CPA Technology Blog

Tag Cloud

This is the Tag Cloud for today's webinar, courtesy Wordle.com.  

Webinar on Gadgets @ 2PM ET

I’m doing a webinar on gadgets @ 2PM ET (11A PT) with Greg Lafollette, sponsored by Sage.  You can register HERE.

Join us for a complimentary one-hour Webinar:

What I Want for Christmas – The hottest electronics for CPAs to put to work for 2010.

CPAs and consumer electronics to work for you and your firm.

 

One attendee will win a DoubleSight 9” Smart USB Monitor! (Details below)

Date:        Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Time:        2 pm Eastern Time / 11 am Pacific Time

Duration:  1 Hour

Cost:         FREE

This session will feature CPA uber-geeks Greg LaFollette and Brian Tankersley reviewing the hottest consumer electronics in the profession.

Don’t miss our informative webcast:

• There will be something for everyone as Greg & Brian compare their picks.

• Tune in to see and hear which gadgets and gizmos CPAs should consider for 2010.

• Rest assured they will all be interesting, fun, and most of all affordable and useful.

• New and cost-effective electronics are a way of life – especially for time-conscious CPAs.

• Greg and Brian don’t like to spend money. They’ll help you shop at Best Buy and Amazon.

Monitors for Out of the Office and Other Hardware Recommendations

One of the more common questions asked by readers is a request for recommendations of external LCD monitors which can be attached to a laptop so that mobile users have two displays.  This post summarizes current thoughts on how to do this based on my experiences and the experiences of my friends, Randy Johnston, Bob Spencer, and Val Steed.  Together, we teach hundreds of CPE courses to accountants across North America each year, and also make recommendations at TechnologyBestPractices.com, CPAFirmTech.com, TotallyPaperless.com, and AccountingSoftwareWorld.com.  Many of us are also active consultants with CPA firms nationally either independently or through organizations such as NMGI.

The K2 CPA Firm Tech team members had an e-mail discussion re: our personal opinions on portable monitors for CPAs about three weeks ago. 

• Some of my co-workers @ K2 (Val, Randy, Bob) are recommending an HP 21.5” touch screen monitor – the HP L2105tm 21.5”($299).  Personally, I think this one is too big to lug around (14.1 lb (6.4 kg), Dimensions (w x d x h) 20.2 x 9.1 x 16.5 in).  The one I mention below is smaller, but does not have the multi-touch touch screen, and is also only an 18.5” display instead of a 21.5” display, resulting in much less work area, but my recommendation is a little over half of the weight of the HP model.  Info on HP model L2105tm is available on the HP website.
• Due its the much smaller form factor (17.72" x 11.65" x 2.83", Weight 7.94 lbs), I’m recommending the Samsung LD190N monitor for staff and seniors when out of the office  ().  It is a 18.5” LCD (1360 x 768 native resolution), and has a 5ms response time with decent contrast.  I purchased one of these for my own use a few weeks ago.  Some things you should know about this display:
  • This WILL NOT fit in my backpack sized for a 17”notebook, so I haven’t taken it on the road yet.
  • The monitor is NOT HDCP capable, so you will not be able to play Blue Ray DVDs on it, and only has an analog VGA cable input.
  • Since this one is only $119 vs. the $299 of the HP above (the HP is clearly a superior monitor, but it’s big, you could always buy a few of the Samsungs, and then see if you need a larger display and the touch interface. 
• You might try to find a good deal on 17” monitors, although I don’t know of any specific models to recommend, as most everyone is going to something bigger these days.

Screen protection will be a concern for most users, as there is no protection provided with either of these displays, and they will be very easy to crack.  I plan to protect my screen two ways:

• I plan to use black velcro (matches the framing on the monitor) to attach a trimmed corrugated plastic For Sale sign you can buy at Lowe’s/Home Depot and use it as a hard piece to protect the screen.
• I will see if any of my existing bags will hold the monitor so I can avoid purchasing a special case for it (I have about 10 laptop cases from throughout the years).

