Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/680172
May 2016 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 3 By Gail Perry, CPA, Editor-In-Chief FROM THE EDITOR Published by SouthComm Business Media, Inc. PO Box 803 | 1233 Janesville Ave. Fort Atkinson, WI 53538 920-563-6388 | 800-547-7377 VOLUME 26, NUMBER 4 Publisher: Barry Strobel Editor-in-Chief: Gail Perry, CPA Managing Editor: Isaac M. O'Bannon Assistant Editor: Taija Sparkman National Sales Manager: Jim Colford Columnists: David McClure Doug Sleeter Jim Boomer, CPA.CITP Kristy Short Randy Johnston Rene Lacerte Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA.CITP Art Director: Rhonda Cousin Site Manager: Lester Craft Production Manager: Barb Evenson Audience Development Manager: Terri Petitt Editorial Advisory Board: Jim Bourke, CPA.CITP, CGMA, CFF Jim Boomer, CPA.CITP, CGMA, MBA Bob Cedergren, CPA.CITP, CGMA, CISA Randy Johnston, MCS Greg LaFollette, CPA.CITP, CGMA Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP, CGMA Doug Sleeter Sandra Wiley, PHR, SPHR SOUTHCOMM, INC. 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All trademarks used are the property of their respective owner. 6 • w w w . C P A P r a c t i c e A d v i s o r . c o m 3 Gail is the Editor-in-Chief of CPA Practice Advisor and a CPA. She is the author of over 30 books (including "Mint.com for Dummies" and "Idiots Guide to Introductory Accounting") and she maintains a small tax practice. She earned a bachelor's degree in journalism fom Indiana University and studied accounting at Illinois State University before starting her professional career at Deloite. Gail is the former publisher and editor-in-chief at AccountingWEB and is a former columnist for the Indianapolis Star newspaper. CPA.com's RIVIO Clearinghouse - A Game Changer for the Accounting Profession It's not ofen that monumental change comes to this profession we know and love. Certainly there is a constant barrage of litle tweaks here and there, directives coming down from the FASB, tax laws being writ- ten or changed, and new technology that amazingly seems to make our lives easier and more difcult at the same time. But events that change the way we look at our business - these milestones are rare. A lot of the changes we've seen in the past decade stem from technology advances that shorten, combine, and ease the processes we use to complete our jobs. Accountants who flled their days with compliance tasks are now reassessing the value they bring to their clients and focusing on analysis, forecasting and insight. Tey're actually doing what they were trained to do in the frst place, but until now the compli- ance work got in the way. Technology has cleared the path for accountants to use their brains, and most accountants are enjoying that role. I believe accountants are on the brink of yet another monumental change - one that is foating into our profession on the wings of an organization that is ofen associ- ated with the Big Four and those other large frms that play in the SEC's sandbox. Te organization is of course the A ICPA and you're going to see the services ofered by the smallest of accounting and even bookkeeping frms impacted, in a very positive way, by the introduction of the R IV IO Clearinghouse. Imagine preparing, rev iew ing, or auditing f inancial statements and signing your frm's name on the statements. Now imagine the client takes those statements, alters some of the information, and presents those statements to potential lenders or investors. How are the stakeholders to know they are looking at the actual information you signed? W hat if the accounting frm never even saw the information but the frm name was used on the statements? Te same goes for signed tax returns that could be forged or altered. How is the inves- tor or lender to trust the information being presented as accurate? Launched this month, the Reposi- tory of Intelligent Validated Inputs and Outputs (R IVIO) is a portal that actually mimics the SEC at a small practitioner level. A joint creation of CPA.com and Confrmation.com, R IV IO is a secure location where accountants can upload statements, tax returns, and other information, client companies can give permission for access, and third party stakehold- ers can download the information knowing it hasn't been altered. Not only will this change the way accountants will deliver information, I see a future where investors and lenders will routinely request that information be delivered through R IV IO. Tis marks the dawn of a new era of relevance for the small practitioners. Kudos to all of the minds that visualized this project and made it possible. — Gail Perry, Editor-in-Chief Follow me on Twiter at @gaperry GPerry@CPAPracticeAdvisor.com I 've been reporting on the accounting profession since Andersen was in the Big Five, Sarbanes and Oxley were just drinking buddies in D.C., Enron was a company where great careers were made, and the PCAOB wasn't even a figment of anyone's imagination. When I started in accounting journal- ism, technology was such that I had an insider at the SEC auditor independence hearings running out of the room and faxing (faxing!) me handwriten notes from the proceedings. Fifeen years ago, the lives of CPAs (mercifully not renamed to Cognitors) were turned upside down, and the upside, of course, was beter service for clients and shareholders.