What I’m grateful for in 2020

This year has been filled with unexpected challenges that have upended plans, caused inconveniences and cancelled activities. However, as I ponder what would have happened if a pandemic had occurred a decade or more ago, the disruption in my life would have been many times more significant. I’m grateful that today’s technology allows me to work from home while safely continuing many routines and activities, though many of them now are conducted differently.

I admit that “Zoom Fatigue” is a real thing, especially when some of my days are filled with back-to-back video calls. I miss attending conferences, in-person meetings, and other community gatherings. Though they’re not the same experience in a virtual setting, I’m extremely grateful that all of these are still happening. I’m thankful for the many technologies I’m able to use for these purposes, including Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Duo.

School at home is not easy in many ways, but the fact that my kids are even able to continue their education at all, while being able to connect with their teacher and peers, is a miracle I’m grateful for. I’m also happy I’m able to spend more time with them.

Though I miss walking the aisles of some stores, I’m grateful that I can order items online and have them quickly delivered. It’s also wonderful to order food with an app and then get curbside delivery.

I’m also grateful for social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, which have helped me stay virtually connected with colleagues and friends despite being physically apart. Though there’s plenty of negativity and finger-pointing on those platforms (especially in an election year), I’m grateful for so many I know who share useful information and inspirational messages.

This Thanksgiving, I’m striving to complain less about the situation the pandemic has caused and to be more grateful for the technology that has made it bearable. If you’d like to share what you’re grateful for, leave a comment below!

Following Microsoft Teams Channels: Show/Hide and Notifications Guide

There is no doubt in my mind that Microsoft Teams is a better platform to organize and control communication than e-mail. What’s the problem with e-mail? As Byron Patrick wrote in the Journal of Accountancy, e-mail “results in locust-like infestations of individual e-mails overwhelming inboxes, eating up user time, and creating innumerable opportunities for confusion and delay.”

Microsoft Teams channel list

With topic-specific channels and threaded messages, Teams can help you stop drinking from the fire hose of information. To give an example of a CPA firm environment, a team may have channels for departments (audit, tax, advisory), clients, service lines, industry specialties, and maybe a fun “watercooler” channel full of cat pictures. It’s worth spending some time adjusting what channels are shown and your notification settings. If you’re not familiar with how to do either of these, check out these pages from the Microsoft site:

The key is to go through your list of channels and individually adjust these settings to strike a balance between being responsive and productive. If you have notifications turned on with banner and feed for every channel, your day will be filled with interruptions. I created a table that might be helpful for you as you do this:

I want to be immediately aware of anything new
It’s important for me to be responsive in this channel
Show the channel
Notifications: banner and feed
I don’t want to miss reading any messages but…
I don’t need to see them right away
Show the channel
Notifications: only show in feed
I may want to read this channel occasionally, but…
I don’t care if I miss reading messages
Show the channel
Notifications off
It’s not my department, expertise or interest
It’s unlikely I’ll ever read this channel
Hide the channel
Notifications off

A couple friends and I started a Facebook group called “Microsoft Teams for CPAs.” If you want to share ideas and best practices for using Teams within an accounting firm, we’d love for you to join us!

Tools for CPAs working remotely: IPEVO Document Camera

As many CPAs and accountants transition to working remotely due to the COVID-19 outbreak, some may be searching for equipment and software that help them get the job done outside of the office. There are some things I would consider essential: a computer, webcam, headphones, and a second monitor (if not more). Could a document camera be a useful tool to add to that list? Well, maybe.

Check out IPEVO’s website and you’ll see that their document camera products are primarily marketed for use in a classroom setting. It’s a high-tech replacement for the clunky overhead projectors I remember from elementary school. In live presentations, I mostly use PowerPoint or demonstrate functions from software shown on the screen. With all of my materials in electronic form, I can’t think of a time I wished I had a document camera in a live presentation, though there may be accountants out there who may use one this way.

The usefulness of a document camera goes beyond live presentations. One thing accountants do frequently is document capture. There are a few ways I currently do this:

Where does the IPEVO document camera fit in? With an 8 MP camera, the image quality is comparable to my iPhone and good enough for recordkeeping. My iPhone works great for taking a picture of a single receipt, but holding the phone steady for a batch of receipts can become tiring. With the document camera, I can easily take pictures in rapid succession. For things that don’t fit in my document fed scanner, such as pages from a book or a spiral notebook, the document camera is ideal. It may just render my flatbed scanner obsolete except for photographs I want scanned at top quality and resolution. The document camera is so much easier to use and faster than a flatbed scanner.

I’ve also found the document camera helpful in videoconferencing. Though it’s now rare for me to have paper rather than documents in electronic form, I can remember a few awkward moments holding up a paper up to the webcam (“can you read this?”) or saying, “give me five minutes to scan this in and send it to you.”

It is plug and play. As soon as I plugged in the USB cord from the document scanner to my computer, it appeared as a video device in Zoom. I do a lot of demonstrations and training for mobile apps, and found it to be fast and easy to put my phone under the camera (see image below). Sure, I could also join a Zoom meeting from my phone and show the phone’s screen, but I initiate almost all calls from my computer and it takes time to get the app going on the phone. Another downside of the Zoom mobile app is that it won’t show where I’m tapping with my fingers. Because of these advantages of the document camera, I plan to use it frequently for showing my phone.

