off of USB power, it's in a very reduced brightness mode.  As such, you will want to get the $40 optional external power brick so you can see the thing.

The other option is to use the approach of using desktop LCD displays with a CaseAce carrying case/harness.  Although the form factors of these monitors are a little clunky, with the built-in stands of these LCD's protruding from the bottom of the devices, this is a workable solution for some.  CaseAce is the brand I've been recommending for this - see http://bit.ly/caseace.  While I don't advocate this use, it might be a way to recycle some of those 17" and 19" displays that you're phasing out for users in the office.  I don't advocate this use unless these older monitors are in pristine condition and the users don’t travel much , but it is an option if you have to improvise.

As a side note, I now carry a 12' HDMI cable with me on the road so I can use the LCD TV in most hotel rooms as a second monitor (since my laptop has an HDMI port).  This is particularly useful for watching Hulu and iTunes shows on the tube if you are not on a schedule where you can watch normal prime time TV.  The big displays are also excellent for reviewing images of scanned documents - they'll keep you from going blind trying to stare at monitors.

Summary:
First choice - Field Monitor Pro $289 @ www.mmt2.com.  The right tool, and ruggedized for your protection.
Second choice - Samsung LD220 ($160 @ staples (http://bit.ly/LD220), add a $70 case to get to $230) (assuming you don't do much air travel)
Third choice – CaseAce monitor harness (http://bit.ly/caseace), plus a desktop LCD. (This is not the optimal solution, but it is workable for occasional users.)

Comments and discussion on this are welcome – please use the form at the bottom of this post.

Report From CES: Mobile Monitors and Mobile Scanning

I attended the 2011 international CES show in Las Vegas last week.  I’m posting some of my observations on monitors and scanners which would be useful for mobile accountants below.  I’m looking forward to working with the ScanSnap S1100 and putting it through its paces!

Mobile Monitors

There has (finally) been some innovation in the mobile monitor space to make it much easier for mobile users (e.g. road warriors) to have two monitors without carrying a ton of gear. Two new models offer road warriors workable solutions for that second display, the Toshiba Mobile Monitor (to be released in March 2011, price TBA) and the Field Monitor Pro from Mobile Monitor Technologies ($289 from www.mmt2.com)

Figure 1: The Toshiba Mobile Monitor is a 14.1" LCD display which runs on USB power. (available March 2011)

The Toshiba device uses one USB 2.0 slot to provide a second 14.1” display (1366 x 768) for an external monitor, and we understand that there will be a USB 3.0 version coming soon. This exciting new offering comes in a leather folio which seals with Velcro, and can be used as a stand for the monitor on any flat surface. The model we saw was a prototype, and we were told that this device will be available in March, 2011. (Pricing not available at press time)

Figure 2 - The Field Monitor Pro, from www.MMT2.com is $279, and includes a numeric keypad.

Although they were not at CES 2011, the enterprising accountants at Mobile Monitor Technologies appeared at the 2010 CCH User Conference with the Field Monitor Pro. This device is similar to a very thin laptop, and its 15.4” 1280x800 display is connected to a PC using a USB port. The LCD can be positioned using three different stands, and includes a full numeric keypad. The Field Monitor Pro is priced at $279, and is available now from www.mmt2.com.

Mobile Scanning

Scanners for use on the road have been a challenge for accountants on the go for some time, and although Fujitsu has offered the ScanSnap S1300 portable scanner for some time, this device is still somewhat bulky to carry every day or for road warriors. Fujitsu recently released the ScanSnap S1100 to fill this gap in their product line.

Figure 3 - Fujitsu's ScanSnap S1100 offers portable scanning in a micro-sized footprint.

Weighing in at a light 12.3 ounces, the svelte (10.74” x 1.33” x 1.87”) ScanSnap 1100 scans one side of one page at a time, and will handle hard to scan originals like embossed cards without an issue. Scanning takes 7.5 seconds per page, which puts the speed for this device at about six pages per minute.

Figure 4- The Fujitsu ScanSnap S1100 portable scanner

Although the scanner itself is impressive, the real advances made by Fujitsu are in the accompanying ScanSnap Manager software, which has been extended to allow users to scan documents directly to PDF files, e-mail messages, printers, or to numerous cloud applications for online collaboration. One-click online document sharing is available for Evernote, SharePoint, and Google Docs.

Figure 5 - Fujitsu's ScanSnap Manager software allows one-touch uploads to numerous document portal services.

Another alternative for mobile scanning is to use software to convert the high quality digital cameras in tablets and cellular phones into a scanning device. One application, PDF Scanner, which is available for Windows Mobile 6, Android, and the iPhone, will take pictures of documents and convert them into PDF files, which can then be either downloaded using a cable or attached to e-mail messages. PDF scanner is available from most cell phone application stores, and more information can be found at www.melonmobile.com.

