How Controllers Can Step Up Their Cybersecurity Game
There’s a good reason why cybersecurity is ranked extremely high on the priority list of Trey White, CPA, and other controllers and chief accounting officers in the healthcare sector. According to a report from the Identity Theft Resource Center and CyberScout, 376 (34.4%) of the 1,093 data breach incidents reported in 2016 occurred in the […]
Hysterical Client Comments on Yelp, Facebook, Et al. Should Not Go Unanswered
Yelp, like most social platforms, has its pros and cons. It’s great for all kinds of businesses to get their name out there, and not just restaurants. I found my co-working space on Yelp. I found a garage door service company on Yelp. I found a gas fireplace technician on Yelp. Do you need a […]
Watering Down Data Analytics for Dumb Accountants
Most accountants, especially CPAs, seem smart on paper. Some even live up to it in person. Others are less, um, fortunate… So, it doesn’t come as a big surprise that even our profession’s own publication called us out for being dumb, or at least naïve when it comes to data analytics: Accountants need to increase […]
COSO’s ERM Framework Has Fresh Paint, New Open Concept
I remember in college, I’d turn in a paper and feel a sense of relief knowing that I never had to look at it again. Feedback from the instructor was informative but required no further action. Man, do I miss that. Don’t you? I’m sure PwC, who authored the COSO Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Framework, […]
Data Breach at Deloitte Hitting Too Close to Home for Accountants
My, my. So many data breaches to talk about, it’s hard to know where to start. Caleb has already been keeping you up to date with the latest on some of the recent hacks but let’s dig in a little more about one breach in particular. Uh oh, Deloitte We learn time, and time again, […]
Accounting News Roundup: Accountants Worry About Technology, Change, Et al. | 09.26.17
Accountants are worried about technology, change, et al. If you haven’t immersed yourself in the collective anxiety of the accounting profession lately, I highly recommend this Accounting Today column. There are a plethora of quotes to choose from, but Grant Thornton CEO Mike McGuire has a good one: “Our industry is being disrupted by accelerating […]
Deloitte Tries To Play It Cool After Cyberattack
Deloitte, the biggiest of the Big 4, has joined the ranks of the hacked. This morning, The Guardian reported that the firm was the latest massive organization to have suffered a cyberattack, and that confidential client information was the target. To make matters worse, Deloitte failed to notice the breach for months. And to add […]
Auditors May Have to Keep Artificial Intelligence From Cooking the Books
Some smart people are starting to contemplate how to keep artificial intelligence safe and in-check. It’s a fascinating topic, especially after Facebook had to shut down their AI chatbot after it started to develop its own language in August. Plus, I have a feeling it’s going to trickle into the scope of work for an […]
Modern Accounting Firm Offices Sport Fancy Coffee, Nap Rooms, But Cling to Hoteling
Big accounting firms are becoming known for their swanky offices. How else will they woo the best and brightest campus hires unless run-of-the-mill abstract art is hanging on the wall? If you’re on the tax team (something I didn’t have the pleasure of experiencing), enjoy the lap of luxury every day since you’re tethered to […]
Accountants Must Wrangle Disjointed IoT
Technology has infiltrated our lives under the guise that it will make life easier. No one really wants to write journal entries or do math by hand, so, it seems like an excellent idea to ditch our old processes and find an app for whatever it is we need to do. The problem? We made […]
FYI, Aspiring Accountants: There’s a World Excel Championship
Finally, someone who will give you a trophy (and a sizable cash prize) for your unhealthy obsession with Excel. Certiport hosts an annual international Microsoft Excel championship. Accountants, everywhere, rejoice! Since, while generally, we are not the most athletically inclined (after all, we do spend a lot of time behind a desk), many of us […]
Break Out the Popcorn for Bitcoin Infighting and Legitimizing Cryptocurrencies
There are certain words that cause me to zone out. Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency. Ethereum. Still, I’m starting to become intrigued as an accountant. Especially after a big shake up in the Financial Technology (fintech) industry this week. In case you missed it, Bitcoin has a rocky road ahead. On Tuesday, the legacy Bitcoin cryptocurrency begrudgingly welcomed […]
SEC Division of Economic and Risk Analysis Also Offers Respectable Twitter Chops
A few weeks back, we shared some of the witty banter from the SEC Fort Worth Twitter account. But then, late last week, we were referred to the SEC Division of Economic and Risk Analysis’s account, and it turns out, they’re holding their own. The account was created back in March but they seem to […]
Is Endless Work Contributing to Your Smartphone Addiction?
