Emburse has been formed by six companies that market expense and AP software. The companies that have combined are Abacus, Captio, Certify, Chrome River, Nexonia and Tallie, according to an announcement this month.

Emburse, which has 750 employees and 14,000 customers, is led by CEO Eric Friedrichsen, previously global head, commercial, SMB, and growth markets for Marketo from January 2019 through this month .The aggregation of vendors is designed to challenge SAP Concur. 

In a prepared statement, Friedrichsen said the six participants will be able to accelerate development through technology sharing while maintaining their individual software packages.

Before working at SAP Concur,  Friedrichsen was with SAP Concur from April 2008 through December 2016. From January 2017 through January 2019, he was with SAP as SVP and GM for mid-market and ecosystems, North America

 When a cyberattack strikes an accounting firm, it impacts the firm’s data and, more importantly, can expose critical client data. Keeping your business data and applications safe and secure from ransomware attacks while increasing your clients’ awareness of malicious software requires collaboration with your internal IT department and managed IT provider. 

Ransomware is a type of malicious software that blocks access to computer systems and then requires an anonymous payment to the hackers for return of the data. A ransomware attack is typically delivered via a phishing email. Cybersecurity Ventures predicts that there will be a ransomware attack on businesses every 14 seconds by the end of 2019 and every 11 seconds by 2021, incurring global ransomware damage costs as high as $20 billion by 2021.

In addition to providing services to clients, a firm’s top priority must be keeping its IT infrastructure and client data safe from any cybersecurity threats, including ransomware. Ransomware isn’t going away anytime soon – if anything, these types of malware will continue to become more dangerous. Here are six things firms can do now to better protect client data:

1. Build and test a disaster recovery plan.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Perform a security audit to test and identify vulnerabilities in your organization’s IT infrastructure. Close the gaps to ensure that your information assets are fully protected. Conduct monthly disaster recovery plan drills to ensure quick response times. 

A disaster recovery plan can help your firm get systems back up and running after a cybersecurity attack. A business continuity plan enables staff to remain productive while cybersecurity issues are being resolved.

2. Use secure methods of document sharing.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       How does your firm exchange important financial documents with clients? Do clients send earnings statements and tax documents by regular mail or as email attachments? The insecure nature of mail makes it relatively easy for others to intercept, monitor or tamper with critical information. Instead, use a secure client portal to reduce the risk of data breaches. Accountants and clients can log in on a portal to upload, share and view documents, files and messages in a highly secure, encrypted environment.

3. Implement multiple backup protection.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           When ransomware infects an organization’s IT infrastructure, it can restrict access to critical information stored within the computer system. Effective backup of firm data will enable restoration of all files, documents and data right up to the time of a ransomware infection or other breach.

Best practice is to have data stored on multiple servers with multiple backup solutions in place, secured with the latest and most advanced technology, to make sure no one can access or delete stored data. Backups should be on a separate network, completely isolated from your main network and off-site.

4. Increase levels of security.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Hackers tend to focus on systems that are easy to access. So the more levels of security they encounter, the more likely they will move on to avoid wasting time and effort. By implementing network wide security solutions, such as anti-virus, web filtering, firewalls and password protection, your hardware and employee devices will have the same level of security. 

Additionally, data should never be protected by a single password, no matter how creative or complex that single password may be. With this in mind, you should consider implementing multifactor authentication. It requires two or more forms of authentication in order to access critical data and applications hosted in the cloud. New AI-based technology solutions can analyze and model network behavior, improving threat detection to better protect firm and client data from cyberthreats.

5. Educate staff and clients.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Anyone who has access to network files and data, has individualized passwords to log in on business applications or uses any type of device to get to the cloud must be trained to identify potential threats. To spearhead education, think about developing and implementing cybersecurity training courses to educate your staff on the different types of ransomware threats as well as teach them easy tips to avoid attacks, such as exercising caution with suspicious emails or losing mobile devices. Send weekly reminders to your staff on security best practices (e.g., don’t click on links or attachments from unknown senders). 

Conduct research using websites like ID Ransomware or MSSP Alert to keep on top of IT-related current events in order to alert your staff and clients about new threats on the horizon. 

6. Monitor activity.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Smaller businesses tend to fall victim to ransomware attacks because they do not monitor ongoing activity. Network monitoring tools can provide visibility into existing weak entry points that have allowed past breaches to occur and using that information to avoid possible future breaches. Track activity by creating a log of past security events and input the data into a security information and event management (SIEM) system. This system will offer a holistic view of your entire organization’s security. 

A final recommendation is to assemble and rely on a strong security team. Enlist the assistance of technology service providers. Hosting partners and accounting firm document management professionals understand the cybersecurity environment and have experience in implementing the solutions outlined here. The use of both preventive and predictive security practices will allow your firm to mitigate the risk of ransomware and better secure client data.

