CPA Practice Advisor

40 UNDER 40 2012

Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.

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What are some ways your firm/business has gone "paperless" and/or "green" in the last two years? John H. Crosslin CPA, MBA — 38 Principal, Crosslin & Associates, P.C. Nashville, Tennessee Accounting firms are notorious for the huge amounts of paperwork associated with the profession. In 2004, Crosslin & Associates de- cided to buck that trend and transition the firm into a "pa- perless" environment. One of the first firms in Nashville to embrace this technology, Crosslin & Associates chose to be paperless in an effort to reduce the amount of pa- per used and waste created, while creating more efficiency in handling our customers' accounts. Hobbies: Spending time with family, music, running It also creates easy access for our team members, who are in different depart- ments and often in different locations throughout the country, so they can eas- ily find and work within multiple files at once. Every document our team members need can be found at the click of a but- ton. Team members and custom- ers alike have praised our paperless system. It makes the process of completing any engagement - audit, tax, information technology, forensics, health care, etc. With a paperless office, all of our files and the documents contained in those files are electronic. Not only does this reduce our carbon footprint, it allows numerous team members access to the same file at the same time, therefore eliminating the potential backlog as everyone works to complete tasks on a customer account. Website: www.crosslinpc.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/john-crosslin/7/779/320 Education: Bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in accounting from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University; executive master's degree in business ad- ministration from the Owen School at Vanderbilt University Professional Associations/Memberships: American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants, Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants - much easier on our team members and delivers a more efficient product for our customers. It has created a win-win situa- tion for everyone. How mobile are you regarding your work? How have mobile devices and apps impacted your productivity and work-life balance? (Spending less time in the office?) With today's technology and my profes- sion, I am fortunate to be 100 percent mobile with my work thanks to my iPhone, iPad, HP Folio and Dell laptop. As a principal in the firm's audit department, I am able to service our numerous custom- ers from the customer's office, my office, the airport or any other place I may be throughout the day thanks to the firm's technology system. Our firm is paperless, meaning that I am able to use our remote desktop system and log-in to our pass- word-protected server to access client files and work at any time, day or night. It has significantly improved my productiv- ity, as well as our entire team's productiv- ity, because we can work on files at the same time from any location throughout the country without being tied down to a certain office or customer site. I also am more effective when at my customer's location, because I can focus on what the customer would like to see or needs while I am there without feeling obligated to review workpapers or other tasks that in the past would have had to occur at the customer location. Checkpoint, through Thomson Reuters, allows our audit team to have access to all accounting and audit technical research at the click of a button, eliminating the need for carrying heavy re- search books from customer to customer. I have found with the increased mobility of my profession, I am able to enjoy added time with my family because I can easily work from home, school events or any- where else I'd like to be while balancing home and work. Have you found business success via social media, either via recognizable ROI, new customers, marketing or networking? Our firm does enjoy success through numerous types of social media. The biggest success for us is the ease of com- munication. Whether we are able to easily meet a customer's needs because we found what we needed through social media, we found a new employee through LinkedIn, or we were able to share our 26 | 2012 CPA Practice Advisor 40 Under 40 BACK TO PAGE 4

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