Presentations - WEDNESDAY NOV 12TH, 2008
Technology Update
Session G20: Weds, 8:00 AM – 9:15 AM
Location: Media Center
Speaker: Randy Johnston
There have been a tremendous number of hardware and architecture changes this year from servers to workstations, as well as new innovations in peripheral devices like mice and keyboards. Learn the latest on buying strategies and determining exactly what your business needs in order to not be left behind!
Helping Enable Success – Both Yours and Your Clients’
Session G27- Weds, 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM
Location: Media Center
Speaker: Nina Smith
Today, a software company needs to produce products that do much more than just meet your accounting or other specific business management needs. Software companies must look at the big picture and how they can contribute to the comprehensive success of the businesses they serve – both your clients’ and yours. Nina will detail the many ways Sage strives to take a broad view to help enable your success across your entire enterprise, from listening carefully to customers’ views and desires, both long- and short-term, to keeping up with trends in technology, to providing services and programs that can help you better serve your clients.
BillQuick Consulting Opportunities – Partnering for Success
Session L30: Weds, 11:30 AM – 12:25 PM
Location: Media Center
Speaker: Bob Wolff,
Shafat Qazi
Grow your business with minimal time investment. BillQuick’s Channel Manager, Bob Wolff, and CEO, Shafat Qazi, draw on decades of experience to outline how to build BillQuick Advisory services into a significant source of revenue for your firm. With the right partner, a small investment of your time will yield big rewards. Whether you are a currently a BillQuick Advisor or are looking for more information about the Time, Billing and Project management market, this session will provide valuable tips, techniques, and action items for succeeding as an advisor in the professional services market.
New Features in QuickBooks Accountant Edition 2009: An In-Depth Perspective
Session 804: Wed, 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Location: Media Center
Speaker: Michelle Long, CPA
Given the popularity of QuickBooks in the marketplace, there is a strong chance that a majority of your small business clients use QuickBooks. In this course you will learn about the new features of QuickBooks Premier Accountant 2009 to give your QuickBooks support services a cutting edge and to set yourself apart from your competition. This course will give you an in-depth accountant’s perspective on how to use QuickBooks Premier Accountant 2009 to streamline the year-end procedures you perform for your clients, to customize QuickBooks to meet your client’s unique reporting needs, and to maximize the use of QuickBooks in your accounting practice.
Virtualization – Why You and Your Clients Need it
Session 202: Weds, 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Location: Cira A
Speaker: Randy Johnston
Network Management Group, Inc.
Whether you’re seeking to run Windows XP-based applications in a Vista environment, reduce the number of servers in your organization, or establish a training and testing environment without fear of corrupting your existing computers or network, virtualization should be at the forefront of your plans. Participants are introduced to the concepts and benefits of virtualization and will learn how to create, deploy, and manage virtual PCs and servers. Hardware requirements, software licensing issues, and managing virtual machines are all addressed, along with how to avoid some of the more common mistakes associated with virtualization. As a bonus, instructions will be provided on how to obtain free, fully-licensed copies of virtualization software such as Microsoft’s Virtual PC 2008 and VMware.
Taking Payroll Online
Session 405: Weds, 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Location: Cira B
Speaker: Darren Root
In this session, we’ll discuss the various products and technologies you should consider when providing payroll services. In particular, we’ll focus on how online SaaS technologies can really accelerate your practice when it comes to providing payroll services. Please join us as we discuss desktop versus Web-based Payroll Solutions, Direct Deposit and PayCards, portals for the employer and employees, and electronic submission of payroll taxes and forms. With these exciting new technologies it is once again possible for you to consider being in the payroll business. Whether you function as a full-service provider or as a wholesaler or maybe somewhere in between, this session will help you think through the issues and plot your course for success.
Networking Best Practices - Installing and Configuring the Network for Multi-User Environments
Session 103: Weds, 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Location: Cira C
Speaker: Mario Nowogrodzki, CPA.CITP
Understanding networks and servers are a requirement for effective accounting software consulting. Whether you are completing IT tasks yourself or communicating with IT specialists, consultants need to be very familiar with fundamental IT concepts. In this session, we will discuss the different implementation scenarios and best practices for computer networking. We’ll clearly explain Peer-To-Peer, Client/Server, Terminal Server, and VPN technologies so you’ll know when and how to use them. See and understand how and when they apply to your office and to clients’ businesses. We will walk through the best network environment for each of several QuickBooks situations. You will learn to configure the network and the QuickBooks database server to achieve the best performance on the network. Also, we will discuss how hosted application servers (ASPs) can help you deploy QuickBooks and other applications across multiple locations (anytime/anywhere access), and how to effectively work remotely.
Software Training - Planning and Marketing Successful Seminars and Workshops
Session 506: Weds, 12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Location: Aurora
Speaker: Amy Vetter, CPA.CITP
Providing Workshops or Seminars is a great way to offer an additional service to your existing client base and reach out to prospects that you may have never met otherwise. If you are a Software Trainer or thought about being one, and want to learn and share best practices, this course will provide an overview of areas to consider when planning and marketing a Training class. You will leave with a “roadmap” of how to plan for a seminar and obtain marketing tips to assist you in running an effective and successful workshop.