There are a number of alternatives for a case, including:

• For the smaller Samsung and other 19” class displays, there’s a closeout bag by Shuttle (gaming PC manufacturer) which is designed to transport their discontinued XP19 - 19” monitor (which had a piece of plexiglass over the LCD) from place to place.  I don’t have one at this point, but it looks pretty interesting, and is $60 @ Directron, an online closeout store.
• One firm reported that they use the CaseAce LCD harness to transport monitors and shield the screens from damage.  This is a cover shaped like a messenger bag (with the bottom open) to let you carry your monitor by the handle mounted on the top of the bag.  (Note: This harness appears to not be water tight, so you may want to also carry a trash bag with you to seal the monitor in the event of very heavy rain).  There is a larger version of this LCD harness which will let you carry monitors up to 24”. 
• Another firm reported that they used contact paper to reinforce the original packaging which came with their monitors and are using these boxes on the infrequent occasions when they need to move from site to site with their LCD.

Finally, some users will want to have more than one 22” monitor available in the office.  There are a number of solutions which will let you run the second external monitor (e.g. laptop LCD + 2 External LCD’s), including:

• VillageTronic’s viBook USB to DVI adapter.
• Arkview’s USB to DVI adapter
• Some docking stations

I would NOT purchase more than one of any device until you test it and verify that the drivers will not conflict with your applications and operating system.  I have had numerous issues with drivers for these items in the past, and some of the ones you can purchase at retail in office supply stores have software which will hang up when you try to run the PC without the attached monitor – which defeats the purpose of having a laptop.

FREE WEBCAST 12/9/2009 @ 2PM - On a personal note, I’m presenting a free one hour webcast on Gadgets with Greg Lafollette at 2pm EST on Wednesday, December 9th.  I hope you will register and attend.  The webcast is sponsored by Sage.

Microsoft Discontinues Office Accounting after 12/16/2009

I received this e-mail from Microsoft on Saturday:

Dear Valued Microsoft® Office Accounting customer:

We are writing to let you know that we will no longer distribute Microsoft Office Accounting after November 16, 2009. As a registered Office Accounting user, you may continue to use Office Accounting after November 16, 2009 and Microsoft will continue to offer product support for Office Accounting in accordance with the terms of the support policy.

However, the following add-on services for Office Accounting will be discontinued on December 15, 2009: online sales through eBay, credit profile through Equifax, download of tax mappings for tax preparation software and setting up online banking.

To learn more about other Microsoft offerings that can be useful to your business, please visit the following:

- Microsoft's Small Business site is a great resource for small businesses.

- Microsoft Dynamics products offer adaptable business management solutions.

- Microsoft Office is a great tool for small businesses, especially when used with our easy-to-use templates.

If you have further questions about these changes, additional information can be found on the Office Accounting FAQ page.

Thank you for your support of Office Accounting.

The Office Accounting Team

A real shame, IMHO.  Looks like Simply Accounting is the only major product left which has a US Spanish Version.  Best wishes for all of the team in Redmond and elsewhere who supported this product – always sad to see one go.

QuickBooks 2010 / Enterprise 10.0 Announced

Intuit announced the release of QuickBooks 2010 today.  Major new features include integrated document management, mass edit screens for list items, and integrated electronic check scanning/presentment (with Intuit Payment solutions).  There are also some new options for selecting items on the Company Snapshot, a dashboard which is integrated into the products.

(screen shot source: Intuit)

Major announcements for public accountants include:

• The addition of some tools in Client Data Review which enable mass comparison and reclassification of expense accounts (on a by vendor/payee basis), and, when the need arises,
• Addition of tools which allow for write-offs of an entire customer’s balance at once, and
• Additional customization options for invoices and other forms, and
• Updates to Intuit Statement Writer (see below)

2010 represents the second release of the Intuit Statement Writer add-in for Excel, which enables Excel-based financial reporting & analysis by populating customized Microsoft Office documents with financial statement and budget data from QuickBooks.  As with the previous version, ISW is $150 for users of Premier Accountant Edition, and is included with Enterprise Solutions 10.0.

