QB Express Monthly webinar
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The document discusses different aspects of using apps and cloud computing for small businesses. It provides definitions of workflow, apps, and different types of cloud environments. It also offers considerations for small businesses regarding integrating apps, data security, vendor viability, and what types of functions are suitable to move to the cloud.
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- 1. QB Express : Technology Today Defines you and your firm Are you servicing clients that are part of the past or are you servicing clients living into the future? A new generation of business owners have never owned a filing cabinet! 8/6/2013 1
- 3. What is workflow? • I submit to you that unless the following is true about the system you are using, you are not using automated workflow • Workflow is a term used to describe the tasks, procedural steps, organizations or people involved, required input and output information, and tools needed for each step in a business process. • Workflow allows one to analyze and manage a business process • Workflow can be combined with an object-oriented programming approach, which tends to focus on documents and data. In general, workflow management focuses on processes rather than documents. • A number of companies make workflow automation products that allow a company to create a workflow model and components such as online forms and then to use this product as a way to manage and enforce the consistent handling of work. – For example, an accounting office could use a workflow automation application to ensure that write-up was handled consistently from initial input to final review. The workflow application would ensure that each person handling the any part of the work used the correct allocations, bank accounts and prepared the correct reports within the allotted time by a specific date. That each person involved successfully completed their step before allowing the process to proceed to the next person and procedural step. 8/6/2013 3
- 5. Survey Results 8/6/2013 5 Requirements if you are going to control digital images of clients financial documents or Financial software: SOC II level security http://www.ssae16.org/white-papers/soc-2-compliance.html
- 6. Survey Results 8/6/2013 6 Apps: What is an App? • 90% NO • 10% yes
- 7. Intuit Users 2013 • Started 2001 • 459,000 QBO users worldwide 100 countries • Intuit offers 54 apps worldwide • 64% of Intuit revenue now comes from Connected Services – it was less than 50% in 2008 8/6/2013 7
- 8. Xero Users 2013 • Started in 2008 • 157,000 Users Worldwide • 157 apps for US based customers • 12 specific for supporting Accountants 8/6/2013 8
- 9. What to consider when using Apps (1) Does the software app integrate with other software or apps we have? – Most apps tend to do a narrow set of functions. If you’re trying to automate your entire business or automate a process end- to-end, you will probably have to piece together multiple software apps from different providers. If the online software services do not interoperate with one another, you and your staff could end up doing manual work to move data from one system to another via spreadsheets or by keying in the same information into multiple systems. Or, you’ll have to go through the expense of paying for software development to make different packages interoperate. (2) How secure is our data going to be? – With Web-based software services, your data used in the applications will be sitting on a server somewhere “in the cloud.” In other words, your data will be in the hands of another company. Inquire of the company what they do to keep data secure and private. (3) Will the vendor be around for the long haul, and continue supporting and enhancing the app? This is important to ask for any software, but it takes on new meaning when a company has your confidential data. You need to have some assurance of continuity with the software, so that you don’t experience disruption in your business. Look at the vendor’s track record. How long has the vendor been around? If there’s a product forum or customer forums, are there a lot of unresolved complaints? Is there evidence of continuous enhancements? Investigate before you make a commitment, as it may be harder to switch later on. Check out The Small Business Web http://www.thesmallbusinessweb.com/ 8/6/2013 9
- 10. Which App to Pick? • Every small business app creator sees you as their marketing channel. • The people running these conferences are paid to tell you what is great • The advantage to you is they are all in one place • Focus on a small business vertical and a mid size business vertical. • Find software in both that will manage 80% automatically and you fill in the gap of the 20% 8/6/2013 10
- 11. Cloud, great marketing term but what is it? 8/6/2013 11
- 12. Are there different types of clouds? 8/6/2013 12
- 13. 8/6/2013 13
- 14. What goes in your Cloud? “Twenty years ago when you were setting up a small business, you had to go and buy a personal computer or a small server … and you had to have an IT professional and you had to run it in-house. The right thing for a small business to do now is to not have any computers except the things which are on people’s desktops and on their smartphones … and do everything in the cloud. … The components would be an email system, a calendar system, a sales force automation system, and then the stuff that’s vertical for whatever their business is.” Eric Schmidt, CEO Google at TechCrunch , 2011 EVERYTHING | EVERYTHING | EVERYTHING | EVERYTHING | EVERYTHING http://www.thesmallbusinessweb.com 8/6/2013 14