Picture anxiously sitting by the phone (a rotary one for artistic effect) waiting for it to ring. Since the invention of the phone, waiting for an important call is agonizing; but, I’ll argue it used to be simpler. You could walk away. Leave the phone behind and rely on your answering machine to inform you […]
The New Era of Net Neutrality May Suck for Accountants, Pretty Much Everyone
It’s clear that we, humanity, can’t have nice things. We most certainly will make a mess of them. Exhibit A: The Internet We start out with a boundless information superhighway, and then we run amok. While I can think of lots of ways we have spoiled the Internet, the spotlight is on net neutrality this […]
As I Live and Breathe, the SEC’s Fort Worth Office Has a Great Twitter Account
Okay, if you hate puns, or word play in general, mixed in with your securities enforcement and oversight info then you won’t think it’s great, but then that would make you a hater of great things. Here’s today. We asked our accountants to move a heavy box out of the way, but they couldn’t budget. […]
The AICPA Is Trying to Innovate You Right Out of a Job
As we are all painfully aware, the accounting industry isn’t exactly known for its groundbreaking commitment to early adoption and innovation. Despite its over 150-year history of being reactive and clinging desperately to the way things have always been, the AICPA announced this week a new initiative that hopes to fund important accounting startups. The […]
Eager Beaver Learns the Hard Way That LinkedIn Is Not an Appropriate Avenue for Dick Pics
Over the years, we have shared dozens upon dozens of tips for making the most of LinkedIn or, as I like to think of it, Facebook for spammers and soulless corporate drones. Most of us are on it but still don’t quite understand why or what we’re supposed to do with it, aside from its […]
Can 5G Get Here Already?
Who doesn’t dread seeing the “Poor connection. This video will resume automatically when the connection improves” error message when chatting on FaceTime. Is my iPhone out to get me? It has an uncanny sense of knowing when to interrupt my conversation. We are dependent on the speed of our internet connection. It sets the pace […]
Exposure Drafts: Your Paperless Office Is Slacking
Exposure Drafts appears every other Wednesday-ish. Send suggestions to [email protected]
Your Technology Disorder Has a Name
I must know where my phone is at all times. If I misplace it, panic sets in and, luckily, Find my iPhone has come to my rescue in most instances. I do wonder where my beloved Blackberry Tour went in college, though. I never did find it. Go figure that “67% of us worry more […]
Commuting Doesn’t Have to Be Terrible: 5 Alternatives to Sitting in Traffic
The daily commute can be miserable. No wonder people prefer to work from home. I know I do. Too bad auditing requires you to show your face at a client’s office. And don’t tell me it’s for rapport building. It’s to keep the client honest. Otherwise, I’m sure the whole audit would get sent overseas. […]
Cyber Espionage Is a Thing You Should Start Worrying About
I’ve waited with bated breath for the 2017 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report and it’s finally out. It’s full of juicy, nightmare-inducing cybercrime data again this year. The most recent report analyzes 1,935 breaches and 42,068 incidents across 84 countries, and, according to the experts, the data set confirmed that this was the “year of […]
Is There a Smart Person Shortage?
