Accounting in Today’s World of Technology
Technology Driven Paperless Cloud-based Accounting Systems. Get tips, techniques, and the best practices for dealing with and moving to paperless work environments.
Have you, your firm, and your clients considered the following questions?
• How often are handheld devices, laptops and personal home
computers utilized by your employees in the performance of
their job?
• How many of those devices are owned by your firm?
The Environment of Accounting Today: Trends, Tools, Issues and Opportunities
Have you, your firm, and your clients considered the following questions?
– What safeguards are in place to insure data is controlled by your
firm, properly utilized by employees, and not intercepted by
hackers?
– Should you use a web/cloud based hardware and software
service organization to replace your file server and financial, tax,
and other software programs?
iPhones, Androids, Droids, and Smart Phones
iCloud, Microsoft SkyDrive, Dropbox, AT&T cloud,
Amazon Web Services, and Rackspace
Apple, Microsoft, Rackspace, Intuit, Thompson Reuters,
CCH, and the banking industry
The Environment of Accounting Today: Tools
Do you, your firm, your employees and your
clients have a presence in the web and social
media?
The Environment of Accounting Today: Tools, Issues and Opportunities
This movement to the web and social media as well as the
use of service organizations, cloud/web-based hardware
and software systems, is similar to the change from file
servers to desktop computers in the 80’s and 90’s.
The Environment of Accounting Today: Issues
The lack of planning created a nightmare for each desktop
that negatively affected
workplace effectiveness and efficiency
physical security and protection of data
data backup
secure disposal of data and equipment.
The Environment of Accounting Today: Issues
Do your firm and clients have a written plan that
addresses the gathering, summarizing, storing,
reporting, and destroying of this electronic
information?Have your clients even thought about a plan?
The Environment of Accounting Today: Issues and Opportunities
Learning Objectives:
• Learn best practices to move to and deal with paperless work environments including:
– Workflow in the office
– Communications with customers, vendors, and other business associates
Tips, Techniques, and Best Practices for Moving to Paperless Work Environments
Resources:
• Copanion: Is Your Firm Ready to Go Paperless?:
aaup.info/PaperlessAssessment
• GruntWorx: aaup.info/GruntWorx
• ShareFile: aaup.info/Sharefile
Tips, Techniques, and Best Practices for Moving to Paperless Work Environments
You and your client are in limbo at this point with both
paper and electronic files that cover correspondence
with clients, tax returns, financial statements, work
papers, Excel and Word files
Going Paperless: An Overview for Planning, Implementation and Integration into internal Controls
The basics:
• Going paperless is not just getting statements online
and receiving documents via a scanner and e-mail
• Evaluating and documenting your current workflow
will be required to analyze YOUR best plan to move to
paperless
• What is your firm’s plan to go paperless?
Going Paperless
The basics:
• What technology fits you and your clients’ needs as
well as the budget for hardware, software, and training
• How will you evaluate, monitor, and report your
movement to paperless
• What data protection policies and procedures are
needed to implement your paperless process
Going Paperless
A Paperless Office–The person in charge of the project will have to evaluate
and understand the current workflow process, possess
technical expertise, and be a high level manager or
partner in the firm.
–There is no right implementation plan that fits every firm
or client and not every client can move to paperless.
Going Paperless:
A Paperless Office
– Follow the rule of least damage.
If this new process completely crashes, what is the cost?
– Quantify and communicate the costs and savings in time and dollars throughout the process.
Going Paperless:
Support for a Paperless Office• What has happened in the past when you brought in new
technology
• How effective was your training program
– Do not assume that everyone will or can learn it when
under pressure to meet budgets and deadlines.
Going Paperless:
Establish Best Practices Now
–File and folder naming policies
–Utilize an appropriate high speed scanner
–Adopt the same PDF editing program for everyone
–Create PDF files of client documents on the front-
end
Utilize Data Management software programs
Going Paperless:
Does your firm own a scanner that can
–handle 30 – 40 pages a minute
–duplex copying
–the demands of tax season
Do you have enough scanners?
Paperless Essentials!
Does everyone in your firm have at least two
monitors?
• You can’t review and process electronic data information
efficiently if you have to toggle between documents or print on
paper to complete your work.
Paperless Essentials!