- 15. Pricing for a mini server set up on the Cloud • Hosted applications include but are not limited to: • Microsoft Office: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook • QuickBooks • Tax software • Adobe • *All software licenses to be provided by CPA Firm • ** The number of software required by CPA Firm is not limited • Microsoft Exchange email hosting • One mail box per user • alias email addresses no charge • spam and virus protection • *Microsoft Exchange and IronPort licenses provided by Coaxis 8/6/2013 16 • Active Sync and Blackberry sync • for all mobile devices provided by Coaxis • Data file size limit • Unlimited • *Unlimited data file excludes document management /paperless office systems • Backup, Restore and Disaster Recovery • Backups done twice a day • Document and file restore provided by helpdesk as requested • Disaster recover assistance • Tech Support / Helpdesk • Phone: Monday to Friday 8am – 5pm • Email: Sunday to Saturday 4am – 8pm • Emergency Support available 24 / 7
- 16. • 5 user accounts (up to) • The above mentioned features and services • Monthly Pricing: • 12 month contract • $455.00 per month • Additional users: • $85 per user/month • *can be added and removed on month to month bases • Optional: • Citrix Fees • $270 per user, this is a one time fee • *Citrix fees due within 10 business days of signed contract • Cisco Firewall • $650.00 Cisco ASA5505 • *A firewall is required if you will be scanning documents to the system. If you have a firewall in place, please let us know the make and model. • **The Cisco firewall is configured and shipped to your office 8/6/2013 17
- 17. If not you, who? If not now, when? 8/6/2013 18 • Where are you going? • What are you doing to get there? • You can’t catch fish unless you put a line in the water • You can’t reach goal unless you actually do something • Evaluate, improve, adjust -
- 18. 8/6/2013 19
Editor's Notes
- Others: Excel: Good for sole user could be of benefit if shared by a few. Requires constant updating which most likely does not get done well. Basecamp (aka 37Signals), Qbase, Google Calendar/Docs: Labor intensive and little control or audit trails available, Only benefit is either no cost or low cost. No improvement over Outlook. Don’t expect to grow efficiently. Go File Room: good product once it is designed properly. And as long as it is used properly on-going DropBox: Just as effective as a physical file cabinet with added benefit of anywhere anytime access. Free version not very secure
- Others: Excel: This is not a CRMHighrise (when used with Basecamp), Solve360 and Capsule : All very good very affordable choices. Using your INBOX in Outlook or Gmail does not constitute CRMYou can get lots of low cost pieces but then you have to tie them together and then make sure your API stays current.
- integrating DMS with Workflow means you are more likely to use it and you will save enough time to justify the software monthly fees.Again Dropbox is a virtual file cabinet and does not fit SOC II level security
- Accounting software is probably the last thing a small-business owner thinks about when they start working for themselves. But the software has moved beyond being merely a tool to comply with tax laws.Actionable AnalyticsAnalytics is increasingly delivered to users at the point of action and in context. With the improvement of performance and costsFirst, software needs to offer mobility.Second, any software needs to be interconnected with other accounting and bookkeeping software packages, and this has been made easier with data storage on the cloud. For instance, with a single click users can tell the software to get the point-of-sale data from another program. "It means that you're not having to download a file, convert it to another format, upload the file and have that sort of manual grunt all the time, or worst case, rekeying data, which is just insane.“Third, unlike older software packages, accounting software is getting easier for the non-accountant to use. But related to this is the need for software to be able to operate at different levels, so that along with the basic features that non-professionals use, the software also has the advanced features that accountants need to prepare tax returns and so on, such as depreciation schedules.
- Today you not only can get email and calendar applications “in the cloud,” but you can find any number of other business applications:document creation, spreadsheet and presentationHR and payroll applicationsinventory managementaccountinginvoicing and payment applicationsemail marketing servicesproject management appsCRM softwarehelpdeskand much moreIn fact, The Small Business Web lists 26 different categories of Web-based software applications in its directory of nearly 200 apps for small businesses.
- Software is changing and new products are coming out at a much faster rate than it is possible to keep up with. Twenty years ago accountants we being dragged into the age of the PC with QuickBooks, Peachtree, MAS, Great Plains and a few other accounting programs. Tax software was limited to a few selections and all were PC or server based. A tech savvy accountant was one that added a PIM like Act or a CRM like Front Range. Soon they were learning about dual monitors and efficiency. Even as late as 2000 not all had websites and by 2005 some were just contemplating DMS and portals.
