Search Results

November 2009 |  BY SUSAN E. BRADLEY, CPA/CITP/CFF |  Article

Windows 7, the newest version of Microsoft’s desktop operating system, comes with numerous functional improvements over its widely used predecessors, Vista and XP. Some of these enhancements—such as more powerful hard drive search and data encryption capabilities—will save time and boost security others, including 64bit application support and Applelike multifinger touchscreen technology for resizing windows, will enable you to do things you couldn’t do on a Windows PC until now.

August 2009 |  Article

When the IRS announced in June that it would launch a review of tax return preparers, the Maryland Association of CPAs (MACPA) spread the word to its members with a news item on the association Web site. But it didn’t stop there. The association posted the IRS news on its Facebook page and blog.

August 2009 |  BY MEGAN PINKSTON |  Article

Twitter has taken the Internet by storm. Like LinkedIn and Facebook, Twitter hosts a growing community of CPAs and financial professionals, but unlike its socialnetworking peers, the microblogging Web site limits users’ messages, questions and conversations to 140 characters (including spaces). To put this limit into perspective, this paragraph has 425 characters—more than three times Twitter’s character limit for posts.

July 2009 |  BY ALEXANDRA DEFELICE |  Article

This year’s AICPA TECH Conference in Las Vegas proved that, while accountants are using more Webbased applications, security remains a top concern when moving client information online. It’s also apparent that most CPAs aren’t quite sure what to do on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

July 2009 |  BY Alexandra DeFelice |  Article

Do accountants need to be on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, or is it OK for them to sit on the sidelines? That question was posed by Bill Sheridan, ecommunications manager for the Maryland Association of CPAs, during a social media panel he moderated at the MD Biz Expo on June 17.

June 2009 |  BY SIMON PETRAVICK, STEPHEN G. KERR |  Article

Their widespread use sometimes makes relatively new technologies seem safer than they are. In fact, even popular and advantageous innovative devices may have significant risks. Prominent examples include datafilled laptops and flash drives. Recurrent headlines make it clear Your laptop could become one of the thousands lost or stolen every year.

June 2009 |  BY TODD WEBBER, BOB WEINS |  Article

Every firm’s dream should be to have a free listing on a major search engine at the top of its first results page, allowing prospective clients to find the firm when they’re searching for accounting, tax or financial planning services. Imagine if this free listing also included the firm’s phone number, a description of its professional services, a map to the office and a link to its Web site (see Exhibit 1).

June 2009 |  BY J. CARLTON COLLINS |  Article

When it comes to technology, are you a leader or a laggard? Do you embrace technology or shun it? This article contains questions and explanations to help you determine how technologysavvy you really are, and identify where you could improve your technology performance. 1. Does your computer have more than one microcomputer processor (CPU)? Why this matters Newer computers use multiple processors to make them faster.

April 2009 |  BY Jeff Lenning |  Article

Talk about pressure—and not just in tax season. Keeping office computer systems up and running in small and medium CPA firms is an enormous and unending responsibility. Without reliable computing and communication capabilities, your staff, your clients and your business are dead in the water. To mitigate the risk of downtime for individual employee workstations, consider a configuration that simplifies hardware and software maintenance and administration, and improves disaster recovery.

September 2008 |  BY Marie Ebersbacher, Scott Cooper |  Article

Understanding forensic IT specialists' capabilities and defining their roles is critical to a successful engagement. Take these steps to ensure the candidate you're considering is right for the assignment. R Determine if the engagement will be a matter of information preservation, financial or economic analysis, a review for relevant data captured during the forensic process, or something else.