Intuit also announced the release of QuickBooks Enterprise Version 10.0, which includes all of these features, plus role-based security, the ability to work with up to 30 users, and additional features for companies with more sophisticated needs.  Key new features for QBES 10 (beyond those listed above) include:

• Additional custom field options which allow you to add many more fields and permit you to restrict input within fields to certain types of information (e.g. phone numbers, text, numbers, etc.), and
• Enhancements to Inventory Assemblies which permit adding custom fields such as job/lot/serial numbers, on-the-fly modification of quantities and items listed on bills of materials.

More information:

• What’s new in QuickBooks 2010 (Intuit site)
• 5 minute YouTube Video w/ new features
• Youtube: IntuitQuickBooks
• Twitter: @QuickBooks @IntuitPayroll @IntuitCommunity @IntuitDeals @IntuitInc, or @Intuit
• Today’s press release is also included below.

________________________________

(Press release from Intuit, 9/28/2009) 

QuickBooks 2010 Helps Small Businesses

Boost Their Bottom Line

 

New Features Include Powerful Time-Saving and Money-Making Enhancements, New Intuit Application Center

 

Summary: Intuit launches QuickBooks 2010 financial software to help small businesses save time, make money and do more in today’s economy. Major updates help boost the bottom line by connecting QuickBooks to new online services through the Intuit App Center.

 

 

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. – Sept. 28, 2009 – Small business owners can help boost their bottom line and get connected to a wider array of powerful online services with the newest version of QuickBooks® financial software from Intuit Inc. (Nasdaq: INTU).

With its new online capabilities, QuickBooks 2010 delivers valuable features to help small businesses save and make money, such as an e-mail marketing service to attract new customers. For millions, QuickBooks is an essential part of their business. Nearly 70 percent of small businesses recently surveyed say the financial management software helps their business be more profitable.

“In a tough economy, small business owners scramble for every dollar. That’s why we’re focused on delivering bottom line value when it really matters,” said Kiran Patel, executive vice president and general manager of Intuit’s Small Business Group. “QuickBooks 2010 builds on the strength of past versions by continuing to streamline critical accounting tasks and connecting to new online services to meet small business owners’ varied needs.”

QuickBooks Pro and Premier 2010 feature the all-new Intuit App Center, providing users access to scalable, Software-as-a-Service business applications directly from within QuickBooks. Currently more than 25 applications are available, including a service that helps track and manage marketing campaigns and sales leads to maximize profits. All applications offer free trials, and many work directly with QuickBooks data, extending the value of the information and eliminating the need for double data entry.

Other new features in QuickBooks 2010 include an improved Company Snapshot, giving the small business owner a tailored visual overview of how business is performing, and Intuit Check Solutions, which allows small business owners to scan or key in checks for immediate deposit.

 

Save Time

In a recent survey, QuickBooks users said they save an average of four hours per week managing their business finances compared to their previous method. An array of new features help small businesses save precious time by making important jobs and key tasks easier than ever, giving entrepreneurs more time to focus on their business, so that they can spend less time on their bookkeeping. New and improved time-saving features include:

• Express Install: A new product installation option cuts the number of startup steps in half.
• Add/Edit Multiple List Entries: Users can save time by editing multiple long lists of items, customers, or vendors, rather than edit each item individually. They can also copy and paste data into QuickBooks directly from Excel with a simple key stroke, eliminating the unnecessary steps of inputting the data directly.
• Forms Customization: More customization options, including free professional design templates for commonly used forms such as invoices and estimates, give QuickBooks users the ability to apply the same design to multiple forms at once. Those who want help designing a unique look can connect with a community of professional designers through Intuit Creative Solutions.

 

“The Add/Edit Multiple List Entries features is one of the greatest updates I have seen in years,” said Christine Bailey, owner of Small Office Solutions in Daphne, Ala. “It is so much easier to add customers, vendors and items, all at one time versus going into each one and saving and then adding the next one. Wow, what a time saver!”

