Accounting Today - March 2011

I’ve worked with had some access issues at one point, but they do get resolved,” said Carson. “For my clients [who are resistant to the cloud], my sell is that I can save you time and money. We charge for travel time, and even though we don’t have to do that as much these days, we explain that we can do this in five minutes here or charge you to go there and back.”

Cloud
FROM PAGE 24

their data elsewhere was the main argument,
but that’s not the crux of the conversation
anymore. Once they understand the signifi-
cance of the security environment [we have],
they get it,” said Trey James, chief executive
of Xcentric, which specializes in providing
information technology solutions and se-
cure networks for CPA firms. “Economics
sometimes play in their favor, sometimes
not. A small firm on the edge of hiring an IT
person or with one they are unhappy with,
you are looking at about $7,500 a month in
IT staffing versus $7,600 a month — initially
— to go to cloud. You will ultimately save in
the cost of network replacement every three
years, plus you will replace a weak and inse-
cure house network.”
The issue of data being stored outside of a
firm has also become less serious for auto-
mated tax preparation and workflow provider
Copanion, at least for the midsized to larger
firms. The company has admittedly had some
challenges converting firms from doing taxes
the way they are used to doing them to the
cloud, but CEO Ed Jennings understands
their reservations.

“The idea of taking desktop tax [prepara-tion] and shifting it to the cloud is a harder prospect than some other firm functions. Changing something that is working is going to take longer,” said Jennings. “We skew me-dium-to-larger [firms] mostly, and it seems smaller firms, even if there’s potentially greater benefit, have been slower to adopt with us. The objections are legitimate; we can’t expect we are going to lose sight of how important being secure is and we can’t take our eye off the ball. Ultimately this is going to help drive [the cloud] forward.” AT

‘We are able
to do more
work with
less people.
We can thank
technology
for that.’

ting servers. We are able to do more work
with less people. We can thank the technol-
ogy for that.”
Payseur said that it’s not uncommon to
spend $60,000-$70,000 on a server and then
have to purchase a new one in three years.
He said that eventually more firms will do
this math, in addition to realizing that cloud-

VARnews

ACCEPTANCE OVER TIME

There are many who claim that total cloud acceptance in the CPA profession will simply come with time, much in the way that they eventually accepted Windows over DOS, and between that and some positive experiences the profession will move towards embracing Web-based accounting over desk-based.

Mickey Payseur, managing partner at Gastonia, N.C.-based Butler & Stowe, remembered many of the changes that the profession has endured, and recalled that none of them were easy. That said, he was pleased to join a firm that was always for ward-looking, and understands the industry’s reservations about this latest wave of doing business, but is confident that they will all see the benefits that his firm did.

“[Before] I came to this firm in 1977, I didn’t have a computer and did [everything] by hand with pencils. When I came here they not only had [a computer], but one of the partners wrote a tax program and updated it every year,” said Payseur. “Eventually we got servers and hosted a lot of what we used, but got tired of being in the business of babysit-

CLIFTON GUNDERSON
BECOMES INTACCT VAR

MILWAUKEE — Clifton Gunderson Technology Solutions, the tech consulting arm of super-regional CPA firm Clifton Gunderson, has signed with Intacct and CPA2Biz, a subsidiary of the American Institute of CPAs, to resell Intacct’s Web-based accounting software and use it for outsourced accounting services. The firm remains a consultant and reseller for Microsoft Dynamics, Sage, Deltek and Intuit products. Clifton Gunderson has also joined the Intacct Accountants Program from CPA2Biz, as part of which the firm will utilize Intacct within its business process outsourcing practice for small and midsized businesses.

based applications and services are far more secure than anything in their offices.

Many of the vendors and service providers targeting CPAs also recognize the profession’s concerns, but are seeing some improvements in their attitude towards moving their business to the cloud. Even so, they too realize that in the end, time and education are what will ultimately move more of the profession forward.

KM DOCS A PREFERRED VENDOR FOR OPEN SYSTEMS MINNEAPOLIS — Systems integration and software development company KM Docs Software has joined the Open Systems partner channel as a preferred vendor. KM Docs will offer its document management solutions integrated with OSAS and Traverse accounting and business software products to partners and customers.

COST SAVINGS

“It used to be that firms not trusting having Growth from mergers.

CULTURE DETERMINES RESULTS

It is not unusual to get different versions of the truth based upon which partner you talk with. I believe that this happens in many firms due to the attempted avoidance of accountability. On the other hand, the above approach clearly defines expectations in advance and values planning and management. It promotes excellence, rather than mediocrity.

The good news is that many younger part-
ners are demanding accountability and put-
ting pressure on those partners who are not
accountable. Culture determines results and
accountability impacts both the culture and
the results. It balances production, client
development and personal development.
With the above information, performance
can be evaluated on an ongoing basis and
separated from the annual compensation
meeting. Don’t misunderstand — compensa-
tion must be tied to performance. The annual
compensation meeting should not be part of
the performance review if you want honest
communications.

BLYTHECO LAUNCHES EXECUTIVE SYMPOSIUM SERIES LAGUNA HILLS, CALIF. — Major Sage reseller Blytheco is now hosting a series of executive symposiums through 2011. The sessions will consist of live, nationwide events that feature panel discussions with leaders from various business communities. Panelists will include CEOs and owners from a variety of small and midsized businesses. Locations for the symposiums will include Orange County, Calif.; Atlanta; Minneapolis; Denver; and South Carolina. The events will be streamed live via online video, and highlights will appear on Blytheco’s Twitter feed.

MICROSOFT AWARDS PKF GOLD ERP COMPETENCY HOUSTON — Pannell Kerr Forster of Texas, the only Houston-based accounting and tech consulting firm specializing in Microsoft Dynamics NAV, has been awarded Gold Enterprise Resource Planning competency. Microsoft recently relaunched its partner requirements with more rigorous standards. Existing partners must meet the new requirements to retain their current competencies.