Category: bunny slippers

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EMV and Retail – Your Trusted Advisor Should Be Advising You about This

EMV and Retail – Your Trusted Advisor Should Be Advising You about This

EMVChipCardThere is ‘big change a comin’ for retailers, merchants and any business that accepts credit cards for payments, and there are a great many businesses that are completely unprepared for it.  The change, what is being referred to as the “Payment Networks’ Liability Shift”, goes in to effect in October 2015 and places the burden of liability for fraud squarely on the shoulders of the merchants and card issuers who are not compliant with certain payment system security standards.  Accounting professionals and Trusted Advisors – here’s one of those things you should be helping your clients with.  Help them get informed, trained, and prepared.  Help them to understand the risk and decide on a course of action.  This is part of what makes a trusted advisor: they got your back.

The way things generally work in the US today, a fraudulent charge on a credit card is likely to end up being covered by the credit card company (the issuer). Starting in October, retailers are supposed to be able to accept payment cards with EMV chips (named for the founders of the standard: Europay, MasterCard and Visa), and must process those cards using the compliant technology that takes advantage of what the chip processing and security offers.  If these conditions aren’t met – like having a POS or payment terminal not capable of reading the EMV chip – the merchant is on the hook for the fraudulent transaction.  Given the volume of credit card and payments fraud in the country you’d think that most merchants would already be ready for this, but replacing all the POS and terminal equipment could be pretty costly.  It may take a bit of analysis to understand the real risk and compare that to the cost of compliance.  Certainly it makes sense to always be in compliance, but there are always factors which influence how quickly (or how completely) compliance may be met.

The liability shift is part of the influence being leveraged to get businesses to adopt newer and more secure models of electronic payment acceptance and processing.  It is simply the case that the magnetic strip on a credit card isn’t good enough any longer.  The new EMV Chip reading payment terminals require that the card be inserted and processed by the terminal rather than simply swiping the magstrip across a reader.  Over 40 years of using the magstrip approach has helped to earn the United States a top spot on the leaderboard for credit card and financial fraud, and we seem to be lagging behind in adoption and implementation of the EMV technology even though it has been shown to seriously curtail fraud even as payment card usage increases.  The EMV chip process, which encrypts information about the card so that even the local POS system doesn’t get access to it, is far more secure and is being widely adopted and used in Europe, Canada, Latin America and the Asia/Pacific regions.  Now the clock is ticking for US businesses to get ready to either update their systems or accept the liability for not doing so.

The shift in how payment cards are made and processed is simply one of many changes which will continue to occur as technology and human ingenuity continue to be applied in both good and not-so-good ways.  Recognizing that the pace of change is increasing, businesses must find ways to remain informed and prepare for those changes which will impact the business operation and sustainability.  This is among the essential roles the trusted advisor plays, and the current imperative simply underscores the growing need for such advisors by business large and small.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J

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Trusted Advisor is About the Work, Not the Title

Trusted Advisor is About the Work, Not the Title

Many accounting professionals believe they are THE trusted advisor the client comes to for advice and guidance on business financial matters.  Having fully bought into the messaging about the value of the accounting and tax work, these professionals are feeling pretty relaxed about their client engagements.  They believe the client will come to them with questions and provide the opportunity to deliver advice or work.  And each year  many clients return to get their taxes prepared or financial statements produced, and even new clients may appear.  But the work remains largely the same – financial statements and tax returns, and addressing additional needs only when the client brings it up, which isn’t all that frequently.

happy_clientOn the other hand, there are professionals who recognize that a proactive approach to helping clients results in better and richer client engagements and better-performing client businesses.  These professionals are truly the business advisors to the client – the trusted partners who understand the variety of conditions which impact business performance and care to make sure they are properly addressed.  This advisor not only reports but makes recommendations and provides guidance on certain situations or processes which are essential in the business model.  These professionals recognize that the bookkeeping and operational information collection is not simply a means to an end; these professionals understand that these foundational processes and the information they encompass are the important details which reflect the true performance of the business… details which no summary report can fully describe.

Having more direct participation in clients’ financial systems is a highly successful component of practice building, helping the firm to mine opportunities that may be hidden in current or new client engagements.  This does not mean that the accounting professional becomes part of client operations or workflows.  Rather, it suggests that the accounting professional understand these aspects of client operations and assist in the development of necessary controls and processes involving data collection or validation.  It may include the implementation of KPI and benchmarking solutions to help identify problems and map improvements, or it may involve the installation of a solution to improve the importing of orders and other transactions into the system, improving the efficiency in processing the information while at the same time reducing the potential for manual data input errors.