 

Make Money

            QuickBooks 2010 also helps small business owners gain valuable insights into how their business is performing so that they can make better decisions and increase profitability. New features to help customers improve their bottom line include:

• Company Snapshot: QuickBooks users can now create a customized report to display on their computer screen, getting an immediate view of their company’s bottom line. Previously, the Company Snapshot was a static view that could not be personalized. Users can choose from several reports, including new ones for yearly expenses and income comparisons, detailed expense and income breakdowns, and a top customer list. Plus, the reports can be changed instantly.
• Report Center: This radically re-designed report center gives users access to more than 100 reports and makes it easier to find the right report in order to make better business decisions. Different views make it easier to navigate quickly between reports. These include a carousel view to flip through the reports, a list view to see all reports at once, and a ‘favorites’ view to keep track of frequently used reports. A new search feature helps users find the report with the specific information they want.

 

“The new Company Snapshot gives you great information at the click of a button,” said Debbie Kirkland, president of Kirkland Services in Christmas Valley, Ore. “This is a great place to go to pinpoint problem areas or to just determine your strengths and weaknesses within your company.”

 

Do More with Connected Services

            Building on Intuit’s Connected Services Strategy announced last year, QuickBooks connects to several new online services that enable small businesses to extend the power of their information already in QuickBooks:

·         Document Management: Users can now scan their documents directly into QuickBooks, attaching files to any vendor, employee, account, or transaction. These documents are stored securely online, giving users the flexibility to access them on the go or share them with their accountant or other employees. Online storage also provides confidence that important paperwork is backed up online and will be easy to find.

·         Intuit Check Solutions for QuickBooks: Offered as an add-on service through Intuit Payment Solutions, small businesses can get paid faster by scanning or keying checks into QuickBooks and electronically sending that information to the bank.

·         Marketing Center: This e-mail marketing service helps QuickBooks users sell more by helping them design targeted e-mail campaigns. The professional quality designs and pre-filled templates can be customized based on a company’s business needs. The service, currently in beta, also enables users to see how each campaign performed by analyzing the results with data from QuickBooks.

·         App Center: Users now have access to additional Web-based business applications created by Intuit or members of the Intuit Developer Network, a group of independent software developers, to further expand the value of QuickBooks. Applications include the Intuit Green Snapshot, which uses businesses’ QuickBooks data to show them how to be more environmentally-friendly while saving money, and Fuel Station from ClickFuel, which helps track and manage marketing campaigns and sales leads while synchronizing customer information with QuickBooks.

 

“With the Marketing Center, you can notify customers, solicit new business, get repeat business, send thank you emails and more, all with one click,” said Danielle Lonich, office manager of Clements & Knock Law Firm in Pleasant Hill, Calif. “It’s a very simple, great service that will simplify my life.”

 

Intuit also launched the new version of QuickBooks Premier Accountant, the company’s premier bookkeeping, write-up and financial reporting solution for accounting professionals. The latest edition provides tools for accounting professionals to help increase productivity create seamless integration with clients and expand their practices. Improved features include:

·         Client Data Review: Accounting professionals can now troubleshoot inventory and reclassify hundreds of transactions or write off multiple invoices in batch.

·         Intuit Statement Writer: Users can now create Microsoft Word-based letters, cover pages and documents in financial reports to produce a complete, polished financial statement package for their clients.

 

Pricing and Availability

            QuickBooks 2010 products are available direct from Intuit at www.quickbooks.com and will be available beginning Oct. 7 at leading retailers, including Amazon.com, Best Buy, CDW, Circuit City, Costco, Fry’s Electronics, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Sam’s Club, Staples, Target and Wal-Mart.

 

Suggested retail prices are:

 

·         Intuit QuickBooks Accounting Pro Edition 2009: $199.95.

·         Intuit QuickBooks Accounting Premier Edition 2009 (including industry-specific editions for accountants, contractors, manufacturers and wholesalers, nonprofits, professional service firms and retailers): $399.95.

           

QuickBooks 2010 is part of a family of financial software and services from Intuit. For more information on other Intuit solutions, visit:

·         QuickBooks Online.

·         Intuit QuickBooks 2010 for Mac.

·         Intuit QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions 10.0.

 

 

Learn More About QuickBooks 2010

·         Live Events: Join Intuit product managers for more information by attending one of the upcoming QuickBooks 2010 online events, beginning Oct. 6. A full calendar is available at: http://IntuitCommunity.com/events.

