Online Collaboration with QuickBooks Pro

The trend for small business accounting is outsourcing - sending the work to a professional who has the time and the knowledge to properly account for the business activities. The only problem with this approach is that the business owner frequently loses touch with this key business information while it is in the hands of the accountant or bookkeeper. Anyone who has delivered the monthly work to their professional, only to receive it back some time during the following month, understands what it means to be out of touch with the business numbers.

The better way is collaboration in real-time. Through the use of Internet technologies and online applications, the professional and the business owner are able to work together on the numbers, ensuring that the data is accurate, complete, and recorded in a timely manner. With online access to QuickBooks Pro, for example, the accountant and the small business owner can work closer in "keeping score" on the business. The close working relationship afforded with the online application service allows the professional to increase efficiency and effectiveness in processing the client information. And more efficiency often means more time - time to review the information, consult with the owner, and help keep the business on target and moving towards their goal.

You are the trusted advisor

The accounting professional has always been seen as a business advisor - a trusted partner that understands the conditions that impact business performance. This advisor not only reports on the business performance, but may make recommendations or judgments on certain situations or processes that are key to the business model. Leveraging your direct participation in your clients' financial systems can be a very successful component of practice building - mining out other opportunities that may exist in current client engagements.

In some cases, your clients will want to process their own bookkeeping in-house. Rather than taking a hands- off approach to these clients, engage them by providing training or consulting services to support their in-house bookkeeping.

If your firm provides real-time guidance and reviews, the quality of the financial information is far better and requires less work to adjust and report. Ultimately, saving your client time and money will reward your practice with more opportunity to engage the client in other efforts.

Protecting Yourself Against Data Theft

by Michael Ehart, CISSP, etc.

There has been a rash of reporting of data theft lately that has a very strange effect of causing many to become complacent about their data protection measures because, after all, their system is working.

The problem is that there is no way to know if your data is bulletproof. You can only be certain when it is not, and you have evidence that your security has been breached. The vast majority of data theft is undetectable and unprosecutable, because unlike physical theft the stolen data is still there. If someone sneaks into a museum in the dead of night, dressed in spandex and night goggles and makes off with a Bottecelli, in the morning there is a big square of unfaded wall, an empty nail, a light dusting of tracked-through laser-detection talcum powder and no painting. The problem with stolen data is that most of the time there is no way to know that your system has been breached, or if it has been, that anything is missing because nothing is actually missing.

So what do you do to keep your data secure? The threats come in three flavors, and there are steps that you can take to protect yourself from each one.

1. The Barbarians at the Gates. There are people out there who don't like you. There are people out there who don't care about you, but want what you have. And there are people out there who don't care about you, or what you have, but want inside just because they can. These are the folks that firewalls were invented to thwart, and I assume that you have covered this loophole. Firewalls, encryption, strong passwords, and some sort of Intrusion Detection System (IDS) cover you there. If you don't understand or like this stuff hire someone who does. A competent IT security consultant can set up most small practices in a few hours of system hardening. Do make sure that the contract includes some basic training for your users concerning the changes and best practices.

2. The Enemy Within. Far more likely to cause you grief is the viper cherished in your bosom. No one knows for sure, but I would guess that the retail model applies here--- 90% internal theft. After all, who else holds the keys to your kingdom? Training, monitoring, set usage policies and careful terminal check-out procedures can help, but you never know. If you have 20 employees and they all seem perfectly content, either you are the shining example all other bosses should aspire to or at least 5% of your workforce is adept at hiding their dissatisfaction. I know which one seems most likely to me.

3. Stupid is as Stupid Does. And Stupid seems to be doing more than his fair share lately. Data theft is the classic crime of opportunity. "It was just laying there, so I took it." Or "The web site was unsecured" or "The safe was left open" or -one that I recently was asked about- "I left the box of records in the back seat, and someone borrowed my car." I love consulting, but dang, please make it harder for me, will ya? No more post-it notes with passwords conveniently stuck to the monitor, or so cleverly stuck under the keyboard. No more backup tapes on a shelf behind your desk, or stacked on top of the server. No more shared passwords for the entire office. Once again, if you don't know about this stuff contract someone who does. It is so very much cheaper and less stressful to spend a few bucks and a few hours hardening your system and providing a few hours of common sense training for your crew than it is to learn about your data disclosure from the guy with good hair and too many teeth holding the mike and standing sideways in your lobby so his cameraman can get a good shot.

InsynQ e-Accounting takes information security and confidentiality very seriously. In fact, one of our engineers is a Certified Information Systems Security Specialist (CISSP) and carries certifications as a HIPAA Professional and HIPAA Security Specialist (among other things). Visit Michael Ehart's HIPAA blog Comply With Me

Power to the People

Having the information you need when you need it is critical to making the right decisions for your business. The unofficial motto of the information age is "Information equals power", but information trapped inside your computer equals nothing. The key is to not only capture and retain data, but to turn that data into useful information and then make it available to those who need it. This can be more challenging than it sounds, especially when it comes to providing access for remote team members, co-workers or clients.

Unless your business has a competency in technology management, the wise choice may be to outsource the solution to your most challenging technical problems. With application hosting services, for example, you can use the software and systems that your business is already familiar with, and you simply access those systems in a different way. The ASP (application service provider, or host) takes care of the systems, the applications, and the network. Users are able to access their applications from any Internet-connected PC, and are assured that their programs and their data are secure, backed up, and available when they need them.