A thought to ponder: Is our technology getting too smart? Are we going to run out of enough smart people to wrangle it? After writing about quantum computing last week, I started imagining the number of physicists that would need to be on-call at Geek Squad. We’d have to dig up Albert Einstein’s body and […]
DNA Data Storage Could Complicate Data Center Walkthroughs
Forget underwater data centers and outrageous cloud CapEx spending. All of it is utterly passé compared to DNA data storage. Wait, DNA data storage? You mean — storing digital binary data as DNA? Yes. And, it blows my mind too. DNA’s not just the smoking gun in a crime drama In 2012, Harvard scientists figured […]
Would Neuralink Solve All of Accounting’s Problems?
Elon Musk, the man of moonshots, is at it again. After all, he is a glutton for pushing the envelope of possibility. He just launched a new startup called Neuralink to explore “neural lace” technology — electronic brain implants or neuroprosthetics that would be able to interact with human thought. Oh, and nevermind that he’s […]
Danger Lurking: Mirai and Botnet Are Terms Auditors Should Know
Uh, oh. Forget the Secret Life of Pets. What about the secret life of your video recorder or router? Am I the only one that is reminded of this scene from Brave Little Toaster? Just me. Ok. Internet of Things goes rogue Sure, it is no secret that lots of devices now have a Wi-Fi […]
Robot Auditors Won’t Have a Problem Giving Clients Bad News
Here’s something that won’t surprise anyone: A study from the University of Missouri found that auditors defer to information provided by management. In the study, nearly 50 senior auditors from major accounting firms were asked to assess the cost of an explosion at a client’s facility based on memos provided by the company’s finance chief. […]
How Should You Handle a Partner’s Facebook Friend Request?
Ding. It’s a friend request. You’re so popular. One problem. It’s from one of your engagement partners. Awkward. Now you have a dilemma. Are you obligated to say yes? Or, maybe, you let it sit in the unanswered request pile for eternity and pretend you never saw it. Weigh the options careful and may the […]
Australian Tax Lawyer Built an AI Tax Research Assistant That Will Never Get Sick of Your Questions
Say hi to Ailira, everyone, aka “Artificially Intelligent Legal Information Resource Assistant.” She’s here to help with all your tax research needs. Well, in Australia, anyway: Ailira, or “Artificially Intelligent Legal Information Resource Assistant” is so clever at tax that her creator believes she could help prompt the end of human tax agents. And within […]
Drones Set to Disrupt the “Ideas Accounting Firms Won’t Pursue” Niche
In a recent Journal of Accountancy piece, a bunch of people with way too much time on their hands to consider things that will never happen seem to think that drones are the next wave of innovation for accounting firms. Mind you, it was only a few years ago that one Big 4 firm made […]
Goodbye Legacy USB Ports, Hello Dongles
Have you noticed the global shift to USB Type-C yet? Well, the ball is rolling. And, if the product launches at the end of 2016 were any indication, the shift is picking up speed. Now that manufacturers have successfully phased out optical drives, all of your most familiar (legacy) ports are on the chopping block […]
Amazon’s Giant Data Transfer Trucks Are an IT Auditor’s Worst Nightmare
Drowning in more stuff than you know what to do with? Simple fix. Pack up the crap you can’t bear to part with, rent a truck, and tuck it into a storage unit. Holiday decorations and dusty workout equipment, welcome to your new home. What about when you run out of digital storage space? Or, […]
Tesco Bank Deals with Digital Heist
Cybersecurity experts and IT auditors better saddle up — the world just experienced its first successful digital bank robbery. The Tesco heist Last weekend cyber criminals executed a sophisticated attack on Tesco Bank (subsidiary of the British grocery chain) and successfully stole £2.5 million (~$3.1 million) from customer accounts. While the money was refunded quickly […]
Is it Bye-Bye-Bye to SOC 2?
I wish…. While the SOC 2 isn’t exactly going away, the AICPA is in the process of giving it a major revamp. Maybe we can call it SOC Version 2.1? And, it’s about time! Back in June, I grappled with the flaws of the current Service Organization Control (SOC) reporting system: Don’t get me wrong. […]
Exposure Drafts: Can’t Tell If Accountant…
Exposure Drafts is a satirical look at the eccentricities of the accounting profession brought to you by veteran Going Concern contributor Greg Kyte. Send comments and suggestions to [email protected]
Where Should Accountants Stand on Net Neutrality?
