Tracks and Sessions
Enjoy an incredible selection of top-rate speakers offering timely topics to help you, your clients, and your practice. Learn from the best and leave inspired, energized, and more informed! Browse through the session descriptions below.
Conference Tracks |
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Keynote Sessions
Paradigm Shifts in Accounting Technology
A whole new world is emerging in the practice of accounting, and in the way small businesses use technology to manage their financial records. In this opening session, Doug Sleeter, Founder of The Sleeter Group, will present how the past 25 years of technology advances has resulted in completely new paradigms for small businesses as well as accountants. In this new world where paperless documents, electronic payments, and e-commerce solutions are commonplace, the challenge for the accounting profession is to learn new ways of working with clients collaboratively via the cloud and new ways of connecting web-based data into comprehensive systems for clients.
Moving from Compliance to Reliance
The future of the profession will be firms organized around delivering advisory services as a primary offering, with compliance services as a by-product. In this session, you'll learn a proven methodology for what Edi Osborne calls the "Level 5 methodology." In development for over 15 years, this methodology provides a structured foundation for higher value advisory services. Practitioners that stay focused on moving their clients up the Level 5 Value Chain are enjoying higher fees, greater client satisfaction, and more personal gratification. During this session you'll learn:
- What Level 5 is and why 95% of firms are missing the mark
- How Level 5 services increase the value of your client's business
- How Level 5 services attract and retain quality people to your firm
- How you can double your billing rate when providing Level 5 services
Take away: Level 5 Tool kit that you can use to promote your firm
Awesome Add-ons for 2012
Panelists: Bonnie Nagayama, Mario Nowogrodzki, Jennifer Katrulya
The Sleeter Group’s Awesome Add-On Consulting & Awards Program is designed to enhance the quality and quantity of add-on software solutions available in the small- to medium-sized business (SMB) accounting software marketplace. By "add-on," we mean products or services that add specific functions to accounting software applications such as QuickBooks, Sage Peachtree, Sage Simply Accounting, MYOB, Intacct, NetSuite, and others, as well as products that completely replace the core accounting software functionality.
This year, our committee of six experts looked at over 30 products and worked with the developers to help them bring better solutions to the marketplace. In this session, we'll highlight the products that stood out and deserve your special attention in 2012.
Seize the Future: Trends and Issues Facing the Accounting Profession
This session will look at the key issues and trends facing the Accounting profession. Get an inside look at regulatory, technological, economic and people issues, and how the CPA profession and the Accounting and Tax industry as a whole, are affected. This session will not only focus on key U.S.-based issues, but also give you a view of what's happening globally. Many of your clients may be based locally, but what they do has a global impact. Stay up-to-date with the "big issues".
What's at the End of Your Yellow Brick Road?
Defining Your Oz
Do you spend all your time fighting lions, tigers and bears? Or do you take the time to look into the future and determine where you want to take your business in the next 5, 10, or 20 years? Now is the time to think about the future and where you want to take your practice! Are you on a "liquidation" or "continuation" path? Determine the important questions you must ask today to make the best decisions tomorrow, based on your own unique needs and wants. Designing today's work for tomorrow's success.
Predictions - Intuit's 3-5 Year Look Ahead
Come and hear about Intuit's "Predictions" for the future and how the company will position itself to maintain leadership through the coming changes. In this session, you'll hear Intuit's predictions of what the practice of public accounting will look like in "tomorrow's world" – 3 to 5 years out. What new services will CPAs need to offer their clients? Should accountants just serve the demands of their clients, or should they lead their clients to a more efficient way of doing business? What will the clients of the future demand of their CPAs? What new tools will evolve to help practitioners provide those services and meet those demands?
You'll also hear about how Intuit plans to thrive in the coming years, and how they'll meet the needs of tomorrow's practitioner, including what products they expect to deliver and on which platforms they will focus. Don't miss this chance to see into Intuit's crystal ball.
