CPA Practice Advisor

40UNDER40 2011

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

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W. Michael Hsu, CPA, CITP — 27 Founder & CEO — DeepSky Irvine, California Blog URL: www.deepsky.co Twitter ID: twitter.com/DeepSkyCo twitter.com/WMichaelHsu Education: M.S. Accountancy, Walsh College; B.A. Business Economics with Accounting Emphasis and Chinese, UC Santa Barbara Professional Associations/Memberships: AICPA, Cal CPA Hobbies: Travel, Entrepreneurship, Reading, Technology, Music, Driving, Biking and Photography Do you embrace cloud computing? Yes. DeepSky is built on two ideas: understanding that accounting is done to serve the ultimate purpose of helping entre- preneurs make better decisions so they can achieve their goals and putting a technology spin on how we do it. As such, DeepSky really leverages cloud computing and its ability to fundamentally change the way accounting is done — minimizing and sometimes eliminating many of the mundane and low value tasks — freeing our team up to perform tasks with more value. Beyond the "more efficient" argument, cloud computing also allows for a "more effective" resolution. Most technology that we are utilizing today does not do everything, but chooses to do a specific task extremely well. Cloud technology, and the common platform that is being established today, allows us to collaborate and work with other experts around the world easier, faster and more productively than ever before. How is cloud computing changing the accounting profession, and how concerned are you with the security issues related to cloud computing? We are revolutionizing the accounting industry (it is way overdue), and cloud computing is helping us do that. By having all of our data in a centralized and accessible location, we can eliminate the geographical constraints that were viewed as hard and fast rules before. Gone are the days where the accounting team needs to be anywhere near the CEO and CFO's office. Gone are the days where checks need to be printed, signed and folded into an envelope. Gone are the days where shoeboxes of receipts, invoices and documents are sent to your CPA on a weekly basis. Gone are the days where the goals of the accountants are misaligned with the goals of the entrepreneur. Like everything in life, there are security risks associ- ated with cloud computing. Educate yourself and take the proper precautions, and you will be fine. My experience has taught me that data stored and transacted in the cloud are typically more secure than their traditional counterpart when done correctly. As such, I am not too concerned with the security issues related to cloud computing. Any incumbent who argues that data storage in the cloud done right is less secure than storing hard copies of invoices in a file cabinet located in your office should be ignored. Cell phone: Still my trusty iPhone 4 — now jailbroken and empowered with endless possibilities. What is your favorite smartphone or tablet app? Twitter. Mainly because this app connects me with the rest of the professional world (globally). I've developed some serious life-changing relationships via this little app. Do you foresee the majority of firms still implementing servers for the majority of their computing in their offices five years from now or do you think they will be outsourcing this component to vendors who specialize in this area? We are firm believers of best of breed and certainly think that most professionals should be outsourcing the computing component to vendors who specialize in this area. After all, you are in the business of _________, and if _________ is not IT, then you should probably have someone else do it. Having internal servers may have made sense 15 years ago, but so did Windows 95. Are you using social networking (such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+) as a marketing tool for your practice/business … or do you use such sites for personal use only? Have you gained any clients/ customers or seen other demonstrable benefits from the use of social networking? Social networking is a big part of DeepSky. We are extremely active on Twitter and it has opened up doors to us that wouldn't have otherwise been opened. Our community of peers is now the entire world versus just our small geographic region. Sure, we've gained a few customers via social network, but the additional revenue is trivial compared to the value we've gained from connecting with amazing people and companies from around the world. We've retained expertise from professionals down the street who we did not know before. We've been invited into institutions with the most brilliant minds in the business world and have transferred knowledge we gained to our customers. We have sourced technology solutions from halfway around the world to solve a local issue with a local customer. We've developed friendships with likeminded individuals who've brought so many opportunities not just into our company but also into our personal lives. What pitfalls or what unwritten rules of social networking etiquette exist, which are frequently missed by others in the profession? If you won't do it in real life (IRL,) don't do it hiding behind a keyboard. Many professionals are treating social networking like it is something new and special. It is not. It is a new platform and a tool for individuals to connect, and that is it. Tools don't solve problems. People do. There is no secret sauce to it that doesn't apply to real life. It IS real life. Take it easy, relax and just be you. What ONE piece of technology could you absolutely not live without? The Internet, or in fancy terms, the "cloud." As we transfer more of our computing power into the "cloud," we are becoming more reliant on a fast and stable connection to the Internet. Our devices are slowly morphing into the role of a terminal rather than the main source of computing power. The "cloud" not only connects individuals, it is also where most of the work is being done. NOT including your current employer, what company do you most admire and why? Last year I talked about Apple, and I still admire them very much; but this year, I'll talk about Zappos. DeepSky aspires to be like Zappos partially because of its disruption to its industry but mostly because of its amazing culture. Zappos sells shoes online. It sounds simple, but it is not. In fact, I always say that if Zappos didn't exist today and Nick and Tony came to me to pitch the idea of selling shoes online, I'd still tell them that it cannot be done. These are shoes we are talking about! People have to try them on, get a feel for them. And what about size issues? Yet, despite all odds, they made it happen, and I am still trying to learn how they did it. This is a company that changed the rules of engagement for an entire industry — something DeepSky is trying to accomplish today in the accounting world. Secondly, the Zappos culture is absolutely amazing. Anyone who has set foot on its campus can immediately feel the genuine happiness from all of the team members. Tony and his team did an amazing job fostering their culture and have really created a place where people love going to work. It's not about handing out the biggest pay check; it is about something much more than that. When DeepSky grows up, we want to be like Zappos. What sports team/championship event do you absolutely refuse to miss? I am too nerdy for sports. I do enjoy snowboarding, cycling and going to bas- ketball games. But I wouldn't say that there's a sports team/championship event that I'd absolutely refuse to miss. But if we can go back in time, I'd say the 90s Chicago Bulls championships would probably be it. What are some ways your firm/business has gone "paperless" and/or "green" in the last two years? DeepSky was founded in 2009 and was built from the beginning to be a paperless firm. Last year, the only form of paper introduced into our accounting process was the physical vendor invoices sent in from our customers for us to scan. This year, we have outfitted all of our customers with a scanner, and all the scan- ning/recycling is done at each individual customer's location. This eliminates the materials and resources CONTINUED ON PAGE 26 25 Back to Contents Page 3

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