- Now there is The Cloud, SaaS, online workflow, DMS, collaboration, real-time, managed and hosted services, Integrated and interfacing programs, mobile apps, practice management and direct access. One could look at this as pure confusion and stand still or they could find what works for them and train their team and clients on a few products. For small to medium businesses, having their CFO recommend and implement the accounting program and its add-ons is quite typical. Just as we focus the clients, team and procedures we also focus on the products that support our work. Below is a list of the minimum technology required to perform the Virtual/Rental CFO function. Recommendations on exact software although, placed in this manual, will soon be outdated. Just as your client is outsourcing the managerial accounting function to you, smaller firms should outsource the technology selection to the myriad of accounting practice consultants. Larger firms can have a partner with a technology specialty on staff, CITP or CISA. Let go of those things that remove you from the relationship with the client, not only data entry but keeping 24/7 current on the latest and greatest new technology. So if things change so fast around here Dorothy, what direction do we pick to reach the Emerald City? Find out what you and your preferred clients need. Then find the IT, software, hardware and Managed Service provider that does the following; Meets the 80/20 rule of what you and you clients needHas SOC II level security http://www.ssae16.org/white-papers/soc-2-compliance.htmlHave high recommendations from your peersHas a deep customer support divisionUnderstands the accounting worldPlays well with other softwareSoftware, unless totally customized for a business, will always have something IT JUST DOESN’T DO. “It’s always somethin’, if it’s not one thing it’s another…” Rosanne Roseanne Danna. The last 20% is also the 20% difference with each client and the 20% of the relationship that you actually work harder in. So make the 80% easy and consistent. The more you make typical the more time you can focus on the atypical and discover if it is a profitable atypical or if it is an atypical need that costs more than the value it returns. Who better to discover the real cost or profit of the individual nuances of a business than the CFO? There are reputable groups of CPAs, Accountants and Bookkeepers that use social media to connect, annual meetings and webinars to discuss and share information. Listen to your peers’ then act in the best interest of your firm and your clients. When the rubber meets the road debits are debits and credits are credits. However, nothing is great without support. Find technology providers that have shown they understand accountants and have support personnel that are dedicated to accountants. Many of the options you will look at have affiliate programs that focus on how you, the accountant, can make marketing fees through recommending or signing up your clients to use that particular software application. This also means that they want to support you! The more you use their software or apps with your clients the more support you receive. The more feedback they receive typically the better the system is improved each year. Recently, Thomas Freidman, journalist for the New York Times, wrote an interesting opinion piece on collaboration. You may not appreciate the political bent however the context of cooperative and collaborative competitors in technology was an interesting analogy. It placed in context what we typically recommend as a feature to look for when choosing technology. Many add on products work well with accounting programs. These products stretch the accounting and bookkeeping program capabilities. Some are specific to an industry need and some are general to a wide variety of business needs. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/opinion/sunday/friedman-collaborate-vs-collaborate.html?ref=thomaslfriedman&_r=0 Today’s cloud applications are specific to functions. Trying to find one application that does it all would difficult at best. The perfect world we all want has not arrived yet. You will find some aps that work together, are in what appears to be direct competition but also have API (Application Programming Interface) were they work in conjunction providing the missing pieces that often make up the 20%. The training and support these collaborative products provide can take the onus off of the need for a smaller accounting firm to require a fulltime technology person. Examples;Bill.com is a well-known, well supported product that can truly remove the need for your small clients to get into their bookkeeping software. Bill.com plays very well with QuickBooks, Xero, Intacct, Sage and Netsuite and yet duplicates part of the AP function and AR function of all these programs. Bill.com advertises to the consumer so has name recognition. Bill.com presents at all the technology accounting conferences and has an accounting affiliate program. Personal experience has shown they have a very solid, well trained and dependable support staff. For small to medium size businesses this product hits all the marks of a useful tool to move into the CFO realm with AP management. For the small to midsize clients with online shopping carts, brick and mortar as well as inventory needs a combination of Xero, Vend and Shopify creates an almost seamless management ability of a back office. Priced in the same range, pushed to the end consumer and supporters of the accounting industry, these three small programs all have specific needs they fulfill yet the point in which they collaborate creates one useful tool. These web based programs truly work well together. Companies like OneSaaShttp://www.onesaas.com/integrations/view-all work in the back ground as integrators of these products. Software companies are popping up whose sole purpose is to build the integrations to the myriad of add-ons out in the app market. This service is another one of those business/jobs types that did not exist before 2006. When picking the type of business client you like to work with the best option is to start with those businesses in similar fields. Below are some examples were the author has initiated specific technologies with several firms. A firm in Boston had chosen to work with restaurants. They had two clients with high end restaurants who approached them about taking on more of the managerial reporting function. One of the restaurants had two locations. They all wanted to use QuickBooks however; their POS system did not integrate. The CPA, working with his firm’s Managing Bookkeeper (BKM) set up a new QuickBooks file for both restaurants using the same COA. Both Restaurant companies had office managers that would do the data entry of the daily sales summary to the QuickBooks file. The QuickBooks licenses and data file for each restaurant was moved to an Application Service Provider (ASP) where the firm had a dedicated server with all their software. The BKM set up both Restaurants on Bill.com and