Predictions - Sage's 3-5 Year Look Ahead
Come and hear about Sage's "Predictions" for the future and how the company will position itself to maintain leadership through the coming changes. In this session, you'll hear Sage's predictions of what the practice of public accounting will look like in "tomorrow's world" – 3 to 5 years out. What new services will CPAs need to offer their clients? Should accountants just serve the demands of their clients, or should they lead their clients to a more efficient way of doing business? What will the clients of the future demand of their CPAs? What new tools will evolve to help practitioners provide those services and meet those demands?
You'll also hear about how Sage plans to thrive in the coming years, and how they'll meet the needs of tomorrow's practitioner, including what products they expect to deliver and on which platforms they will focus. Don't miss this chance to see into Sage's crystal ball.
Predictions - CPA2Biz's 3-5 Year Look Ahead
Come and hear about CPA2Biz's "Predictions" for the future and how the company will position itself to maintain leadership through the coming changes. In this session, you'll hear CPA2Biz's predictions of what the practice of public accounting will look like in "tomorrow's world" – 3 to 5 years out. What new services will CPAs need to offer their clients? Should accountants just serve the demands of their clients, or should they lead their clients to a more efficient way of doing business? What will the clients of the future demand of their CPAs? What new tools will evolve to help practitioners provide those services and meet those demands?
You'll also hear about how CPA2Biz plans to thrive in the coming years, and how they'll meet the needs of tomorrow's practitioner, including what products they expect to deliver and on which platforms they will focus. Don't miss this chance to see into CPA2Biz's crystal ball.
Technology Update for 2012
Back by popular demand, Randy Johnston will help you understand the changes in technology that affect your firm and your clients. Major trends from hardware to software and cloud to desktop will be covered. Many attendees consider this presentation alone worth the investment to attend the conference.
Concurrent Sessions
Track 100 – Technologies and Best Practices
Learn best practices for employing new technologies in your practice and in your clients' businesses. From new hardware, to networking, security, remote client support, practice management, and document management, these sessions will help you learn new, more efficient ways of working with clients.
Inspector Gadget
With technology innovation continuing at a dizzying pace, is your organization investing its technology budget wisely in these tight economic times? Are you concerned you might be buying yesterday's technology with little or no hope for return on investment? If this sounds all too familiar - then you'll want a sharp pencil and clean notepad handy as this session explores the latest developments in technology and trends for 2011 and beyond. Ensure your organization is properly poised to fully leverage the latest technologies in the years ahead.
How an iPad (or Other Tablet) can Improve Productivity & Efficiency
For PC users, the iPad can be confusing and overwhelming since it may be your first experience with an Apple product. Here is your chance to learn more about the iPad (or other tablets) to help you decide if you want to buy one. Understand storage space and options - do you ever wonder how much 16 GB can hold? Do you need a cellular subscription? What are the alternatives if you get a WiFi-only model? Save time by seeing and learning about the "must-have" apps for business professionals.
Using the Power of Excel to Connect to and Analyze/Format QuickBooks Data
Are you ready to improve your QuickBooks-based financial and operational reporting processes? If so, come to this session to learn how to connect Excel to QuickBooks via the ODBC driver or by using the QuickBooks Statement Writer. Learn how to harness the analytical power of Excel to transform your clients' QuickBooks data into meaningful business intelligence and/or to produce GAAP formatted financial statements. In this session, you will learn how to use tools such as Open Database Connectivity and QuickBooks Statement Writer to connect QuickBooks to Excel in real-time and how to take advantage of Excel features such as Tables, PivotTables, PivotCharts, Custom Views, and Report Manager to revolutionize how you prepare financial and operational reports based on QuickBooks data.
Windows 7 and Microsoft Outlook Tips & Tricks
You've migrated to – or are planning to migrate to – Windows 7 and Microsoft Office 2010, but are you prepared to get the most out of your investment? In this session, you will learn tips and tricks on how to use Windows 7 and one component of the Office 2010 suite – Microsoft Outlook – more effectively to improve your productivity, security, and reliability.
In this session, you will learn how to put Windows 7 features (such as Jump Lists, Search Folders, Libraries, BitLocker, and Aero) to use so you can work smarter and realize peak efficiency. You will also learn how to take full advantage of Outlook 2010 features such as Quick Steps, Conversation View, Instant Search, and the People Pane.
This session will teach you how to put Windows 7 and Outlook 2010 to work right away to achieve maximum productivity.
