RootWorks - Darren's Blog

SmartVault Expands to Reach Larger Accounting Base and Beyondâ�¨

SmartVault is one of our profession’s software providers that speaks to total Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) functionality. With the release of SmartVault V3, the company has a greater reach beyond its previous integration with QuickBooks.

The new release enables accountants and business customers the ability to use SmartVault to store, access, and share documents online—offering a complete online document management solution. SmartVault still maintains its integration with QuickBooks to store source documents attached directly to a QuickBooks transaction.

According to Eric Pulaski, founder and CEO, the company’s expansion beyond QuickBooks is “game changing for the business customer” because the entire office can now benefit for the system’s powerful functionality. Users can customize their file and folder structure, invite other users to access specific folders, and integrate SmartVault folders directly with Windows Explorer or the Mac OS to securely drag and drop documents or entire folders to or from their local file system.

Any readers of my blog or The CPA Technology Advisor know how much I’ve touted SaaS. I’d like to offer big kudos to SmartVault for truly applying this amazing technology.

Accounting Ranks High in Best/Worst Jobs for 2010

Validation is a good thing. I’ve talked about how accounting is a great profession for quite a long time—and even blogged about it when I met with the business students at the University of Indiana.

CareerCast recently published its annual ranking of the 200 Best and Worst Jobs for 2010. Accounting came in at a cool #9! Interestingly, “Actuary,” another analysis-oriented profession, came in at #1.

Although the study was commissioned by a company whose main interest is to broker available jobs, I do think the results are significant. Firms should use this kind of information when they recruit students on campuses to serve in intern positions or when they conduct interviews within firms. Any time you can say a profession like accounting ranked #9 among 200 professions, the outcome is truly significant.

The rankings are based on five factors: 1) physical demand, 2) work environment,
3) income, 4) stress, and 5) hiring outlook. With a median income of almost $60,000, accounting ranked high based on seemingly low stress and a very positive hiring outlook.

Curious about the worst job? Here it is: A Roustabout—one who “performs routine physical labor and maintenance on oil rigs and pipelines, both on and offshore.”

Indiana U. Biz Students: â�&oelig;Not Your Fatherâ�™s Accounting Firmâ��

I just spent the day with 200 seniors at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business, one of the top business schools in the country. I have to give these students a lot of credit because they were totally engaged during an intelligent two-way dialog about today’s accounting firm.

We all know there’s going to be a reported shortage of talent coming out of business school – students with accounting degrees who want to work for public firms. Recruiting smart, go-getters to succeed in our firms is difficult. Students may become certified, but tell us they want to work in companies, and even start their own businesses, in order to propel them to the top much faster than is possible in an accounting firm.

Still, there’s hope based on my day at Indiana. The students were eager to hear about huge opportunities in accounting firms that definitely do not resemble what I like to call “your father’s accounting firm,” a focus we use in the RootWorks Leadership Communities.

Any parent knows almost-grads have three passions: technology, entrepreneurship and having a life. To meet their needs and hold their attention, I addressed these issues:

•   We talked about the possibilities of plugging in to an existing small firm and creating their own custom work environment. Why not? A small firm benefits from the time and talents of smart grads while the grad learns how to work remotely, manage his or her own “small business” and provide huge contributions on new ways of doing business.
•   We discussed using technology and best practices to create the best career possible – and it’s to this end that the opportunities are truly endless.
•   We talked about how a career in this profession can create a great lifestyle with stability, a good income, work/life balance, and most of all, fun.

I don’t think there’s anything unique about the students at Indiana’s business school that you couldn’t also find in any college setting. As accounting professionals, I challenge each of us to find ways to meet these students and talk with them about how accounting is a rich, rewarding profession with infinite choices.

Top 5 2010 Wish-List Goals for the Accounting Profession

It’s a new year, and while I’m not traditionally the kind of guy who makes resolutions that can’t be kept, it’s always a good exercise to peer a bit into the future to understand your potential achievements.

