The busy season is over and the extension season provides a small respite in which practitioners can tune up their processes and implement new hardware and software that will make them more productive in the future. One change to consider is whether to move to Windows 7, which is Microsoft’s latest operating system, destined to replace Windows XP and Vista.  If your computer is more than three years old, we feel this is a definite must for practitioners, particularly those working with multiple monitors.  

The Windows 7 task bar shows images of each open application, allowing users to access data measurably faster, which translates into getting work done more quickly and accurately. New PCs should have at least 3Gb of RAM so that the user can have more applications open, which naturally happens as the second and third monitor are added. Please note that if your computer is less than two years old and you are only using a single monitor, you would be better off adding a second monitor and increasing RAM to at least 2Gb, then moving to Windows 7 when it’s time to replace that computer.

Windows 7 comes in 32-bit and 64-bit versions, and most legacy applications and hardware run on the older 32-bit platform. While 32-bit systems (Windows XP) can only use about 3Gb of RAM, the 64-bit operating systems can effectively manage much more, which becomes increasingly more important for running multiple programs at the same time. Practitioners will want to purchase the Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate version, since it can run the older XP-compatible programs in XP mode and still offer the benefits of Windows 7 for everything else.  Before making the jump to 64-bit, contact your tax, audit and accounting application vendors-- as well as the hardware vendors for your printers, scanners and other office equipment--to find out any special requirements for running 64-bit.   

When we transitioned to a new laptop with the Windows 7 Professional 64-bit version, we had to replace our scanning software, upgrade our QuickBooks version to 2010 and download a number of other equipment drivers. While it took some time to get used to the new versions, the performance improvements have been noticeable and system stability is significantly improved, making the transition well worthwhile and recommended for all practitioners.

Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA.CITP, is President of InfoTech Partners North America, Inc. and works exclusively with accounting firms to optimize their tax, audit, and administrative production processes.  His new book, Quantum of Paperless: Partner’s Guide to Accounting Firm Optimization (Amazon.com), details 32 key areas to improve firm productivity with technology. This article was originally written for the AICPA Seasonality Success Newsletter published for the Private Companies Practice Section.