CPA Practice Advisor

40 UNDER 40 2012

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

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What are some ways your firm has gone "paperless" and/or "green" in the last few years? Julio E. Garcia CPA — 37 Managing Member, Alonso & Garcia, PLLC Plano, Texas We invested in paperless technologies such as high speed scanners and docu- ment management software. Since Febru- ary 2009, we no longer maintain physical paper files for both recurring and perma- nent records. We also have clients "opt out" of receiving encrypted PDF copies of their tax returns from our secure file download site. Have you embraced cloud computing for your practice? Are you moving your clients to the cloud? My partner and I started using in-house Terminal and Citrix Servers in 2004 in or- der to host some of our ap- plications and reduce desk- top maintenance. However, having your own in-house servers requires a certain lev- el of technical support that most sole practitioners or Website: www.cpa-in-dallas.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Alonso-Garcia-PLLC/106001302786103 Twitter: www.twitter.com/alonsoandgarcia LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/juliogarciacpa Education: Bachelor and Master of Accounting at Florida International University Professional Associations/Memberships: AICPA, TSCPA small firms are probably looking to reduce or eliminate. I am presently evaluating moving our write-up and tax preparation applications to a hosted solutions provider in order to reduce the investment in ap- plication servers and related maintenance that I will have coming up once Microsoft Server 2003 sunsets in 2014. How mobile are you regarding your work? How have mobile devices and apps impacted your productivity and work-life balance? I can access accounting and tax applica- tions remotely through Terminal Server. I also host email through Microsoft Office 365, which is a great solution that allows me to sync my email and calendars over the air and share resources and task lists with staff. Hobbies: Bike riding with the kids, cardio kickboxing, home improvement How is cloud computing changing the accounting profession, and how con- cerned are you with the security issues related to cloud computing? At the present time, cloud computing is increasing effi- ciencies in workflow process- es across all CPA disciplines, whether it is accounting and audit, tax or consulting services. It is also flattening organizations in terms of how much administrative sup- port a CPA firm requires to effectively run. The convenience of having hosted ap- plications and data sometimes makes you forget that we, as CPAs, need to make sure these platforms adhere to AICPA Eth- ics and IRS Circular 230 rules, specifically with respect to client information confi- dentiality. CPAs need to make sure that the cloud computing vendors they choose do not place their workflows out of com- pliance with these requirements. Have you found business success via so- cial media, either via recognizable ROI, new customers, marketing or network- ing? I have a fixed pay-per-click budget with Google and it has more than paid for itself in terms of generating leads. I also send out newsletters to clients and prospects. The newsletter has helped prospects remember that they reached out to me at some point for a service. It has helped land clients from leads generated over one year prior to me sending the newslet- ter. What sports team/championship event do you absolutely refuse to miss? I was fortunate enough to have my fa- vorite sports team, the Miami Heat, win their second championship this year. The 2011 championship run where they lost in the finals to the Dallas Mavericks was just excruciating. I live in Dallas and my alle- giances were challenged. In the end, my top two teams won back to back champi- onships. How many monitors do you have on your desk? Two 22-inch widescreen monitors mount- ed vertically and set up as extended desktop. 29 | 2012 CPA Practice Advisor 40 Under 40 BACK TO PAGE 4

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