That’s a fancy way of giving you my own wish-list for the accounting profession in 2010:

1.   Set Attainable Goals. There’s nothing worse than setting goals you can’t achieve. Cheat a bit and set a few goals that you know, without a doubt, will come true – along with a few that are attainable with a bit of work. The first set will validate what you’re doing, while the second set offers challenges … and challenges are good!
2.   Join a Community. If there is strength in numbers, then it makes sense for every person within a firm to be part of a larger group outside the firm. Not only will you be inspired; community groups are great for networking. Personal hobby groups are great, but I’m talking about professional groups that are a good source of information and referrals for the firm. On a national level, Rootworks’ Leadership Community is a great place to start.
3.   Compute on the Cloud. There’s no doubt in my mind that 2010 is the year cloud computing will explode. Based on the feedback from the recent Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas, the cloud is the place to be. However, if the accounting profession is going to embrace the cloud, most skeptical accountants who mistrust the security issues surrounding cloud computing will need to remain very optimistic. The cloud works. Trust me.
4.   Take a Risk. While our profession is not traditionally known for working without a safety net, try to take some kind of risk in 2010 by doing something outside your comfort zone. Develop a new service, get in touch with your creative side by implementing new marketing and branding initiatives, speak in public, or network with colleagues you haven’t seen in awhile. Yes, you might fail – but how will you know unless you try? Most successful accountants did not get ahead by just processing tax returns or performing field audits.
5.   Embrace Social Media. Understandably, most accountants shy away from social media because it’s hard to quantify the ROI associated with Twitter, Facebook or even a blog. Unless you’ve received direct referrals from LinkedIn, even that form of social media is a gray area. I suggest you stick a toe in the water and look at using just one of these tools. I also suggest connecting with a marketing expert to help you get started. Try it. See how it works. Something as simple as commenting on the blog at CPATechViews is a good start.

Can it really be 10 years since Y2K? Were we really afraid the world was going to end? The marriage of accounting and technology has come a long way since the year 2000! Make this the year you define your success.

Embrace Change? Whatâ�™s the Alternative?

I saw a lot of heads nodding in agreement this morning when Jon Baron, president of Professional Software & Services, Tax & Accounting, for Thomson Reuters, asked the profession to “Forget Same-As-Last-Year; Embrace Change!”

How many accountants does it take to embrace change? If you can’t count that high, then it’s too many.

A bad joke, but it does prove a point.

At the opening address of today’s TR Annual Users’ Conference in Orlando, Jon unveiled two new products, Accounting CS™ and Virtual Client Office™, as well as new enhancements made to TR’s Source Document Processing. These products are a direct result of his mantra to embrace change … to accept these new applications and software enhancements as the next generation of technology – or stay behind the curve.

“We are always expanding the products and services we offer to meet the ever-changing needs of the profession,” he said. “It is critical for our users to keep pace with ongoing changes.”

Rootworks’ own solutions closely mirror TR’s endeavors, and I personally congratulate TR for staying on the cutting edge. The vibe at the Conference is strong, with lots of talk about how to serve clients through these new processes and applications.

The bottom line: If you’re managing your practice and the technology the way they were managed two, five and even 10 years ago, you HAVE to change. There IS no alternative.

Thomson Reuters Hits Portal Milestone

The client portal is alive and well, thanks to companies such as Thomson Reuters, whose strength in numbers was once again demonstrated. The company just announced its users implemented more than 300,000 client portals with NetClient CS®. The milestone is an increase of more than 100,000 portals in 16 months.

“We introduced the profession’s first client portal solution in 2001, and it took us five years to get to our first 100,000 portals,” says Scott Fleszar, senior director of Strategic Marketing for Tax & Accounting, Thomson Reuters. “But times have changed. We now have thousands of users implementing hundreds of new portals every day. That says a lot about the technology advances taking place across the profession, and about how users have embraced the move to NetClient CS, including new features like online bill pay.”

More of our own firm’s clients are turning to portals because the technology has become affordable and attainable. Just as yesterday’s tools – the fax machine and even overnight mail – became obsolete thanks to technology, firms who have yet to discover the advantages of portals are behind the curve.

Accounting Loses 6,000 Jobs in August

This story on CPATrendlines.com was all over the Internet late last week and over the weekend. According to the story by Rick Telberg, �œthe Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a seasonally-adjusted decline in staffing by 6,000 positions to 928,300 in August. Coupled with downwardly revised figures since May, it represents the fourth straight month of decline. Earlier BLS reports had shown some gains.”