did the first QuickBooks sync The BKM designed the Daily Sales Summary and memorized the transaction so the Office Managers were sure to enter every summary the same way. (The Restaurant Company with two locations used the class feature in QuickBooks.) The BKM went on sight and used GoToMeeting to train the restaurant staff on how to use the ASP, enter data to QuickBooks, Bill.com approvals as well as wrote the procedures to the client manual on the dedicated server. (In this way everyone would clearly see all the steps and procedures for these two restaurants.) The BKM oversees all reconciliations and report creations, handles all calls from the restaurants office managers and does the Bill.com syncs. These tasks are all on the firm’s web based workflow The CPA has scheduled meetings with the restaurant owners to discuss cash flow, the second restaurant build out for one of the companies and other risk management issues. Since this process was standardized the headaches went away for the restaurant owners and the CFO service is supporting the transition of one restaurant to franchising. These meetings are also scheduled in the firm’s workflow. After doing this for two restaurants the CPA firm has decided they can now take on more restaurants. They feel very confident that this is going to work well for them and they are already experiencing the value of becoming the Restaurant CFO for their target venues. Referrals are coming in the door. A two person CPA firm with four BKMs in Philadelphia used the same methodology. They are managing 250 QuickBooks and now 50 Xero clients. They focused on Contractors as their first vertical. After two years they began a new vertical with Property Management companies. For this company data entry done by a three person team in Pune India during the evening on their dedicated US based server, allows the BKM to work with a larger pool of clients efficiently. Their CFO packages run the gamut of monthly reconciliations, time sheet entry, accounts payable, accounts receivable, job costing, payroll and even document organization for their clients. In 2013 they purchased a second office as well as expanded their customer base to a company that had offices in California, Nevada and Canada. A San Francisco firm hired the author to process an Oil Field Inspection companies’ back office work. The projects the company inspected were all over the globe. With a five person staff of inspectors no one was in the office to manage the day to day data entry of accounting and project costing. Using Intacct the CPA took over full CFO managerial accounting. Each person on his internal staff had a function. Bill.com was linked to Intacct. All invoices were managed via Bill.com and the owner could pay bills from the field in Dubai. The in-house BKM Intacct specialist trained the inspectors in the project costing function of Intacct and she then oversaw the review of the data entry and performed invoicing. The CPA has bi-monthly meeting, most often virtually with the owner. At present four more companies are utilizing the same staff for this type of work in Intacct. The smaller clients are all on QuickBooks in the ASP environment syncing to Bill.com and with a QuickBooks Professional Advisor as the BKM. One CPA, four team members, all using collaborative workflow with clients all billed at a flat monthly rate to a specific service level agreement. And by the way there are items that occur off the scope of engagement that are billed separately at the consultant rate. A large national Accounting firm, located in Dallas, saw that their non-profit clients were struggling with the expensive cost of the bookkeeping the firm was providing. After hiring this Author to review their internal processes, they were able to cut out multiple steps and checks points that were redundant. Large firms sometimes lose sight of the forest for all the trees. The first step was to define which clients would work well with the new systems. Next to pick a candidate out of their staff that was willing to take on the new technology. That was the most difficult part. The candidate chosen was obvious. Figuring out compensation took some definite change management. This firm held its internal CPAs to quotas on hourly billing. The majority of this work would be administrative management. Once a new compensation matrix was accomplished and all the technology was put in place, the first client was transferred to the new methodology. This took what appeared to be a very long time, four months. The data entry work for this was outsourced to India. The India team actually had more working knowledge of the newer software technologies than the Dallas based staff. At the end of four months and, as the Supervisor in Dallas said, one typo, the next two clients were set up and running within a month. In all these examples the firms focused on a vertical group of clients whose similarities lend themselves to similar software requirements and similar procedures with small nuances that could easily be handled. This allowed the CPA to focus on the managerial finances and build a relationship with the clients. They took small focused steps with trusted clients and built dedicated well trained teams of experts in the field. List of Technology Scanner-- Network scanner for office and Desktop Scanners for your Team: The desktop scanners can easily go with the BKM on site when needed. Fujitsu Scan Snap still is the best option in this area. Works great with Evernote which is a handy tool for tracking procedures/http://www.fujitsu.com/us/about/platforms/fcpa/home/ Fax—Yes sometimes they are still being used. Recommend MaxEmail low cost and does a great job. http://www.maxemail.com/ MS Office— keep current by at least two years. Office 365 is a great way to work when mobility is a factor. Open Office is a nice option due to pricing, however, keep in mind excel formulas do not carry between office calc and excel which means that unless all your clients use Open Office, MS Office is a better choice. Laptop and Tablet for CPA and BKM—Lenovo Yoga does both rather nicely. The key is to make sure you and your BKM(s) have the proper tools they need while on-site at a client’s office. With the use of apps, managed servers and wireless very little will ever be actually on the mobile hardware. Showing up with paper brochure, folders and note pads does not project the concept of a virtual CFO. Use the mobile technology to send everything to your cloud server. Project the image of a virtual CFO. Managed Service Provider—Servers do not just sometimes go down, they will all eventually go down. If you are providing CFO level services for your clients, you will need to have them log in to their documents, portal, and perhaps occasionally the desktop variety accounting/bookkeeping software. All of this access should be shared on a secure permissions based environment. Again you will find some managed service providers that know the accounting industry and understand the security. Make sure the service provider is aware of web based add on