Who doesn’t love getting preferential treatment — even if you have to pay for it? Priority boarding on an airplane? TSA pre-check? Yes, sign me up! Really, any type of express lane is downright delicious.
“Rise of the Robots” – Cognitive Technology Threatens Us All
A reader’s skeptical comment on the second of this series — Part I and Part II — on the ominous messages for the accounting profession in Martin Ford’s prize-winning book of last year, Rise of the Robots was that, "The elephant in the room (is) that automation is nowhere close to being able to make […]
“Rise of the Robots” – And They’ll Audit Better, Smarter, Cheaper
“The ‘smarter’ machines get, the more and more jobs they’ll replace. Including mine. And yours.” — Reader CommentMartin Ford’s prize-winning Rise of the Robots (2015) underlies this three-part look at the prospects that drones, robots and cognitive technology will rapidly displace jobs and careers at all levels of the Big Audit model, and that the […]
Accounting Firms and Bring Your Own Team to Work
I have worked with a few dysfunctional teams over the years. It’s the worst. But, it does make you appreciate the occasional dream team that jives together like magic. Tasks get done easier because the group functions like a well-oiled machine. Unfortunately, groups that work together seamlessly are rare and take awhile to develop. You […]
An Invasive Remedy for the Big 4 Accounting Blues
Overworked and underappreciated? Running on empty, day in and day out? We have all felt it. If you have worked in Big 4 accounting and didn’t experience Sunday night anxiety, you're not human. Prolonged spells of feeling overwhelmed can lead to burnout and start to impact your mental health. (Big surprise. #AuditorProud) As cited by […]
Accountants Are Becoming Hoarders
Does your external hard drive or cloud storage easily transform into the digital equivalent to a garage full of junk? Don’t be ashamed, I’m guilty of it too. And companies know it’s an issue, tempting you with more space for less than a cup of coffee every month. It’s hard to refuse. Remember those disposable […]
A Big Part of the Cloud Business Model Is on the Verge of Breaking
The sky is falling. Or, should I say, the cloud? No, I’m not Chicken Little. You might want to pay attention to this one… The no frill infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) business model is in trouble. Maybe you will agree with me…maybe not… but everyone seems to be looking at infrastructure providers with rose colored glasses. It […]
Augmented Intelligence in Accounting
As a follow up from my Augmented Reality post I wanted to take a moment to talk about augmented intelligence also known as intelligence amplification. Put simply, this is enhancing the human brain with technology. Believe it or not the term "intelligence amplification" was popularized by W. Ross Ashby in his 1956 book, An Introduction […]
3 Epic Fails of Backup and Recovery
Auditors — especially seasoned IT auditors — are familiar with the scene of sitting with a nervous backup and recovery analyst once a year for a walkthrough. If you haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing it, here’s the drill: It begins with rapport-building (read: uncomfortable) small talk mixed with a few questions about the overview […]
Multi-factor Authentication: Mo’ Factors, Mo’ Problems
The dreaded “access denied” error message. It makes you want to cry, doesn’t it? Not only do you have to change your password every 90 days, but throw in other options for dual factor authentication such as getting a text to your phone or some type of biometric scan… it’s headache central. As I said […]
From Wearable to Implantable Electronic Devices: Are You Ready?
I’ll admit it… when I first started wearing contact lenses, the idea of touching my eye was unnerving. Luckily, I got over it. (Especially since I am not quite ready to embrace the idea of laser eye surgery.) Plus, I am pretty happy with my contacts and am able to read spreadsheets with ease. That’s […]
How Small Accounting Firms Can Stay Relevant
As a firm owner my biggest fear is getting left behind. Well, that and running into the three worst days a business owner will face.
