Accounting in Today’s World of Technology

1. Technology Driven Paperless Cloud-based Accounting Systems. Get tips, techniques, and the best practices for dealing with and moving to paperless work environments. Accounting in Today’s World of Technology

2. The Environment of Accounting Today: Trends, Tools, Issues and Opportunities 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?

3. 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?

4. The Environment of Accounting Today: Tools 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

5. The Environment of Accounting Today: Tools, Issues and Opportunities Do you, your firm, your employees and your clients have a presence in the web and social media?

6. The Environment of Accounting Today: Issues 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.

7. The Environment of Accounting Today: Issues The lack of planning created a nightmare for each desktop that negatively affected • workplaceeffectiveness and efficiency • physical security and protection of data • data backup • securedisposal of data and equipment.

8. The Environment of Accounting Today: Issues and Opportunities 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?

9. Tips, Techniques, and Best Practices for Moving to Paperless Work Environments 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

10. 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

11. Going Paperless: An Overview for Planning, Implementation and Integration into internal Controls 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

12. Going Paperless 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?

13. 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

14. 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.

15. 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.

16. 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.

17. 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

18. Paperless Essentials! 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?

19. 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.

20. Going Paperless 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

21. Study Question

22. How do you currently transfer and receive client data? • Mail (Snail-mail) • E-mail • File sharing portals • Shared Cloud drives • All of the above

23. How do you currently transfer and receive client data? • Mail (Snail-mail) • E-mail • File sharing portals • Shared Cloud drives • All of the above

24. Moving From Paperless Work Environments to Accounting Systems in The Cloud: Trends, Tools, Issues and Opportunities 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

25. Moving From Paperless Work Environments to Accounting Systems in The Cloud: 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

26. iPhones, Android/Droid Phones, Tablets, Laptops: BYOD Bring Your Own Device Movements • 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.

27. BYOD: Bring Your Own Device Movements • BYODprovides 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?

28. 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.

29. Websites, e-mail, social media, and secure portals • Primary motivation: attract new clients and retain existing clients.   • Make it easy to utilize with smart phones and small mobile computing devices.

30. Client Engagement through Websites and Social media • 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.

31. 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.

32. 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.

33. 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

34. Productivity tools, data portals & Websites • 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.

35. 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.

36. 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.

37. E-Commerce & 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

38. 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.

39. Study Question

40. 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

41. 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

42. 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

43. 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

44. 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.

45. 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”

46. 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.

47. 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.

48. Moving from Web-based Systems to Smart Phone and Small Mobile Computing Devices All computing devices require users to establish essential controls. Small mobile computing devices are easily • Misplaced • Lost • Stolen • Generally left unattended by users.

49. Policies and training for Smart Phone and Small Mobile Computing Devices • Entity-owned devicesused 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

50. 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