Monday, May 31, 2010

Tired of Your Business Running You? Turn the Tables with Technology

Increase productivity, save money and improve your social media reach/marketing in your small business with this week’s tech tools video. If you are tired of having your business run you when you should be running your business watch now and change how you run your business.





The Tech Accountant

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Protecting Your Business

According to a recent report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) occupational fraud continues to be on the rise in the US and countries abroad. The 2010 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse provides a wealth of information on workplace crimes, how much they cost businesses and how they were detected. The charts and graphs outlined on this link revealed some surprising statistics:

• Financial statement fraud schemes made up only a small percentage of cases, they were the most costly
• Most fraud perpetrators were from the accounting department
• Anonymous tips were used the most to detect fraud as opposed to audits

So what is a company to do to prevent fraud? One of the most important things to do is to closely monitor your business and keep an eye on all aspects of operations. For small business owners it may be difficult to implement the more traditional control functions (such as separation of duties in the accounting department) but the use of technology can assist the small business owner with controlling fraud. Just recently JP Morgan Chase Bank has released a free fraud protection service for small business account holders that will:

• Control check payments and returns with Reverse Positive Pay
• Keep tabs on your account activity with Security Alerts
• Get Paperless Statements to keep your statements from being intercepted in the mail

Check with your bank to see if they offer similar protection services so that you can make you small business more secure.

The Tech Accountant

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Who's Afraid of the Clouds

Looking for a way to save money and increase productivity in your small business? Don't be afraid of cloud computing or software as a service (SaaS) solutions. Many small business owners (SBO's) are reluctant to move their systems over to the clouds citing privacy and security issues as the major reasons. If this is the case maybe the SBO's should take baby steps toward the cloud instead of jumping in head first. Here is a funny little video that may tap into the feelings of many SBO's about the changing world of technology and where they will fit in it. Enjoy.

The Tech Accountant



Monday, May 17, 2010

Microsoft Office Web Apps…the new player

There has been a great deal of talk about the release of Microsoft’s Office 2010 product recently and I wanted to give everyone out there in blog land a brief overview of what the new software can do. One of the major additions to the software is the ability to view, share, and edit Office files (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote) files from virtually anywhere via Office Web Apps. The changes in Office 2010 are an attempt by Microsoft to go after the Google Apps market as the battle between the two seems to be heating up.


If you are a small business owner and are in the market for new productivity software, be sure to also take a look at this PCMag.com article that puts Google Apps up against Microsoft Office Web Apps and make the decision for yourself. Would love to hear what others think on the subject.

The Tech Accountant

Sunday, May 09, 2010

Digital Image Risks

If you have not heard or seen the reports on tv lately. There is a risk associated with using a digital fax, copier, scanner in your business. Basically the digital images are stored on the equipment's hard drive (yes copiers and the like have hard drives) and once the equipment is sold can be access by those wanting to steal confidential information. If you have not seen how this can be done or who is at risk be sure to watch the video below



The Tech Accountant

Friday, May 07, 2010

The Timothy Geithner Approach

Many tax preparation software out there comes with an accuracy related guarantee that goes something like if there are errors found on your return, the software provider will take full responsibility for resolving the problem. I guess to some that may give them a little reassurance that they can prepare their own taxes without the assistance of a competent professional. Well the IRS also has a saying and it goes a little something like this:

"Taxpayers have a definite responsibility to file an accurate tax return...."

So it is up to the taxpayer (not the software) to file an accurate return. If you think that is not the case here is what can happen if you attempt to blame your errors on the software.




The Tech Accountant


Source: Kiplinger