Regardless of the depth of direct involvement in client systems, professionals can more fully benefit from every client engagement by providing some level of training, consulting or supporting service in addition to compliance and reporting work.  Services may be aligned toward helping clients set up or support their own in-house bookkeeping and controllership responsibilities, or they may be more suited to providing real-time guidance and review of client business performance data. Either way, the quality of the financial information derived is generally far better and requires less work to adjust and report on.

The key is recognizing that the work involved – whether it is through training, regular process and data reviews, or more direct participation – is not intended to simply streamline reporting on outcomes.  The work the trusted advisor performs is intended to help the client save money and improve business and financial performance, and the practice is rewarded with higher value billable services and a much increased opportunity to engage the clientele in other efforts.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J

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Audit or Advice? Small Accounting Firm Practitioners and Small Business Clients

adviceortaxesWhen a small business owner needs advice about running the business or strategizing on financial matters, one would think that the business owner would engage their accountant in the discussion.  Following along with that logic, many small firm practitioners believe that their small business clients will ultimately engage with them for this advisory work and move beyond statutory audit and compliance work.  For a great many firms, however, there remains a struggle to achieve more work and greater opportunity from client engagements; the firm remains relegated to performing mechanical functions of accounting and reporting and fails to gain the additional work which is truly desirable. There are a number of elements which present themselves in this discussion – considerations that the small firm practitioner may not be addressing – and which are likely contributing to the firm losing the opportunity to deliver more and deeper services to the client.

First, let’s consider why small business owners initially engage with their accounting professionals.  More than with larger businesses, smaller businesses tend to rely more heavily upon the involvement of outsourced accounting professionals simply because the business isn’t able to justify the cost of staffing the position full-time.  Needing office managers and bookkeepers or data entry operators is often a more evident need to the business owner, where assistance with daily operational and information management processes are more urgently required.  Functions considered to be “accounting” could effectively be outsourced to a 3rd party and handled in more of an after-the-fact basis.  For many small business owners, accounting is something which can be performed after all the real work is done, and presents the information necessary for payment of taxes, processing of payroll reports and the like.  The accounting professional is typically engaged because the business owner knows this work must be done by somebody, and believes the selected practitioner to be competent and trustworthy, and they’re also probably local.

With the convergence of market environment changes, regulatory and jurisdiction conditions, as well as changes in behaviors (cultural, sociological, technological), a new level of demand has been created for business and financial advisory services. Yet small business owners often remain reticent to approach their local small firm practitioner for the service. Why is it that the client doesn’t often approach their small firm practitioner with requests for advice and advisory services?

Part of the problem is perception.  Small business owners often believe that their needs require specialized knowledge and experience to address, and that the skill and experience can only be derived from a larger firm. Particularly if the smaller firm is not presenting itself in a manner that suggests that business advisory services are not only offered but are a specialty, the firm may simply lose to competitors who communicate the ability more effectively (something larger and more established firms are able to do via referral and reputation as well as through marketing).

A possible way to address the competency and perception issue is partnering, where firms join to collectively deliver solutions to the client.  Where one firm may specialize in an aspect of the engagement and the other firm addresses other areas, the delivery of full service to the client is ultimately the goal, and sharing the work and the revenue is often a more agreeable approach than losing out on the engagement altogether.

Another factor presenting itself in the equation is the “entrepreneurial spirit” from which many small businesses are fueled.  A small business owner is often somewhat of a superman, taking on multiple roles and performing a variety of functions in the business.  It is this DIY (do-it-yourself) attitude that contributes to the business growth and success, but it is also sometimes the barrier to achieving a higher degree of success. Believing more in the personal power of critical thinking than in the reliance on the professional’s education, experience and insight, the business owner simply refrains from asking for advice because they don’t think they need it.

Frugality is another factor playing into the small firm/small business relationship.  Small business owners may want advice, but they don’t want to have to pay for it.  Anyone selling products or services to small business recognizes that there is a certain amount of consulting and advice that accompanies most sales.  For some, this is simply a part of the sales process; helping the customer determine that this is the best choice and they should buy it.  It’s not so simple with accounting and finance, however.  There’s a big difference – and perhaps large risk associations – in giving advice versus performing accounting and compliance work.  Certainly, advisory services aren’t something the firm would elect to give away, so it becomes essential that the value of the advisory service be expressed in a way that the client can understand and believe.