Underwater Datacenters Might Make for Some Tricky Auditor Walkthroughs
Who says we can’t mix electricity and water? Dangerous… sure. But, hey, why not? Microsoft is currently testing an underwater data center and it’s kind of genius. It’s in the “why didn’t I think of that” category. Dubbed Project Natick, this cutting-edge innovation is vying to create an out-of-the-box subsea datacenter that can get dropped […]
Tighten Up Privileged Access Now, or Hate Yourself Later
The 2016 Verizon Data Breach Investigations Report (aka: “DBIR”) is out and it isn’t pretty. Where to start…? Maybe by saying that 2015 heralded over 100,000 information security incidents — including 3,141 data breaches. If those numbers are not staggering enough, it’s more unnerving to realize this is the first time I have heard about […]
Augmented Reality for Accounting
A couple weeks ago, Megan said, “It's Time for Accountants to Ditch Dual Monitors” which I read on one of my three screens. While I appreciated the GC wrath being directed at someone else for a change, the conversation missed the bigger picture.
#WhatsNext: Return-Free Filing
It's time once again for our monthly yakfest, #WhatsNext, a co-production of Going Concern and Thriveal. Today we're talking about return-free filing, something that's been in the news lately, but an issue we've covered on here for quite some time and has been a topic of debate for a decade or more. As always, I'll […]
Here’s Why There Won’t Be an Uber for Accounting
You’re probably familiar with Uber by now, unless you live under a rock, or live in the 25% of the country not yet covered by it.
Automation to Artificial Intelligence: New Frontiers for Auditors
News flash: Artificial intelligence (AI) and other cognitive technologies are eliminating jobs left and right. Bloomberg reports as many as 5 million jobs by 2020. Oh, calamity. Should auditors be worried? The short answer is no…don’t lose sleep over it. Why? First off, cognitive technologies (even super cool advanced ones) are best with structured tasks […]
It’s Time for Accountants to Ditch Dual Monitors
Here’s what my first day at a client would typically look like (circa 2012): 1. Carefully navigate through a new parking structure to avoid bumping expensive cars.2. Park.3. Obtain a security badge with an unflattering photo from the front desk.4. Return to car to collect my obnoxiously large (not technically portable) external monitor.5. Saunter into […]
Wait, Are Paper Tax Organizers Still a Thing?
Look, I admit that I’ve been out of the game for awhile, so forgive me if I sound, um, supercilious, but are paper tax organizers still a thing?
Accountants Should Dump Microsoft Excel for Database Software
Rumor has it that the AICPA is finally integrating Microsoft Excel into the CPA exam starting in 2018. I’ll admit my initial reaction is “it’s about time” since the generic spreadsheet I used was archaic. Apparently, almost 70% of the CPAs surveyed by the AICPA agreed. Go figure — we are all Excel-aholics who can’t get through the day without busting out a spreadsheet.
Now That The Cloud Is Mainstream, Where Do Hipster Accountants Go From Here?
Five years ago, hipster accountants were all over the cloud. We were working on clients’ books from coffee shops and Xero was this sketchy startup from New Zealand that no one had heard of. There were meetups and secret forums filled with the cloud elitists and, almost everyone in the scene had beards (except me, […]
Do You Make These User Control Consideration Mistakes?
Discussing cyber extortion got the wheels turning about trust and reliance on our increasingly distributed IT ecosystems. Outsourcing IT functionality causes certain IT controls to be a fleeting afterthought for the user entity — the service provider will handle it, right? Well, maybe not. That’s where a Service Organization Controls (SOC) report comes in handy. […]
Cyber Extortion: Leprechauns vs. Accountants
To capture the spirit of St. Patty’s day, let’s discuss a cunning technique that nefarious leprechauns use to steal your pot of gold: cyber extortion. Boiled down, cyber extortion is an age-old blackmail scheme with a digital twist. It starts with an unlucky target, such as a database housing sensitive information. A leprechaun (read: hacker) […]
Is Our Productivity Obsession Counterproductive?