applications that will work with your server and desktop based software. For example if you are using SmartVault or Bill.com with QuickBooks Desktop the managed service provider will need to understand the requirements for them to operate properly in a secure shared environment. Not all do so ask before you leap. As for what you put up there? EVERYTHING! The laptops and tablets have wireless and unless you are creating videos, presentations or writing a dissertation all work should take place on the managed server. Tax, Accounting, Emails, CRM, Workflow, Documents all should be on the managed server or in the cloud. Any heavy data entry should not be done on a tablet. That work is still primarily done with keyboards sitting at a desk. ASP— Application service providers, there are many. Verify that they can provide full managed services. (See above) Some ASPs only do just that, provide applications and do not host full servers. Your clients can use the ASP but you should have a dedicated server. Document Management System— typically an accounting firm returns all documents to their client. In this scenario the CFO still needs to hold onto documents as well as have access to archived documents. Storing PDF files can take up considerable space as well and there needs to be a policy in place for document storage, retrieval and archiving. Most online web-based systems have a per user cap before fees increase. (See firm procedures in next chapter.) Also, mandate the scanning of documents. If you look at the pdf files received from banks or other online applications you will notice the following: they are 300 dpi or less and scanned to Gray Scale. When named they do not have apostrophes or commas and if there is a space it often has an underscore. These attributes actually benefit the user of a pdf as well as lower storage capacity needs. Remember proper English spelling is great when writing a novel, however it is not necessary and often detrimental to names in the digital world. Check out the naming convention recommendations in step four. Workflow--Tasking through email, hand written notes, telephone messages or walking down the hall is a recipe for disaster. A web based workflow, preferably linked to your DMS, allows the CFO to inspect what they expect. Recurring tasks done on time and accuratelyLoad Leveling of resourcesSet up, review, make notes, share information and complete while maintaining the relationship with the client Obtaining a source document is the most difficult aspect of being a virtual CFO. The waiting for documents to arrive is another death knell for this type of work. Luckily technology has provided tools to take away this pain. Setting up Bill.com or SmartVault allows the firm to utilize an email for each client for example ABCWindows@bill.com or XYZtraining@smatvault.com. As the CFO your BKM can send a simple notice to vendors that all invoicing is required to arrive via email. By the way, don’t forget to use the accounting software email functions to send sales receipts and invoices to customers. Direct feeds from banks, credit card and merchant services populate accounting programs leaving the CFO’s staff with review and reconciliation. Filethis.com https://filethis.com/fetch/ automatically retrieves those statements so that reconciliations are done on schedule and fits into the load leveling of work. Real time data reconciled in real time producing clean valuable information that allows the business owner to make intelligent CFO informed decisions. Technology allowed your clients to enter their own accounting data. Technology also gave us Garbage in Garbage out accounting. As the CFO you add value to your clients by giving them good numbers to run their business. If you do not believe that good numbers are important to business owners then continue to do the same thing you are doing today and give this book to your competition ask for the 10 percent of their clients that do not see the value either in return.
- Advantages of Cloud ComputingThe growth of cloud computing is a definite positive for small businesses, because of key money-saving advantages.Usually there is no large up-front expense in the form of a hefty software license. Instead you pay a much smaller monthly service fee. This allows you to spread out your costs, and eases your cash flow.You also are relieved of the complexity and expense of loading and maintaining software on your own computers. All you need are computers for end users to access the application with an Internet connection and a Web browser. And since you don’t have to maintain the software internally, you can get by with a smaller IT staff (or perhaps get by with no in-house IT). SaaS: Software as a ServiceCloud application services or “Software as a Service” (SaaS) are probably the most popular form of cloud computing and are easy to use. SaaS uses the Web to deliver applications that are managed by a third-party vendor and whose interface is accessed on the clients’ side. Most SaaS applications can be run directly from a Web browser, without any downloads or installations required. SaaS eliminates the need to install and run applications on individual computers. With SaaS, it’s easy for enterprises to streamline their maintenance and support, because everything can be managed by vendors: applications, runtime, data, middleware, O/S, virtualization, servers, storage, and networking. Gmail is one famous example of an SaaS mail provider.PaaS: Platform as a ServiceThe most complex of the three, cloud platform services or “Platform as a Service” (PaaS) deliver computational resources through a platform. What developers gain with PaaS is a framework they can build upon to develop or customize applications. PaaS makes the development, testing, and deployment of applications quick, simple, and cost-effective, eliminating the need to buy the underlying layers of hardware and software. One comparison between SaaS vs. PaaS has to do with what aspects must be managed by users, rather than providers: With PaaS, vendors still manage runtime, middleware, O/S, virtualization, servers, storage, and networking, but users manage applications and data.IaaS: Infrastructure as a ServiceCloud infrastructure services, known as “Infrastructure as a Service” (IaaS), deliver computer infrastructure (such as a platform virtualization environment), storage, and networking. Instead of having to purchase software, servers, or network equipment, users can buy these as a fully outsourced service that is usually billed according to the amount of resources consumed. Basically, in exchange for a rental fee, a third party allows you to install a virtual server on their IT infrastructure. Compared to SaaS and PaaS, IaaS users are responsible for managing more: applications, data, runtime, middleware, and O/S. Vendors still manage virtualization, servers, hard drives, storage, and networking. What users gain with IaaS is infrastructure on top of which they can install any required platforms. Users are responsible for updating these if new versions are released.
