Practice Development News
October 2008
In this issue

 
  • Managing Client Relationships in a Down Economy
  • Blue Suit, Red Cape and Red Boots
  • The Weather Is Nicer in Arizona This Time of Year
  • CPAASP is Awesome
     
  • Three Relatively Painless Ways For Small Business To Cut Costs Using Technology
     

 
Quick Links

 
 
A Most Important Change to QuickBooks 2009
 
Intuit has made a number of beneficial changes to the QuickBooks 2009 products. With the introduction of multi-currency support, international payments processing, improved online banking, and better multi-user support, QuickBooks 2009 looks like it continues to build on the promise of capability with simplicity.

For accountants, however, this promise of simplicity and capability often seems to backfire once they get the data file from the client. Too often, professionals find that their clients have not properly accounted for much of their business activities. While QuickBooks makes it easy for businesses to keep track of their information, it doesn't automatically grant the user an education in proper accounting.

Analyzing the QuickBooks data is one of the first things most accountants do when they receive the file from the client. This has not historically been an easy or fast effort - one of the reasons many professional firms resort to re-writing up the transactions. But performing the write-up task is akin to doing the books all over again. Why not simply fix the data where it sits?

The new Client Data Review Center was designed specifically with the accounting professional in mind. Accountants can save time using the new clean-up tools, and can check for a wide variety of errors in the data, all from a single screen. The Client Data Review Center helps find problems in a variety of areas, including:

  • General Ledger account balances
  • QuickBooks lists, such as chart of accounts or customer lists
  • Open Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable items
 

Normally, accountants would have to use the Premier Accountant edition in order to access these features. With 2009, Intuit has created a special way for professionals to "unlock" this capability on their clients' systems running Pro version. This allows the professional to work on the client books at a higher level, without putting the tools directly in the client's hands.

InsynQ is currently testing the 2009 line of QuickBooks products, and hopes to begin rolling out hosting services for these versions soon.



  Social Networking for Accounting Professionals
 
CPANetworking.com is the first social networking platform integrated around the accounting profession. CPANetworking brings together skilled accounting professionals to create a vibrant online resource for the accounting industry.

Use CPANetworking to find CPE events, post and review opportunities, participate in Q&A and discussions, and reach out to other members of the accounting community. CPANetworking features a robust toolset for collaboration. This includes integrated messaging and conferencing, with voice or video chat and screencasting.

If CPANetworking members want to reach out to skilled professionals in other industries, they can. CPANetworking is part of SkillsTM.com, thus providing its members access to a vast network of skilled professionals in all industries.



  View Past Issues of the Practice Development News
 
View issues of the Practice Development News dating all the way back to 2002. As you can tell, we've been at this for a while.


  Tools to Help You Communicate with Clients and Peers
 
e-Accounting has developed a series of useful and informational fact sheets to help you educate clients and peers about the benefits of working in a managed IT environment. From online accounting solutions to Virtual Desktops, we have documents that you can use when discussing the different technologies.


  How Does It Work?
 
As part of our sponsorship of the 2008 Accounting Software Consultants Conference, CPAASP e-Accounting presented a webinar where we discussed our solution and demonstrated how it works.

View the recorded webinar, and see for yourself exactly how e-Accounting hosted applications work, and how you can apply them to your business.

 



 
More Applications, More Services = More Solutions
 
InsynQ is continuously working to ensure that our clients have safe, affordable, performing systems to run their business applications. Our application hosting platform serves hundreds of applications to thousands of users every day. It's a daunting task, making the systems and the delivery work for a few thousand of your best friends. "Tricky" doesn't even come close to describing it.

We have often said that upgrading the hosting platform is like changing tires on a moving truck. Not something to be taken lightly, and somebody could get smooshed in the process. This is why we manage change throughout the platform, always testing new software before it's deployed and making sure that any platform changes deliver necessary benefits without causing breakage. We host the applications that businesses already own, so we don't always have control of the versions. There is a lot to consider.

Now that Windows Server 2003 is proven, v 2008 is tested, and server virtualization has delivered proven benefits to the platform, InsynQ will begin the project of migration of services to these new platforms. We are already deploying the new platforms for custom service environments, with the planned migration of our shared services to come soon.

In addition to platform upgrades, InsynQ is taking steps to increase the flexibility of our offerings for those who need more than just standard QuickBooks implementations. For example, we expect to offer QuickBooks Enterprise Edition in the shared farm, allowing users to subscribe to Enterprise hosting services without the associated cost of a complete custom environment. We're also working closely with the folks at SmartVault and Bill.com to get those applications working well in the environment. They are currently available in custom service environments, but we hope to bring them to the shared farm soon.

As you can see, there's a lot going on at InsynQ. We keep our eyes on your systems and your applications, but we also keep a watch out for the technologies and services that will benefit your business and your users. When we see them, we bring them to the platform. It's been our mission for over 10 years to bring you the best in affordable, flexible, secure computing, and we have no intention of stopping now.



 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
 
 

 2008 Accounting Software Consulting Conference
 
 
 
 


 
 
 
 
We should all be thinking how we could convert our paper-based processes and workflow to electronic ones. We should be coming up with ways to eliminate the unnecessary printing of hardcopy documents whenever possible. For example, if you send out a monthly printed newsletter, consider sending it out electronically instead. The electronic version may give you the ability to track readership and to better understand what content your readers are most interested in, which is something very difficult to do with a printed publication. Perhaps begin to leverage your website for broader distribution of your sales and marketing materials by directing prospective customers to download your information. This not only saves you time, it also saves you from using your printer, your paper, and that ever-so-costly service known as the USPS.

 
Embrace telecommuting. If your small business has outgrown your current office space (or are anticipating that you will in the near future) then this is a good time to rethink how your systems help your workers access business information and software to help them do their jobs. And now is the time to give consideration to allowing employees to access systems and work from home. Not all employees will qualify to work from home, especially if they are involved in manufacturing or service deliveries that require them to touch the final product. Office managers, receptionists, back office staff members, and even sales personnel are candidates for working from home. With technologies available today, it is not only easier but more secure than it once was to let workers login to the company network and work from home or remote locations. Having fewer people in the office cuts down on office energy and space requirements. In many cases, working from home also allows employees to be more productive than at the office, as they are better-able to focus on the task at hand.

 
 
 
Environmentally Responsible Computing

 
practice development news | 2008