Presentations - Wednesday October 24, 2007
The Six Unstoppable Trends Shaping the U.S. Economy
Weds, 8:15-9:30 AM - Session G10 - Barry Asmus
Dr. Barry Asmus has been named by USA Today as one of the five most requested speakers in the United States. As a Senior Economist for the prestigious National Center for Policy Analysis, Dr. Asmus does more than just speak on policies; he is actively involved with their implementation. In this presentation, Dr. Asmus will articulate the six unstoppable trends that are shaping the U.S. Economy. These trends are Demographics; Population Growth; Inflation levels; Taxes; Productivity; and Globalization. He will also focus in on Asia, and how it is poised to be the powerhouse of the 21st century.
The Future of Small Business and What It Means for Your Practice
Weds, 9:45-10:45 AM - Session G15 - Steve Blundell, CPA
It's no secret that small business greatly impacts the world of accounting. Attend this session to get a glimpse into the future of small business and learn what it means for your practice today and tomorrow. We'll take you through three trends that Intuit, in conjunction with the Institute of the Future, learned from recent studies about the small business environment over the next decade. Following each trend, we will discuss how these forward-looking ideas can be translated into things you, the accounting practitioner, can start thinking about now to prepare for the future.
What's New in QuickBooks 2008
Weds, 10:45-11:30 AM - Session G17 - Shane Hamby
Learn what's new in the QuickBooks family of products.
Awesome Add-ons for QuickBooks
Weds, 11:45 AM-12:30 PM - Session L10 - Doug Sleeter
The Sleeter Group's annual awards recognizing Awesome Add-ons for QuickBooks. Each year Doug Sleeter picks a few of his favorite Awesome QuickBooks Add-on software programs. An annual favorite session you will not want to miss. *Get lunch in the Exhibit / Meal Pavilion and bring it to Pavilion 9.
Intuit Academy - Top 100 QuickBooks Tips and Techniques *
Weds, 12:45-2:00 PM - Session 902 - Joe Woodard
This session is designed for anyone who uses QuickBooks either for their clients, for their own offices, or both. Come and learn essential power user tips and tricks that are not included in the manual, as well as powerful reporting techniques to better harness the data in QuickBooks. We will cover in depth the top five power user tips, and the accompanying handbook will walk you through the remaining tips. *Session repeated on Friday 10/26
Professional Services Consulting - Tracking Labor Costs and Setting Billing Rates
Weds, 12:45-2:00 PM - Session 401 - Leslie Shiner, MBA
Whether you set your own billing rates, or help your clients set theirs, it is crucial to understand and measure the true costs of labor. Determine all costs that should be included in a fully burdened labor rate and used to set billing rates. Discover ways to track and account for billable and non-billable time. Learn how to use tools such as zero dollar checks, shadow payroll and actual payroll to create accurate costs. Analyze different allocation rates to not only cover overhead costs, but improve your profitability.
Client Collaboration Technologies
Weds, 12:45-2:00 PM - Session 101 - David Cieslak, CPA.CITP
Today's business environment requires that you get more done in your day and are able to rapidly respond to your customers needs. Traffic, distance, office hours, remote office staff and out-of-town business travel are all barriers to a productive work day and efficiently servicing your customers. This session will explore enabling communication technologies that will allow to side step these barriers and become more productive. Learn step-by-step how many of these tools can be used to remotely access your customer systems, transfer files, share data and make formal presentations. Information will be provided that will allow you to select the right tool or tools for your business.
E-Money - The Future of Payments on the Internet
Weds, 12:45-2:00 PM - Session 203 - David Kvederis
A cornerstone of American commerce is how consumers and businesses make payments among and between themselves with confidence that the systems will always work properly. Billions of credit card, debit card, Fedwire transfers, direct deposit and direct debit transactions are processed annually with little thought given to how these systems work. They seem to never change but they are changing. This session will provide an overview of the nation's payments systems and how they are evolving by employing new technology. Questions will be explored such as "why can't I use my debit card on the internet?" and "why does it take a week to send money overseas?" and "will credit cards ultimately replace every other form of payment?" Finally, the speaker will give a forecast as to what payment systems will look like for small businesses in the not distant future. Exciting new technologies will be covered including "contactless" payments, biometric access and mobile phone technologies.
Intuit Academy - QuickBooks at Year End*
Weds, 12:45-2:00 PM - Session 905 - Amy Vetter, CPA.CITP
Learn essential best practices to prepare client QuickBooks files for the tax return, year-end, and financial statement presentation. Find out how to efficiently locate and correct client errors. Realize ways you can reduce time spent on preparing data for tax returns and financial statements. Receive a year-end procedure checklist and understand the advantages of integrating QuickBooks data with Lacerte or ProSeries tax preparation software. *This session repeated on Friday, October 26th.