- http://www.thesmallbusinessweb.com/keeping-a-virtual-office-on-task/Below is a list of the minimum technology required to perform the Virtual/Rental CFO function. Recommendations on exact software although, placed in this manual, will soon be outdated. Just as your client is outsourcing the managerial accounting function to you, smaller firms should outsource the technology selection to the myriad of accounting practice consultants. Larger firms can have a partner with a technology specialty on staff, CITP or CISA. Let go of those things that remove you from the relationship with the client, not only data entry but keeping 24/7 current on the latest and greatest new technology. So if things change so fast around here Dorothy, what direction do we pick to reach the Emerald City? Find out what you and your preferred clients need. Then find the IT, software, hardware and Managed Service provider that does the following; Meets the 80/20 rule of what you and you clients needHas SOC II level security http://www.ssae16.org/white-papers/soc-2-compliance.htmlHave high recommendations from your peersHas a deep customer support divisionUnderstands the accounting worldPlays well with other softwareSoftware, unless totally customized for a business, will always have something IT JUST DOESN’T DO. “It’s always somethin’, if it’s not one thing it’s another…” Rosanne Roseanne Danna. The last 20% is also the 20% difference with each client and the 20% of the relationship that you actually work harder in. So make the 80% easy and consistent. The more you make typical the more time you can focus on the atypical and discover if it is a profitable atypical or if it is an atypical need that costs more than the value it returns. Who better to discover the real cost or profit of the individual nuances of a business than the CFO? There are reputable groups of CPAs, Accountants and Bookkeepers that use social media to connect, annual meetings and webinars to discuss and share information. Listen to your peers’ then act in the best interest of your firm and your clients. When the rubber meets the road debits are debits and credits are credits. However, nothing is great without support. Find technology providers that have shown they understand accountants and have support personnel that are dedicated to accountants. Many of the options you will look at have affiliate programs that focus on how you, the accountant, can make marketing fees through recommending or signing up your clients to use that particular software application. This also means that they want to support you! The more you use their software or apps with your clients the more support you receive. The more feedback they receive typically the better the system is improved each year. Recently, Thomas Freidman, journalist for the New York Times, wrote an interesting opinion piece on collaboration. You may not appreciate the political bent however the context of cooperative and collaborative competitors in technology was an interesting analogy. It placed in context what we typically recommend as a feature to look for when choosing technology. Many add on products work well with accounting programs. These products stretch the accounting and bookkeeping program capabilities. Some are specific to an industry need and some are general to a wide variety of business needs. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/13/opinion/sunday/friedman-collaborate-vs-collaborate.html?ref=thomaslfriedman&_r=0 Today’s cloud applications are specific to functions. Trying to find one application that does it all would difficult at best. The perfect world we all want has not arrived yet. You will find some aps that work together, are in what appears to be direct competition but also have API (Application Programming Interface) were they work in conjunction providing the missing pieces that often make up the 20%. The training and support these collaborative products provide can take the onus off of the need for a smaller accounting firm to require a fulltime technology person. Examples;Bill.com is a well-known, well supported product that can truly remove the need for your small clients to get into their bookkeeping software. Bill.com plays very well with QuickBooks, Xero, Intacct, Sage and Netsuite and yet duplicates part of the AP function and AR function of all these programs. Bill.com advertises to the consumer so has name recognition. Bill.com presents at all the technology accounting conferences and has an accounting affiliate program. Personal experience has shown they have a very solid, well trained and dependable support staff. For small to medium size businesses this product hits all the marks of a useful tool to move into the CFO realm with AP management. For the small to midsize clients with online shopping carts, brick and mortar as well as inventory needs a combination of Xero, Vend and Shopify creates an almost seamless management ability of a back office. Priced in the same range, pushed to the end consumer and supporters of the accounting industry, these three small programs all have specific needs they fulfill yet the point in which they collaborate creates one useful tool. These web based programs truly work well together. Companies like OneSaaShttp://www.onesaas.com/integrations/view-all work in the back ground as integrators of these products. Software companies are popping up whose sole purpose is to build the integrations to the myriad of add-ons out in the app market. This service is another one of those business/jobs types that did not exist before 2006. When picking the type of business client you like to work with the best option is to start with those businesses in similar fields. Below are some examples were the author has initiated specific technologies with several firms. A firm in Boston had chosen to work with restaurants. They had two clients with high end restaurants who approached them about taking on more of the managerial