The 2008 AICPA TECH+ Conference is over. The booths have all been dismantled and are headed off to their next destination. Everyone returned to their hometowns and back to their offices.
So what happened last month in Vegas at the Bellagio? … it’s not a secret!
More than 435 attendees attended the conference at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. Now in its 28th year, TECH+ offered an unparalleled educational forum where CPAs in public practice, business and industry, and vendor-related organizations came together with their peers to share information about best practices and discover opportunities to enhance success. The 2008 TECH+ agenda focused on the AICPA Top Technology Initiatives, with well over half of the sessions devoted to topics that made this year’s list.
The TECH+ conference started off with several pre-conference sessions, including “IT Considerations for Risk-Based Audit Standards,” two “Deep Dive” sessions into Security and Virtualization, and “MS SQL Server Best Practices.” CITP credential holders were able to attend these sessions for free – a savings of $200. This was followed by the IT Membership Section’s IT Roundtables with topics on Data Extraction and Business Intelligence, IT Security, Risk Management, Document Management, CPA Workflow, and Client Portals. Each table provided an opportunity for participants to discuss best practices in each of these areas, with discussions facilitated by an IT Executive Committee or CITP Credential Committee member, along with AICPA’s IT Community staff.
Peyton Burch, director of Partner Programs for Deltek, Inc., opened TECH+ on Monday, June 9, welcoming everyone to the conference and promising a fun-filled learning opportunity for all attendees.
Randy Johnston, executive vice president of K2 Enterprises, gave the Monday keynote address with his annual “Tech Update for 2008,” covering all-things-tech, from laptop and desktop hardware and software, to monitors and printers. With “simplicity” as the current guiding wisdom in the industry, the focus is now on intelligent design, with fewer features and more emphasis on “what is really needed to get the job done, including smaller, more task oriented solutions.”
Regarding hardware for 2008, Randy believed “thin” is back in for several reasons: alternative workspace and workforce, outsourcing and off shoring, disaster recovery and business continuity, and compliance and security. Thin clients enable centralized computing in which data and applications are deployed, managed, supported and executed remotely. He also provided attendees with the “hot” specs that are necessary to have deployed in organizations with respect to servers, desktops and laptops, and reviewed the latest in peripherals, including multiple monitors, printers, keyboards, mice and scanners.
What’s the latest from Microsoft, how many CPAs use Vista and how many plan to switch to Office 2007? According to Randy, the uptake to Vista is still slow. Larger IT departments are sticking with Windows XP, while Windows 7, the successor to Vista using Windows’ sensors, is scheduled to ship November 2009. He cited a Computerworld survey from March 2008 stating that only 37 percent of businesses polled plan to upgrade to Office 2007. SharePoint however, is a winner, and “is the collaborative tool that everyone has been waiting for,” said Randy. “The biggest problem resellers are having is finding qualified technical people to install SharePoint at all the businesses that are eager to implement it.”
Due to unforeseen events, David Cieslak was unable to attend this year. Instead, Dr. Robert Spencer, president of Twenty Seconds in the Future and K2 Enterprises, stepped into Inspector Gadget’s shoes to deliver the Monday lunch presentation. The hottest gadgets include the Logitech MX Resolution wireless laser mouse, the Logitech 2.4 GHz cordless presenter, the Saitek Eclipse II gaming keyboard and the Fujitsu ScanSnap S300 PDF scanner. Dr. Bob also presented some really cool tools, such as the personal video eyewear from Myvu.com and Cucusoftware.com that converts DVDs to iPod video. In addition, his “best phone gadget” – the MagicJack – enables you to make local and long distance phone calls through your computer for only $29.95 a year.
On the second day of the conference, Walter Hamscher, Ph.D, president and CEO of Standard Advantage, presented an illustrative case highlighting the reporting benefits of using eXtensible Business Reporting Language (XBRL) to achieve improved communication with analysts and shareholders, and consistency and clarity in internal data management. Dr. Hamscher reported that the proposed SEC rule mandating companies to begin filing in XBRL would impact the largest 500 companies for their 2008 year-end reports and all other public companies in the following two years.
