CPA Practice Advisor

40UNDER40 2011

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

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Kurt J. Rickhoff, EA, ABA — 39 President, Managing Owner, Rickhoff & Associates, Ltd O'Fallon, Illinois Education: Illinois State University Professional Associations/Memberships: PASBA, The Payroll Group, NATP, AMMO Civic Involvement: Volunteer Firefighter (since 1993) Hobbies: Travel, Hunting, Family time What are some ways your firm/business has gone "paperless" and/or "green" in the last two years? This summer, we setup a portal for all monthly write-up clients and have increased the adaption by over 60% from 2010. In September, we are going to roll out our "Green Initiative," which will include incentives for our clients to try the portals. The incentives will include Gift Certificates and the chance to win an iPad2. During this initiative, we will be pushing the portal usage for exchange of information both to and from the client, reducing the paper and postage requirements. We are also planning other "events" during this fall initiative that will include free recycling and shredding oppor- tunities for our clients. Do you embrace cloud computing? I have embraced the cloud concept for many years, waiting for the technology to catch up with the ideas and concepts. In December of 2010, we moved our payroll operations to the cloud, utilizing our software provider's "on-demand" service (which is their hosted product). Payroll has always been a concern for me when it comes to disaster preparedness, and this provides us with a great backup plan. If we are down for a day to rebuild data on a server for accounting purposes it will be quite inconvenient, but it should not adversely affect the ongoing business. Payroll, however, presents a larger demand on timeliness. Being down an entire day for payroll is unacceptable, and anything more could put us out of business. Paychecks are in the balance, affecting more individuals. Another use of the cloud by our firm has been the movement towards Hosted QuickBooks and Sage Peachtree for our clients. By moving our clients to the hosted environ- ment, we are able to collaborate with them in real time, providing a much higher level of service and making other services more efficient, such as tax planning and preparation, loan packages and projections, etc. Now that it appears bandwidth and computing power/stability has evolved, we will be migrating more of our business toward the cloud as current equipment needs to be replaced or upgraded. How is cloud computing changing the accounting profession, and how concerned are you with the security issues related to cloud computing? Cloud computing has allowed us to serve our clients more efficiently by providing them with an option of hosted bookkeeping systems, which gives our staff access to their information throughout the month rather than waiting for month end to prepare their financial state- ments. The benefits of this "real rime" collaboration are obvious. The client gets more timely financial data to manage their business, and we are able to spread the work out throughout the month for our staff. Today's volatile business environment requires owners to stay on top of the finances and "books" of their companies more than ever. Businesses need to realize and determine if they need to make changes more rapidly and cannot wait until the previous month's financials are ready on the 15th of the month. Security is always the issue when sensitive data is exchanged online. However, it can be argued that cloud storage and collaboration of this data is more secure than mailing. When I get resistance from staff or clients, I ask them how many persons will touch the envelope containing the sensitive information when mailed. When this same data is presented in a secure portal, how many people will touch it? Zero without proper access. The biggest key is to work with reputable vendors and do your homework to find out their security level and backup plans. Nothing will be 100% secure, but we need to make sure we are using something as close as we can get. 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 can see the majority of the firms still using servers within their offices five years from now. Granted, that will not be the readers of this publication, But overall, I am constantly amazed how many practitioners do not look to the future or even keep up with the industry. I view technology as our tools, just like a carpenter does his air-nailer. My answer if they should be looking at moving from their servers within five years is a most definite "YES!" Are you using social networking (such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+) as a marketing tool for your practice … or do you use such sites for personal use only? I currently use Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn for social networking. I cannot point to a significant increase in business since adapting these methods; however, we have not utilized them to their ultimate capability either. We are in the process of developing a better timeline and "plan" on utilizing the social media to push information out. I see value in them and have worked with clients that have gained new business directly from social media. I am looking at it more from a way to get our clients and prospects quick and timely information. The obvious hope is that they will be driven to our website and then ultimately to our firm. Plus, it is a cheap and efficient way to get this information out to the public. What pitfalls or what unwritten rules of social net- working etiquette exist, which are frequently missed by others in the profession? I have not experienced a great deal of breach of social networking etiquette by other accountants. Typically, accountants are slow to adapt and then are overly cautious. What ONE piece of technology could you absolutely not live without? The one piece of technology I could not live without today would be my iPhone. I use it for communication with clients and staff every day. I also utilize it to stay up on technology and industry news. I spend much more time emailing and reading on my phone than actually talking. I would guarantee I spend less than 10% of its usage talking. I believe the iPad may overtake this as my vital piece real soon; it's just kind of hard to carry in my pocket. NOT including your current employer, what company do you most admire and why? In May 2011, at a PASBA conference, I got the opportunity to tour the Zappos office. It was a wonderful experience and gave me so many ideas and desires for our firm. While we could not begin to adapt their culture completely in a professional service organization, the basic concept of having the best staff, treating them well so they will want to provide the very best customer service would cer- tainly have a place in my office. What sports team/championship event do you absolutely refuse to miss? I have grown up a St. Louis Cardinal fan and was fortunate enough to attend Game 5 of the 2006 World Series when they beat Detroit for the championship. I always watch/ monitor their games throughout the season and attend as many as possible. We have been season ticket holders since 2004 and have not missed a home opener since then, which is one of my favorite events of the season. Even though it falls towards the end of tax season, I take the entire day off to enjoy the beginning of spring in St Louis. What are some of your favorite books, movies, music, websites, and TV shows? My favorite TV shows are on channels like Discovery Channel, History Channel, Travel Channel and Food Network. I tend to watch a myriad of shows on those networks, including Deadliest Catch, Man V. Food, Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives, etc. And of course, Cardinal Baseball through the summer. I enjoy reading mostly non-fiction books lately, but a few years ago read several David Baldacci novels and will probably pick them up again soon. My music selections on my iPod vary from Neil Diamond to Guns N' Roses. Mostly, I listen to country and Jimmy Buffett. Favorite websites are news and technology websites for up-to-date "rumors" on new products. Also browsing CONTINUED ON PAGE 36 35 Back to Contents Page 3

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