reporting function. One of the restaurants had two locations. They all wanted to use QuickBooks however; their POS system did not integrate. The CPA, working with his firm’s Managing Bookkeeper (BKM) set up a new QuickBooks file for both restaurants using the same COA. Both Restaurant companies had office managers that would do the data entry of the daily sales summary to the QuickBooks file. The QuickBooks licenses and data file for each restaurant was moved to an Application Service Provider (ASP) where the firm had a dedicated server with all their software. The BKM set up both Restaurants on Bill.com and did the first QuickBooks sync The BKM designed the Daily Sales Summary and memorized the transaction so the Office Managers were sure to enter every summary the same way. (The Restaurant Company with two locations used the class feature in QuickBooks.) The BKM went on sight and used GoToMeeting to train the restaurant staff on how to use the ASP, enter data to QuickBooks, Bill.com approvals as well as wrote the procedures to the client manual on the dedicated server. (In this way everyone would clearly see all the steps and procedures for these two restaurants.) The BKM oversees all reconciliations and report creations, handles all calls from the restaurants office managers and does the Bill.com syncs. These tasks are all on the firm’s web based workflow The CPA has scheduled meetings with the restaurant owners to discuss cash flow, the second restaurant build out for one of the companies and other risk management issues. Since this process was standardized the headaches went away for the restaurant owners and the CFO service is supporting the transition of one restaurant to franchising. These meetings are also scheduled in the firm’s workflow. After doing this for two restaurants the CPA firm has decided they can now take on more restaurants. They feel very confident that this is going to work well for them and they are already experiencing the value of becoming the Restaurant CFO for their target venues. Referrals are coming in the door. A two person CPA firm with four BKMs in Philadelphia used the same methodology. They are managing 250 QuickBooks and now 50 Xero clients. They focused on Contractors as their first vertical. After two years they began a new vertical with Property Management companies. For this company data entry done by a three person team in Pune India during the evening on their dedicated US based server, allows the BKM to work with a larger pool of clients efficiently. Their CFO packages run the gamut of monthly reconciliations, time sheet entry, accounts payable, accounts receivable, job costing, payroll and even document organization for their clients. In 2013 they purchased a second office as well as expanded their customer base to a company that had offices in California, Nevada and Canada. A San Francisco firm hired the author to process an Oil Field Inspection companies’ back office work. The projects the company inspected were all over the globe. With a five person staff of inspectors no one was in the office to manage the day to day data entry of accounting and project costing. Using Intacct the CPA took over full CFO managerial accounting. Each person on his internal staff had a function. Bill.com was linked to Intacct. All invoices were managed via Bill.com and the owner could pay bills from the field in Dubai. The in-house BKM Intacct specialist trained the inspectors in the project costing function of Intacct and she then oversaw the review of the data entry and performed invoicing. The CPA has bi-monthly meeting, most often virtually with the owner. At present four more companies are utilizing the same staff for this type of work in Intacct. The smaller clients are all on QuickBooks in the ASP environment syncing to Bill.com and with a QuickBooks Professional Advisor as the BKM. One CPA, four team members, all using collaborative workflow with clients all billed at a flat monthly rate to a specific service level agreement. And by the way there are items that occur off the scope of engagement that are billed separately at the consultant rate. A large national Accounting firm, located in Dallas, saw that their non-profit clients were struggling with the expensive cost of the bookkeeping the firm was providing. After hiring this Author to review their internal processes, they were able to cut out multiple steps and checks points that were redundant. Large firms sometimes lose sight of the forest for all the trees. The first step was to define which clients would work well with the new systems. Next to pick a candidate out of their staff that was willing to take on the new technology. That was the most difficult part. The candidate chosen was obvious. Figuring out compensation took some definite change management. This firm held its internal CPAs to quotas on hourly billing. The majority of this work would be administrative management. Once a new compensation matrix was accomplished and all the technology was put in place, the first client was transferred to the new methodology. This took what appeared to be a very long time, four months. The data entry work for this was outsourced to India. The India team actually had more working knowledge of the newer software technologies than the Dallas based staff. At the end of four months and, as the Supervisor in Dallas said, one typo, the next two clients were set up and running within a month. In all these examples the firms focused on a vertical group of clients whose similarities lend themselves to similar software requirements and similar procedures with small nuances that could easily be handled. This allowed the CPA to focus on the managerial finances and build a relationship with the clients. They took small focused steps with trusted clients and built dedicated well trained teams of experts in the field. List of Technology Scanner-- Network scanner for office and Desktop Scanners for your Team: The