Establish Best Practices• Store and archive files using a cloud based provider
• Establish file security and access policies
• Learn federal, state, and other agency document retention
and access laws
• Use secure web-portals for data transfer and avoid E-mail
and USB devices
Going Paperless
Study Question
How do you currently transfer and receive client data?• Mail (Snail-mail)
• File sharing portals
• Shared Cloud drives
• All of the above
How do you currently transfer and receive client data?• Mail (Snail-mail)
• File sharing portals
• Shared Cloud drives
• All of the above
Learning Objectives:
• Understand the current environment in accounting
associated with:
– Small Mobile computing devices
– Websites, e-mail, and social media
– Cloud/web-based computing and storage systems
– Downloading transactions
– Data protection and security
Moving From Paperless Work Environments to Accounting Systems in The Cloud: Trends, Tools, Issues and Opportunities
Resources:• CAN-SPAM Act from FTC website: aaup.info/can-spam
• KeePass aaup.info/keepass
• PCI DSS, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard:
aaup.info/pcidssfaq
• ShareFile: aaup.info/Sharefile
Moving From Paperless Work Environments to Accounting Systems in The Cloud:
• The BYOD movement creates opportunities for employees to
maintain privacy at the workplace for personal communications
• BYOD provides many downsides
– reduction of worker productivity
– exposure of employer sensitive data to unacceptable risks.
iPhones, Android/Droid Phones, Tablets, Laptops: BYODBring Your Own Device Movements
• BYOD provides many benefits
– reduction of the total cost of ownership of technology
– increased productivity with flexible work schedules
– flexible work locations
– improvement of employee satisfaction.
Where do small mobile devices fit in your plans?
BYOD: Bring Your Own Device Movements
What can “smart phones” and small mobile devices
accomplish today? – Access the web and can perform operations similar to those
of a desktop or laptop computer with internet access.
– Initiate, review, create, and finalize personal and business
affairs from anywhere at any time.
BYOD: Bring Your Own Device Movements
• Primary motivation: attract new clients and retain
existing clients.
–Make it easy to utilize with smart phones and small
mobile computing devices.
Websites, e-mail, social media, and secure portals
• Unique opportunities for engaging with current and prospective
clients.
• The next generation of CPAs who are embracing this medium will
reap the benefits.
• Acquiring new customers can cost 5 to 10 times more than
retaining existing customers.
Client Engagement through Websites and Social media
It is important that every entity create a written Social Media
and Data Protection Policy addressing acceptable and
unacceptable usage of social media as well as procedures for the
format of content posted by employees.
Client Engagement through Websites and Social media
Essential policies:
• Identify the department and person in charge of social media.
• Insure the policy does not infringe on the legal rights of employees
or management.
– address unacceptable topics, libelous or defamatory statements,
and establish protocol for reviewing questionable postings.
Client Engagement through Websites and Social media
• Establish clear policies on what is confidential information
that cannot be discussed in social media platforms.
• Be aware of state, local, and federal regulations such as
HIPAA when creating your policies
Client Engagement through Websites and Social media
• A website can provide new tools and technology to help us
move from repetitive and mundane tasks to higher-level
tasks and services for clients.
• It is vital that we consider the possibility of a security breach
of confidential information as well as compliance issues with
laws and regulations such as HIPAA, Health Insurance
Portability and Accountability Act.
Productivity tools, data portals & Websites
You, your firm, and your clients will be required to learn how to securely handle confidential information
You can deploy the most secure solution to any problem but it will be
ineffective if it is difficult to use and tedious to send or receive files.
• Establish a file sharing portal such as ShareFile for secure exchange of data and reports between your firm and your clients 24/7/365.
Productivity tools, data portals & Websites
• The majority of tax and accounting software systems include add-
on file sharing portals that automatically import client data into your
software system.
• Portals increase efficiency by allowing clients to
– upload and download data 24/7/365,
– reduction of manual data entry
– increased accuracy
– shifts our focus from data entry to data review and analysis.
Productivity tools, data portals & Websites
When engaging in e-commerce it is important to understand
your responsibilities for laws, regulations, and professional
standards.
• Sales tax laws are changing state by state to encompass
internet sales.
• HIPAA, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act,
contains requirements for handling health related information
E-Commerce & Websites
• Acceptance of credit card payments are subject to the PCI DSS,
• Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards for storing,
processing, and transmitting credit card payments.
• Use a Service organization such as PayPal for credit card
payment processing to transfer responsibility for security, data
protection, and compliance issues to the service provider.
