CPA Technology Blog

Post on Tax Season at The Progressive Accountant

I wrote a piece for the Progressive Accountant on tax season 2009 with some stuff from industry people about things they noted this tax season.....  hop on over and read it for yourself.

The Obamas released their 1040 today.  Looks like he's going to qualify for those higher taxes he keeps talking about.... (tip o'the hat to Kerry at taxguru.net for the link)

Ran into Ben Franklin in Philadelphia a couple of weeks ago.... he says that the only things certain in this life are death and taxes.... (I guess being over 300 years old makes you a little cynical....)

New Stuff Alert – April 8, 2009

There have been a lot of press releases lately with new and improved products and services vying for the attention of CPA’s after we all get past April 15th and get caught up on our much-needed sleep.  Some of the items I’ve run into include:

1. CCH has released IntelliConnect, the next generation platform for their research products.  It’s currently available on the products which were on Tax Research Network (and CCH is going to be migrating existing users starting in about three weeks), but it is a very simple to use platform.  One of the limiting things about the superceded TRN platform is that you need to select where you want to look for search results.  With IntelliConnect, by default, you search in all available databases – which means that you can find stuff in products you didn’t even know you had access to in your plan.  The user interface has been reconfigured to look more like the familiar three-pane split screen interface we all use in Microsoft Outlook or other e-mail programs.  I could go on about this for a while (and believe me, as NOT exciting as tax research can be, that’s saying something) – but you should check it out.  Think: Google for tax research, with authoritative literature.  (Now, if I could just get something like this for these shoeboxes I’m working my way through….  Search: BM&E, mileage logs +1099… (and then I woke up))

2.  Intacct and AICPA announced a deal to bring Intacct’s web-based accounting systems to AICPA members, and the two will develop a joint product that brings AICPA’s content together with Intacct’s systems for a new version of the product aimed at CPA’s.  I’ve done some work lately with Intacct, and have been very impressed with how easy it is to use, as well as the interesting ways you can use it to accumulate data the way you want to see it presented.  In the long run, I think there is a place for cloud computing – especially where people need to collaborate who are not in the same physical location.  The on-premises software model has so many capitalized costs as well as hidden maintenance costs, SaaS makes it possible for people to add capacity (and drop capacity) seamlessly as it is needed.  The financial flexibility associated with SaaS alone is a reason to consider it – before you consider the redundant data centers, real time backup, access from anywhere, etc.  While there are still some user issues to be worked out with any SaaS deployment (security validation, your backup, exit strategy if you want to change products, vendor due diligence, etc.), I’m glad to see the AICPA move toward the future with a SaaS offering as strong as Intacct.

3. CODA announced a new version of CODA 2go based on the Force.com platform.  While this press release just came out yesterday, Dennis Howlett from across the pond has some good interview video with a CODA representative talking about the solution.

4. ThomsonReuters announced updates to their PlannerCS product related to the new tax legislation.  They’ve got a scan & organize solution this year with both UltraTax and GoSystem Tax, and I’m looking forward to hearing from firms how well things are going.  I’m not hearing anything from firms right now – which must mean that things are going reasonably well, and they are pretty busy.  (Normal for this time of year in the tax world.)

5. Fujitsu is coming out with the updated ScanSnap S1500(the desktop model), and has some cool things going on with touch-screen, network based scanners(the fi-6010N).  I’m anxiously awaiting my 30 days with a demo unit, as I have about 10 Banker’s Boxes of files which need to be put into my DMS, and I’m looking forward to having a device which doesn’t tie up a PC and can scan 50 pages a minute.  Very, very cool.

6. HP has some production scanners coming out soon with a new, jam-resistant sheet feeder on them.  I saw one work at the AIIM show, and it looked pretty good.  I’m optimistic here, but would like to play with a demo unit for 30 days or so before I pass judgement here.  A shoot-off between their unit and a Fujitsu would be very interesting here – kind of a reality show for paper farmers like me…  Hmmmm… that gives me an idea.

As a side note, I ran into a contact from ThomsonReuters at the AIIM Info360 show in Philadelphia.  It’s always nice when you see professional contacts from the CPA industry attending shows like AIIM which are targeted at general use of technology – it reminds me that we’re all competing for the best ideas and technique to increase our productivity and output.  I don’t know about you, but I’m doing my best to not participate in the recession.  The economic doldrums will have to drag me to the party kicking and screaming.  While I’m not delusional here, I have discoverered that worrying is a largely non-productive emotion.

I’m getting into podcasting with some different groups.  I have two podcasts in development, and the first episode of each is now posted to the web (although I don’t think either are on iTunes as of yet.  The podcasts are:

• Focus on Gadgets & Gizmos is a monthly podcast where Greg LaFollette and I talk about leading (and sometimes bleeding) edge gadgets & gizmos you can use to enhance your digital lifestyle (work and play).  We’re still working on the list of material we will cover in future episodes, but the first episode is on the Amazon Kindle2 device. 
• The Bit Brothers is a periodic podcast that I do with Dr. Bob Spencer and Randy Johnston on general technology topics.  We’re still working on our material for future episodes, etc., but you can learn more about what we’re doing and listen to our very rough episode #1 at www.bitbros.com.

We’re working on increasing the production quality of each podcast – both were recorded using Skype and/or telephone call recording devices, and I’m learning more than I ever imagined I would about reverb, signal to noise ratio, licensing rights for music, audio mixing (I may be reaching out to my namesake, the record producer for some help here).  If you have comments, ideas, recommendations, etc., please send them to bftcpa [att] gmail/dot/com

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.

MD Society of CPA's: H&R Block Drops Controversial Ad Campaign

http://www.cpasuccess.com/2009/02/truth-prevails-hr-block-to-stop-running-offending-ads.html

Glad to see this.  There's plenty of work for all of us out there in all segments without resorting to the kind of rhetoric H&R Block has used in this and previous campaigns.

