Digital CPA, a conference hosted by the American Institute of CPAs and CPA.com, will be held virtually. The event will be held December 8 and will be preceded by a November 12 pre-conference session on remote work. 

 The pre-conference session, “Distributed by Design: A Framework for Future Forward Organizations,” will be led by Radical Ventures cofounder Pascal Finette.  It aims to “provide a framework and toolkit for CPA firms to conduct strategic planning and decision-making on remote work, decentralization, and the opportunities and challenges that arise from them.”

Digital CPA keynoters include Jeffrey Rogers, moderator of executive education programs and international summits for Singularity University. He will speak “about change dynamics, managing complexity and transformation in a period of continuous, accelerating change.” AICPA president Barry Melancon will provide “an in-depth professional issues update on accounting and finance” while Erik Asgeirsson, CEO of CPA.com “will discuss trends in firm management, advisory services and technology. 

Digital CPA “is designed for CPA firm partners, managers and staffers responsible for implementing cloud solutions and practice management innovations, as well as business development, firm marketing and human resources directors”.

Cloud-based computing provides more security than their own company data centers do, according to 75 percent of information technology professionals responding to the recently released Oracle and KPMG Cloud Theft report. The survey also found businesses are using an almost bewildering number of products to provide security.

 Forty percent of the 750 respondents reported the cloud is much more secure than their own data centers, double the percentage in 2018. Thirty-five percent rated the cloud as more secure. Fourteen percent believe the cloud is not as protected with 12 percent saying it is less secure; 2 percent much less secure.

Twelve percent reported the security levels are the same.

 The survey found widespread adoption of cloud technology with 76 percent utilizing infrastructure-as-a-service today; while 50 percent expect to move all data to the cloud in the next two years. Eighty percent are concerned their cloud service providers will become competitors in core markets. 

Multiple security products are used by most organizations, the survey: Sixty percent responded that they have more than 76 products. Seventy-eight percent employ more than 50 cybersecurity product while; 37 percent has more than 100.

As businesses turn to Zoom for videoconferencing, a new generation of security threats has emerged. Among them is ZoomBombing in which intruders invade sessions and disrupt them.

Among the disruptions are the sharing of porn videos by the unwelcome guests. One of the important ways to prevent problems is by use of passwords to allow participants into session.

Zoom itself advises the use of the Waiting Room feature via which a meeting host can control when participants join a meeting. That way the host can screen out participants not on the Zoom account or not signed in.

The company also says hosts should not give up control of the screen. They can utilize Advanced Screen Sharing choosing “Only Host” under “Who can share?”, along with locking Screen Share by default for all meetings under web settings.

Participants can also be managed by allowing only signed-in users to join while meetings can be locked to prevent anyone from joining, including those with a meeting ID and password, from joining after the meeting has started. Two-factor authentication can also be required.

Other controls that can help are these:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Disable “Allow Removed Participants to Rejoin” to keep miscreants from returning.                                                                                                                                                                                          Remove Unwanted or Disruptive Participants by clicking Remove under the Participants menu.                                                                                                                                                                       Disable Video                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Mute Participants                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Turn off file transfer to prevent unwanted content such as pictures or memes.                                                                                                                                                                                                           Turn off Annotation                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 Disable Private Chat.

In addition, software security company Norton has another series of recommendations for videoconferencing more securely. These start with following a company’s policy, including making sure a device is secure if the user is bringing their own device.  Companies should provide training, ensure endpoints and networks are secure and capable of handling teleworkers’ devices and communication.

Norton says users must establish home network security be configuring firewalls and making sure routers are secure. They should also stay up-to-date with security patches. A secure-wi-fi with strong encryption should be used.

Norton also recommends participants change their video backgrounds so other members of video calls cannot see into their homes and to remember to turn off the webcast at the end of the call or at least cover it with something opaque, such as tape, paper or a sliding webcam cover.

A Virtual Private Network  also provides greater security because it masks IP addresses, location, and search history to prevent things like location tracking.

Cloud solutions have revolutionized the accounting industry in recent years. While the cloud may seem like a simple concept at first glance, few people fully understand the depth and range of the cloud options that are available today.

