software company ceos and cfos say in a new survey that cloud computing and software-as-a-service will drive spending in their industry over the next 12 months.
the survey also finds most expect their company’s business will grow by at least 20 percent in 2011 and that hiring will increase significantly. the software ceo/cfo outlook 2011 study was conducted by sand hill group and underwritten by adaptive planning and intacct.
by dustin lubertazzi,
senior consultant, sageworks, inc.
luca pacioli, an italian mathematician and franciscan friar, is widely known as the “father of accounting” for publishing 36 chapters on the double-entry accounting method used by venetian merchants during the italian renaissance. his book, summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalita (which translates, “everything about arithmetic, geometry and proportion”), was written as a textbook for students in northern italy at the end of the 15th century. pacioli’s documentation of double-entry accounting and ledgers taught entrepreneurs of the day how to conduct business using timely and accurate financial information, and it established the fundamentals of accounting still practiced today.
pacioli’s fundamentals were only feasible thanks to the written numeral system and the abacus developed before that. and since then, the industry has seen further and more ground-breaking developments including the introduction of the typewriter, then computers, and later the internet. with each of these milestones, technology not only impacted how accountants handle financial information but also how they interact with their clients.
with the changing technological landscape, what must accountants do to stay competitive in the future, and how will technology change the future role of the accountant?
“cross-functional business processes” bedevil finance managers.
a survey of over 800 finance professionals attending an introductory webinar on software-as-a-service staged by netsuite and the institute of management accountants shows that the chief drivers to the cloud are both efficiency and effectiveness.
there’s a buzz this tax season about a deepening divide between high performing firms and the rest of the profession — interestingly: especially among soloists.
some solo practitioners are having a terrific season, others not. there’s no in-between. we’ve been wondering about the causes. and practitioners have been answering.
nearly half, or 46% of top u.s. technology companies — an important bellweather for the u.s. and the accounting profession — plan to increase employee headcount this year, marking a significant sign of confidence in the sector, according to bdo usa llp. just 7 percent expect headcount to decrease.
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.
how vulnerable are cfo.com and cfozone.com? idg enterprise, a division of idg communications, which publishes pc world and computer world, is rolling out a new website targeting cfos — cfoworld.com. the move marks an expansion of idg enterprise beyond its … continued
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:
firm-wide document management programs
firms instructing personnel to primarily utilize email for communicating with tax clients for additional information requests
portals or ftp sites to deliver digital tax returns/information to clients
organizing or bookmarking scanned client source documents into a standardized pdfs
in the debate over software-as-a-service, or “cloud” computing, many accountants and finance managers harbor doubts about security, privacy, access and uptime. the next time a vendor suggests the cloud, see how well they can answer these seven questions. 1. what … continued
say goodbye to your servers and file cabinets. saas is coming. kimberly hogan, business development manager for scansnap sales at fujitsu, and taylor macdonald, vice president of channels at intacct corp., make a compelling — and maybe a little controversial … continued
strategic alliance will continue to educate and inform cpas and accounting professionals about technologies that help their firms and their clients become more efficient and productive
braintree, mass.–xcm solutions, llc, the pioneer in delivering paperless workflow solutions to the accounting profession, today announced it has joined the cpa-focused strategic alliance formed in 2010 by fujitsu, the market leader in document imaging scanners, and speedtax, a provider of software-as-a-service (saas), fully-automated sales tax solutions.
“the more you speak your opinion, the more likely you are to get some ink about it.” scott cytron writes a follow-up to his ground-shaking interview with cpa.citp david beck, where beck warns about the rush to the cloud (cloud … continued
one-third of all cpa firms don’t.