CPA Practice Advisor

40 UNDER 40 2012

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

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How mobile are you regarding your work? How have mobile devices and apps impacted your productivity and work-life balance? Kasey Bayne 30 Accounting Ambassador, FreshBooks Toronto, Ontario A huge part of what I do at FreshBooks is travelling throughout North America, speaking and doing presentations, meet- ing accountants at conferences and events. While it sounds pretty glamorous (and okay, it sometimes is), it can leave me feeling pretty disconnected, not only from the of- fice, but from everything I like to refer to as "regular life." Website: www.freshbooks.com/accountants Blog: www.kaseybayne.com Facebook: www.facebook.com/kaseybayne Twitter: www.twitter.com/kaseybayne LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kaseybayne Education: University of Toronto, BBA Having my BlackBerry with me 24/7 (yes, I'm one of those people who sleep beside their phone. Doesn't everyone?), and my laptop at my side, means that even when I'm away from home, I can stay connected to my family, friends, coworkers – my life! And not only when I'm working from a con- ference center meeting room, but day-to- day, being mobile really helps me manage my "real" life. I can head off to the cottage (beating the weekend traf- fic, and still being able to rock that 2pm conference call), working from home on those winter storm days (yes, I'm Canadian!), and even just spend the afternoon writing from my balcony with a cup of coffee (which is actually what I'm doing at this very moment). Professional Associations/Memberships: Association for Accounting Marketing (AAM) CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE Everyone is so busy these days – work, travel, family, friends – it can be tough to feel in control of it all. Being mobile and taking advantage of the tools and apps at my disposal, re- ally make me feel in control of my time and making time for the things that matter. Have you found business success via social media, either via recognizable ROI, new customers, marketing or networking? When I first started working in the accounting world at FreshBooks, it was definitely the definition of starting from scratch. Although FreshBooks was established as a company, in the world of entrepreneurs and freelancers, with accoun- tants we didn't quite (yet) have the same recognition. Social media is how I got started – connecting with account- ing professionals, listening to industry news, starting con- versations and asking lots of questions! These connections in social media (which soon lead to lots of phone, email, and in-person conversations) were really the foundation of my creation of the accounting channel at FreshBooks (and something that's a huge focus for me, even years later). In terms of metrics and ROI, those things are important to any business. I track as much 31 | 2012 CPA Practice Advisor 40 Under 40 as I can – clickthroughs, event buzz, blog post views and all that. Combining these "social" metrics with more traditional ones helps to paint the full picture of my team's efforts across the board so we can make smarter decisions for the future. Hobbies: Reading (currently "I'm Feeling Lucky," the Google Employee 59 book), running (my third half- marathon is this October! Training for my best time yet), and making the most of every business trip I can with lots of local food specialties, and taking in as much of the sights as I can! (My recent favorite was a trolley tour of Nashville this summer – so much fun!) How is cloud computing changing the accounting profession, and how con- cerned are you with the security issues related to cloud computing? Cloud computing is having a massive effect on the way that things work in the ac- counting profession – both in the way we work in firms, and the way we work with our clients. The two major areas I've seen are in collaboration and mobile. Really, they're so intertwined – being able to work wherever you are, with other people in real- time, that's where the cloud is changing the way we do business. Not to forget the security and backup benefits – the cloud brings all of this to the accounting profession, and is definitely here to stay. Security is such an important issue – my whole life is my phone, my computer, every- thing's there. Having all of my data in the cloud actu- BACK TO PAGE 4

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