Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/40356
Dan Nicholson, CPA — 30 CEO, Nth Degree CPAs, PLLC Seattle, Washington Blog URL: www.nthdegreecpas.com/blog Twitter ID: twitter.com/nthdegreecpas Education: Seattle University, Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with emphases in Accounting and E-Commerce Information Systems Professional Associations/Memberships: WSCPA, AICPA Hobbies: Marathons, Triathlons, Live music, Building our business What are some ways your firm/business has gone "paperless" and/or "green" in the last two years? Our firm is built around being "paperless." It permeates everything we do. Being paperless starts with how you interact with clients. We believe in teaching our clients how they can operate a paperless office so that providing or receiving documents from our firm is a natural exten- sion of what they already do on a daily basis. As such, we have implemented the following tools and procedures: • Streamlined Paperless Accounting Process. We recently developed a proprietary process that addresses what we believe is the main issue clients have with being paperless – redundancy. Our process combines a number of different tools including scanners, networked drives, payable aggregation tools, electronic signatures and automated billing. • Client Portal. We share and receive confidential docu- ments with clients using a portal system. It's our firm policy to provide all deliverables in PDF form using this system. • Electronic Workpapers. We are proud to confess that we have one filing cabinet in our entire office. It has two drawers and is approximately 50% full. Any source documents received from clients in paper form are immediately scanned and returned. • E-file. All returns are e-filed unless IRS, State or City restrictions require a paper return. As such, we e-file 95% of all returns. • eSignatures. As we deliver documents to our clients electronically, we realized a need to develop a solution to eliminate their need to print documents, sign, scan and return. In addition to the procedures and tools above to interact with clients, we have implemented the following items internally • Book club using Kindles. We believe that regularly reading is critical to our success. As such, we recently developed an internal book club that is delivered via eBooks on Kindles. • No Bottled Water. We replaced bottled water with a water cooler. • Paperless sales tools. We deliver all proposals via PDF and are developing marketing materials to replace traditional pamphlets that describe the work we perform. Do you embrace cloud computing? Yes, we do in a limited capacity. Currently, we use cloud computing to interact with our clients' accounting systems. We continue to investigate other options through the lens of cost/benefit and security/privacy concerns. How is cloud computing changing the accounting profession, and how concerned are you with the security issues related to cloud computing? Cloud computing is expanding the opportunity for smaller accounting firms and the small business community at-large to access a wider breadth and depth of technology solutions by reducing the cost of entry. Security is a huge concern. Equal in concern is privacy, reliability and continuity. Increasingly, I'm hearing my clients say, "How do I know with certainty that my proprietary data will not be shared or leveraged by this cloud computing provider?" Imagine, for example, that you find out one day that your service provider was sold to a company offering a competing solution to your business. Is there certainty that this competitor will not now have access to your proprietary data? Further, what if this service provider suddenly is no longer in business? I think we will see these kinds of issues vetted over the next three to five years. What sports team/championship event do you absolutely refuse to miss? I am a huge Seattle sports fan (which is difficult most of the time as we are not known for winning). Specifically, I don't miss Seattle Seahawks or Seattle University Men's Basketball games. I am, however, still in deep mourning (which occasionally turns to bitterness) about the loss of the Seattle Supersonics. What are some of your favorite books, movies, music, websites, and TV shows? I mainly find myself reading business and personal development related books. In particular, I consistently go back to "7 Habits of Highly Effective People," "The Millionaire Next Door," "Freakonomics" & "Good to Great." Without question, my favorite movie is The Shawshank Redemption. Every time I find it broadcast on cable TV, I must watch it until the end. Music is a huge part of our firm. We are either streaming Pandora or Spotify … or building our iTunes playlists. We often default to music by Greg Laswell or Mat Kearney if we can't agree on anything for that day. My go-to websites are Google. com, Techcrunch.com, Geekwire.com, Espn.com, Facebook.com. TV Shows: I am still searching for a replacement to Lost and the recently ended Friday Night Lights. 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? I think the answer to this question ultimately comes back to cost/ benefit. I expect that small firms will continue a push toward outsourcing their computing to vendors due to the cost-efficacy of this arrangement. However, there is a tipping point where the cost exceeds that of maintaining servers. It's important for firms to identify this upfront so they can establish a long-term transition plan. Are you using social networking (such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+) as a marketing tool for your business … or do you use such sites for personal use only? Have you gained any clients or seen other demonstrable benefits from the use of social net- working? We use a variety of social networking tools as part of our business, including Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. We have a distinct strategy for each medium. Our ultimate goal is to create a community around our brand and continued engagement with our clients and network. This requires consistent, professional and unique messaging. We have found that it's important to avoid providing our followers with just technical accounting, finance and tax topics as they will begin to tune us out. What pitfalls or what unwritten rules of social net- working etiquette exist, which are frequently missed by others in the profession? There are two common unwritten rules of social networking that I see others in the profession frequently missing: 1. Being too casual. There seems to be an emerging trend among other CPA firms of trying to be hip. I think it's important to demonstrate via social media a unique brand, but there's a point when being too casual dilutes the essence of what one looks for in a CPA firm — professionalism. 2. Not separating personal from business. Once a profile is used for business pur- poses, I believe it's important to remove anything that would be too personal or inappropriate by business contacts. I often see people posting videos and photos on a profile that would be deemed inappropriate by their business contacts. What ONE piece of technology could you absolutely not live without? Email. Email is critical to our daily communica- tions, both internally and with our clients and network. While I could not live without email, I've found it must be used carefully as it can quickly become overwhelming. We recently developed some initiatives internally to reduce the number of emails and allow us to continue to focus on what matters most — our clients. Monitors on your desk? Two NOT including your current employer, what company do you most admire and why? United Parcel Service. UPS gave me an opportunity at the age of 19 to run a team of 20 auditors within the finance department. This opportunity was a massive springboard for my career and gave me real-world insights while in school. I'm not the only one with this story. Every year, UPS gives CONTINUED ON PAGE 10 9 Back to Contents Page 3