remote bookkeeper – Cooper Mann Consulting

October 7, 2014June 13, 2017

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

accountingCloud Accountants, 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there is some type of virtualized working model, else the client is relegated to accepting after-the-fact reporting and outdated information.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?

January 25, 2013October 9, 2017

Remote access to client bookkeeping comes in many forms because clients come in many forms

There are a lot of conversations in LinkedIn and other groups, where bookkeepers and accountants are discussing their various methods of accessing client QuickBooks data and applications remotely. While these conversations are quite helpful for some folks, there are others out there that simply get confused due to all of the possibilities. There are many ways to work remotely with QuickBooks clients, and there are a lot of different situations where one approach may work better than others.

The key to remember here is that REMOTE ACCESS MATTERS. Time and distance is the enemy when it comes to outsourced bookkeeping, and whether you like visiting your clients or not, having remote access to their data can be the key element in providing the highest level of service and value possible. Remember when PCanywhere became available, and we were all excited because now we could use a modem to dial directly in to the client PC? OK, maybe I’m talking to a crowd that’s too new to remember that excitement, but believe me, remote access is something all outsourced accountants and bookkeepers have been looking for. Now that really good options are available (a lot of options), it makes sense to get a better understanding of what you can and can’t do with various remote access approaches.

First, when you’re looking at any true SaaS solution (true being a relative term, but here we mean an app service that was built for the web and is offered as a subscription model), consider that the solution exists only on the web, and that when a business subscribes they are generally subscribing to a single company data set. Unlike QuickBooks desktop, for example, where you can have numerous company data files, QuickBooks Online and other SaaS solutions generally build a single company data file associated with the subscription. When you want to access different companies, you may have to log in as a user of the company you’re accessing.

If you’re an accounting professional, there may be an edition or approach that allows you to connect to multiple client accounts, but then again, there may not be. So be prepared to have to log in as each individual client to access their data. When this becomes the situation, what’s the difference between one client having QB Online and one using Xero, Wave, FreshBooks or Kashoo? None, really, other than the fact that you need to get to know all of the solutions a bit. As a bookkeeper or accounting professional, this shouldn’t be so much of an issue, as debits and credits and basic accounting theory doesn’t change with the accounting software (basic “accounting theory” isn’t really available for redefinition).

The other thing to recognize about these solutions is that the data belongs on the web with the app, so it’s not like you’ll be copying the data file to your PC to work on. You might export the data to another solution, but you won’t be using the SaaS solution offline.

If the client isn’t using a SaaS solution, then it is likely a desktop solution, where the application is installed on their local PC. This type of solution – QuickBooks desktop editions being the most popular and easiest example to work with – gets installed and runs from the PC. Data may be stored on the PC or on a network hard drive, but the program is running locally on the user’s computer, and is using resources on the local computer (memory, processor, etc.). There are only a few ways to make this type of application into something you can access remotely, and one of them is by using a remote control approach.

Remote control is where one computer connects to and controls certain aspects of another. This is like the old dial-up approach, using PCanywhere-type applications to control one computer from another. These days, the Internet rather than a dial-up phone connection is the preferred method, and there are web service providers which “broker” the connection and communication between computers, providing added features and layers of security. Using a remote control solution (examples are LogMeIn or GoToMyPC) simply allows the user on one computer to control the keyboard and mouse, and view the display, of a remote computer. It doesn’t matter what is running on the remote, so a bookkeeper could use this approach to access a client PC and QuickBooks desktop applications and data, or even to connect with the client so they can log in to QuickBooks Online or Xero together.

Some bookkeepers work with their clients, showing them how to do things and connecting to client resources in order to get work accomplished. Others connect using their own resources or accounts, and work concurrently with the client. Still others may export data from the client solution into their product of choice, not even working within the client application at all except to make adjustments and data exports. It all depends on the collaboration model you and the client have going, and it is unlikely that any single model or approach will work for the entire client base.

QuickBooks hosting introduces a bit of a wrinkle in the concept, but not much of one. Really, hosted QuickBooks desktop editions should be viewed to be not less and not significantly more than a QuickBooks Online or other SaaS approach. If the client would benefit from working online (most client would), then having them host their QuickBooks desktop applications and data with a hosting provider makes sense. However, just because the client is hosting their QuickBooks doesn’t mean that you should immediately assume that you’ll have access to their applications or data. Like with a SaaS solution, you’ll likely have to have an account to log in with, and that account could be a separate login allowing you to work at the same time as the client, or the account could be one that is shared with the client and where only one of you can log in at the same time.