Don’t let the #productivityhack hype lure you in! It’s busy season and bloggers and app developers are just waiting to entice tired accountants with their claims to speed up your efficiency and change your life. I am convinced our obsession with productivity is simply a ruse for procrastination. Every time I add a “game-changing” new […]
Password Inundation: Password Policies We Love to Hate
As a technology obsessed society we're drowning in a sea of passwords. Remember when your locker combo was all you had to memorize? Now I have over 100 different passwords. It’s ridiculous. The problem is no one can possibly remember that many passwords. So what do we do as lazy tech connoisseurs? We simply use […]
Next-Gen Cloud Accounting: Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) Ecosystems
Let’s face it. Cloud computing is so 6 years ago. We agree it’s a technology trope that has to go. And yet, accounting software executives are still enamored with everything cloud. Enough already, right!? Unfortunately, the accounting profession’s captivation with cloud is not merely lip service. In 2014, QuickBooks Online generated more than $800 in […]
#TBT: Auditors Cringe While Watching Office Space
In honor of throwback Thursday let me take you on a journey down memory lane to reminisce about Office Space, a light hearted and irreverent comedy starring Ron Livingston and Jennifer Aniston. Spoiler alert! (Actually, if you haven’t seen the movie during the last 17 years I don’t feel bad.) Peter, played by Ron Livingston, […]
Beware of Bring Your Own Device
I woke up in shock on my first day of freedom after leaving my Big 4 job. I leaned toward my nightstand to check the time on my iPhone. Wait, what?! My phone had been wiped. Panic set in first. When did I last back it up?
Auditors Sing The Legacy System Blues
Ed. note: Today we debut a new contributor to Going Concern. Megan Lewczyk, CPA (pronounced left without the “t” and "chick" like a baby bird) is a Big 4 alumna who decided to venture off the beaten path early in her career. She owns a consulting firm, is an adjunct accounting instructor for a couple […]
Sure, Accounting Students Should Learn How to Code (And a Lot of Other Things, Too)
Over at the AICPA's website, there's a post that makes the case for accounting students to learn how to code. It's hard to disagree with the premise — coding is a valuable skill — but there are several aspects to this topic that go unmentioned, that I'll try to cover here. First and foremost, anyone […]
Tell a Fellow Accountant About Alt+Tab, for Crying Out Loud
You people make me sad. Seriously, anyone who isn't using Alt+Tab constantly needs to examine their lives. Shocking stat from a Windows 10 briefing at Microsoft today: Only 6% of Windows users know about Alt+Tab to switch apps. — David Pogue (@Pogue) July 16, 2015 If I hear of any one of you using the […]
Deloitte Survey: Auditors’ Use of Technology Does Not Impress
A Deloitte survey of financial executives, financial statement users and audit committee members found that an overwhelming majority — 84%, 70% and 76% respectively — of these people, "believe auditors should use advanced technologies more extensively in performing an audit." Apparently, 21st century auditing is still a few years off. [WSJ] Image: Gnangarra/WIkimedia Commons
The End Is Nigh: Prepare Yourselves for the Accountapocalypse
Last week I read Caleb's post about the murky future of the accounting profession, and I reached out to him immediately. You see, I am in the business of predicting the future of the accounting profession. Or at least that’s what my LinkedIn says, it makes it easier to explain what an accounting futurist actually does.
Getting Cirrus: A Conversation with Blake Oliver of Cloudsourced Accounting
Today, Harshman Phillips & Company announced that it is acquiring Cloudsourced Accounting, a firm that provides "cloud integration and online bookkeeping services" to small businesses. Blake Oliver, one of the co-founders of Cloudsourced, is unique in the respect that he is not a CPA. You may remember a post from back in January where this […]
Belated #TBT: VisiCalc, the First Spreadsheet Program
I wrote this yesterday and didn't publish it. Go figure. Anyway, VisiCalc was the first spreadsheet program, hitting the market in 1979. It was developed by Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston, originally running on the Apple II and was consider its "killer app." In a 1980 review, BYTE stated: "The most exciting and influential piece […]
Actually, Everyone Knows That Having Two Monitors Is Super Boss
Today in this isn't news news. You may not know it but having two screens is super boss — Life at Deloitte AU (@AuDeloittian) February 26, 2015 This is Life at Deloitte Down Under, which may explain why he's under the assumption that we haven't already beaten this topic to death.