A study by Paychex has one 27 percent of business owners do not use any kind of data security software. The recently released results were published in a survey of 500 business owners with one to 500 employees who were queried about data security.

Of the other 73 percent of respondents, 48 percent use on-premise software; 11 percent, cloud-based software; 14 percent both.

Some of the businesses not utilizing data security software must feel secure because 81 percent of respondents said they were confident their company and customer data are as secure as possible. Similarly, 84 percent of the total believe they would be able to recover from a data breach or cyberattack.

Paychex also found the following from those surveyed:                                                                                                                                                                       *81 percent say employees recognize the importance of data security;                                                                                                                                               *72 percent regularly review their data security approach to ensure they are following best practices;                                                                                               *70 percent believe they have a clear data security policy;                                                                                                                                                                    *60 percent trains all employees on data security.

Larger companies are more likely to provide employee training. Eighty-nine percent of companies with 100 to 500 say they provide training, compared to 59 percent of those with one to 19 employees.

Half of 310 companies surveyed report their organization experienced some kind of data breachor cyberattack in the last year. The figures were released in Sikich’s 2019 Manufacturing and Distribution Survey, which said 11 percent of respondents had major intrusions. The survey was conducted online in April.

However, Sikich said a majority of executives are confident they can prevent or minimize these problems. Fifty-four percent of those surveyed were extremely or very confident of their ability to handle these situations while the figure rose to 74 percent for larger companies. For organizations with less than $500 million in revenue, only 49 percent had the same optimism.

”This disparity may be due to great spending on cybersecurity by these companies,” the report concluded.

The report defines larger companies as those with more than $500 million in annual revenue while smaller companies fall below that threshold.

Sikich believes having a single person having sole or primary responsibilty for cyber security is a better than having it be one among several responsibilities. That practice “can ensure that cybersecurity receives the concentrated attention that it demands,” the firm noted. Sikich conceded this practice can prove difficult at mid-market companies with smaller IT practices. “In these companies, where resources aren’t readily available, it may make more sense to look at outsourcing the entire cybersecurity program,” the authors recommended.

However, responsibility for managing cybersecurity is not centralized at most companies. Among larger companies, only 45 percent report a single executive is responsible for managing area as their sole or primary responsibility and that plunged to 14 percent among small companies.

Sikich also asked respondents how they sell and deliver products. Forty-nine percent of companies use e-commerce. But of that group, many felt e-commerce has not lived up to their expectations.

Thirty-nine percent said ecommerce sales had exceeded expectations, 37 percent said those sales fell short. Larger companies were more disappointed with 56 percent saying ecommerce sales lagged expectations and only 30 percent said they exceeded them.

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:

Report: Using the Cloud to Protect Your Data

The handwriting is in the cloud. And given some real barriers to adoption of cloud-based software, the move remains a question of when, not if, for most businesses with the purchase of web-based applications picking up speed. Download this free special report and read how.

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.

Intuit has grown market share in consumer tax preparation in the current tax season, the company said this week. And CEO Sasan Goodarzi said TurboTax Live, via which consumers can get advice from tax professionals, is a factor.

Goodarzi made his comments during the webcast for earnings for the second quarter ended January 31. He said one driver of the ability of Intuit to growth share is “the traction of TurboTax Live.” He continued, “We expect continued accelerated growth with TurboTax Live.”

It was a good quarter with Intuit reporting net income of $240 million, an increase of 27 percent from $189 million in last year’s corresponding period. Revenue for the most recently ended quarter rose 13 percent to slightly less than $1.7 billion, up from $1.5 billion.

Consumer revenue, primarily TurboTax software, reached $499 million, an increase of 8.2 percent from $461 million. ProTax revenue was $224.8 million for the period, also an 8 percent increase

QuickBooks Online continued strong growth with revenue of $330 million, increasing 42.9 percent from $231 million. QuickBooks Desktop revenue was $165 million, up 7.1 percent from $154 million.

TaxAct got off to a slow start for the current tax season, Chris Walters, CEO of parent company Blucora said this month. However, Walters said the product line typically lags the market but catches up as the season develops.

Through February 16, TaxAct return starts were down about 20 percent while efiles were down 11 percent from the 2019 season. Walters made the comment for the recent earnings webcast for the year ended December 31.

“We were a bit out of position to start the season,” he said. “We delayed our ramp up in marketing spend compared to last year.” Marketing problems included not having enough offers in the market. “We had fewer thing in place to test and scale than you would ideally want,” he said.

 For the year, the company reported net income of $48.1 million for 2019,  down 5 percent from $187.3 million for the prior year. Total revenue rose to $717.9 million, up 28 percent from $560.5 million the prior year. TaxAct revenue for 2019 was $210 million, which represented a 12-percent increase over 2018's $187.3  million. Wealth management revenue hit $508 million, rising from $373.2 million, a 36-percent jump. The increased wealth management revenue reflected the purchase of 1^st. Global, which has been combined with the former HD Vest as Avantax.