All cloud technologies serve the same basic function at their core: the delivery of computing resources over the internet. Beyond that, however, there are vast differences in today’s cloud offerings. Contrary to what many users envision, cloud computing is not simply one amorphous network where all users access all the data they need. Instead, there are a number of different kinds of cloud computing available, including public clouds, private clouds, community clouds, hybrid clouds and SaaS cloud solutions.

While it has been predicted that 83% of enterprise workloads will be in the cloud by 2020, how can you know which cloud solution is right for your firm? The answer lies in understanding the differences between the various cloud options in the industry and the specific business needs they’re best suited to meet.

Public Clouds                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  A public cloud is what many people think of when they envision the cloud. It’s a basic cloud computing model through which a cloud service provider offers resources like storage and applications to the public at large via the internet. Typically, the infrastructure of a public cloud is shared by many users from a large number of different firms or companies, each of which purchases a cloud subscription on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Because public clouds usually involve huge servers in numerous locations around the world, they offer users maximum scalability to meet their needs as companies grow or shrink. Their sheer size also means they provide high levels of flexibility and reliability, and because the user pays only for the resources actually employed and doesn’t need to hire IT staff, they’re typically a highly cost-effective cloud option.

The biggest drawback of public clouds is their inability to offer advanced security and privacy measures. Because many users are sharing a single infrastructure, public clouds are often unable to meet regulatory requirements. Public clouds are best suited for large data storage and processing, access through web browsers or for companies that have minimal security concerns.

Private Clouds                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Unlike public clouds, private clouds run on proprietary infrastructure that’s provisioned for exclusive use by a single organization. Usually, a firm will deploy its own platforms, software and applications and partner with a vendor that specializes in creating and managing private cloud environments or pay for cloud service on a fee-per-unit-time model. 

Private clouds tend to be very scalable to the user’s needs and shift the IT burden from the client to the private cloud vendor. One of their main advantages over public clouds is enhanced security and privacy. Because the cloud infrastructure is tailored to a single client, it usually sits behind a dedicated firewall and is accessed over an encrypted connection with multifactor authentication. The enhanced security and data encryption measures make compliance with privacy and security regulations possible.

Private clouds tend to be more expensive than public clouds and may take longer to set up. In addition, companies typically require internal IT staff to oversee deployment and maintenance, or they rely on their private cloud vendor which supplies management and maintenance of the private cloud.

Community Clouds                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Community clouds are a recent development and essentially a variation on private clouds that are shared by a specific, discrete business community. While multiple businesses share the infrastructure, each has its own private cloud space designed to meet the data privacy, security and compliance needs of the specific community the cloud is serving.

Community clouds are most popular among companies in industries that are subject to strict regulatory compliance requirements. They’re also beneficial for users working on joint projects within a defined business community that involve the sharing of applications and software specific to that community.

Hybrid Clouds                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Hybrid clouds are exactly what they sound like: a mix of private and public cloud infrastructure. They offer the best of both worlds, because sensitive data resides in the private cloud where the user can maintain high privacy and security standards, while work of a nonsensitive nature can be handled in the public cloud, which offers increased scalability and data storage at a lower cost. Hybrid clouds are ideal for firms that have a mix of sensitive operations and nonsensitive projects involving large amounts of data that are better stored in a public cloud infrastructure.

SaaS Cloud Solutions                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Software as a service is one of the newest subsets of cloud computing now being offered, and it’s a market that’s quickly growing. SaaS cloud services deliver software directly to the consumer over a cloud platform that’s entirely hosted and managed by a third-party vendor. In most instances, SaaS cloud solutions require no hardware installations or purchases, making it easy for users to get started even if they’ve not previously made the move to the cloud.

SaaS cloud solutions are highly cost-effective because, in addition to the user not having to purchase hardware, there’s no need to hire IT staff to manage a network of software, servers, firewalls, routers or anything else. All software support is provided by the vendor as part of the SaaS offering, meaning that applications are constantly maintained and updated with no effort from the user.

A SaaS subscription price often includes the ongoing technical support and program maintenance, but the user does not actually own any of the software to which it is subscribing. While SaaS solutions tend to be highly scalable and secure, they may be more limited than private clouds when it comes to customization and functionality. SaaS solutions may be ideal for firms that want a simple, seamless cloud computing experience with little hands-on maintenance responsibility.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to choosing the right cloud technology. With the options available today, however, there is a right cloud solution for every firm. Determining what you need in terms of security, scalability, IT support and cost will help you choose the cloud solution that best benefits your individual firm.

