By Will Fleenor, CPA, CITP, Ph.D. Partner, K2 Enterprises

Where do you stand with respect to the productivity gains technology has to offer?  Ask yourself these questions:

·        Do I understand the technology I use daily as well as I should? 

·        Is technology saving me as much time as it has the potential to? 

·        If I had a better understanding of what technology has to offer, would I see opportunities to improve the way I work?

There is no doubt that technology has had a great deal to do with the huge productivity gains we have seen in the US economy over the past 3 decades.  This is a well documented fact.  There is also, little doubt that most accountants utilize only a small fraction of the technology that is potentially available to them.  Most are too busy working to take time out to learn how to work more efficiently.

In this article, we will attempt to help with this.  By getting formal training in technology, accountants have a tremendous opportunity to become more productive and efficient at their job. A study from Knowledge Asset Management indicated that companies where more is spent on training, out performed other companies by an average of 16.2%. 

Following are a few technology pointers for accountants.  More detailed information will be presented at the Louisiana Technology Conference (5/24-25/2007, New Orleans, LA in the French Quarter):

 

Technology Pointer #1 - Excel – Precision As Displayed

As long as accountants have been using spreadsheets, they have struggled with rounding problems.  Excel (as well as Lotus 1-2-3) assumes that the user wants to use the entire contents of a cell (including un-displayed decimal points) in making calculations.  As a direct result, paper printouts often do not foot properly on adding machines. 

We have learned, over the years, to use the =round() function to deal with these problems.  Unfortunately, it is a never ending task.  You continually have to be on the lookout for rounding issues, and then figure out which formula needs to be modified to include the =round() function.  Worst of all, there is no warning when one of these rounding problems exists.

There is a solution.  Excel includes a “Precision as Displayed” option that will eliminate rounding problems without using the =round() function.  You simply turn on this option and your rounding problems will go away.

 

Figure 1: Use Tools – Options to Turn On Precision as displayed.

When you turn on Precision as displayed, Excel gives you a seemingly serious warning that “Data will permanently loose accuracy.”  It is not as bad as it sounds.  If all of your rounding problems are a result of formulas that have division, or formulas that use functions (ex. =PMT()), then you will experience no loss of accuracy and your formulas will not be damaged in any way. 

 

The only potential loss of accuracy is with numbers you have typed in where the number of decimal points being displayed is less than the number of decimal points typed into the cell.  For example, you type in 6.341% but only display 6.3%.  When you turn on Precision as displayed, Excel will drop the un-displayed decimal points. 

 

It is the exception rather than the rule for rounding problems to result from un-displayed decimal points that you have typed in.  However, if this is a concern, you can: (1) save the file before turning on Precision as displayed, (2) turn it on before you print, and (3) close the file without saving it again.  By doing this, everything on your printout will foot and crossfoot, and your additional decimal points will be preserved for use at some later time. 

 

Technology Pointer #2 – Email Anything to Anyone Securely

Email is not a secure medium.  Even email within a company, from one employee to another, is generally not secure unless the company has taken specific steps to make it so.  Accordingly, accountants should “NEVER” send confidential company or personal information (ex. tax returns, copies of bank statements, etc.) using unprotected email. 

Fortunately, there is a simple solution.  Create a PDF file for everything you want to send via email and secure the file with a password.  Adobe Acrobat uses 128-bit encryption for its password protected files.  As long as you use a proper password (i.e. minimum of 8 characters with at least one upper case character, at least one lower case character, at least one number, and at least one non-numeric non-alphabetic character), the file is safe for emailing.

One thing to remember is that you must have the full Adobe Acrobat software, not just the free reader software, loaded on your computer.  However, the person(s) you are sending the documents to, do not have to have the full software and can open the documents just fine as long as they have the free reader software and the password. 

 

Figure 2: Securing Documents Using Adobe Acrobat.

If you do not already have the full Adobe Acrobat software (or some less expensive clone) loaded on your computer, you will be amazed at what you have been missing.  Once the software is loaded on your computer, simply print to a PDF in exactly the same way you print to your printer.  Since PDF files are searchable by desktop search tools, like Copernic, they are much easier to find than paper documents. 

Also, since PDF files are printouts, you won’t run into the problems you may have if you try to forward someone an Excel spreadsheet (numbers and formula could be tampered with) or a Word document (document lays out differently on their printer). 

Security settings can also be used to restrict what people can do with documents, such as commenting, printing, cutting and pasting, and more.  You can also use Adobe Acrobat Pro 8 to create a “secure envelope” that can be used to transport multiple separate documents securely.  

Technology Pointer #3 – Office 2007 - What’s In It for Accountants

Microsoft has just released (January 2007) the Office 2007 suite of applications.  Most accountants will not upgrade right away and that is probably a good thing.  If you are in public practice, you certainly do not want to replace mission critical software during tax season. 

On the other hand, it has been over 4 years since Microsoft has had an upgrade to the MS Office suite of products.  There have been many changes, and most importantly, significant improvements.  You may want to consider upgrading sooner than usual. 

Following is a short list of some of the changes:

·        The user interface has a different look and feel. At first, you may be a little lost; however, it is easy to learn.  The overwhelming response to the new interface has been positive (after you get past the first 20 minutes).

·        New file formats for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Access make data easier to exchange between applications.

·        Very significantly improved PivotTables – We are getting rave reviews from accountants about the improvements to PivotTables in Excel 2007. 

·        Significant improvements to charting, conditional formatting and other tools that will be useful to accountants in budgeting and preparing comparative financial reports.

·        New menu structure.  Ribbons replace the drop-down menus that we are used to.

·        Much improved printing and report creation capabilities. 

 

Figure 3: Excel 2007 New User Interface.

There is definitely much more than this meager listing.  It appears that this is an important upgrade with lots of practical, useful tools for accountants. 

 

Conclusion

Some studies indicate that the rate of return on technology training dollars is as high as 30 to 1.  Money spent on technology training goes straight to the bottom line in the form of increased profits.  If you want to improve productivity, enhance your skills, and increase profits, update your technology and spend the time to learn and train your people properly!

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Microsoft.