Information Security Update 2012
IT Security is a challenging and volatile landscape of constantly emerging threats that require responsive counter-measures. And nothing is more important today than safe-guarding an organization's critical data and systems – especially as more users move to the cloud, looking to connect "everywhere, all the time!" So what are the latest security threats, and how can current products and strategies help address and mitigate these risks? This session explores the latest IT security trends and threats and outlines essential steps all users should take to ensure their systems and data are fully protected. Topics covered include keeping data secure in the cloud, mobile devices, data encryption, current scams, social media concerns, data backups, and Windows 7 security.
Presentation and Technology Tools for the Successful Consultant
When providing consulting services or making a sales presentation, there are tools you can use to provide the extra "WOW" impact to your presentation. Learn what tools you can keep in your tool bag that will make your sessions with clients memorable and help you stand out.
In this session you will learn about recording your training sessions, SnagIt image captures, Camtasia video clips, VMWare virtual desktops, ClickTricks presentation tools, and other useful tools and tricks that you can use every day in your business.
Learn how to efficiently deliver the extra value that will impress your clients, provide them with tools after the training and truly differentiate your services from others.
Web-based Real-Time Dashboards for Your Clients
Wouldn't it be nice to provide your clients with all of the information they need to make business decisions each day? What if you could give them daily customized reports without even opening their data file?
In this session, we'll dig into several new, web-based tools that allow you to provide clients with focused, relevant key performance indicators and business analytics. Learn how to provide each client with critical business metrics, sales and cash flow forecasts, and benchmark data (industry comparisons) based on real-time information from their accounting system.
We will look at several products including webKPI, Corelytics, Qvinci, ProfitCents, Method Integration, and Profitably, focusing on how each of them can be used to provide real-time dashboards for your clients.
As an accounting software consultant, this area represents a great opportunity to grow your practice into new areas, and provide your clients with the critical information they need to make better, faster, and more informed business decisions.
Track 200 – Collaboration
Learn how technologies are changing the whole paradigm for the accounting services business. Collaboration is the key word we use to refer to remotely accessing and sharing data, workspaces, and tasks between you, your clients and your clients' customers and vendors. In these sessions, you'll learn about how cloud computing is the target platform for a growing number of business applications. The Software as a Service (SaaS) world is changing the whole landscape of solutions for your clients. From documents in the cloud to e-payments, e-invoicing, e-reconciliation, e-dashboards, document delivery via portals, and more, you will learn to take advantage of technology and dramatically improve your collaboration with clients, as well as how your clients can improve their customer and vendor collaboration.
The "Cloud" Warriors: Firms' Success Stories with Cloud-based Applications
Successful firms leverage technology to help them in the critical areas of staffing, client service and practice management, to optimize performance. It is critical for firms to leverage cloud-based applications that support paperless processes and mobile workers. Rene Lacerte is the founder of PayCycle, a cloud-based payroll company and Bill.com, a cloud-based, bill management, invoicing and bill payment company. His companies enable firms to realize improved efficiency and time savings, better client service and convenience, lower total cost of ownership and reduced capital expenses, and easier software deployments. This session gives you insight into how firms successfully deployed cloud-based applications and have gained efficiencies and improved their margins.
Avoid Road Rage - Providing Services Without Leaving Your Office
Time is money, so why should you spend time on the road when you do not have to? Learn how you can leverage "Remote Assist" tools to provide services to your customers without spending time in your car. Hear how others package these services into their proposals and agreements and gain some "best practices" information from your peers.
New World Drilldown - Cloud Accounting for You and Your Clients
Panelist: Rod Drury, CEO Xero
CPA firms are small businesses themselves. You need Email, Websites, file and print, CRM, Financial Reporting, Practice Management, Client Accounting and Document Management. Come learn how all of these processes are being integrated together to help you transform your practice into a cloud-based powerhouse.
In this session, you'll learn about how cloud accounting applications are quickly becoming mainstream. The cloud transforms the cost of running your practice, but how do you get a suite of integrated applications that just work together? This session will demonstrate a fully integrated cloud practice using Xero. You'll also hear about several other companies in the marketplace that are developing new generation products. We'll discuss products such as QuickBooks Online, Xero, Intacct, Wave Accounting, Outright, and Zoho Books.