·         Video Overview: Watch this video for a brief overview of what’s new in QuickBooks 2010. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUIXNguJaEw

Resources:

·         Intuit Press Room

·         Intuit on Twitter

·         Small Business United Blog

 

 

About Intuit Inc.

Intuit Inc. is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses; financial institutions, including banks and credit unions; consumers and accounting professionals. Its flagship products and services, including QuickBooks®, Quicken® and TurboTax®, simplify small business management and payroll processing, personal finance, and tax preparation and filing. ProSeries® and Lacerte® are Intuit's leading tax preparation offerings for professional accountants. The company’s financial institutions division, anchored by Digital Insight, provides on-demand banking services to help banks and credit unions serve businesses and consumers with innovative solutions.

Founded in 1983, Intuit had annual revenue of $3.2 billion in its fiscal year 2009. The company has approximately 7,800 employees with major offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, India and other locations. More information can be found at www.intuit.com.

 

Intuit, the Intuit logo and QuickBooks, among others, are registered trademarks and/or registered service marks of Intuit Inc. in the United States and other countries.

 

Intuit Releases R8 for QB 2009, QBES 9

Note: I received the attached notice from Intuit about R8 for QB2009 and QBES9, and thought I should reprint most of the Intuit notice about the included changes for you, the gentle reader.  With the exception of the text in italics,  the text is as it was sent out by Intuit on Saturday.

Intuit will soon be issuing Release 8 to address a variety of issues with QuickBooks Pro 2009, QuickBooks Premier 2009, and Enterprise Solutions 9.0. This is a significant update, and Intuit encourages you to accept this update when it becomes available.  The major changes in the update include the following:

Most significant areas include

• Online Banking
• Payroll
• Multi-Currency
• Database Operations

Changes also affect

• Client Data Review
• Live Community
• Intuit Statement Writer
• Installation
• Help
• Preferences
• Backup and Restore
• Accountants Copy
• and more

Note: All of these updates are briefly identified in the online release notes.

If you do not do so already, Intuit recommends that you ENABLE automatic updates.  (Personally, I do not recommend that sophisticated users or those working in a multi-user environment enable automatic updates, as I prefer to manually update critical apps like QuickBooks so I can know exactly what is changing before the change is made – but you should install them as soon as possible.  To avoid possible database incompatibilities, you will want to coordinate the installation of this patch with other users in your organization to avoid potential database incompatibilities.)

To allow QuickBooks to update automatically, follow these steps:

1. From the QuickBooks Help menu, choose Update QuickBooks.
2. Click the Overview tab and click Update Now.
3. Select the desired downloads in the Update Now window.
4. Click Get Updates to download your selected updates.
5. When the Update Complete message appears, click Close.
6. From the File menu, choose Exit.
7. Start QuickBooks and click Yes to the message to install the update.

For more guidance, see the QuickBooks Product Update site.

If QuickBooks Is on a Network. Special instructions may help if you are using QuickBooks as installed on a network. Check with your friendly neighborhood ProAdvisor or your technology advisor if you are uncertain how to proceed.  Since this release includes changes to so many areas, you should update all of your workstations at the same time to avoid possible database incompatibilities.

Note: Don't worry if you have had updates turned off previously. QuickBooks updates are cumulative. You will only need to update with the most recent release, and you will have all of the code in the current release, plus all previous releases.

Brian Tankersley, CPA.CITP is a speaker and consultant based in Knoxville, Tennessee.  Tankersley is a Certified ProAdvisor in QB 2007-2009 QBES 7.0-9.0, and has work with CPA Firm Technology (including QuickBooks) for over a decade.  You can follow Brian on Twitter at twitter.com/bftcpa

 

What’s New in Office 2010, MS Online, and Other Updates

15 Items I noted which were interesting in the beta of Office 2010:

1. You can now customize the Ribbon.

2. The “meatball” (office button) is now a “chicklet”.  (Bad for people with cheap mice, good for most of us that need more screen real estate)

3. There’s a web version of the Office Suite.

4. Groove is now called MS Sharepoint Workspace 2010, and allegedly will sync with SP.  (Hopefully you can also do 64-bit file sharing workspaces as well….)