Use Excel to Keep an Eye on Your BMI This Busy Season
Let’s assume that you’ve bought into the quantified-self craze. Your wearable technology measures every breath you take and every move you make, so now it's time for new frontiers, as in something other than the fast food drive-thru lane. It’s always easiest to start with low-hanging fruit, such as your co-workers. Body Mass Index is […]
How to Add a Nice Steaming Pile of Poo to Any Excel Spreadsheet
As the old saying goes, a picture is worth 1,000 words. There may just be instances where nothing else will do in a set of audit work papers than a steaming brown pile of excrement. This is easy to add in the mobile versions of Excel, but you can also add emoji in the desktop […]
Would Your Clients Like a Side of DIY Legal Forms With That Tax Return?
As some of you know, I'm at Thomson Reuters SYNERGY this week, which is basically a 1,300 person party for Thomson Reuters CS Professional Suite users. I'll spare you the gory details of product demos and cheerful salespeople in bright orange shirts but I did want to share the big news out of this year's […]
PwC Ups Its Disruption; Gets on Gmail
Rejoice, PwCers, you all are joining the late 20th century!
Excel Can Help You Choose Where to Get a Meaty Lunch
The Internet’s viral sensation of August 2014 was an off-menu Arby’s sandwich known as the “Meat Mountain." For the low, low price of $10 you can get a stack of eight meats and two cheeses. I think even PETA has been too shocked to respond. And what exactly does this have to do with Microsoft […]
How To Add Any Website to Your iPhone or Android Home Screen
You guys have been asking us for an app for a long time, and trust us, we've been asking The Powers That Be for the same thing. Unfortunately, our favorite in-house developer who performs miracles for all of us on a daily basis doesn't have the ability to make one at the moment. What he […]
Hasten Your Departure with Pre-Written Microsoft Word Resignation Letters
Are you ready to pull the plug on your current gig, but feel intimidated by that blinking cursor at the top left-hand corner of a Word document? Microsoft Word has you covered with an array of prewritten letters of resignation. Yes, we here at Going Concern are always here to serve you. Microsoft has you […]
PwC Is Getting Into the Virtual Food Service Business
PwC learned me a new phrase today: digital spaghetti! dig•it•al spa•ghet•ti– the art of creating new words that describe something technical to educate your friends and co-workers; helpful when playing buzzword bingo in your next emerging technology discussion. Digital spaghetti terms share a characteristic of being relatively new and lack a universally agreed upon definition. […]
How to Transform Text in Excel
If you’re like most Excel users, you’re likely self-taught. Nothing wrong with that, I got here in the same fashion. However, from my perspective many users learn enough about Excel to wield it as a hammer when often more nuanced approaches are more appropriate. In this article I’ll give you several ways that you can […]
Sqrl’s Lead Developer Is Crowdfunding Potato Salad Right Now, And It Is Amazing
It seems you can crowdfund just about anything these days, from payment of your medical bills to oddly-named children's books about pit bulls. It's entirely unclear why Zack "guy who will be making the potato salad" Brown turned to Kickstarter to make a $10 potato salad, nor why he thought it would run a mere […]
How to Turn Off Error Checking in Excel
Ed. note: this is third in an ongoing series to help you make the most out of Excel setting-by-setting. If you have a specific Excel demon to slay, you can get in touch for our resident white knight and Excel-slayer David Ringstrom to help you out. If you’ve implemented the changes that I’ve recommended in […]
Use AutoRecover in Excel to Save Your Spreadsheet From Yourself
Ed. note: this is second in an ongoing series to help you make the most out of Excel setting-by-setting. If you have a specific Excel demon to slay, you can get in touch for our resident white knight and Excel-slayer David Ringstrom to help you out. In Part 1 of this series I noted […]