 Where are we going in the mid-market? Or in general? The economy started out the year with record employment and has moved to record unemployment with the effects of shutdowns of the Covid-19 virus.  For resellers this year, how they are doing depends on where they are located and in what markets they are involved. Bob Scott’s Top 100 VARs for 2020 examines the issues in an era of extreme uncertainty and names 100 firms who are the big players in this market.

For resellers, the issue now is meeting user needs and making money, not worrying about whether software is in the cloud. Certainly, there are many thousands of on-premise mid-market accounting systems in use and a decent number are being sold. But the action is in the cloud and it is a matter of features, which is what users really care about. The issue is which product is better at handling nonprofits, which is good for businesses with inventory, which best suits professional services and which delve into highly specialized markets. In the fact, the thought did not even occur this year to count how many of the Top 100 2019 VARs carry cloud products. It was just assumed they all do. That is why this year’s theme is “The Cloud Rules”  If you are not in the cloud game, you are not really in the game.

2018 Report: Getting a Handle on the Cloud

Buyers and sellers are talking less and less about cloud software. The discussions increasingly center around how the software, which happens to be cloud based, helps companies solve business problems, not on the technology used. Read more how this is happening.

Sponsored by:

Report: Payroll Gets Easier: Running payroll, whether for a company to pay its own employees or to pay clients’ employees, has rarely been easy. But it is necessary, which is why the question of whether tax and accounting firms should offer services as a line of business has had some firms moving into the business and others moving out. Read more and find out where your firm falls.

Sponsored By:

Jeff Siegel is the owner of Siegel Solutions, an 11-person firm that provides outsourced bookkeeping solutions usingJeff Siegel is the owner of Siegel Solutions, an 11-person firm that provides outsourced bookkeeping solutions usingQuickBooks to over 300 clients. Jeff knows what it takes to grow a business: efficiency of scale, real-time insights thatbuild strong customer relationships, and a secure data environment. He gets all three from Right Networks.

In this ebook, we’ll examine:In this ebook, we’ll examine:

• Why DIY (Do-It-Yourself) accounting systems created forsmall businesses cause undue pain for both small businessowners and for accountants
• How the right cloud-based professional accounting systemcan not only eliminate that pain, but also open up newopportunities for accountants to better serve their clients

Steven Brewer, CPA is the President of Steven Brewer and Company, CPAs, located in Salem, IN. He talked to AccountantsWorld about how he’s grown his accounting practice without needing to increase his number of clients – and how those improvements have eased his tax season crunch.

BooXkeeping: How White Label Bookkeeping Services Provide Scalability to Your Firm When it comes to running a business the main thing that every business owner wants to do is sell their products or services, create brand awareness and generate profits that they can enjoy later in life. The last thing a business owner wants to do is to worry about bookkeeping, taxes, and the rest of time consuming accounting tasks needed to run a successful business, with limited resources and time, often the bookkeeping ends up being the last on the list of things that need to be completed.

A 10.6-percent rise in do-it-yourself online filings led H&R Block to a 3.3 percent in tax returns prepared for the 2019 tax year. Block this week said it prepared 21.2 million returns for the year through July 17.

CEO Jeff Jones said it was the fourth consecutive year the dis business has grown.

Assisted filings dropped again to 11.5 million, falling 2.8 percent from the season ended July 17, 2019. That compares to a recent report from Liberty Tax that its overall returns were down 11.5 percent.

Block noted that state and local orders related to the COVID-19 limited its ability to operate its stores. The company noted, “there are elements of the industry data, such as paper filings and returns related to economic stimulus payments, that continue to shift week to week making it difficult to draw relevant comparisons.”

It said it will provide additional analysis during its fiscal 2012 first-quarter earnings call in September.

Liberty Tax prepared about 1.15 million federal income tax returns through July 15, its parent, the Franchise Group reported this week. That was down 11.5 percent from 1.3 million for the 2019 season

The Franchise Group issued the numbers as part of a preliminary report for second quarter ended July 31. It has scheduled a results conference call on August 6.d

The number of Liberty Tax locations also fell. The parent said there were 2,501 locations in operation this year, down 11.3 percent from 2,821 from the last year’s tax season. The Franchise Group said same store prepared returns were off 3 percent from last year.

