Your tech strategy
Quantum of Paperless: Partner's Guide to Accounting Firm Optimization
Available on Amazon.com; paper - $31.55, Kindle - $39.97
If you don't have a strategy for your technology plans, you should - and we highly recommend Quantum of Paperless, by well-known tech expert Roman Kepczyk, which gathers together and lucidly explains the 32 most important subjects you need to consider to significantly improve your firm's performance, and keep it from obsolescence. If you do have a strategy, we still recommend it, to make sure you didn't miss anything.
Implementing success
The Executive Guide to Implementing Accounting Software
BookSurge Publishing; $19.95
Given that most executives' idea of effective software implementation management is, "Tell the reseller to take care of it," this book will be an eye-opener to many. It's an excellent strategic and conceptual approach to what is usually an extremely long, painful process subject to frequent misunderstandings, and its general principles and advice are applicable to a great many types of technology initiatives.
Underoverestimating
QuickBooks 2010 on Demand
Que; $34.99 (includes access to online content)
While it's generally agreed that one of the secrets of the success of QuickBooks is that it's designed to be relatively easy for non-accountants to understand, when it comes to your clients, it's best not to underestimate its complexity, or overestimate their ability to get the most from it. Better to give them a copy of QuickBooks 2010 on Demand, which takes them through hundreds of QB tasks with clear, easy-to-understand instructions and tons of screenshots. It'll prove extremely handy both as a start-up guide, and as a reference for those already familiar with the program.
Who gets the planner?
Personal Financial Planning for Divorce
John Wiley & Sons; $60 (with WebCPA discount)
Amid all the sorrow, anger and misery of a divorce, financial planning considerations can often be forgotten - or worse, twisted to serve an emotional agenda. Personal Financial Planning for Divorce aims to help professional advisors and their divorcing clients approach the money angle calmly and efficiently. With checklists, planning charts, forms, tables, guidelines and examples of what not to do, it helps safeguard assets, minimize damage, and effectively plan for the post-divorce future.
Marrying and money
Matrimonial Considerations in Estate and Trust Planning
Lorman Education Services; $159.20 (with WebCPA discount)
Perhaps the only thing more disruptive to a financial plan than divorce is marriage itself. This teleconference and reference manual detail many of the estate- and trust-planning issues that need to be considered before a client makes the leap.
