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? Shayna B. Chapman CPA.CITP, CGMA Hold Series 7 and 66 — 37 Managing Member, Chapman & Burris CPAs LLC Gallipolis, Ohio Our firm has been storing information paperlessly for a while now. In the last two years, we have start- ed working on mak- ing our clients more paperless. We're asking them to email items instead of dropping them off or faxing them. In addition, we're offering web portals so the clients can receive their returns electronically and not have a paper copy. Currently, I'm working on intro- ducing my clients to scanning and paper- less filing for their own records. Have you em- braced cloud com- puting for your practice? Are you moving your clients to the cloud? The cloud has be- come a large part of our practice. We use Thomson Re- uters' SaaS suite. It's amazing how much CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE Hobbies: Besides the occasional softball game, I guess you could say my hobby is my community. I spend most of my non-work time trying to make my community a better place by sitting on various boards and participating in community events. I sit on the boards of the Digital River Project, The Holzer Foundation, Gallipolis Historical Preservation Board, and the Marshall University Lewis College of Business Division of Accountancy and Legal Environment Advisory Board. I volunteer to run our town's America in Bloom Facebook page and some of their competitions, as well as help with Paint the Town Purple for our town's American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. And most importantly, I have a son whose hobbies are now my hobbies, as most parents can relate to. more mobile this has made my firm. We can work from anywhere. As a tax preparer, I have access to the trial balance, depre- ciation, and tax programs enabling me to prepare a return from anywhere. As for my clients, I'm work- ing on their cloud practices. For some rural clients, this is difficult because not everyone in our re- gion has high-speed internet access. However, many cli- ents in more urban areas are seeing the real benefit in cloud technology. How is cloud com- puting changing the accounting pro- fession, and how concerned are you with the security issues related to cloud computing? Cloud computing is definitely changing the profession. It's allowing the firm to be more mobile and more fluid. Previ- ously, when I would go into a client's to work, I may not have everything. I then have to call my office to ask for information – which they may or may not be able to locate. Now, all I need is an internet connection and everything is at my fingertips. As far as security issues, I know with the internet comes security issues. I read what many write as possible issues with it. However, I trust my cloud compa- nies to be as secure as possible. Technology security is not what my business is about. I don't have full-time tech staff. I am the tech staff. These cloud companies make security a priority: they have the best firewalls and antivirus programs. They have audits and may hire professional hackers to point out weaknesses. Again, it's what they do. I trust them to do it diligently. How mobile are you regarding your work? How have mobile devices and apps impacted your productivity and work-life balance? Using mobile devices and apps has made such a difference in our office. The partners have iPhones and iPads and are, therefore, able to get information anywhere anytime. We can access our paperless files via our SaaS software on our mobile devices. This allows me to go to a client's office without paper or laptops and pull up information on my iPad whether I was prepared to do so or not. In addition, utilizing mobile devices, apps, and SaaS allows me to work from anywhere that has 4G or a WiFi connec- tion. It's much easier than dialing in through another computer. I'm able to work from home or just recently, I took a longer va- cation because I could work in our condo overlooking the Gulf and stay just as con- nected as I would be if I was in my office 46 | 2012 CPA Practice Advisor 40 Under 40 BACK TO PAGE 3

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