New World Drilldown - Online Business Process Solutions
In this session, you'll learn about the growing world of business process tools in the cloud. Learn how using SaaS applications for each piece of your clients' business processes will help you design and implement the best overall solution. We'll discuss how each of the following SaaS business process applications can help you grow your practice by including these solutions in your portfolio of services: Bill.com, Bill&Pay, Sage Billing Boss, Sage Payment Boss, Freshbooks, Intuit Go Payment, Square, BankServ, and Intuit Online Payroll.
New World Drilldown - Putting Portals to Work in Your Firm
Go behind-the-scenes with one of the heavyweights in the cloud services world.
Why should you use Portals in your firm? To put it simply, you need portals because they will help you reduce cost, drive higher margins and profitability, and have more satisfied customers and employees. And if you think the only thing a portal does is allow you to share files, you're underestimating its importance to your business.
A portal can provide a built-in disaster/recovery plan for your business, ensure you stay in compliance with updated laws and regulations for sharing sensitive information, and control and report on who has access to what file. A portal also provides an always-on service, so you can get to your data whenever and from wherever you want. But wait, there's more…it can also enhance your brand and company image!
Join Eric Pulaski, founder and CEO of SmartVault, for an interactive discussion covering:
- Common features in portal solutions, and how to evaluate what is right for you
- Tough questions you should ask (and get answers to) from your cloud services provider
- The ins and outs of portals when it comes to data security and service availability (e.g. "Are my files secure, and will they be available when I need them?")
Desktop vs. Application Hosting vs. SaaS - Why, How, When?
In this session, you'll learn why moving your firm and your clients towards cloud computing is a compelling idea. But how do you approach the process? If you're still unsure, or if you're new to these concepts, this introductory session will help you with the basics of "why", "how" and "when".
This session will clearly define the differences between the different "cloud" technologies, and then help you think through the steps you'll need to take to start taking advantage of them. With application hosting, you don't have to switch software, yet nearly all of the "new world" products are true SaaS applications, developed from the beginning to be run in the cloud. Learn the trade-offs, and start making your plans for how and when you'll move your firm and your clients to cloud computing.
eCommerce Solutions
Web stores are an important solution area as companies strive to reach more customers through the Internet. There are several different ways to approach the web store solutions for your clients, and each has different characteristics when it comes to ease of setup, store design flexibility, sales tax handling, shipping integration, and accounting integration features. Learn about Web store solutions in the market and learn about best practices for providing integration between shopping carts and accounting systems.
Track 300 – Growing and Marketing Your Practice
A major concern for many practitioners is, "How do we grow our practice?" As technologies emerge and business processes evolve, the opportunities are endless. These sessions will help you qualify and quantify various opportunities for developing your practice and maximizing your client acquisition. Whether you are just launching a practice or are ready to go to the next level, these sessions will help you set the stage for success. You'll benefit from the experience of successful professionals who will present dozens of tips and techniques to help you drive success in the market.
CRM - Managing the Customer Relationship
CRM stands for 'Customer Relationship Management'. It's about knowing your customers and using this knowledge to form profitable relationships with them. We hear a lot about 'CRM' these days but most of us don't really know what it means. This topic reviews how today's leading CRM systems can be made to work, and why they often don't.
You'll see how CRM can deliver a profitable focus on customers that can really pay off for any size of business. The session also covers the steps of developing and implementing a CRM strategy and what it can and can't achieve. You'll also learn how to tell if you're getting value out of a CRM system and which are the most important metrics to monitor.
3 Ways to Boost Your Bottom Line in Your QuickBooks Consulting Practice
Are you a master at the technical aspects of QuickBooks, but need to get more clients? Are you 'winging it' when it comes to closing sales or marketing? Have you been stuck at the same income level for a few years now? Then add this program to your schedule! Learn:
- How to refine (or start creating) your marketing systems so you are not reinventing the wheel or 'winging it'.
- How to define your perfect market and craft a message that gets them saying "You're hired!"
- How to leverage your time and skills to maximize your practice revenues.