 I once heard a financial planner address this same argument, where a prospective client suggested that they couldn’t really afford to pay for the advice.  The financial planner countered with the argument that a good financial plan will increase the return, which then recoups the cost of the advice.  If you pay $100 for the advice, and you earn $500 more than you would have without the advice, then it kind of feels like you’re getting paid to get advice because you gain more than you spend.  It’s the same with accounting, finance and business advisory services: sound advice should improve the rate of return, which would more than compensate for the cost of the advice.  The trick is getting the client to view the service as something real and valuable and not as snake oil, and to make a commitment to following the advice.  Real value must be communicated and tangible results measured and delivered, not smoke and mirrors.  Otherwise, the client return isn’t there, and the advice proved valueless.

As regulatory requirements increase – and become increasingly complex – the demand by small business for outside help also increases.  It is this ever-expanding demand which represents opportunity for small firm practitioners to capture more (more interesting and more profitable) work from their small business clients.  But competition is also growing from new providers and systems delivering advice, forcing adjustments to how the small firm must present its offerings and services, as well as change how they deliver and support those offerings.Whether through partnering and referral models, the development of new competencies and capabilities, creation of new workflows and methods, or some/all of the above, small firm practitioners must adapt in order to get that opportunity.

While the small firm practitioner may recognize that the small business client is greatly in need of advisory services, what they may not recognize is that the traditional approach has turned around, and it has become more likely that the client will seek advice first and statutory audit work second. For small firm practitioners, it is time to recognize that relationships are changing and how business is done must evolve to meet and advance that change.

jmbunnyfeetMake Sense?

J

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Retaining Productivity while Empowering the Remote and Mobile Workforce

Retaining Productivity while Empowering the Remote and Mobile Workforce

anywhere-anydevicehttp://wp.me/p2hGOJ-J7

A lot of the marketing and discussion around why businesses should use the cloud for IT service is focusing on creating anytime, anywhere access to business data and improving overall IT performance.  By deploying applications to remote desktops and hosted systems, business owners are recognizing the benefits of outsourcing IT service management to professionals who can spend their time actually managing IT.  Focus is able to remain on the business operation and not the technology supporting it; the main office and remote locations are able to work with the same systems and information, and users are able to access information while at home or on the road. Bringing workers together with the same applications and data means new levels of productivity can be achieved regardless of where the work gets done.

Yet the perceived value of “working in the cloud” and the reality remain somewhat disconnected for many mobile business users. The confusion and frustration many users experience with connected, online working models has quite a lot to do with the realization that they don’t simply need remote access or virtual office solutions to bring them together.  Users want solutions that help them get their work done even when they aren’t working on a traditional computer.  When a computer is available, that’s great.  But users want to be able to work from their tablets and smartphones, too.  Have you ever tried to login to a remote desktop from your phone, or to see a full screen of data when the keyboard takes up more than half of the view?  It may technically function, but there’s no way to get anything useful done with that little teeny weeny screen, and that’s a problem.

It is this new multi-mode working environment which is testing the boundaries of usability for software developers and service providers alike.  No longer may the assumption be that users will perform their job functions using a desktop or laptop computer, just as it is no longer assumed that a mobile phone will be used just for phone calls.  Users want (and sometimes need) to be able to get their work done using their smartphones, iPads, Kindles, or other types of tablet, pad or surface computers.  Applications designed to run on full size screens and desktop computers often don’t work well for users accessing them with other types of devices, even when the device is connecting to a remote desktop service.

Mobile device users are starting to face these usability barriers somewhat less frequently when visiting various websites.  If you look at many reasonably modern business websites, you’ll find there is a “mobile” counterpart.  The mobile website is often somewhat less functional than the full website, providing only essential information for the mobile viewer rather than the expanded content and functionality available on the full site.  Yet the mobile site delivers a more pleasant and usable resource for the mobile device user, encouraging the user to visit the site more often.

Application software development can be approached in a similar manner, where essential functionality is presented for mobile users in a format usable by mobile devices, and where the full functionality and rich feature set might be available only in the full application interface.  Even where legacy applications are concerned – those firmly tied to the desktop and network – there are likely options for extending some manner of functionality and access to remote and mobile devices, perhaps by using 3rd party integrated or connected solutions.

Many commercial software developers are successfully viewing this “web and mobile enabled” approach as a means to capture Software-as-a-Service buyers by providing some web-based and mobile functionality with attachments back to the data and applications residing on the LAN or hosting platform.  This hybrid approach may actually present better and more options for businesses, as it embraces the concepts of mobility and device independence while at the same time retaining the features, functionality and productivity-enhancing working mode that only desktop applications have to-date fully proven… and the businesses can keep their own data to take with them and not be relegated to list-only extractions if they wish to change solutions.

