Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
Issue link: https://cpapracticeadvisor.epubxp.com/i/80319
What are some ways your firm has gone "paperless" and/or "green" in the last few years? Brannon Joey CPA — 39 Founder & President, Axiom CPA Bradenton, Florida When I started my own shop in 2005, the first thing I bought was a scanner and the one thing I refused to buy was a filing cabinet. We have been paperless since day one. When presenting to clients, we try to use iPads instead of color copies and we encourage clients to sub- mit their information digitally. Paper is static. Paper reports history. Using technology to present information and col- laborate with clients makes everything more fluid and real time. How is cloud computing changing the accounting profession, and how con- cerned are you with the security issues related to cloud computing? Website: www.axiomcpa.com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/joey.brannon Twitter: www.twitter.com/joey_b LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/joeyataxiomcpa Education: B.A. Covenant College, Lookout Mt, GA Professional Associations/Memberships: Thriveal +CPA Network It is not changing the profession, it's changing client and team member expec- tations. Firms who want to keep pace will have to adopt these cloud sys- tems that create con- venience and increase responsiveness. Firms that don't adopt these systems will just lose clients over time. Banks learned the same lesson with online banking ten years ago. I am extremely comfortable with the security of the cloud- based products we use. The truth is that clients get better security from competent cloud-based vendors than they do from 95 percent of small firm IT networks. Hobbies: Kayaking, camping, Tough Mudder and writing books that refuse to be finished How mobile are you re- garding your work? How have mobile devices and apps impacted your pro- ductivity and work-life balance? The office is a good meeting place. We have workspaces that facilitate strategy ses- sions with clients and op- portunities for good face- to-face meetings. But the technical work can happen anywhere. Some team members like their office setup best; others are just as com- fortable from home. Personally, it is more important that I be in front of clients than in the office. The technology means that when I am with those clients any- thing I can do in my office I can also do in theirs. What tips on social media do you think are essential, but per- haps missed by profes- sionals? It is about relationships. That is all. The same rules that your mom taught you about good conversation apply to social media. Listen twice as much as you talk. Give more than you get. Say please and thank you. If all you do is talk about your- self or link to your last blog post people will justifiably assume you are a blowhard. NOT including your current employer, what company do you most admire and why? I've always found it hard to admire a com- pany. Leaders are a different story. I ad- mire local legend and Tropicana founder Anthony Rossi. A Sicilian immigrant at 21, he didn't get his start in the fruit industry until his 40's. He started making orange juice because he had to do something with the smaller fruit not suitable for gift baskets. The list of innovations under his leadership is impressive. In 1962, when a Florida freeze wiped out one third of the orange crop, Rossi put a processing plant on a ship and anchored it off the coast of Mexico to get the juice he needed to meet demand. That is the kind of entre- preneurial spirit I aspire to. What sports team/champion- ship event do you absolutely refuse to miss? When the Rays make it to the World Series again, I'll be there with Andrew (their biggest 7 year old fan). How many monitors do you have on your desk? What desk? 25 | 2012 CPA Practice Advisor 40 Under 40 BACK TO PAGE 4