desktop scanners can easily go with the BKM on site when needed. Fujitsu Scan Snap still is the best option in this area. Works great with Evernote which is a handy tool for tracking procedures/http://www.fujitsu.com/us/about/platforms/fcpa/home/ Fax—Yes sometimes they are still being used. Recommend MaxEmail low cost and does a great job. http://www.maxemail.com/ MS Office— keep current by at least two years. Office 365 is a great way to work when mobility is a factor. Open Office is a nice option due to pricing, however, keep in mind excel formulas do not carry between office calc and excel which means that unless all your clients use Open Office, MS Office is a better choice. Laptop and Tablet for CPA and BKM—Lenovo Yoga does both rather nicely. The key is to make sure you and your BKM(s) have the proper tools they need while on-site at a client’s office. With the use of apps, managed servers and wireless very little will ever be actually on the mobile hardware. Showing up with paper brochure, folders and note pads does not project the concept of a virtual CFO. Use the mobile technology to send everything to your cloud server. Project the image of a virtual CFO. Managed Service Provider—Servers do not just sometimes go down, they will all eventually go down. If you are providing CFO level services for your clients, you will need to have them log in to their documents, portal, and perhaps occasionally the desktop variety accounting/bookkeeping software. All of this access should be shared on a secure permissions based environment. Again you will find some managed service providers that know the accounting industry and understand the security. Make sure the service provider is aware of web based add on applications that will work with your server and desktop based software. For example if you are using SmartVault or Bill.com with QuickBooks Desktop the managed service provider will need to understand the requirements for them to operate properly in a secure shared environment. Not all do so ask before you leap. As for what you put up there? EVERYTHING! The laptops and tablets have wireless and unless you are creating videos, presentations or writing a dissertation all work should take place on the managed server. Tax, Accounting, Emails, CRM, Workflow, Documents all should be on the managed server or in the cloud. Any heavy data entry should not be done on a tablet. That work is still primarily done with keyboards sitting at a desk. ASP— Application service providers, there are many. Verify that they can provide full managed services. (See above) Some ASPs only do just that, provide applications and do not host full servers. Your clients can use the ASP but you should have a dedicated server. Document Management System— typically an accounting firm returns all documents to their client. In this scenario the CFO still needs to hold onto documents as well as have access to archived documents. Storing PDF files can take up considerable space as well and there needs to be a policy in place for document storage, retrieval and archiving. Most online web-based systems have a per user cap before fees increase. (See firm procedures in next chapter.) Also, mandate the scanning of documents. If you look at the pdf files received from banks or other online applications you will notice the following: they are 300 dpi or less and scanned to Gray Scale. When named they do not have apostrophes or commas and if there is a space it often has an underscore. These attributes actually benefit the user of a pdf as well as lower storage capacity needs. Remember proper English spelling is great when writing a novel, however it is not necessary and often detrimental to names in the digital world. Check out the naming convention recommendations in step four. Workflow--Tasking through email, hand written notes, telephone messages or walking down the hall is a recipe for disaster. A web based workflow, preferably linked to your DMS, allows the CFO to inspect what they expect. Recurring tasks done on time and accuratelyLoad Leveling of resourcesSet up, review, make notes, share information and complete while maintaining the relationship with the client Obtaining a source document is the most difficult aspect of being a virtual CFO. The waiting for documents to arrive is another death knell for this type of work. Luckily technology has provided tools to take away this pain. Setting up Bill.com or SmartVault allows the firm to utilize an email for each client for example ABCWindows@bill.com or XYZtraining@smatvault.com. As the CFO your BKM can send a simple notice to vendors that all invoicing is required to arrive via email. By the way, don’t forget to use the accounting software email functions to send sales receipts and invoices to customers. Direct feeds from banks, credit card and merchant services populate accounting programs leaving the CFO’s staff with review and reconciliation. Filethis.com https://filethis.com/fetch/ automatically retrieves those statements so that reconciliations are done on schedule and fits into the load leveling of work. Real time data reconciled in real time producing clean valuable information that allows the business owner to make intelligent CFO informed decisions. Technology allowed your clients to enter their own accounting data. Technology also gave us Garbage in Garbage out accounting. As the CFO you add value to your clients by giving them good numbers to run their business. If you do not believe that good numbers are important to business owners then continue to do the same thing you are doing today and give this book to your competition ask for the 10 percent of their clients that do not see the value either in return.
- What are you doing to get there? You can't catch a fish unless you put a line in the water. You can't reach your goals unless you actually do something! Evaluate, improve, adjust - in these continual actions are the seeds for success in this changing economy.