This idea is not really new – the idea of providing users with the specific functionality they need (and not more) to accomplish their tasks and get their jobs done.  The concept of Service Oriented Architecture has always spoken to this philosophy, advocating that the right approach to software is the one which orients the application, functionality and view specifically and directly towards the user and their role.

The new twist on SOA is that the orientation of the application should be based not only on roles and functionality.  Modern business applications must also address device and modality, not assuming a particular form factor or platform of access, and having an understanding of the particular mode in which the solution exists or is experienced by the user.  Mobile users want a useful experience on their  mobile devices, and remote and  local desktop users want the features, functionality and performance of desktop applications.

Website designers have figured out that visitors may access the website using any variety of computing devices, including smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops.  Understanding that each device has a different capability in terms of displaying and interacting with content, site developers have begun to include mobile site designs as a standard offering with business website services.  Users accessing the site with smartphones and tablets are able to effectively navigate and view information on the site because it’s been formatted to fit the screen, and navigation and other action options are accessible from smart menus that are sized and placed for touch screen access.  This approach is now finding its way in many business applications now that the applications are also “living” on the web.

The growing number of web and SaaS products on the market clearly demonstrate that mobility is a big consideration in modern application design.  Unfortunately, productivity losses due to sluggish interfaces or complicated operating processes often offset the benefits of the solution, even though it may be both desktop and mobile “friendly”. Software companies rolling out new SaaS models to their existing desktop product user bases are finding that the desirability of the subscription model web-based solution may be somewhat less than expected.  This may be attributed to the fact that users have become not simply accustomed to how they can make the desktop software work for them – they’ve become reliant upon that ability.  Initial experiences with transitioning from desktop applications to SaaS has left many businesses with frustrations founded in overall productivity loss.  I’ve even heard the term “productivity-sucking”, which I don’t think describes either a feature or a benefit.

There must be a balance found, where productivity is enhanced for both desktop and mobile users and where critical functionality is not sacrificed in order to facilitate a mobile capability.  The goal is to empower the remote and mobile user to be as productive as the non-mobile user, and to do it without forcing changes which may impede rather than improve productivity of the overall organization.

Make Sense?

J

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QuickBooks online, or QuickBooks Online? Use Software on the web without using Web-based software

Bringing Order to Inefficient Business Processes: Give people easy to use tools that make sense, and they’ll use them.

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9 Growth Hacks Any Small Business Can Implement

In 1996, an email company named Hotmail launched with a small group of users. By the end of 1997, that company had 12 million users.How did they grow so dramatically in just year and a half? Well, they looked at their initial numbers and saw that approximately 80 percent of new users came by referral from current users.

To make the most of referrals, Hotmail created their iconic email postscript: “PS. I love you. Get your free email at Hotmail.”

That single line, added at the end of every email sent through Hotmail, drove millions of new users in an ever-widening ripple effect.  Hotmail successfully created one of the first documented growth hacks.

via 9 Growth Hacks Any Small Business Can Implement.

 

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Intuit Ended QuickBooks Remote Access Service: The Time to Host is Now

Intuit Ended QuickBooks Remote Access Service: The Time to Host is Now

accountingCloudAccountants, bookkeepers and small business consultants have recognized the benefits of accessing client information remotely, where all parties can work on the same data in real-time, creating the opportunity to maintain more timely and accurate financial data for the business client.  The Internet has become the network, facilitating a variety of different working models which allow users, regardless of location, to access business information and data to get their work done.

For accountants and their business clients, it is essential that there is some type of virtualized working model, else the client is relegated to accepting after-the-fact reporting and outdated information.  Especially in smaller businesses where many of the accounting and finance processes are handled by an outsourced professional, time and distance is the enemy.

Just about anything that helps remove those barriers to real-time efficiency is worth looking at – which made it particularly unfortunate when Intuit, the  makers of QuickBooks, discontinued the QuickBooks Remote Access Service which was a tool that had addressed the remote access requirement for many businesses and their accounting and bookkeeping providers.

There are a wide variety of options for accountants to work closer with their small business clients, and jumping into a SaaS or web-based application is just one of them; other proven options include secure remote PC access or hosted application services.  Hosting in particular is beneficial as it allow businesses to continue the use of the software and processes they have already invested in while enabling a remote access and mobile capability.

If the problem is access, the solution isn’t necessarily a complete change in software – the solution is to create access. With Intuit’s end of QuickBooks Remote Access services in sight, the time to explore QuickBooks hosting is now.

Make sense?

J