E-Commerce & Websites
Study Question
The BYOD movement has created new data protection and privacy issues for:• Wireless access
• Data storage & destruction
• Credit card payments
• Access to mobile devices
• All of the above
The BYOD movement has created new data protection and privacy issues for:• Wireless access
• Data storage & destruction
• Credit card payments
• Access to mobile devices
• All of the above
The Banking Industry Model for Websites, Small Mobile Computing Devices, and Social Media
Learning Objectives, You will…
– Learn how the banking industry uses websites, small mobile computing
devices, and social media
– Learn best practices for data protection and data privacy for small mobile
computing devices
– Learn about downloading bank transactions directly into QuickBooks
– Learn how smart phones are being used to accept credit cards
The Banking Industry Model for Websites, Small Mobile Computing Devices, and Social Media
Resources– BB&T: aaup.info/BB&T
– GoPayment by Intuit: aaup.info/GoPayment
– Intuit: aaup.info/Intuit
– Square: aaup.info/Square
The Banking Industry Model: Marketing & Providing Services
Use your website to market & provide 24/7 access for:–services–automated signup for services–customer service–delivery of corporate policies, procedures and financial information.
The Banking Industry Model: Providing Services
Simple phones, androids, iPhones, and Blackberry phones now have the ability to:
– Check account balances– Deposits – Securely transfer money between accounts and other linked financial
institutions– Bill Payment – Contacting customer service via phone– Q & A forums, and “Live Chat”
The Banking Industry Model: Creating Transactions & Automatic Downloads
The banking industry is eliminating the need for manual data
input and generating financial reports automatically • Technology is great for replacing repetitive manual tasks but is extremely
ineffective for any transaction involving an inconsistent or incomplete processing
decision model.
• Automated systems for data gathering, generation, processing, and reporting
require human interaction and review for accuracy.
Is Banking Online Secure?
Data encryption with 128-bit Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) technology is started the instant you access BB&T Online for a secure login to ensure that only BB&T has access to your account information.
–Encryption is the scrambling of information during the transmission back and forth between two points and requires a key to decode the information throughout the process.
All computing devices require users to establish essential controls. Small mobile computing devices are easily
– Misplaced– Lost– Stolen– Generally left unattended by users.
Moving from Web-based Systems to Smart Phone and Small Mobile Computing Devices
• Entity-owned devices used to access financial accounts require standardization of internal controls and protection of data–This can be difficult because of:
• Ease of establishing access on any device • Flexible work schedules• Working Remotely• The BYOD movement
Policies and training for Smart Phone and Small Mobile Computing Devices
Access for non-entity owned devices require:
•Types of allowable devices
•Standards for establishing access
•Standards for encryption and anti-malware for
devices
•Systematic review of security and controls
Policies and training for Smart Phone and Small Mobile Computing Devices
• Require all devices to have:
–Secure passwords for use, including
–Authentication of users
–Systematic changes of passwords
–Password control and access by appropriate
employee or owners at entity
Policies and training
–Data encryption
–Procedures for devices that are lost, stolen,
and misplaced including
–GPS location and tracking systems
–Remote data destruction
Policies and training
• Clearly state employer’s expectations for use of:
–Mobile computing
–Communication tools
–Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, websites and blogs
• Provide Live and on-demand training programs
Policies and training
• Reporting systems for notification of issues and
problems, including anonymous reporting
• Performance reviews including evaluation of
employee compliance with cyber-threat policies
Policies and training
• Oversight including:–Monitoring of e-mail accounts and communication systems
–Review of security issues involving :
•privacy•backup• retrieval•permanent deletion
Policies and training
Review & Training regarding:
*Legal requirements relating to e-discovery
* Review of historical and pending transactions
* Planned and surprise device security checks
and reviews
Policies and training
The Basics – Are Your Passwords Secure?
Password practices are one of the largest
security risks.
Moving from Web-based Systems to Smart Phone and Small Mobile Computing Devices
We can now attach devices to our smart phones
to remotely conduct business.
Accepting Credit Cards on Websites and Small Mobile Computing Devices
E-commerce is as simple as creating an account
with a service provider such as Square or
GoPayment and linking the card reader to your
bank account.
Square and GoPayment Mobile Credit Card Payment Systems
Study Question
A firm must be in compliance with _____when accepting credit cards via their website or small mobile computing device.• Can-Spam Act
• Sneakernet
• PCI DSS, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards
• 128-bit SSL encryption
A firm must be in compliance with _____when accepting credit cards via their website or small mobile computing device.• Can-Spam Act
• Sneakernet
• PCI DSS, Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards
• 128-bit SSL encryption