Revenue for the quarter is estimated to be  $505 million and $515 million. The Franchise Group, original known as Liberty Tax, has acquired several other businesses that are much larger than Liberty.  Liberty had revenue of 132.5 million for the year ended April 30, 2019 at a time when the Franchise Group’s subsidiaries had about $2.5 billion in revenue.

A 22.8-percent rise in self-prepared efiles lifted the extended tax season to a 4-percent increase in returns. The Internal Revenue Service has reported that 151,782,000 were filed for the season through July 17 compared to 145,941,000 filed through July 19, 2019.

The IRS noted, as H&R Block pointed out earlier, that the numbers were affected by filings  by submissions from those who would not usually file income tax returns in order to receive Economic Impact Payments. Block estimated in June that added 4-percent points to the do-it-yourself total.

The IRS also apparently caught up on the 4.5-million paper return backlog that had built up when processing of those was halted because of the coronavirus outbreak. There were 145,464,000 tax returns processes for the season as reported, up .2 percent from 145,191,000 in last year’s corresponding period.

The DIY bump meant efiles were up 9.5 percent to 143,379,000 from 130,882,000 for the compared period last yearEfiles from paid professionals lagged the year-ago totals, with 73,806,000 received through July 17, down .5 percent from 74,206,000 fforhe prior year’s corresponding period. DIY returns this year reached 69,573,000, rising from 56,676,000 a year ago.

Refunds issued for 2020 fell to 100,483,000, down 4.9 percent from 100,483,000, while the average return increased .3 percent to $2,748 from $2,740.

The season produced a huge jump to IRS websites as the agency’s ability to answer telephones was hampered. The number of visits increased to 1,380,722,000, an increase of 164.3 percent from 522,468,000.

The Internal Revenue Service and its Security Summit partners are beginning a five-part information initiative about security. The series is designed to provide information for tax professionals who are working outside their offices.

 The information is offered as part of the   "Protect Your Clients, Protect Yourself" campaign  launched in 2016 and will be delivered through news releases issued each Tuesday starting this week.

The releases feature the following topics:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             *The "Security Six" − basic protections that all practitioners should take;                                                                                                                                                                                       *Multi-Factor Authentication to protect accounts;                                                                                                                                                                                                                            *Virtual Private Networks to protect remote sites;                                                                                                                                                                                                                        *Phishing scams, including COVID-19 and Economic Impact Payments;                                                                                                                                                                                      *Protect Yourself: The need for a security plan and data theft plan.

This year’s virtual Nationwide Tax Forums will also focus on security.  These sessions run from July 21 through August 20.

Cloud software vendor Xero has awarded three $10,000 scholarships to college students in the United States. The financial awards are the first given under the Forward Fund program.

The winners were Jimhua Johnson of the University of Washington; Brody Mandelbaum of the University of Florida; and  Mwaka Namfukwe of the University of  Florida. The money is to be applied to tuition or other costs of their pursing their degrees.

Each of the students was nominated by a Xero partner and each of those will receive $10,000 in co-op funds. Those accounting and bookkeeping firms are The QuickSource, founded by Shelly Robbins; Bookkeeper Buddy, founded by Mick Lindquist; and Cloud Accounting and Consulting, founded by Stephanie Hoyt.

Eide Bailly has hired two business development directors. The Fargo, N.D.-based accounting firm has brought on board Jason Watson and Brett Cunningham to help grow its business.

Watson will be based in the Salt Lake City, Utah; Cunningham in the Denver, Colo. office. 

Watson, who has an extensive background in banking, was SVP of business development of Zion Bank from September 2017 through last month. He was with Wells Fargo for 13 years and was director of business development from July 2008 through September 2017.

Cunningham came to Eide Bailly from Riveron where he worked from February 2017 through this month. He was the business development manager for the last two years four months. A CPA, he was senior portfolio accountant for BMC Investments/BLDG Management Company from January 2016 through January 2017.

The New Jersey Society of CPAs has named Theresa Hinton as operating officer. She replaces Ellen McSherry, who retire on May 31.

