tech and fintech

is your cell phone a security disaster waiting to happen?

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in annual aicpa survey, cpas advise companies to manage risk of mobile devices.

via aicpa

smartphones, tablets, laptops and flash drives in the workplace emerged for the first time as the top business technology concern for cpas and financial executives in the aicpa’s annual top technology initiatives survey.

the 22nd annual aicpa top technology initiative survey shows control and use of mobile devices was the no. 1 challenge for it professionals. the finding was based on responses from nearly 1,400 cpas nationwide specializing in information technology. in addition to mobile devices, the survey signaled future it issues will revolve around implementation of touch-screen technology, deployment of faster networks and voice recognition technology.

top tech 2011 ranking:

  1. control and use of mobile devices
  2. information security
  3. data retention policies and structure
  4. remote access
  5. staff and management training
  6. process documentation and improvements
  7. saving and making money with technology
  8. technology cost controls
  9. budget processes
  10. project management & deployment of new technology

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nine big tech trends at cpa firms

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the all-digital firm comes into view.

the 2011 association for accounting administration’s 2011 paperless benchmarking survey shows digitalization accelerating at cpa firms.

the survey, conducted biannually by cpa tech consultant roman kepczyk since 2003, this year included 196 firms, each averaging about 55 persons.

“the latest iteration of this survey expanded the number of questions to encompass evolving technologies in scanning and archival, as well as to identify changes in tools and applications impacting administrative workflows,” kepczyk says. “while there was a stronger focus on tax and administrative topics, audit, practice management, communications, and technology topics were also addressed for their paperless impact.”

the survey shows at least nine big advances in:

  1. firm-wide document management programs
  2. firms instructing personnel to primarily utilize email for communicating with tax clients for additional information requests
  3. portals or ftp sites to deliver digital tax returns/information to clients
  4. organizing or bookmarking scanned client source documents into a standardized pdfs
  5. digital fax systems
  6. virtualized servers
  7. email invoices
  8. management dashboards
  9. dual monitors

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