2010 K2 Enterprises 9th Annual Quality Awards

Hammond, LA – September 27, 2010 ‐‐ K2 Enterprises today announced the recipients of their annual quality awards as follows:

· Reseller Program – Avalara

· CPA Program – QuickBooks ProAdvisor – Intuit, Inc.

· Installation Channel/Methodology – Intacct

· Reseller Channel – Sage North America

· New Product – iPad – Apple, Inc.

· New Module – MIP Fundraising Online - Sage

· New Technology – Intelliconnect - CCH

· Management Strategy – Thomson Reuters

· Technical Support – Conexxus

· Customer Satisfaction – AccountantsWorld, Inc.

· Ease of Use – Confirmation.com – Capital Confirmation

· Marketing Communications – Thomson Reuters

· Overall Quality – Windows 7 – Microsoft, Inc.

· Tax – Pro Systems fx - CCH

· Accounting Industry Press Coverage – CPA Technology Advisor

· Audit – Knowledge Coach - CCH

· Financial Reporting - BizNet

· Workflow – XCM – XCM Solutions

· Small Business Solution - Freshbooks

· Small CPA Firm Solution - Drake

K2 Enterprises is the premier provider of technology continuing professional education (CPE) in both the United States and Canada. With seminars in over 46 states in 2010, 1,000+ presentations, special events such as their turn‐key Annual Technology Conferences, CPE & Ski, K2 Enterprises ‐ Canada, they are the largest provider of technology CPE in North America.

K2 Enterprises CEO, Val Steed, announced five new categories this year.  “We feel like after nine years we needed to expand our awards a bit.  The accounting technology industry is becoming more specialized and I would imagine we will add a few more categories next year”.  Executive Vice President Randy Johnston said “I am especially pleased to see so many good candidates this year.  It certainly makes voting much more difficult and expanding the awards is the right thing to do”.

K2 Enterprises Annual Quality Awards are determined by a simple voting poll of the K2 Enterprises instructor team. The polling members of this team are Randy Johnston, Will Fleenor, Val Steed, Bob Spencer, Alan Salmon, Lawrence (Mac) McClelland, Tommy Stephens, Brian Tankersley, & Ilene Eisen.

K2 team votes are influenced by, end user feedback, and experience from consulting and extensive teaching. Detailed biographies on each of the polled members can be found at:

http://www.k2e.com/team

 

K2 Enterprises Websites:

www.k2e.com

www.accountingsoftwareworld.com

www.cpafirmtech.com

www.totallypaperless.com

 

Press Contact:

Caron Choate

K2 Enterprises

1250 SW Railroad Avenue

Suite 240A

Hammond, LA 70403

caron@k2e.com

(985) 542-9390

Analysis on the Cheap

I often remind participants in my seminars that every accountant I’ve ever met shares a common favorite four letter word.

Seriously.

That word is, of course, FREE.

With that in mind, I’ve run across some tools over the last few months that I haven’t blogged about, and wanted to pass these along to you all.  The tools are available for the low, low price of….. wait for it…. FREE.

Analyzing and manipulating large data sets has long been the job of accountants, auditors, and analysts, and the classic tools for these tasks like CaseWare IDEA, ACL, and others have always been very expensive and required a week or so of training so that you can be proficient with them.  With the general availability of quad core processors, workstations with 8 GB+ of RAM, fast 1 TB hard disks, end users no longer need to wait on someone to create a report for them.  Get the right tools, get access to the data, and get to work. 

Basic Tools: Microsoft Query and Excel PivotTables

Although they aren’t technically “free” since you need to purchase Microsoft Office to get them, Microsoft offers a couple of tools which are just as useful to analysts as an adjustable wrench (a Crescent wrench) and a claw hammer are to those doing home repair.

• Microsoft Query is a tool for selecting, joining, sorting, filtering, and extracting data from databases.  Query is one of those “helper” applications which is hidden from most users – I have only executed MS Query from within the Data tab of the Excel 2007/2010 Ribbon (Data, Get External Data Group, From Other Sources, Microsoft Query), but it is invaluable for entry level work with databases, and is compatible with any ODBC compliant database which you can use on your PC, including MS Access, MS SQL, and many, many other formats.  Queries can be created, edited, saved, and executed from a simple menu structure, and a wizard makes the hard task of writing SQL statements into child’s play.
• Excel Pivot Tables make it possible to summarize large data sets into interactive tables.  Although a full discussion of Pivot Tables would take all day (I actually own entire volumes written on Pivot Tables, and teach TWO half day classes on them (1) (2) through K2 Enterprises), suffice it to say that Pivot Tables will change your life, and do just about anything you want except make your teeth whiter and make you more attractive to members of the opposite sex.  Seriously – they’re that good.

