Q: We have a company logo that I want to display on a proposal’s cover atop a graphic image, but I want to get rid of the logo’s surrounding white space. Is there a quick way to accomplish this without buying fancy software or paying a graphic artist to do
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Information management and technology assurance
A complicated inheritance
Q: I inherited an Excel workbook containing lengthy formulas, and I am having trouble determining exactly how these formulas work. Is there a magic trick for figuring out how complicated formulas work? A: Excel provides a couple of tools that might help. The first tool is Evaluate Formula. To use
A tour of five XBRL tools
Supporters of extensible business reporting language (XBRL) have long touted its potential to transform financial data mining and analysis. Now that potential is starting to become a reality, thanks to several new software applications. These tools are designed to help accountants, investors, and analysts extract data from XBRL documents for
Criminal background checks can’t remain in the background anymore
Among the many client services they perform, accounting firms often handle client funds in the performance of various services provided to both individuals and businesses—bookkeeping, investment advisory, family office, and more. Imagine what might happen if a firm employee steals or otherwise misappropriates funds from a client: The firm would
Rule your spam
Q: Even though I’ve set my Outlook 2010 Junk E-mail Options to High, I still receive so many unsolicited emails it’s maddening. Do I need to purchase a junk email or spam program, or is there something else I can try to reduce my junk email? A: I recommend that
From “write-up” to right profitable
CPA firms for decades saw little upside to providing basic accounting services to business clients. Bookkeeping and other “write-up” activities required extensive data entry and document transfer that chewed up man-hours but did not require much specialized knowledge. Client accounting services (CAS) were seen as commodities that brought with them
Five Dropbox tips
1. Receive emailed files from others directly into your Dropbox. Paid Dropbox members can create a File Dropbox, which is a special Dropbox folder that enables anyone you invite to email files directly to your Dropbox. To set up a File Dropbox, right-click on any Dropbox folder and select Create
Missing toolbars
Q: I typically surf the web using Internet Explorer’s InPrivate Browsing mode for better safety and privacy, but when I use this mode, some of my toolbar add-ins (such as the Norton toolbar add-in) are no longer displayed. Is there a way to display the Norton toolbar (and other toolbars)
Reverse the negativity
Q: Our company’s old accounting system produces financial reports with trailing minus signs, which we open in Excel and fix manually by retyping the data. Is there an automated way to remove trailing minus signs and convert those numbers to negative numbers with leading minus signs? A: Presented below are
Snake!
Q: I have an Excel worksheet with two columns and more than 1,300 rows of data that I would like to print on legal-size paper in landscape orientation. Is there a way to get the two columns to flow automatically to adjacent columns (across the page) so it fits on
Clients: The end is near
Evaluating clients annually is good practice management for a professional services firm. A firm’s strategies, areas of practice, and risk profile change over time. As a result, certain clients may no longer be a desirable fit for the firm. Similarly, some client behaviors become problematic and can harm the staff’s
Make your point
Q: I added a long numbered list to a Word document, and I want to format the numbered bullets with a different font and font size than the text (so the formatting matches the other lists already included in the document). I am able to select the entire numbered list
What are the risks?
Companies with fewer than 100 employees often find it difficult to implement appropriate fraud prevention and detection techniques. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), in its Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse (2012 issue available here), has consistently reported through the years that small businesses are
A bit disappointed
Q: Embarrassingly, I purchased a new computer last year that was advertised as being pre-installed with the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Professional operating system, and I then spent about three weeks (off and on) installing applications, configuring the system, setting up email, setting up network permissions, setting up printers,
Cloud Security Alliance endorses AICPA SOC report
The AICPA’s framework for assessing the reliability of a cloud provider’s technology and systems controls has won the endorsement of the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), a not-for-profit coalition with members including Google, Microsoft, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, and PwC. The AICPA is a CSA affiliate member. In a position paper released
Cybersecurity: 2013 is already “the year of the hack”
Many organizations are unprepared to protect themselves against an emerging, relentless cybersecurity danger that threatens national security and economic stability, according to a new global survey. Advanced persistent threats (APTs) are not easily deterred, which makes them different from traditional threats, according to global IT association ISACA. But an ISACA
Android, Apple extend smartphone lead on Windows, BlackBerry
Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS strengthened their positions in the global smartphone operating system market in the fourth quarter of 2012 as the number of shipments grew 42% year over year, International Data Corporation (IDC) reported Thursday with the release of its Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. Android smartphone vendors
Cloud adoption brings unexpected costs, KPMG survey says
Companies moving IT systems to the cloud are encountering higher costs and more implementation problems than they expected, KPMG International reports in a new survey scheduled to be released on Tuesday. About one-third of the more than 650 business and IT leaders in the global survey experienced higher-than-anticipated expenses adopting
Do I know you?
Q: All of a sudden I am unable to invite my friends to connect with me on LinkedIn unless I supply their email addresses. Yet my colleague is able to invite these same friends without supplying an email address. Can you explain what’s going on and tell me how to
Dust in the wind
Q: I heard on the news last week that it is important to clean the inside of your computer regularly, but I’ve never done this before. Is this true, and if so, how do you clean the inside of a computer without causing damage? A: Ordinarily I would not address
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