On Tuesday’s luncheon, WithumSmith+Brown’s Jim Bourke, CPA.CITP, a member of the CITP Credential Committee, introduced the winners of this year’s CITP State Society Challenge. The winners received crystal awards and were welcomed at a special dinner. The California Society of CPAs and the Texas Society of CPAs tied with the largest number count increase in CITPs for 1st place. The Hawaii Society of CPAs won the largest percentage increase in CITPs. Accepting the award for California was Ilene Eisen, CPA.CITP; for Texas – Darin Gregory, CPA.CITP; and for Hawaii – Donny Shimamoto, CPA.CITP.
Tuesday’s lunchtime presentation from noted author and speaker David Strom, technology editor of Baseline magazine, presented an enjoyable satire on Bill Gates and the world of Microsoft in “Giving Thanks to Bill Gates.” David shared with the audience some of the slang words peculiar to the Microsoft working environment such as “fear, uncertainty and doubt;” “abort, retry reboot;” and “we are on a product death march.” Thanking Gates for killing off products such as DOS 4.0, Windows ME, OS/2 (all versions), WordPerfect and Bob, David highlighted the full employment for lawyers that Microsoft enabled over the course of the last 20 years: Case in point, Apple suing Microsoft in 1989 over Windows UI. Overall, lawsuits have cost Microsoft $9 billion.
Tuesday afternoon ended with Jim Bourke and myself presenting “Why Join the AICPA Technology Family?” In this session, we provided the audience with an overview of the benefits of the IT Community, focusing on the IT Membership section and the CITP Credential. They spoke of the LinkedIn groups for ITMS and CITP, a way of identifying and reaching out to fellow members; the soon-to-be released IT Competency Model – the newest Competency Assessment Tool from the AICPA; and the upcoming AICPA Training School – IT in the Financial Statement Audit. The CITP-sponsored reception was held following this session.
The CITP credential was a predominant influence on the conference this year. Our staff, including Matthew Murtaugh and Janis Wong, CPA.CITP, CISA, were present at the IT Community booth to answer member questions, and promote the CITP credential and the IT Membership Section.
Throughout the event, members dropped their raffle tickets at the AICPA IT Community booth for a chance to win one of three prizes. The first raffle drawing was held during “Why Join the AICPA Technology Family;” the winner of the Logitech Webcam was Jason Jones of Waste Management, Inc. During the CITP Reception on Tuesday evening, a raffle for the iTouch for CITP Credential holders was won by James Wilson of Henry & Horne, LLP. The winner of the IT Section raffle for a Microsoft Windows Home Server kit was George Ulbrich of Kolb & Co.
The AICPA’s Media Team was on site to cover the event and record a special Video Chair letter featuring Greg LaFollette, CPA.CITP, chair of the CITP Credential Committee, and James Metzler, CPA.CITP, vice president of AICPA Small Firm Interests. Greg is also executive editor of The CPA Technology Advisor and senior manager of Tax and Technology Consulting with Eide Bailly.
It would not be TECH+ without the unique perspective of Rick Richardson, CPA.CITP, of Richardson Media & Technologies, who closed the conference on Wednesday, June 11, with his famous “Technology Futures 2008” presentation. For 27 years, Rick has captivated conference attendees with his insightful prognostications on our technology future … and this year was no different!
For example, in hardware, software and communications, Rick predicted:
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By 2011, SmartPhones will have the same capacities as PCs have today. Within five years, the SmartPhone will provide shopping, banking, ticket-purchasing and other services, all tailored to your location. Snap a picture of someone wearing an outfit you like, upload it, and your SmartPhone will display a brick-and-mortar or online location to buy it.
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Within two years, digital cameras will come with the capability to infrared-beam a photo from one camera to another for instant sharing.
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By 2010, Microsoft will generate more than $5 billion in revenue from its SharePoint online collaboration software.
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In communications, advertising on mobile devices in Europe will grow from less than $400 million in 2006 to nearly $3 billion in 2011.
Will Rick’s predictions hold true? Come back next year to find out when TECH+ 2009 returns to the Bellagio, June 14-17, 2009. Be sure to block your calendar for next year’s event!
Contact Nancy Cohen at ncohen@aicpa.org.
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