Transitioning From Scorekeeper to Coach
The future of the profession will be built on the quality of relationships practitioners have with their clients. Compliance services, as they exist today, have a limited shelf life. With technology driving rapid adoption of new and multiple client interfaces, those who continue to do what they have always done will struggle to survive going forward. The good news is that clients have been asking for more support for a long time, thereby making it easier than ever to sell advisory services.
Getting Started with Social Media
No more waiting - it is time to get started using social media! Learn the critical things you need to know to get up and running with the three primary social networking tools: Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter. Plus, we'll introduce you to YouTube, Blogging and a few other tools. Learn how to set up your profiles, including creating an effective Linkedin Profile. Learn practical "how-to" tips to get started quickly, and how to divide personal and business profiles in social media.
Track 400 – Specialization
Every industry has its own vocabulary, methods, and specific business processes. Focusing your practice in specific vertical areas can help you more efficiently work with clients in those chosen specialties. In these sessions, industry experts will share insights from their experiences and help you identify, develop, and capitalize on your vertical market skills. These sessions will focus on several key vertical markets including Retail, Not-for-Profit, and Construction. You'll walk away with practical, usable tips for your practice.
Best Practices for Your Professional Services Clients
In this session, you'll learn the latest best practices for helping professional services clients. You'll learn the best tools for Time and Billing, as well as tools and methods to implement other billing models such as Value Added, Fixed Fee, and Contracts. You'll learn how to coach your clients and help them implement efficient workflows to maximize the efficiency in their practice.
Key Metrics You Need to Know for Success in the World of Construction
Construction is a unique industry which requires specific metrics to measure profitability. This session will help you help your contractor clients. Learn how to become an invaluable resource for your construction clients, as well as the "how to's" of setting up QuickBooks correctly to track these metrics. Determine which metrics can be tracked inside QuickBooks and when to use an outside system, such as Excel. Topics include WIP, Gross Margin Tracking, Employee Utilization and more.
What Makes Cloud Computing Ideal for the Not-for-Profit Client Vertical?
Join us and learn why nonprofits are rapidly moving to cloud computing to gain control over their finances, improve operations and minimize costs. This session will discuss cloud computing accounting applications ideal for your nonprofit clients, how it works, the pros and cons of using a cloud computing model, and what ROI you can expect. We'll also include a customer case study on best practices for implementation, training, and integration with your other key systems.
Adventures in Inventory - Deep Dive into QuickBooks and Peachtree Inventory
Panelists:
Jeanne Tarazevits, TaraByte Solutions
Dawn Ashpole, SBA Services, Inc.
Mary Brettman, Mobile CFO
Get very familiar with the inner workings of inventory in QuickBooks and Peachtree. Understand how QuickBooks average cost calculations work and how to work and manage item records, including when to merge items. Learn the important new features of QuickBooks 2012 inventory. Understand how Peachtree handles inventory compared to QuickBooks and what Peachtree can and cannot do. Understand which program best fits your client's needs and why.
Adventures in Inventory - When and Why to Recommend 3rd Party Inventory Solutions
Panelists:
Jeanne Tarazevits, TaraByte Solutions
Dawn Ashpole, SBA Services, Inc.
Mary Brettman, Mobile CFO
In this session, you'll learn when to venture out beyond a standard accounting product like Peachtree or QuickBooks, and recommend an advanced inventory solution.
We'll identify and discuss the key issues you'll find with your clients that will cause you to recommend 3rd party add-ons such as Acctivate, Fishbowl, MISys, or other solutions in the marketplace.
Learn from our experts so you won't have to research four products, but perhaps just one or two. You'll receive materials from this session that will give you a comparative look at several products in the marketplace so you can refer to it when engaging with clients.
Advanced Analytics with QuickBooks Data
Learn about a data extraction technology that cuts the time and expense it takes to create reports or data analysis by 90%. It is a highly innovative way of accessing QuickBooks data via tools such as Microsoft Excel and Crystal Reports. Simply drag and drop the QuickBooks data into Excel, Crystal Reports or a tool of your choice. In this session, we will cover what QQube does, discuss QQube tools and components, explain QQube data and subject areas, and how to use QQube with Excel lists and Pivot Tables.
