Accounting technology news and resources

TOPICS

September 18, 2020

Corporate governance in COVID-19: Cybersecurity and technology considerations

The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in a realignment of company strategies to enable success during these disruptive times. Some of these decisions — such as the sudden shift to remote work due to stay-at-home orders — have created additional risk corporate boards must consider.

September 8, 2020

Calculating depreciation using the SLN function

When teaching depreciation in Introduction to Accounting, faculty always cover a variety of different depreciation methods, including straight-line depreciation. Next time you teach this topic, build your students’ Excel skills by showing them how to use the straight-line (SLN) function in Excel.

September 8, 2020

3 tech-related tips for working better remotely

This article offers tips to help you familiarize yourself with your hardware and software and build a system that works for you.

September 2, 2020

COVID-19 decisions create data dilemma for businesses

The rush to set up and support remote working arrangements kept companies operating despite pandemic-related quarantines, but the swift shift to the cloud could mean that regulatory problems loom on the horizon. The first question that must be answered: Where is my data?

September 1, 2020

A new internet domain for the CPA profession: .cpa

The AICPA and CPA.com are launching .cpa, a restricted Internet domain exclusively for licensed CPA firms and, beginning next year, individual CPAs. The new .cpa domain is designed to promote greater trust in firms’ online interactions with clients and the public.

September 1, 2020

Kelly Bosch, CPA

Capitalizing on available data while protecting privacy and security is a key objective for University of Oregon Foundation CFO Kelly Bosch, CPA.

September 1, 2020

2020 tax software survey

CPA tax preparers take stock of an indispensable tool of the trade.

September 1, 2020

Microsoft Excel: Quickly bring blank cells to your attention

An easy way to bring attention to blank cells is to have them appear as a different color than the other cells on the worksheet.

September 1, 2020

2020 tax software survey: Shares of respondents and product and company information

Bonus: The percentages for all 13 products, including a breakdown of their usage among firms ranked by ranges of numbers of preparers, in the 2020 tax software survey.

September 1, 2020

Ask the expert: Cybersecurity

Accounting professionals know that data security is a more urgent concern than ever. Dustin Hall, a cybersecurity expert and director of CPACharge, recommends the following security tips to CPAs.

September 1, 2020

Stymie hackers with these 6 steps

Here is a list of the steps your business should be doing at the absolute minimum when it comes to cybersecurity.

September 1, 2020

Microsoft Excel: Record macros to quickly perform routine tasks

If you have simple tasks that you need to perform in Excel often, you can actually “teach” Excel to do them for you by recording a macro.

September 1, 2020

Tips and tools for eliminating duplicate files

The goal of a good file management system is to ensure that you can find not only the file you want but also the “latest and greatest” version of that file.

August 31, 2020

Blockchain not seen transforming accounting processes — yet

Blockchain is often misunderstood. For instance, there is not one blockchain but many. Similarly, there are many opinions about how blockchain will affect the practice of accounting. Participants in the our annual technology roundtable add their voices to the debate.

August 11, 2020

Use conditional formatting in Excel to visualize letter grades

Highlight different letter grades with different colors so you can see at a glance how your students performed.

August 4, 2020

TIGTA critiques IRS’s protection of taxpayer data

The IRS continues to have challenges protecting taxpayer data, and especially ensuring that its various applications provide complete and accurate audit trails, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

August 4, 2020

Evaluating blockchain and internal control through a COSO lens

Although blockchain technology creates new risks, organizations also can use it to improve risk management and create better controls.

August 1, 2020

Obtain a Distinct Count

How to obtain a Distinct Count in Excel using a basic PivotTable.

August 1, 2020

Adding bullet points to an Excel spreadsheet

Kelly L. Williams, CPA, Ph.D., explains how to insert bullets into an Excel spreadsheet.

August 1, 2020

Understanding PivotTables and Excel’s Recommended Charts

These quick tips related to PivotTables and choosing the best charts for your data can help you become more efficient in Excel.

FROM THIS MONTH'S ISSUE

Start in high school to strengthen the accounting profession

A practitioner-led outreach program, born of a university, accounting professionals, and local community collaboration, shows how to successfully engage high school students with the modern accounting profession.