The picture on the left is a computer screenshot from Zoom, using the IPEVO document camera as the video device.

There are other fun uses too. I’ve always wanted to do a time-lapse sketch and post it to YouTube. With sports and other group activities on a hiatus, I’m going to need to find some new hobbies!

Disclaimer: IPEVO provided me with a complimentary VZ-R HDMI/USB Dual Mode 8MP Document Camera to try out with no strings attached. I was not given any compensation nor does my website contain any affiliate links.

My New Year’s resolution is to have more data analytics in my life

Among the many reasons why New Year’s resolutions fail, including my own in the past, are that the goals are too ambitious, progress isn’t being tracked, and people lose interest after a few days or weeks. This is why I’ve committed to the very simple resolution of maintaining a database of personal metrics on a daily basis. Of course, I want to accomplish the traditional resolution stuff like being healthier, but keeping the data is my primary goal. This quote explains why:
“That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.” — Karl Pearson
What’s great about this New Year’s resolution is I’ll be killing two birds with one stone. First, I believe the principle in the quote. For example, tracking the number of calories I consume will help me make more conscious decisions about what I eat. I’ll probably pass on the donuts, just because of the thought that I’d have to log it into my app and it will stay there… forever. Like most accountants, I’m good at the measuring part. Reporting takes more thought and effort. I’m reserving a short period of time daily, and weekly to a greater extent, to analyze the data and hold myself accountable. Second, I want to enhance my stratégie musculation naturelle (teoria del conto in banca) npecia 5 by sai michael biotech en france finasteride propecia musculation et douleurs au bas du dos ! skills with data analytics, and there’s no better data to practice with than that which is meaningful to me. Business intelligence is emerging as a service in demand of accountants, and I have a particular interest in helping business owners understand their data and make informed decisions. It’s such an important skill that the AICPA is considering making data analytics part of the CPA exam. I may be crazy, but I’m looking forward to putting my data into Microsoft Power BI and seeing, among other things, how a meticulously tracked diet and exercise will affect my weight. Who’s in with me? MakingProgress

How to control outdoor Christmas lights without getting cold

I enjoy sharing technological solutions to common problems on my blog and I hope this one makes someone’s holidays a little better. I remember the moment inspiration came to me. It was late at night and I was ready for bed. The temperature was frigid and it may have been snowing. My wife reminded me that the Christmas lights in front of our house were still on. As I grudgingly put on my coat, boots and gloves before venturing outside, I thought to myself, “there must be a better way!” I already had smart plugs inside my home to turn on or off lamps with a phone app or Amazon Echo (my smart plug of choice is the WeMo Mini, though there are many others that operate similarly). So why not use one of these to control my outdoor lights? Well, these smart plugs aren’t waterproof and designed for outdoor use, so I needed an enclosure. I did some searching and found a SOCKiTBOX weatherproof electrical box which was big enough to hold a smart plug along with a small outlet adapter. With the smart plug in the middle, between the chord providing power from the wall and each set of lights connected to the outlet adapter, I’m able to control all the lights from a single smart plug. Christmas smart plug Now I’m able to have some fun with the Christmas lights. With the WeMo app, I can automate turning them on and off with a set schedule. Or, when I have no desire to go outside and freeze, I just say, “Alexa, turn on the Christmas lights.” After I set up the outdoor lights this way, I plugged the Christmas tree into a smart plug as well. The kids get a kick out of asking Alexa to turn the tree’s lights on or off, which is great as long as they don’t get carried away. Treating Alexa with respect is an important part of staying off the naughty list.

Spending less time searching for what’s lost

Misplaced items produce negative emotions like nothing else. I’ve felt the frustration of not being able to find matches when it’s time to light the birthday cake candles, the anxiety of my eyeglasses falling behind the dresser, and the panic of not knowing where my phone is when it’s time to leave for work (only to realize it was in my pocket the whole time). Over the last few years, technology has helped me quickly and calmly find those things that commonly vanish:
  • For a lost phone that’s nearby, nothing is easier than making it sound right from your wrist. I’ve used my Apple Watch to ping my iPhone countless times. Another trick is to use a skill with an Amazon Echo to call a phone with simply, “Alexa, find my phone.”
    Tiles for finding lost things

    Tiles

  • I have several Tiles (see picture above) I can slip on a key ring to sound upon command from the Tile app on my phone. If a Tile is within Bluetooth range, it will play a tune until I find my keys, wallet, or whatever I’ve tied to the Tile. If the Tile isn’t within Bluetooth range, the app will tell me where it last had contact with the object (for example, that I left my briefcase at the office). Now, if I could just figure out a way to attach a Tile to my TV remote without duct tape…
  • I know people who are constantly forgetting their passwords, or writing them down and losing them. Stop those bad habits and use a secure password manager like LastPass.
  • Receipts are easy to lose, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Since I’m an accountant, it should come as no surprise that I’m ultra-organized and completely digital with my personal finances. This comes in handy when I’m at the auto repair shop and asked when I last replaced the tires. Hubdoc has helped to automatically organize my financial documents, and one of its best features is recognizing the text within receipts. So all I have to do is search my Hubdoc account for “tires” and wallah!
With these tools, I can confidently say with my best Liam Neeson impression, “I will find you.”