Track 500 – Management
If you're consistently too busy servicing clients (working IN your practice) to really manage your firm (working ON your practice), then these sessions are for you! Have you abdicated your strategic technology decisions to an employee, or worse yet, a consultant? If your strategy is being dictated by others, then you're NOT running your firm! These sessions will provide you with the tools to retake control of your firm, better manage change, and thrive in the next paradigm shift.
Pricing Strategies for the Successful Firm
Pricing their products or services is one of the most intricate decisions a small business owner has to make. Many consider it more of an art than a science. Too often they fall back on some formula or simply try to undercut competitors, missing out on the opportunity to leverage profitability through value-based pricing. This presentation covers the traditional ways of pricing and a more analytical approach for determining the basis of price by using activity-based costing and break-even analysis. It also discusses how to add value to products as a way of being able to ask premium prices. Finally, it covers fine-tuning pricing policies using discounting and special offers, how discounting can hurt profitability, and the need to review prices to maintain competitiveness.
Seven Ways to Minimize the Risk of Fraud and Liability for Your Firm and Your Clients
It is estimated that the typical organization loses 5% of its annual revenue to fraud every year. We've all heard of stories about embezzlement and check fraud within companies. For CPA firms paying bills for their clients, this can be an especially critical issue. Fraud and theft in a company arise when controls and processes are compromised, which allows for abuse. Get the perspective from a fraud examiner. This session gives you the essential "best practices" in using audit-able cloud-based tools and technologies to minimize and even eliminate this risk.
QuickAudit - Be Prepared - It is Coming to a Client Of Yours Very Soon
The IRS has now purchased over a thousand copies of QuickBooks to use in the examination of small businesses. This is now a part of the Information Document Request ("IDR").
How can you best represent your client? How can you best prepare records for this activity? Are you required to comply with the IDR?
Learn from a CPA and a Certified Tax Resolution Specialist who has gone through such an examination, and has consulted with several other tax professionals in preparing for an exam. Develop your strategy on how to deal with this situation. Now that Intuit owns the small business market and the IRS has found a high tech approach to address the exam process, it is an eventuality that you and your client will be faced with this situation. Have an answer when your client calls and asks what to do.
Ethics and Liability in Social Media
This session addresses key points surrounding the ethics and liability involved in social media, including the impact of not having a social media policy, exposure issues, monitoring and assessing employee activity, record-keeping responsibilities, ethics of social media, protection from legal liability, insurance issues, setting and enforcing policies, and social media regulation.
Track 600 – Intuit Academy
Intuit Academy will again offer a full line-up of training courses. You will receive up-to-date training on the latest versions of Intuit products that will help you become more productive and grow your practice.
What's New in QuickBooks
QuickBooks® Product Manager, Shane Hamby, will discuss what's new in QuickBooks for your clients and for accounting professionals. QuickBooks is designed to make your work easier, faster, and more accurate. Your suggestions have inspired new features and big improvements. Discover how the latest version of QuickBooks can help you work more efficiently and effectively with your clients' data and enable them to get more from QuickBooks.
QuickBooks POS Best Practices
Panelist: Steve Green SDG Business Solutions
Join William English and Steve Green, two of the country's foremost QuickBooks Point of Sale experts, as they review best practices for setting up and using the QuickBooks Point of Sale product. Topics include company file set up, Item setup, best practices for purchasing and receiving inventory and managing the sales tax function. In addition, we will cover the financial integration between QBPOS and QuickBooks Financial software, and troubleshooting techniques for dealing with reversing documents and finding differences between inventory values in QBPOS vs. QBFS.
This fast paced session is designed for those with limited POS experience as well as the advanced consultant. Between them, Steve and Will have helped thousands of POS users and consultants dating all the way back to the first versions of QBPOS.
Serving the Mid-Market with QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions
There is now a difference in the functionality between QBES and Premier products. How do you know when a client will be best served by upgrading to QBES, versus when it is more than what they need? What do you need to know to better support clients who are using QBES? What are the alternatives from a data perspective when the clients are converting to QBES?