One of my favorite quotes is that when you sling garbage around, all you really do is ensure that you will stink like garbage.  Nuff said.

H&R Block and the Credit Crunch

Interesting post on Footnoted.org, (one of the better financial blogs out there) about H&R Block's contingent liabilities related to the sale of its Option One sub-prime mortgage unit. 

http://www.footnoted.org/buried-treasure/still-singing-the-subprime-blues-at-hr-block/

Interesting times....

The Future’s So Bright, We Have to Wear Shades

There’s a very interesting article by Andy Kessler on the editorial page in the Wall Street Journal this morning which discusses the coming war in technology; the link is here.  While Microsoft and Google are the armies currently fighting the skirmishes around the future of technology, this is really simply a proxy war about how we will use technology in the future.  Just as there are different methods of transporting goods around the country (think: rail vs. truck vs. airplane), there are also different models of computing
(browser vs. local vs. mobile).  Processing power (thanks to Moore’s Law), bandwidth, and wireless technology have changed the level of real time information sharing.  HP has even come out with a laptop (HP Compaq 6720t) which is designed to be used as a thin client into corporate systems and which doesn’t even have a hard drive!.

Many accountants are rightly concerned with the security and information control implications of using online services for their
mission-critical applications.  While these are legitimate concerns, the reality of our digital infrastructure has generally made these concerns less of a problem now than in the past.  High speed internet is getting faster.  Last week, I received a flyer from my local telephone company offering a fiber internet connection which would have 25Mbps down/10Mbps up connectivity to my home. 

While I’m still mulling over whether or not I really need that fast a connection at home since my current connection is 10Mbps down/1Mbps up through my cable provider, it’s really interesting that this level of service is now available in Knoxville, Tennessee, which, although a nice-sized city, is admittedly not one of the first cities you think of when you imagine fast internet speeds.  My current internet connections (cable and Sprint wireless) continue to impress me with the speeds which are possible; my cable connection averages 8 Mbps down, 970K up whenever I test the speed, and my wireless connection (backup) has been running over 1.1 Mbps down/300K up on the road lately with EVDO Rev A. 

Anecdotal evidence suggests that telecommunications and other utilities are also more reliable than we have had in the past.  Where I used to reboot my router and modem every morning, I now go for months without rebooting these devices, and they seem to just work now.  My collaboration with others within K2 suggests that their experiences are similar:  I have noted only two critical outages among the team during the first four months of the year.  When I started my career 15 years ago, we would have two or three power outages during the busy season which would shut us down and cause us to lose work.  While utilities aren’t sexy, they certainly seem to have made significant improvements in the last generation.

If you haven’t tried some of the latest evolutions in Web-based applications, here are some for your consideration:

• Gliffy – Flowcharts on the Web
• QuickBooks Online
• Microsoft Office Live Small Business and OfficeLive Workspace
• Bill.com – Electronic workflow and AP/AR processing
• Copanion GruntWorx – An online application for scanning and organizing tax returns
• XCM – Workflow automation for CPA Firms
• Google Apps – An office suite which allows Web-based collaboration and processing of spreadsheets and word processing documents.  These documents can be taken offline with an app called Google Gears.
• Thomson and CCH offer hosted versions of their CPA firm applications.  Thomson’s offering is called Virtual Office CS, and CCH’s offering is called Global fx.  (Both have simplified life for many firms who want to quit applying updates and administering servers in their offices.)
• Capital Confirmation makes audit confirmations paperless and electronic (and really fast as well).
• Jungledisk – An application installed on your PC which creates an encrypted storage drive using Amazon’s Simple Storage Service (S3) .

While the future direction of computing hasn’t been finalized, there are really interesting things happening in technology, and some things (like those pages or CD’s for reference materials) are on the way out. The future appears to offer more choices for how tools are delivered to users, which will make it much easier to work from anywhere – even a condo in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Brian Tankersley is a CPA and CITP based in Knoxville, Tennessee.  You can learn more about him at www.bftcpa.com.

Tags: WebApplications cloud versus local accounting CPA space

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

Backup Horror Stories for CPAs....

So there I was- listening to this week's Security Now podcast on the plane- and about 12 minutes in, Steve (the host) starts talking about his hard drive testing and data recovery tool. (This tool is typically used after a drive has started giving trouble). Here's the thumbnail-

CPA has old server.  In the middle of tax season, their server stops working due to drive failure.  Tech runs Spin Rite on the disks, recovers most of the data (which is of course not backed up), and then installs a new server after tax season.

I'll probably play this in the CPA Firm Tech session in Des Moines - it's a pretty scary scenario.  The other thing CPAs seem to harbor is an acute sense of denial about the need for backups.

Links are as follows:
http://tinyurl.com/29q9hj
-or-
http://www.grc.com/sn/SN-095.htm

When your browser completes loading the page, just search for CPA, and you can read the transcript directly.
Enjoy- BFT

March 15th....

Here's a quote for those in the throes of the March 15th corporate deadline

• If you are going through Hell, keep going. - Sir Winston Churchill

IRS Announces 2007 Mileage Rates

(from IRS Website)

Beginning Jan. 1, 2007, the standard mileage rates for the use of a car (including vans, pickups or panel trucks) will be:

• 48.5 cents per mile for business miles driven;
• 20 cents per mile driven for medical or moving purposes; and
• 14 cents per mile driven in service to a charitable organization.

The new rate for business miles compares to a rate of 44.5 cents per mile for 2006.  The new rate for medical and moving purposes compares to 18 cents in 2006. The primary reasons for the higher rates were higher prices for vehicles and fuel during the year ending in October.