Windows Vista*
Weds, 12:45-2:00 PM - Session 204 - Randy Johnston
Microsoft's newest operating system has arrived, so now what? While Vista promises more stability and security and provides better performance compared to previous versions of Windows, there are potential pitfalls that you must be aware of before upgrading or migrating to Vista. In this session, learn about the new features of Vista and how to reap the benefits of using them; best practices for upgrading and migrating to Vista; and specific upgrade considerations, including potential hardware and software conflicts. With Vista, Microsoft promises "WOW".this session prepares you to take advantage of all that Vista has to offer. *Session repeats Friday.
Market and Selling Yourself, Your Firm, and Your Services*
Weds, 2:05-3:20 PM - Session 402 - Leslie Shiner, MBA
Why are some consultants very busy and others begging for work? Learn different methods to grow your practice and your business. Learn the secrets of building long-term relationships. Uncover ways to focus your practice to achieve increased billing rates and better client quality. Discover ways to market on a small budget, explore business opportunities, and ask for referrals. We will analyze the advantages and disadvantages of working on your own as well as becoming part of a larger firm. *Session repeats on Friday.
Advanced Sales Tax Issues
Weds, 2:05-3:20 PM - Session 602 - Geni Whitehouse, CPA.CITP, CSPM
Anyone who has ever been subjected to a Sales Tax Audit will tell you that it is an experience they don't want to repeat. Attend this session to learn how technology can help minimize the impact of recent changes in sales tax enforcement, collections, and rates. Your clients will be happy to know that you have solutions that reduce the hassle of complying with sales tax requirements while keeping the auditors at bay.
Intuit Academy - Setting Up the Right Business Entity for Your QuickBooks Clients
Weds, 2:05-3:20 PM - Session 903 - Deborah Sweeney
Understanding business entity types and the associated tax implications is critical in making business formation recommendations. Gain a greater understanding of the legal and tax details of partnerships, corporations and LLCs, and learn about alternative, simple methods for forming business entities.
Intuit Academy - Gaining Productivity Using Lacerte and QuickBooks Integration
Weds, 2:05-3:20 PM - Session 904 - David Kramer
Get a deeper look into Intuit's line-up of tax and accounting products, and discover ways to maximize your productivity and increase your efficiency in your practice.
CRM For You and Your Clients
Weds, 2:05-3:20 PM - Session 403 - Alain Legrand
You've probably heard the acronym CRM, but what does it really mean for you and why should you tell your clients about it? In this session, we will demystify CRM. We'll highlight the tangible benefits of various functions in CRM and will show you why CRM should be at the centre of the growth strategy of any business. Understanding what CRM can do puts you in a position to add significant value to your clients, which in turn will help you grow your own business. We'll provide several practical scenarios where CRM can provide significant improvement to the day-to-day running of a business.
Fishbowl - Inventory Management Solutions
Weds, 3:45-5:00 PM - Session 702 - Grant Kimball
Learn about how Fishbowl Inventory resolves many of the needs of QuickBooks clients who have advanced inventory tracking needs. We'll give a demonstration of the main features of Fishbowl and how Fishbowl integrates with QuickBooks. You'll also learn about the Fishbowl Inventory VAR program and how you can work directly with Fishbowl and The Sleeter Group in serving your client base.
Softrak - Adagio FX Financial Statement Design
Weds, 3:45-5:00 PM - Session 705 - Andrew Bates
See how Adagio FX can automate your month end financial statement creation, producing presentation quality statements formatted exactly the way you need. In this session, you'll see a live demo of the software and learn how to create budgets, department and prior period comparatives - adding company logos and highlighting unusual variances. For your clients who are outgrowing their QuickBooks solution, find out how Adagio by Softrak is the next logical step to meet their needs.
Peachtree Product Training- An Introduction
Weds, 3:45-5:00 PM - Session 801 - Mike Savory
Small businesses need your help when taking their first step at accounting for all of their business finances. Attend this session to learn the basics of Peachtree Accounting and see how it will help your clients. Accounting can be made easy with chart of account setup, invoice and PO generation, payroll, reporting, and more. Get a better understanding of the Peachtree product line, its feature set, and how you can help your clients get up and running quickly with Peachtree.
PayCycle - Increasing Profitability with Payroll
Weds, 3:45-5:00 PM - Session 704 - Julie Lubetkin, Marketing Director, Accounting Professionals Program, PayCycle, Inc.
Payroll is a new revenue stream for many accounting professionals. It is an important option to offer to clients. This session will explore some of the challenges accounting professionals face when offering payroll services to clients. In this session you'll learn: What to look for in a payroll service, what marketing techniques are effective, and how to price the payroll offering to boost profitability.
Web Shopping Carts
Weds, 3:45-5:00 PM - Session 206 - Doug Blackburn, PDG Software
As the Internet continues to fuel the "always on" and "on my time" mentality of online shoppers, your clients are discovering how important it is that they offer their customers the ease and convenience of ordering online. Of equal importance is that your client leverages the tools available to them to streamline the tasks involved. But where do you start? What features should your clients look for in an ecommerce solution? How important is it that a merchant's web store integrates with their existing business systems? What if the merchant has an existing system that doesn't? This session will offer insight into some of the options available that can both simplify your client's day-to-day procedures and help them avoid costly errors, allowing them to focus on expanding their business's presence within the ecommerce marketplace.