What You Need to Know to Support Mac QuickBooks Clients
Presented by Shelly Robbins and by Intuit QuickBooks/Mac Product Manager William Lynes, this fast-paced session digs deep into conversion issues, troubleshooting, repairing files, and work-arounds. Participants are encouraged to bring their questions and their advice and experience to this fast-paced session.
Meet the Product Managers
Panelist: Jacint Tumacder, Product Manager Intuit, Inc.
This is an opportunity to ask questions of Intuit product managers about What's New in QuickBooks. You will learn about the new and improved features that will help you increase productivity and efficiency, streamline your workflow, and collaborate more efficiently. This session will include demonstrations of the new features.
Grow Your Practice with QuickBooks Online
This course will introduce you to QuickBooks Online Accountant (QBOA). It will cover the tools and features specifically designed to help accountants work more efficiently with their QuickBooks Online (QBO) clients than ever before.
Your New 2012 QuickBooks ProAdvisor Program
Panelist: Marilyn Sudbeck, CPA
Last year we spoke to more than 500 QuickBooks ProAdvisors, like you, about how we could make the program even better. Earlier this fall, the program was launched. During this session, you will learn about what has changed and why the changes were made, plus provide feedback on how we can improve the program even more. Marilyn Sudbeck will also discuss best practices for growing your practice via the Find-A-ProAdvisor website. This session will include Q&A to address any questions or suggestions you have.
Taking Your Practice to the Next Level
Jim Buffington will provide valuable information on the pitfalls to avoid when starting or building your QuickBooks Consulting practice as well as the importance of building a solid foundation of policies, people, and client tracking systems. This session will be a great opportunity to hear how you can increase revenue, optimize your processes to become more profitable, and enhance your business.
Data Exchange and Data Collaboration with Your QuickBooks Clients
Chances are you have clients who use QuickBooks. One of the biggest challenges reported by accounting professionals today is how to effectively collaborate with clients who use QuickBooks, and how to efficiently share data files with them. This fast-paced course will equip you with the knowledge you need to make the process seamless and stress-free, and will examine the different options you have to address the many situations that can arise. We will also teach you the tools you can use to efficiently clean up your client's data, and make adjusting entries at period end using Intuit QuickBooks Accountant.
Track 700 – Product-Specific Solutions
To help you research the top products in the marketplace, several product-specific sessions will be presented where you can see these products in action. You'll learn about several products and services that can help you streamline your clients' business processes, as well as make your consulting practice more efficient. Learn directly from the product developers how you can pre-qualify leads, and learn best practices for properly implementing these products and services.
The Cloud Opportunity for Accountant (Xero)
Business Software is no longer a Software Business.
Xero is the global leader in online accounting software with over 50,000 business customers in 100 countries.
Xero CEO Rod Drury will take you through the evolution of Accounting software and explain why cloud-based Accounting tools are the key to being the trusted advisor and requires a completely different mindset from the traditional disconnected model.
Rod will cover the power of the Single Ledger, the Modern Practice suite of cloud-based tools and how CPAs can transform their practice productivity.
Private Cloud Solutions: Host All of Your Data, Apps and Office Securely (Cloud9 Real Time)
This session will explore how hosted desktop solutions work in the Cloud. We'll discuss security in the Cloud as well as capabilities that Cloud products & services offer. In this easy-to-understand session, you'll hear answers to the most frequently asked questions and concerns Accounting Professionals have when it comes to managed services and hosting solutions. Find out how the Cloud can not only be a technology solution for your firm, but also a marketing tool to help you grow your practice!
The Connected Cloud (SmartVault)
You and Cloud 2.0 – The Future is Closer than You Think
You bank online, you stream movies, and you upload and share your pictures on Facebook. You may even access your documents from an online service provider, or use an online productivity app like QuickBooks Online or Google Docs. You've finally got your arms around it all, and feel pretty good about it too… but what's next? Words like 'integration' and 'connected services' keep popping up, but what do these trends mean for the end user?
Join Eric Pulaski, SmartVault Founder and Chief Executive, for a behind-the-scenes perspective on how the connected cloud will be the next 'game changer' for increasing productivity. Find out what's happening right now in application development (what are those code warriors working on?) that will bring the future to your door – sooner than you think.
