ATA CONFERENCE

The 2005 Accounting Technology Administrators Symposium built on the success of last year’s inaugural event with close to sixty network and firm administrators participating.  The sessions were facilitated by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP of InfoTech Partners North America, Inc. and Trey James of Xcentric Group, which was the vendor/sponsor of the event.  ATA’s focused on three distinct topics: Remote Access, Security, and Technology Tools.  Within remote access, Roman explained the various types of remote worker profiles that must be considered as well as recommendations for specific laptops, PDAs, and other mobile devices.  There was significant discussion on collaborating in the field as well as the various wired and wireless solutions that auditors must use to connect to the firm when they are away from the office.  Roman also discussed security for remote workers and applications to improve individual productivity.

 

Expanding on the security topic, Roman provided a slew of resources and statistics to highlight the importance of the issue in firms today.  The group discussed the process by which firms must develop a security response and then discussed specific threats and resolutions for hackers, viruses, spam, spyware, phishing, and other remote users. The final session of the day brought to light the latest and greatest technology tools including personal favorites of participants.

 

To promote members learning from members, three open forum sessions were conducted to facilitate networking amongst participants.  The first breakout separated into small and large firms to discuss issues based on number of personnel and locations. The second session was open forum through lunch, which was followed by the third session that focused on the three primary software suites: CCH Tax and Accounting, Creative Solutions, and the Intuit family of products. 

 

Document Management: Where has all the Paper Gone?

Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP of InfoTech Partners North America, Inc. presented a detailed session that walked through the process by which firms must go through to properly select a document management solution tailored to their type of practice.  He explained the current status of the industry in transitioning to a digital environment including the AAA 2005 Paperless survey results as well as the specific benefits and ROI that firms could expect.  He discussed the cultural aspects that firms must consider as well as the evolution vs. revolution transition.  When selecting a document management application, firms must evaluate specifically what documents they want to keep and have a process to organize them. Roman also discussed document retention policies and legal implications impacting how documents must be managed and protected within the firm.  He then detailed the production workflows for tax, audit client service and administration, each of which deal with different applications and processes.  He also outlined other type of documents that become a critical part of the document management decision such as email and communications management, external content, client portals and encryption of documents that are transmitted. 

 

The session continued by detailing recommendations for computers, scanners, and Internet bandwidth as well as the technical ramifications of PDFs and optical character recognition.  Roman then walked through the features and considerations when selecting specific document management applications, and then the specific products being used by the accounting profession.

 

AAA Document Management Vendor Walking Tour and Shoot Out

With so many firms evaluating document management applications, AAA arranged for both a walking vendor tour and a breakfast session to allow participants to have a first hand look at the various applications available.  The walking vendor tour reviewed CCH Document, Doc-It, Immediatech GoFileRoom, and eFile Cabinet allowing participants to ask questions and see the products working up close.  The breakfast session allowed CCH Document, Doc-It and GoFileRoom to present brief overviews of their products and then the vendors took questions from Symposium attendees.

 

Computer Humor Breakfast

After three days of intense symposium sessions and networking, participants were finally give a break to sit back and enjoy computers from a humorous perspective.  Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP of InfoTech Partners North America, Inc. presented a recap of the funniest videos, cartoons, and quotes that are clogging up everyone’s email accounts back at the office.  The break allowed participants one last chance to network with peers and get the day started on the right foot.

 

ATA/AAA National Symposium Technology Handouts © 2005 ITPNA

• 2005 Document Management Handout
• 2005 Remote Access Handout
• 2005 Security Handout
• 2005 Cool Tools Handout

Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP is President of InfoTech Partners North America, Inc. which works exclusively with CPA firms to implement today’s best practices as they transition to a “less paper” or digital environment.