I�™ve always been the kind of guy who sees the glass as half-full �“ optimistic about the accounting profession and its infinite possibilities to be a true business partner to clients and customers. Although these kinds of reports certainly do their best to drain the glass, I remain completely convinced that accounting firms can pull themselves up by their bootstraps and succeed for the long term.

This takes hard work and can�™t happen overnight, but if firms can focus on how to take a struggling economy and make it work, then we all benefit.

Are you a Mac or PC? The Lines for Accounting Firms Continue to Blur

Last week, Apple introduced Snow Leopard, its latest operating system. The real news for those of us living double lives with PCs are the new features in the mail, calendar and address book (contact) programs that now integrate with Microsoft Exchange 2007.

Admittedly, I’m an early adopter of most anything because I enjoy the challenges of playing with technology. When Apple touted Snow Leopard as a leaner, meaner operating system, I knew the company would live up to its reputation – but also knew accountants would really like these new features as well, something I’m sure Apple didn’t think about too much, but an attribute very important to accounting firms.

Prior to last Friday, I used Entourage, Microsoft’s Mac version of Outlook. Just to set the stage, I travel and speak often throughout the year, carry a MacBook Pro, have an iMac at home and each of my kids have a MacBook as well. We all use iPhones, and did I mention we have a Apple wireless network running throughout our house?

Needless to say, I’m a big fan of Apple. Running my firm, I use all Dell PCs – hence my reference to a “double life.”

In short, I integrate more than ever before by using my Mac – even Microsoft Office for Mac – along with the mail, calendar and address book. With the new SaaS-based solutions hitting the market from various accounting technology vendors, for the first time I can see having the option of running my firm with Macs.

â�&oelig;Speed of Soundâ�� is Almost Too Slow

I�™ve blogged about how technology has the ability to transform our firms and businesses in ways that are almost super-human. Validating my thoughts is a new article on WSJ.com that talks about how companies are using technology to connect to customers in speedier ways:

�œTechnology is transforming innovation at its core, allowing companies to test new ideas at speeds�”and prices�”that were unimaginable even a decade ago. They can stick features on Web sites and tell within hours how customers respond. They can see results from in-store promotions, or efforts to boost process productivity, almost as quickly.”

I understand Fortune 500 firms have the means and money to do this, but why can�™t CPA firms also use technology to more quickly connect to its clients and prospects? According to the article, �œInnovation initiatives that used to take months and megabucks to coordinate and launch can often be started in seconds for cents.”

Consider something as basic as LinkedIn, a social media technology most CPAs understand and many already use. Through the �œAnswers” section, CPAs and accounting professionals can position themselves as resident experts on all kinds of topics simply by reading through various questions and responding. This gives you the ability to brand yourself and your own intellectual capital, not to mention providing an experienced opinion.

Yes, it�™s a simple example, but let�™s think of more ways for accountants to push out their knowledge using technology. As Coldplay says in �œSpeed of Sound,” �œLook up, I look up at night, Planets are moving at the speed of light. Climb up, up in the trees, every chance that you get.”

Stay Tuned for a Stronger Microsoft

You would have to living on the side of a mountain not to hear about Microsoft and the problems its endured over the last several years: declining revenues, slow-to-market product growth and the shortcomings of Windows Vista are just a few of the issues.

I believe things are about to change – for the better. This fall will see the debut of Windows 7, and although experts tell us it’s really only a bandage to fix Vista’s problems, it’s still expected to be huge in terms of business and consumer buy-in.

What I like even better – and the rationalization for my opinions – is the way Microsoft will capture the Web-enabled market through Office 2010. An article on OpenForum.com explains how this off-the-shelf software is getting a cloud computing-like makeover:

“If you’re used to collaborating on documents over email, or ensuring remote access to files by emailing them to yourself, Office Live Workspace is a completely new way of doing business.”

This statement is obviously designed to capture our attention because it’s one of those “duh” statements. Of course, all of us collaborate on documents over e-mail and want remote access. In our SaaS-designed world, this will become the standard of doing business.

While I may change my tune over the next year or so – depending what happens with the new releases – I know for certain it will be an exciting time for the information giant.