 

ActiveData For Office

My friends over at InformationActive.com have a couple of nice products which meet the needs of accountants, engineers, and other professionals who need to perform sophisticated analysis on large data sets.  While my favorite one, ActiveData for Excel, is still a pay application, there is a version of this powerful tool called ActiveData for Office, which is now available for the low, low, price of FREE.  ActiveData for Office (also referred to as “ActiveData for SQL”) uses standard ODBC connections to talk to large databases, and will perform routine calculations like verifying the accuracy of an A/R aging report based on the dates in an open item listing, stratifying a sample, and evaluating sample results.  I’ve been somewhat confused by the move to give away this product, as I think it’s more powerful than the Excel tool – but pricing decisions are above my pay grade.  For more information, visit InformationActive.com’s page on ActiveData for Office.

ActiveData for Office is a FREE data analysis tool which is invaluable for Accountants and other information professionals who need to slice and dice large data sets.

 

PowerPivot for Office 2010

With the release of Microsoft Office 2010, our friends at Microsoft have come to the table with one of the best tools for summarizing huge (100K+ records) data sets.  While the tool does require that you become an early adopter of Office 2010, the price is definitely right, and the tool has been used to analyze data sets with hundreds of millions of records.  PowerPivot (free from www.powerpivot.com) is a self-service business intelligence tool designed to let end users create their own business intelligence (BI) solutions which combine data from disparate sources using an Excel add-in.  For seasoned BI professionals, PowerPivot creates pre-summarized tables which are periodically updated and can be queried similar to cubes for almost instant calculations on data sets with millions of records.

While you can do many of the same things using MS Access, update queries, dummy databases, ODBC connections, and pivot tables, PowerPIvot is both more powerful (smarter) and easier to use (better looking) than the alternatives, and it’s free.

If you haven’t tried it, PowerPivot is available from www.powerpivot.com.

Monitors for Out of the Office and Other Hardware Recommendations

One of the more common questions asked by readers is a request for recommendations of external LCD monitors which can be attached to a laptop so that mobile users have two displays.  This post summarizes current thoughts on how to do this based on my experiences and the experiences of my friends, Randy Johnston, Bob Spencer, and Val Steed.  Together, we teach hundreds of CPE courses to accountants across North America each year, and also make recommendations at TechnologyBestPractices.com, CPAFirmTech.com, TotallyPaperless.com, and AccountingSoftwareWorld.com.  Many of us are also active consultants with CPA firms nationally either independently or through organizations such as NMGI.

The K2 CPA Firm Tech team members had an e-mail discussion re: our personal opinions on portable monitors for CPAs about three weeks ago. 

• Some of my co-workers @ K2 (Val, Randy, Bob) are recommending an HP 21.5” touch screen monitor – the HP L2105tm 21.5”($299).  Personally, I think this one is too big to lug around (14.1 lb (6.4 kg), Dimensions (w x d x h) 20.2 x 9.1 x 16.5 in).  The one I mention below is smaller, but does not have the multi-touch touch screen, and is also only an 18.5” display instead of a 21.5” display, resulting in much less work area, but my recommendation is a little over half of the weight of the HP model.  Info on HP model L2105tm is available on the HP website.
• Due its the much smaller form factor (17.72" x 11.65" x 2.83", Weight 7.94 lbs), I’m recommending the Samsung LD190N monitor for staff and seniors when out of the office  ().  It is a 18.5” LCD (1360 x 768 native resolution), and has a 5ms response time with decent contrast.  I purchased one of these for my own use a few weeks ago.  Some things you should know about this display:
  • This WILL NOT fit in my backpack sized for a 17”notebook, so I haven’t taken it on the road yet.
  • The monitor is NOT HDCP capable, so you will not be able to play Blue Ray DVDs on it, and only has an analog VGA cable input.
  • Since this one is only $119 vs. the $299 of the HP above (the HP is clearly a superior monitor, but it’s big, you could always buy a few of the Samsungs, and then see if you need a larger display and the touch interface. 
• You might try to find a good deal on 17” monitors, although I don’t know of any specific models to recommend, as most everyone is going to something bigger these days.

Screen protection will be a concern for most users, as there is no protection provided with either of these displays, and they will be very easy to crack.  I plan to protect my screen two ways:

• I plan to use black velcro (matches the framing on the monitor) to attach a trimmed corrugated plastic For Sale sign you can buy at Lowe’s/Home Depot and use it as a hard piece to protect the screen.
• I will see if any of my existing bags will hold the monitor so I can avoid purchasing a special case for it (I have about 10 laptop cases from throughout the years).

