Technology

The AICPA issues its annual ranking of the 10 technologies most likely to significantly affect practitioners, their clients and their employers in the coming year. Topping the current list ( www.cpa2biz.com/toptechs ) is information security—the use of hardware, software, processes and procedures to protect the data in an organization’s systems—followed by antispam technology to reduce or eliminate unwanted e-mail; digital optimization—the process of capturing and managing documents electronically; database-application integration to ensure the synchronization of information in each of a company’s business systems; wireless communications technologies; disaster recovery; data mining; virtual office technologies that enable personnel to collaborate regardless of physical location; Internet technologies that support XBRL-based business transactions; and e-mail, voice mail and instant messaging applications.