Create New Sources of Revenue with Cloud-Based Accounting Applications (CPA2Biz)
Explore the benefits of structuring your practice using cloud solutions. See how firms are making this transition, and in the process reducing costs and increasing revenue. Learn how to move beyond traditional workflow processes that inhibit productivity and profitability. During this session, we will specifically present an overview of the best-of-breed cloud-based solutions available through the AICPA Trusted Business Advisor Program - addressing critical functions within an accounting practice, such as core accounting services (Intacct), bill management (Bill.com), tax and audit workflow (XCM), and more. See how firms are leveraging the cloud to provide higher-margin consultative and CFO services to clients, while increasing long-term client loyalty and satisfaction.
Leading Your Professional Services Clients to the Cloud (BigTime Software)
Next generation professional services firms have “crossed the chasm” from the client-server computing environment to the new world of cloud computing for many critical business software applications. Brian Saunders, CEO of BigTime Software, has been on the front lines of this paradigm shift, working with early adopters as they have emerged over the last ten years. He'll talk about why the cloud computing trend is now mainstream, how the market is evolving, and the critical role your firm could play as cloud computing becomes commonplace in 2012 and beyond. He'll also discuss the range of cloud computing applications available for professional services firms, and what offerings are “ready for prime time” and available now to help your clients benefit from this seismic technology shift. If you're interested in learning how to expand your QuickBooks consulting practice to help lead your professional services clients to the cloud, this session is a must-attend. This session will also include information on how to assist your professional services clients as they convert from the soon-to-be discontinued Intuit time and billing products (Time Tracker and Time and Billing Manager), to other available products and select the solution that is right for them.
How Focusing on Wholesale/Distribution, Inventory and Operations Management Can Help You Grow Your Practice (ACCTivate!)
One of the most effective ways to differentiate your practice is to focus on one or more vertical markets. QuickBooks® and other accounting software add-ons give you a wide variety of options for doing just that.
One market in particular presents a terrific opportunity: Wholesale Distribution and Light Manufacturing. This is a market sector that produces more than $5-TRILLION in revenue each year. AND, this market has been virtually untouched by the "Economic Challenges" of the past couple of years.
In this session, we'll show you the VITAL ROLE that YOU can play in helping your wholesale, distribution, and light manufacturing clients take QuickBooks and its add-on partners well beyond what most people believe to be the current boundaries, while at the same time, building a critical role for yourself in helping them solve very real operational problems that get in the way of their successful growth.
Expensify: Expense Reports That Don't Suck! (Expensify)
Expense reports needn't be the bane of your existence. In this day and age, there's no reason to thumb through BPA-tainted paper receipts, type in stacks of paper reports to QuickBooks, or cut paper reimbursement checks by hand. With Expensify, employees import expense data directly from their credit cards, scan receipt images using their mobile phones, and submit expense reports through email. Workflow and expense policy is enforced by the system, such that you need only click "Approve" and "Reimburse" to trigger an ACH payment deposited directly into their checking account. Click "Export" to push all the information into QuickBooks or other accounting packages -- pre-categorized into the corresponding expense accounts -- without any typing. There are no salespeople to negotiate with, it takes only minutes to set up, and costs nothing to try. Stop dreading expense reports and make the internet work for you.
Go Mobile with Paperless Expense Management (Concur)
By 2012, there will be 4 billion smartphone users, and 80 percent of business travelers will be carrying a smartphone. Leveraging this surge in mobility presents an opportunity for businesses to truly transform the process of capturing and managing employee expenses. Concur's cloud-based and mobile solutions are revolutionizing the way people capture receipts, manage travel information, and track and report expenses, making it easier for both the company and their employees.
In this session, you'll learn about a great opportunity for leveraging technology that will save your clients time, improve their cash flow, and grow their bottom line – all while adding value and growing your business with existing and new clients. And it's all free for you!
Note: The agenda, speakers, CPE credits are all subject to change. The presentations and materials provided during The Sleeter Group Accounting Solutions Conference are not intended to be and should not be relied on as tax, accounting, legal, or other professional advice.
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