Advanced Certification: QuickBooks Reporting and Analysis for Financial and Operational Management and Job Cost Tracking
Session 805: Wed, 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Location: Media Center
Speaker: Amy Vetter, CPA.CITP
This course provides an overview of the areas you need to know for the job cost tracking and operational management reporting section of the Advanced Certification exam. You'll learn about various methods of job costing from basic set-up to a more customized set up for Work In Process accounting. You will also learn about allocating overhead for reporting purposes, job costing accounting month end tasks such as calculating Over/Under Billing, troubleshooting job costing reports for data entry errors, and export tools to Microsoft® Excel that assist in filtering reporting.
Implementing Paperless Document Management Technologies
Session 203: Weds, 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Location: Cira A
Speaker: Randy Johnston
Everyone’s talking about it, but who has done it and how did they do it? Taking your office paperless requires an understanding of document management, collaboration tools, workflow, and security. Learn how the most successful firms and small businesses have implemented a paperless environment and what they learned in the process.
Tools and Best Practices for Custom Reporting
Session 301: Weds, 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Location: Cira B
Speaker: Bonnie Nagayama, CPA
One of the most common questions for QuickBooks consultants is in the area of reports to help clients effectively track the progress of their business. These reports are not "financial statement" reports, but rather include information on specific aspects of the business required for planning and management purposes. Several developers and consultants have gone to great lengths to tackle the challenges surrounding reporting and analytics. There are several tools and alternatives that you need to know about to better serve your QuickBooks clients. What are the Pros and Cons of each? Which can you, as the consultant, use as a value add for your clients? Which require a custom report developed by someone else. Several real life case studies will be presented to illustrate solutions you can implement with your clients.
Consulting in the Mid Market
Session 502: Weds, 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Location: Cira C
Speaker: Mario Nowogrodzki, CPA.CITP
Small Business Accounting Software (QuickBooks, Peachtree, Office Accounting) consulting is largely about working with the bookkeeper and business owner to get the software installed, set up, configured, and then training the bookkeeper how to enter data. It rarely involves multiple departments across the enterprise, and it usually focuses on the accounting/general ledger/payroll only. It is very accounting centric. When you engage mid-market clients, they expect you to take charge of the entire business management system. In this session, you’ll hear tips and strategies from a highly successful expert of mid-market consulting on how to transition your practice to consulting in the mid-market.
Windows 2008 Server Technologies
Session 207: Weds, 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Location: Aurora
Speaker: Andrew Abrams
Microsoft launched its new 2008 server technologies this year. Learn about the capabilities and differences between Microsoft Windows 2008 32 Bit and 64 Bit versions, Windows Small Business Server 2008 Standard and Essential Business Server 2008 along with Windows Home Server. This session will go over the technologies and provide you with a view of what they do and who they are for as well as how these technologies will affect your clients’ businesses and yours.
Advanced Certification: QuickBooks Files: Sharing, Managing, & Maintaining Data Integrity
Session 806: Wed, 3:45 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Media Center
Speaker: Leslie Capachietti
In this course, you'll learn how to install QuickBooks on a network and how to configure it for multiple users. You'll learn how to identify and correct some common setup errors. You'll also learn about the tools available in QuickBooks to help protect and maintain your clients' data. Finally, you'll learn about different ways you can access your clients' data files.
Windows VISTA Update
Session 204: Weds, 3:45 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Cira A
Speaker: Randy Johnston
As of June 30th, 2008 PC manufacturers are supposed to be only shipping the Microsoft Vista operating system on business PCs. Attend this session to learn how to successfully implement Vista in your organization. Topics covered include: optimizing Vista to get the level of performance you expect from new hardware, dealing with legacy software that supposedly will not run under Vista, and how to take advantage of the many powerful new features that are included in this latest version of the Windows operating system. If you own a Vista PC or plan on buying a new PC you need this session.
The Next Generation Accounting Firm: Ideas and suggestions on becoming a “Next Generation Accounting Firm”
Session 501: Weds, 3:45 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Cira B
Speaker: Darren Root, CPA.CITP
During this event you will learn how to identify qualities and/or characteristics that make you or your firm distinct from your competition. We’ll be discussing how to focus your practice on the deliverable services that your firm has real core competencies in. We will discuss 8 essential elements to communicating your service offerings to clients and prospects. The session will end with a “rubber meets the road” approach on how to deliver your service offerings effectively using the latest tools and technologies. Learn how to define your service offerings, communicate your service offerings and deliver your service offerings.
Using Business Intelligence Tools to Provide Insight for Your Clients' Businesses
Session 302: Weds, 3:45 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Cira C
Speaker: Chuck Vigeant
This session will take a deeper look at the next generation of reporting and decision making tools that are known collectively as Business Intelligence. Participants will learn how Business Intelligence has evolved, and what outcomes are solved for with regard to business analysis and compliance reporting. This session will also address the current range of tools used for Business Intelligence, explore the latest QuickBooks offerings and how they are used, and provide a general understanding of how these tools can significantly add to your firm's revenue base.
An Inside Look at the Enhanced Peachtree 2009 Portfolio: Peachtree’s Solution for Growing Clients
Session 702: Weds, 3:45 PM – 5:00 PM
Location: Aurora
Speaker: Mike Savory
As your clients outgrow their small business accounting solutions, consider Peachtree Quantum 2009, which is designed for large databases and optimized to manage more customers, vendors, and inventory data. We’ll talk about small business growth pains and which of your clients are the best candidates for our top performing Peachtree Quantum accounting solution. We’ll also demonstrate some key functionality differentiators such as Quantum’s roles-based security, faster performance, capacity for up to 30 users, and much more.