Since a hosted solution is accessed online just like a SaaS solution is, you don’t have to have the software installed on your own PC, and you only need an Internet connection to access the application and data at any time. A major difference of working with a hosted solution is that you could possibly have the application installed on your PC, and could copy the data from the host and work on it offline.

With all of the options available, accountants and bookkeepers have realized that the selection of client collaboration approaches depends on a number of factors, and that professionals may end up applying an unlikely combination of solutions in order to address meeting various client preferences as well as their accounting needs.

Make sense?

Read more about hosted QuickBooks desktop editions

Read about the race to find the secret sauce of hosted application services for small businesses

August 3, 2012July 3, 2017

Accountants and their Clients Online: Who Owns the Data?

Accountants and Clients Working Online: who owns the data?

Mobile device support and remote access to applications and data is becoming a standard requirement for most businesses today. The “online” working model goes a long way towards addressing problems face when they need to get team members together no matter where they are. When the information is stored and managed centrally, it is easier to provide access to outside accountants or other professionals. Yet, while this collaborative working model solves numerous problems, it also introduces a number of issues that neither the business owner nor their outsourced professionals may have thought about. One of these issues is the challenge represented with dissolution of the engagement, and subsequent division of information assets related to it. This separation can become unfriendly and problematic if the parties do not have an agreed-to plan. Quite frequently, disagreements result from the use of subscription-based online services which are not clearly delineated as customer-controlled versus provider-controlled. In these cases, clients may benefit from the use of a service through their provider, not understanding that the provider ultimately owns or controls access to the solution and maybe even the data associated with the account.

In general, it is safe to take the approach that whoever pays the bill for the service is the owner of the data associated with it. This “he who pays the bill owns the data” approach is simple and it makes the most sense. Consider that the individual paying the bill for the services is the individual who is financially obligated for what occurs with the service, so it makes sense that they would have authority over service access and usage.

It is quite common in outsourced and online accounting models for a professional firm to subscribe to services or solutions which help them support various processing needs for their clients. Solutions such as Bill.com or Paychex provide tools to assist professionals in efficient delivery of various process-support services, such as bill payments and approvals, or payroll processing and reporting. These tools are utilized as part of the professional service offering, and are generally not directly exposed to the client users (other than in specific contexts, perhaps). Separating the client from these systems is usually not difficult; the professional simply stops using the solution for that ex-client. Since the transaction information from the solution ultimately integrates into the accounting data file, the accounting firm can simply return the accounting data file to the client without losing their process support data in the online service. On the other hand, if the client was the subscriber to the solution and the accounting professional was “invited” to participate with them, the separation would mean that the accountant no longer had access to the online data, and the client would retain use of the solution.

In contrast to a process-supporting solution, separations become far more complicated when the online solution includes fundamental tools for the client like general business application access and data storage. Consider that a business decides to use SmartVault for its document management needs, and also wants to connect documents and files directly to transactions in their QuickBooks accounting system. In this situation, the accounting data and the document vault are closely connected, and contain a wide variety of valuable business documents and files. When the solutions are both run as online services, where the QuickBooks applications are hosted along with the integration for SmartVault, both the accounting professional and their business client can work more closely and in real time, creating much more value in the relationship. If the relationship does not work out, however, separating applications and data can be a frustrating process for both parties if there isn’t a clear understanding of who gets what. It would be easier perhaps if the question centered on an accounting data file, but in these situations the problem extends to questions of ownership of source documents, working papers, and even application software licenses.

Accounting professionals need to protect the value of the work they perform on behalf of the client, and the business owner needs to have their business information and applications. Clearly understanding how to orient subscription based services to protect the interests of both parties is an important element in providing the highest level of professional service to clients. In some cases it makes sense for the professional to own and control the subscription, particularly if the service is an element which supports professional services delivery. These tools help you provide services to your clients, and the client benefits from the result of use of the solution. If the client leaves you, then it is up to them to “tool up” their own operations to handle those processes.

In other cases, it makes far more sense for the client business to own and control their online services, and invite their outside professionals to participate. The benefits of working together are still present, and the remote access and mobility aspects benefit the business owners and team members as much as their remote professionals. The accounting professionals can preserve their working papers and other work product on their own systems, drawing a clear line between their retained data versus that of the client and making a potential future separation much easier to facilitate.