An Austell, Ga.-based tax preparer has been ordered to pay $2,601,957 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service. Thomas Holmes was ordered this month to pay that amount this month and sentenced to three years one month in prison.

Holmes, the owner of TKO Tax Pros,  pleaded guilty on September 9 to charges involving the preparation of tax returns that claimi false deductions and credits for his client. He was found between 2011 and 2019 to have entred phony information on hundreds of returns he prepared.

During an investigation, the IRS revoked Holmes’ ability to efile, but he continued to file fraudulent returns through the mail. His methods included false Schedule C losses and Schedule A itemized deductions. The IRS said he frequently kept a portion of the resulting refunds for himself and paid the rest to clients.

An Orem, Utah-based man and his two adult children—all tax preparers—have been accused of trying to hide the father’s assets from the Internal Revenue Service. Sergio Sosa and his children, Alissa and David Sosa, were indicted this week for alleging conspiring to defraud the United States.

Sergio Sosa was  also charged with one count of tax evasion, and he and his children were also each charged with one count of corruptly endeavoring to obstruct the administration of the internal revenue laws. 

The three worked at  Sergio Central Latino, a tax  preparation business owned by the father. The IRS accused Sergio Sosa of not filing personal returns from 2003 through 2017 and after multiple audits, the IRS said he owed $750,000 in unpaid taxes. As of 2019, Sosa allegedly owes more than $1.1 million in taxes, penalties, and interest. 

After collection efforts began, the trio allegedly tried to hide Sergio’s personal assets and residential properties, and by putting the ownership of the tax business in the children’s names.  After the IRS suspended SCL’s ability to efile tax returns because of the unpaid taxes, David Sosa changed  the company’s name and obtained electronic filing authorization in a third-party’s name. Alissa Sosa allegedly claimed to own the residence that was actually her father's and withdrew funds from accounts she knew had been levied by the IRS.

Each of the thee face a possible maximum of five years in prison for the conspiracy charge and three years for the obstruction charge. Sergio Sosa faces an additional five years on the tax evasion charge if convicted.

Wipfli has hired Thomas Wojcinski to leadits cybersecurity practice in the Chicago and Eastern Wisconsin market.  Wojcinski specializes in cybersecurity, IT risk management and IT governance initiatives for American and multinational organizations. 

He worked with Baker Tilly Virchow Krause from July 2003 until taking the new job. From September 2012, he was a director who was responsible for the firm’s growth and development of cybersecurity, IT process assurance, and IT governance services nationally.

Frazier & Deeter has hired CPA James Dawson as a tax partner with a focus on international tax. He will serve American and foreign enterprises in a wide range of tax areas.

Dawson will focus on subjects such as tax efficient global supply chain management, structuring of international business models and operations, cross border transactions, project management and coordination of services in foreign jurisdictions.

He was previously a partner of international tax for accounting firm Crowe from May 2015 through October 2018. Before that, he was national leader of international tax services at Cherry Bekaert from January 2012 through April 2015 and was a partner in international tax for RSM McGladrey from 2006 through 2012.

Xero has named Hubdoc’s co-CEO Jamie McDonald as executive general manager of product, accounting and global services.  McDonald, who will continue his Hubdoc role, will oversee development of core accounting tools in the newly created position.

Xero acquired Hubdoc in August. Hubdoc go-to-market teams will continue to report to Jamie Shulman, Hubdoc’s other co-CEO. McDonald said he would be continuing work in harnessing the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning for the benefit of Xero customers around the globe.

Val Steed, widely known as a consultant and CPE presenter in the accounting community, has accepted a position as director of accountants for Zoho. Steed, a shareholder, is best known for his work with K2 Enterprises since January 1989.

“I’ll be responsible for maintaining industry relationships with national and international accounting organizations and top accounting experts,” Steed said in a LinkedIn post. He said he will also work to initiate partnership iwith accounting technology companies. Zoho is interested in connecting with all kinds of finance professionals, including bookkeepers, accountants, PAs, CPAs, CAs, CFPs, CFOs. Zoho markets a range of web-based applications, including accounting, CRM, HR and IT management.

“Social media is not about the exploitation of technology but service to community.” - Simon Mainwaring

Remember, a new leaderboard with updated rankings is generated every two weeks, so keep up the great work on social media and watch your ranking climb! Think you’ve got what it takes to make the Top 100? Join for free today!

“Social media is a much more personal approach to marketing than more traditional tactics like placing an advertisement in a local newspaper, and lends itself to a more human approach. You should always err on the side of professionalism, but sharing a few details about the person, or people, behind your company can give your brand more personality – something that works very successfully in the world of social media.”  

 Here are some highlights from the newest Top 100…