 Hinton, who was been with the society since March 2011, served  as its director of member engagement from January 2018.

COO from 1991 until her retirement, McSherry was reported as “instrumental in successfully restructuring the NJCPA’s governance structure and pipeline system for future NJCPA leaders and assisted in creating the Women’s Leadership Forum, an online forum for female NJCPA members to make mean­ingful connections.”

Baker Tilly Virchow Krause has named Christine Dahlhauser as managing partner for the firm’s Wisconsin market. She replaces Kevin Heppner, who is retiring after 33 years with the firm.

Dahlhauser joined Baker Tilly in 1991 and was most recently as manufacturing and distribution team leader in the Wisconsin market. Dahlhauser is responsible for leadership, management and strategic direction for the firm’s Wisconsin market, including client service delivery, fostering team member development

The spread of ecommerce has meant an increasing number of businesses have transactions in other countries.  That means those businesses also need to deal with tax, tariffs and duties imposed by other countries which has made cross-border taxation an issue for many organizations that previously did not need to even know the term.

 “Cross-border used to be more of a back water,” says Craig Reed, SVP of Avalara’s global trade business. “Increasingly retailers are considering it a core component of their business.”

To handle the confusing mass of taxes, Avalara recently introduced its cross border system which is comprised by Avalara AvaTax Cross-Border and Avalara Item Classification. The latter product is important because providing taxing authorities with the correct classification code for goods being sold. “If you don’t give customs the correct, code, your goods can get stuck at the border,” Reed said. The complex process of code goods has been largely manual and Reed says that each country has a book ‘about six inches to a foot thick” that defines goods.

Reed says companies sometimes turn the issue over to carriers. But he adds, “They are not very accurate because it’s not the core of their business.”

Avalara’s products utilize a natural language process and algorithms to classify a product and calculate duties and taxes. Reed notes the company has a global research team that uses direct government connections to stay current on tax rates and information.

SAP has taken a different approach to handle cross-border issues. In March, the giant software company, entered an alliance with Goldman Sachs Transaction Banking. 

“Cross border is about adding a layer of simplicity to a complex system,” says Sean Thompson, EVP of the business network and ecosystem, SAP Procurement Solutions. The deal enabled SAP to incorporate Goldman’s cross-border capabilities in SAP’s Ariba applications, making the services available to the member’s of the Ariba Network.

Thompson notes there are many issues in cross border, including gain and loss on currency differences. Thompson says in cross-border taxations the financial systems of the buyer and seller both need to be integrated since the ERP system “is where the payment file is”. Bank systems has generally not been integrate in the process.

The SAP-Goldman combination means foreign suppliers can be paid in local currencies with “competitive” foreign exchange rates and also easier reconciliation of payments to corresponding invoices. There is also real-time payment tracking, cost transparency on bank fees and optimized payment routing offered.

Software that enables small businesses to prepare and file sales tax returns will be introduced this year by Avalara. The sales-and-use tax software has announced plans for Avalara Returns for Small Business.

The upcoming  application integrates the feature set of TrustFile Online for a target market of emerging small businesses, which Avalara describes as those employing one to 19 individuals.. The small business returns software will to help those companies automate sales tax preparation and file returns with each state’s website.

Customers will be able to utilize the upcoming product to import transactions from all business systems to compile sales-and-use returns for every state return from a single dashboard. 

Avalara generally recommends Avalara Managed Returns for businesses with more employees.

The company is also introducing enhancements to TrustFile, including an economic nexus tracking map, support for more sales tax forms and a redesigned user interface.

Avalara has introduced Avalara Consumer Use, which is designed to help finance professionals assess their consumer use tax obligations.  The software company said this week the application assists in self-assessment for the entire use tax process, including user-defined rules, tax calculation, review, allocation, accrual, and documentation

Consumer Use can combine data from multiple systems into a single workflow in order to create an automated or semi-automated self-assessment of general ledger expense and use tax liability

The system also identifies overpaid or underpaid taxes on vendor invoices and creates reports for tax liability by jurisdiction. The application can import multiple transaction types, including purchase invoices, inventory usage and fixed asset movements

Consumer tax accruals can be integrated into the filing process in Avalara Returns.

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