5. “Slicer” add-on for PivotTables looks interesting.  Looks like filters with a nice eye-candy GUI.  Cool.

6. More symbols in the conditional formatting.

7. “Project Gemini” BI Tool looks very interesting.  Says it requires a separate download – I haven’t had time to deal with it yet.

8. Excel Mobile 2010…. hope it’s available for the Pre, iPhone, and Android.

9. 64-bit version, no more 2GB file size limitation.

10. One Note Web App – cool.

11. Multiple Exchange Servers now supported in Exchange O2K10.

12. More tricked out Smart Art.

13. Live contacts with Office Communicator buddies in Word and Outlook.

14. Co-Authoring lets you edit Word documents at the same time as someone else. The Excel preview doc says that this requires the Excel Web App, so I’m not sure if this is in the installed version Excel or not – but it could be interesting if it is.

15. Built in translation.

I will post more here later, or you can attend K2’s Technology Conferences which we do with various state CPA societies and attend the Tech Update and Office 2010 Preview sessions…. interesting stuff.

MS Online Productivity Suite

What’s more interesting than Office 2010 in the near term is the MS Online Productivity Suite, which is free for partners (if you go through a 30 minute training and set up the e-mail hosting with them (This includes MPAN members)).  It’s free for the first year (and $5/mo/account thereafter, if you don’t sell any licenses).  If you sell two deals a year over 25 users, you get it for free (up to 250 users).  Live Meeting IS INCLUDED.  The Online Suite includes the following:

+ Hosted Exchange

+ Hosted SharePoint

+ Office Live Meeting

+ Office Communicator

Other New Developments:

	1. I’m now a Notary through Thawte’s Web of Trust Program, and can provide 35 points toward the 50 points you need for a “validated” personal e-mail certificate under their program.  (Set up your certificate in advance, and bring your forms and copies of your ID to my future seminars if you need me to verify your ID – see more at the Thawte website.)
	2. Passed the QBES9 Pro-advisor exam earlier this week.  Still probably going to do Adv. ProAdvisor at some point, although I am still trying to figure out where the time is going to come from to do that work, especially when I could be doing more consulting.

News Roundup for July 22, 2009

After a long absence, the CPA Tech Blog is back.  It’s been a busy last three months, but there’s lots of good stuff to discuss.

• The Release Candidate of Windows 7 is out, and I really like it.  I’ve been running the 64-bit version of it as my production operating system for a while.  The only major issue I had was a shared networking issue with VMWare, and I think I’ve got that all fixed now.  I’ve got one device that has a driver issue, but I seem to be able to work around it by running an XP virtual machine, so it’s not a show stopper.
• The Community Technical Preview (e.g. geek beta) of Office 2010 is out, and it promises browser-based access to Microsoft Office, better integration with SharePoint and Groove (now called SharePoint Workspace), and many other things.  As I write this, I’m installing Office 2010 into a virtual machine (VM) for some testing.  Lots of good material here.
• There are many new tools to discuss, including some from CCH, ThomsonReuters, and Intuit.  The releases are too numerous to mention here, but if you follow my Twitter feed (twitter.com/bftcpa), I’ve listed most of the new things there.
• There have been some significant changes in the VAR space, with the MIS Group, a huge Sage VAR, discontinuing operations, and many others folding or significantly downsizing their operations.
• Many industry publications have changed personnel or folded.  Source Media folded Accounting Technology and Practical Accountant into Accounting Today, and there are many personnel changes at traditional and new media outlets all over the place.  (As a side note, the whole print media business is going nuts right now, as the distribution channels seem to be changing, and the economy is having a significant impact on the ability of advertisers to pay for things….