“Did you contribute to a HAS?” Oops, AutoCorrect!

Contributing to a health savings account may be a smart tax move, but that’s a post for another day. E-mailing someone to ask about health savings account contributions can be a troublesome for a tax accountant. The commonly used acronym for health savings accounts (HSA) autocorrects to HAS. Fortunately, it’s pretty simple to change that in Microsoft Outlook. Go to File > Options > Mail > Spelling and AutoCorrect, and then AutoCorrect Options.  Type in “HSA” in the box under where it says Replace (see screenshot below).  With it highlighted, all you have to do is click on the delete box. All of you mischievous souls out there can use this same AutoCorrect window to prank your friends, changing real words to something funny – but again, that’s a post for another day. Autocorrect Options

What eclipses the view of your business finances?

On August 21st, I look forward to a sight my eyes have never before beheld: a total solar eclipse. A safe and optimal viewing experience requires proper preparation. Some of the best information I’ve found online is this article from Forbes and an interactive map from the Washington Post. Similarly, a spectacular view of the financial performance of your business isn’t going to happen by accident. Planning the who, what, where and how of your business finances is key to producing meaningful financial data.
  1. Timely.  If you miss totality of the solar eclipse which lasts about only two minutes, you’re out of luck. The same timeliness principle applies to financial information. If you’re making decisions based on data several months or years old, you’ve missed out on opportunities to make critical decisions for your business. Today’s technology enables you to do accounting in real-time. Are you taking advantage of it?
  2. Where.  For a view of totality, you need to be in the right place in the narrow path the moon’s shadow crosses the Earth. For the place of accounting data, consider the cloud. While there are many factors to consider if the cloud is right for your business, it offers many benefits such as mobility of accessing your accounting data anywhere.
  3. Security.  Don’t look at the sun without protection! Just as you should take great care of your eyesight, be sure to secure the sensitive information in your accounting software. Use strong passwords and evaluate the security of the data center or server where your data resides.
If you’ve tried doing your accounting on your own and found something is obscuring your view, consider outsourcing it. It will help you spend more time at the planetarium with your family.

#AICPAENGAGE selfies

One benefit of being active and well-connected on social media is that people know who you are, despite spending little or no time with them in real life. Still, good professional relationships can grow when you share good content and help other people. A really fun thing happened at this year’s AICPA Engage conference – several people said, “I know who you are… can I take a selfie?”  It’s a great feeling to be treated like a celebrity for a brief moment, even though I know I am not. It’s kind of like the feeling I get when my six year-old, when asked what he wants to be when he grows up, responds that he wants to be a dad. It’s a fist pump moment. Here I am with Hubdoc, which fetches all my financial documents in one place, and makes my accounting so much more organized and easier: Allison Ball from Intuit said hi!  She’s a fun person to follow on Twitter, even if you’re not an accountant. Some friends at Receipt Bank asked for a selfie when I stopped by. The monster-sized phone for demonstrating their app is so clever! I saved the best for last: Here I am with the awesome time tracking software Tsheets after I won their drawing for an Apple Watch!  Thanks a ton Tsheets!

I blocked ads on my home network and it was easy as Pi

Good riddance, “one weird trick” and other annoying forms of clickbait advertising (you know who you are).  I installed Pi-Hole on my Raspberry Pi and it’s made a world of difference in my web browsing experience.  It doesn’t block every ad – I still get ads on YouTube and sponsored posts on Facebook – but it blocks practically all the ads on the news sites and blogs I read.  It also seems to be very effective eliminating in-app ads on mobile devices. I discovered Pi-Hole on Twitter, where I try to follow and learn from people who are tech-savvier than I: So, do you want to do this too?  This post isn’t a tutorial. You can find several walk-throughs on Google and YouTube. I’ll explain some of the basics though. First, you’ll need a Raspberry Pi. No, that’s not mispelled, and it’s not the delicious desert you had too much of last night. A Raspberry Pi is an inexpensive and versatile computer the size of a credit card. I bought a kit on Amazon with a case and power supply for around $50.  In the picture below, my Raspberry Pi is in the clear case to the right.  It’s connected to my router through an Ethernet cable. Raspberry Pi After setting up the Raspberry Pi and giving it a static IP address, you can install Pi-Hole with one line of code from https://pi-hole.net.  Pi-Hole becomes your DNS server, in other words, it directs your Internet traffic as long as you tell your connected devices to go through it.  The Raspberry Pi’s IP address is important to remember.  For each connected device you want to block ads on, you’ll need to modify the network settings and change the DNS server to the Raspberry Pi’s IP address. The only downside I’ve heard of is that some sites seem to require ads to appear, in which case you just need to temporarily change the DNS settings to visit that site.