Accountants Love iPhones and Shun Android, Says This
The latest CPA Trendlines survey — which is worth a glance if you're into mobile tech trends within the profession — reveals accountants favor iPhones to Android phones by two to one. More interesting, 10% of respondents say they use neither smartphones nor tablets at work. Yet half of respondents are billing at least 11 […]
A Creepy Dating App Apparently Cruised LinkedIn to Make You Think Your Colleague Wants You
This is, um, awkward. Even folks who make office romances as regular as 10 minutes in the can after the morning coffee might find this creepy. It's creepy. Kash Hill has the story at Forbes: Last month, many people received an email from a dating app called Sway letting them know that a co-worker had […]
The Future of Wearables as Visualized by Deloitte U Looks Terribly Dorky and Burdensome
I can't even with this. If the future includes walking around with an implant in my thigh (for what, exactly?) and all this crap strapped on me like I'm on house arrest in 1995, FORGET IT. The firms are really starting to hype this crap up, first with Deloitte shilling over at WSJ and now […]
The Secret to Getting Rich in Tech is Being an Accountant
Colin shared this in ANR this morning but I'm just going to leave this here to make sure you see it: David Ebersman did well as CFO of Genentech, regularly making more than $4 million per year at the biotech firm. But his next career move brought far greater riches. When Facebook was in the market […]
Does Your Future of Work Include Wearing Wearables?
Perhaps you've heard the story of a troll young lady who calls herself a social media consultant caught between a punk and a hard place at a San Francisco bar with Google Glass on her face. Perhaps you read Jody Padar's story on Glass and accounting firms. Now we have a piece published on Deloitte's […]
Here’s Why You Don’t Want Excel on Your iPad
When Excel for iPad finally arrived, my first impression was here we go, yet another 1.0 Microsoft product *insert eye roll here*. As you might expect, Excel for iPad only offers a small fraction of the functionality available in the desktop versions of Excel, but I realized it’s unfair to call it a 1.0 product. […]
Why Accountants Can (And Should) Take Over the Business World
We live in a world where everyone is trying to figure out what the hell big data means to them. But really, how much big data is there?
Going Concern March Madness: AND Then There Were Two LEFT in the Ultimate Excel Bracket
Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of Excel functionality…the thrill of victory…and the agony of defeat. The cyber-drama of spreadsheet competition…This is Going Concern’s Ultimate Excel Bracket!
Going Concern March Madness: FIND your Final Four in The Ultimate Excel Bracket
¡Ay, caramba! Our field of 64 has funneled to the Final Four:
Keyboard Shortcuts: #2 Seed Ctrl-Z vs. Other Excel Features: #6 Seed Format Painter
Worksheet Functions: #10 Seed VLOOKUP vs. Data Analysis Tools: #12 Seed Filter
There’s only one more round before the final face off. Here’s how the strong have survived:
Going Concern March Madness: Only Eight EXCEL-lent Features Remain in the Ultimate Excel Bracket
We've reached the home stretch of brackets season and we're about to crown four spreadsheet saviors in each of our Ultimate Excel bracket regions. By this point in the tournament you know these contenders well enough so we'll dispense with any further pleasantries. Plus, since we're talking about features of a computer program, there are […]
Ultimate Excel Bracket Round 3: The Great Eight
Oh, snap! #1 seed Pivot Tables is out! Here’s a rundown of the standings: Worksheet Function#10 VLOOKUP#13 LEFT Keyboard Shortcut#1 Ctrl-S#2 Ctrl-Z Data Analysis Tools#2 Table#12 Filter Other Features#6 Format Painter#8 Format Cells Don’t get too comfortable folks, only half of these contenders will advance to the Final […]
Excel-lent April Fool’s Pranks For the Hated Spreadsheet Jockey in Your Life
With a few subtle changes, you can ruin someone’s day. No, you’re not wasting company time, you’re testing your colleague’s Excel moxy. Feel free to charge prank time as “training” if necessary.