On a personal note, I have some new gadgets to mention to you, the gentle reader.  Those include:

• Palm Pre: Love the screen, new OS and speed.  Needs more software, an improved keyboard, and better battery life.  I’ll rate this one 4 stars out of 5 (My iPod Touch got the same rating, so I think it’s probably comparable to the iPhone before we start talking about AT&T’s phone service…. nuff said.)  The Touchstone inductive charger is really nice, and I highly recommend it for pretty much everyone.  I love that I can charge my phone without having to plug in any cables – very cool.
• Seidio makes a really nice external charger for numerous cell phone batteries.  This is one of the better gadgets I’ve bought lately, especially since my Palm Pre has “issues” with its battery life.  (These guys are also supposed to be creating a new battery that has twice the battery life of the OEM battery.  No word yet on whether or not it will work with the Touchstone inductive charging device).
• I have started running two external monitors off of my laptop using a VillageTronic ViBook USB-based video card ($129 from HarmonicInversion.com).  It’s small, runs great, and with the exception of some very infrequent freezes in the video, it’s wonderful.  Now, I wouldn’t try to do video editing or anything crazy with it, but on my fast system, it’s doing super for Word, Excel, document imaging, Adobe Acrobat, and other routine office tasks.

I will probably be acquiring a new SonicWall UTM device for my office, as well as one of the USB monitors which were all over CES this year (waiting on either the touchscreen models to become more available, or for more models to become available).

I’ve written articles which have been picked up by various state CPA society magazines as well as The Progressive Accountant lately, and I’m still developing those podcasts mentioned earlier in this space.  More to come in the future.

Intacct Wins 2009 SIIA “Codie”for Best Financial Software

Dan Druker, CEO of Intacct, reported today that Intacct, a provider of on-demand financial software for businesses, won the 2009 “Codie” award for Best Financial Software.  Codie awards represent “the nation’s best software, digital content, and education products”  according to the sponsoring organization, the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA).

Other notable 2009 winners include:

• Best Business Intelligence or Knowledge Management Solution - Adaptive Planning 5.0, Adaptive Planning.
• Best Business Software Solution - Salesforce CRM, Salesforce.com.
• Best Communication Solution - Adobe Acrobat.com, Adobe Systems, Inc.
• Best Document Management Solution – Adobe LiveCycle ES, Adobe Systems, Inc.
• Best Multi-Media Solution – Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Extended, Adobe Systems, Inc.
• Best Open Source Solution – Sugar Professional On Demand V5.1, Sugar CRM, Inc.
• Best Relationship Management Solution – Salesforce CRM, Salesforce.com.
• Best Software as a Service (SaaS) Solution – Salesforce CRM, Salesforce.com
• Best Web Services Solution – Force.com, Salesforce.com

A complete list of 2009 Codie award winners is available on the SIIA website, siia.net.

This comes on the heels of news that Intacct was selected as the preferred provider of on-demand financial applications by the American Institute of CPA’s (AICPA). 

Windows 7 RC Now Available to Us Mortals

The next version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system, Windows 7, is now available in a “close to final” version for intrepid, bleeding edge-types like me.  Needless to say, I was downloading it at 6AM ET this morning, right before my morning run to McDonald’s for some caffeine and breakfast for the family… (you have to have priorities in life, right – the first RC of Windows 7 only comes out once in a lifetime).

Previously available only to MSDN Subscribers and those who purchase an annual subscription to Microsoft TechNet, the release candidate of Windows 7 is now available for download.  The 64-bit version weighs in at 3.05 GB, and the 32-bit version is a somewhat lighter 2.36 GB.  I’m planning on converting the netbook (ASUS eee PC 1000H) to Windows 7 today, and am hoping to be running Win 7 on a new teaching build for my two teaching days in Dallas at the Texas Society of CPA’s Tech Conference next week.

The downloads were amazingly fast – I had two different PC’s downloading the different versions, and the download for both of them was under a half hour – and they were downloading at the same time using the same connection.  (I love my fiber-optic internet connection!)

I haven’t read up on when the license for the RC expires, but since I’m a member of the MS Professional Accountants Network and an MS Action Pack Subscriber, I fully expect that I’ll get 10 licenses for Win7 in my Action Pack update later this year.  If you’re a public accountant and don’t subscribe to MS Action Pack, you’re currently spending too much on software.  I’ve been a MS Action Pack Subscriber (with my own green money) for the last five years, and it’s probably the best $300 I spend for my little business.