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In This Issue |
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Awesome! |
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Down Economy Means Fraud is Up |
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IT Security: Michael Ehart |
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Office 2007 and more at GrooveComputing.com |
Quick Links...
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More
Applications, More Choices
InsynQ has been delivering innovative online
application services since 1997, and we're still
building the solutions and services that businesses
need to compete in today's highly mobile
environment.
As the first hosting partner for Remedy Corporation
CRM (customer relationship management) and ITSM
(information technology service management),
announced in February of 2000, InsynQ launched one
of the first CRM practice centers available via the
net.
As Macola's hosting partner for the Progression
series of accounting and finance applications (also
announced in 2000), InsynQ proved that small and
mid-market businesses could benefit from managed
applications and desktop services just as their
enterprise counterparts do.
As the creators of the e-Accounting service model
and brand, InsynQ proved the value of online
accounting to the small business market with the
introduction of QuickBooks hosting services, and
continues to advance the model which allows
accountants, outsourcers, and their client
businesses to work seamlessly together, online, all
the time.
Today, InsynQ continues to evolve desktop and
application hosting services for businesses of all
sizes. We regularly add new applications or
solutions which integrate with QuickBooks, as well
as those that solve important business or process
problems for our subscribers.
InsynQ is also pleased to announce a new datacenter
and delivery platform for hosted application
services - our Southwest Farm, delivering service
under the brand
GrooveComputing.com. The Groove Virtual Office
offers hosting for Microsoft Office 2007, as well as
Office Accounting, QuickBooks, ACT! and other
popular business applications. With the Groove
Virtual Office, you are able to get all the features
and benefits of the updated Microsoft Office Suite
applications, and have the other applications your
business needs as well.
Check out our new delivery at
www.GrooveComputing.com.
It's your office. Virtually.
GrooveComputing is another quality computing
solution from InsynQ,
your Computing Utility Company. |
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e-
Accounting is an Awesome
QuickBooks Add-On
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Leverage Technology to
Improve Your Bottom Line
e-Accounting
Solutions provides you with a variety of
tools and services that have proven
effective in helping our
professionals grow their businesses,
increase their profitability, and create
niche or specialty service offerings. Our
application hosting solutions eliminate
the effects of time and distance - allowing
you to interact in real-time with your
clients' business applications and data from
anywhere at any time. Be an on-the-spot CFO,
or provide outsourced bookkeeping services
without the travel time. |
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Down Economy Means Fraud is
Up
As the economy struggles through these
difficult times, analysts have warned
businesses to be wary of increased fraud
risk. If the economy enters into a full
blown recession, the risk of fraud will grow
dramatically, and most corporations will be
very vulnerable.
When business revenue declines, there is
increased pressure on personnel to perform.
This results in changes in a company's risk
environment. The effectiveness of internal
controls may be reduced as businesses
struggle through sluggish business cycles.
The impact is often felt throughout the
entire company as there are no departments
where the increased pressure to perform will
not increase the possibility of fraud.
Even the things that most managers view as a
means to stabilize the business can increase
the risk of fraud. For example, reducing the
workforce through layoffs, terminations or
early retirement typically increases the
risk of fraud by creating potential
conflicts with exiting employees. And fewer
employees usually means that there are fewer
individuals performing basic review
functions, increasing the risk that
fundamental controls will break down.
Reductions in employee compensation due to
decreased profits may also expose the
business to increased risk. The temptation
to supplement lost income may be too great
for some employees, and fewer people
enforcing internal controls may provide the
means for fraud against the company and its
customers.
Revenue recognition may represent another
area of potential risk for the business.
When there is significant pressure to
perform, accounting personnel may feel
tempted to improperly recognize sales before
the actual shipment of the product to the
customer is made. Inflating revenues at
period-end to meet earnings estimates
happens even in a healthy economy, but the
activity tends to increase dramatically
during an economic downturn.
The most effective deterrent to fraud is the
fear of getting caught. Every business must
protect against fraud, and a company-wide
training initiative may be the best initial
approach. Creating an "ethics code of
conduct" for your employees to follow, along
with the encouragement to report
questionable activities throughout the
organization, helps to make potentially
dishonest employees think twice about
participating in fraudulent activities. |
IT Security: Michael Ehart
As you may have noticed, we security people
are a strange lot. We spend endless hours
hardening our systems, working on intrusion
detection, firewalls, virus protection and
eradicating spyware, when we know that four
times out of five, the outside is not where
the problem is going to come from. You see,
for all the media image of the hotshot teen
hacker in his mother's basement, fingers
flying across the keyboard at 90 miles an
hour while he slurps down Jolt cola and
oogles the latest supermodel poster as he
simultaneously cracks your corporate system
and plans his next D & D session is just
that: a media image. Chances are your next
security breach will come from someone who
looks just like the person sitting in the
cubicle next to yours.
That's because your next security breach
most likely will come from the cubicle next
to you, or from someone else in your office.
Studies show that far more than half of all
system security problems, including things
like malicious software, fraud, theft or
data loss come at the hands of employees.
Factor in the fact that companies are
understandably loath to report problems that
happen inside their workforce, and you can
see why some experts raise the ante from
more than half to more like 80%.
And when the economy slows, it just gets
worse. Downsizing can create resentment
among workers who are retained and there are
fewer resources for oversight. So what do
you do? The same as you've always done, of
course, just smarter. Be alert for the
tell-tale changes in behavior. Employees who
won't take vacations often are hiding
something. On the other side of the scale,
poor attendance or excessive tardiness from
an employee who was formally reliable often
can signal a dangerous dissatisfaction, as
can changes in appearance.
Be alert for changes in your behavior, as
well. If business is tight, or workloads
have increased due to things like hiring
freezes or downsizing, there is a real
temptation at the top to slack on things
that seem tangential to the mission. Sadly,
from a security point of view, many managers
have a difficult time seeing security issues
as vitally important until after they have
been burned. Make sure you are following
security procedures and lead by example.
Enforce things like password policies and
log-offs and follow them yourself, because
your employees are watching you, too.
Visit Michael's blog:
ComplyWithMe
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Come on out of your
office.
It's groovy out
here.
The Groove Computing Virtual Office gives
you the service your business needs to
handle multiple locations or a remote
workforce, keeping everyone operating
in-sync. Groove Computing offers the best
in hosting services for Microsoft Office
2007, Office Accounting, Dynamics and much
more.
Visit us today at
www.groovecomputing.com
GrooveComputing is another
innovative application service from InsynQ
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Keeping Up With QuickBooks
QuickBooks 2008 products are now rolling out
in the e-Accounting datacenters. You can
subscribe to hosting for QuickBooks Pro or
Premier Accountant in the shared farm, or
Pro, any Premier "flavor", and Enterprise in
custom environments.
If you're currently running QuickBooks 2005
versions with us, be prepared to upgrade
your licensing and hosting service in the
next several months.
InsynQ will
sunset hosting for QuickBooks 2005 on
June 1st, so don't wait until the last
minute to get your accounts updated. |
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