There are a number of alternatives for a case, including:

• For the smaller Samsung and other 19” class displays, there’s a closeout bag by Shuttle (gaming PC manufacturer) which is designed to transport their discontinued XP19 - 19” monitor (which had a piece of plexiglass over the LCD) from place to place.  I don’t have one at this point, but it looks pretty interesting, and is $60 @ Directron, an online closeout store.
• One firm reported that they use the CaseAce LCD harness to transport monitors and shield the screens from damage.  This is a cover shaped like a messenger bag (with the bottom open) to let you carry your monitor by the handle mounted on the top of the bag.  (Note: This harness appears to not be water tight, so you may want to also carry a trash bag with you to seal the monitor in the event of very heavy rain).  There is a larger version of this LCD harness which will let you carry monitors up to 24”. 
• Another firm reported that they used contact paper to reinforce the original packaging which came with their monitors and are using these boxes on the infrequent occasions when they need to move from site to site with their LCD.

Finally, some users will want to have more than one 22” monitor available in the office.  There are a number of solutions which will let you run the second external monitor (e.g. laptop LCD + 2 External LCD’s), including:

• VillageTronic’s viBook USB to DVI adapter.
• Arkview’s USB to DVI adapter
• Some docking stations

I would NOT purchase more than one of any device until you test it and verify that the drivers will not conflict with your applications and operating system.  I have had numerous issues with drivers for these items in the past, and some of the ones you can purchase at retail in office supply stores have software which will hang up when you try to run the PC without the attached monitor – which defeats the purpose of having a laptop.

FREE WEBCAST 12/9/2009 @ 2PM - On a personal note, I’m presenting a free one hour webcast on Gadgets with Greg Lafollette at 2pm EST on Wednesday, December 9th.  I hope you will register and attend.  The webcast is sponsored by Sage.

Got Tick Marks?

One of the more common things I am asked from people who are implementing a document management system is how they can include their “tick marks” in their documents.  My usual responses are to look at PDFlyer or Tick, Tie & Calculate in Acrobat (or alternatively, create your own stamps), and to either use graphics or a symbol font like wingdings in Word, Excel, and everything else. 

My wife and I recently started using SendOutCards to send some of her follow up correspondence as part of her work as a mortgage loan officer.  One of the things you get with SendOutCards is the ability to create a custom font based on your handwriting.  I have sent mine off, and am somewhat anxious about what it’s going to look like when it is complete (my handwriting really, really stinks).  This effort, however, has opened my eyes to how easy it is to create your own, personalized font to do things like tick marks and other symbols.  While you can purchase applications for $50 to do this, the geniuses over at LifeHacker had a great post in February which mentioned YourFonts, a web service which does this for you for free.  You fill out a form, scan it, and it encodes the stuff you wrote as images in a Windows-compatible TrueType font.

If you needed to create a font for tick marks, you could simply create your own font using this tool, and instead of making the letters correctly, you could assign a tick mark to each character on your keyboard.  And it’s free.  You will need to share your tick mark files with anyone who would print out your documents, and will probably want to render the final versions to PDF (and embed the tick mark font in the PDF files), but if you do this, it’s a fairly elegant solution to one of the more vexing problems associated with annotating documents.

Thoughts on Auditing from Across the Pond

Dennis Howlett, an accountant/blogger who is a British CA and lives in Spain recently posted to his blog (www.accmanpro.com) a story about Auditing and traditional financial reporting being over.  Interesting discussion (and it makes me wonder why our business model is exempt from being reengineered)... thought some of you gentle readers might enjoy it.  I may post a rebuttal after I've contemplated the article and formulated my thoughts.  Whether you agree or disagree, it is thought provoking.

Howlett's post: http://www.accmanpro.com/2009/02/03/auditing-its-over-cuz-its-not-smart/

The post that started it all: Umair Haque's "Smart Growth Manifesto":
        http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/haque/2009/01/davos_discussing_a_depression.html

Gliffy - More than a Family Nickname Gone Horribly Wrong

So there I was - reviewing some websites for a proposal, and out pops a gem of an application that you might want to consider.  It's got a funny name (like most web 2.0 / AJAX sites), but it seems pretty neat.

The site is Gliffy, which was written using OpenLazlo, an AJAX development tool.  Gliffy doesn't aspire to take over your Office (they'll leave that challenge to better funded competitors like Google - and even with the best brains and lots of cash, that's going to be pretty tough to pull off).  Gliffy just wants your flowcharts.  Lots of them.  And you can do it in a browser.

If you're one of those who has used my Excel flowchart template in the past, you might want to sneak a look at Gliffy - in the immortal words of Bluto, "Don't cost nothin'"