Last week, a San Diego consumer rights group announced that according to its math, in recent years companies and institutions have collectively reported the mishandling -- or downright theft -- of more than 93.7 million private records. That’s a pretty weighty scorecard kept by the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse but probably not all that shocking to anyone who reads the paper regularly. After all, right around the same time last week, the Commerce Department announced that over the past five years, more than 1,000 of its laptops -- roughly 4 percent of its total inventory -- had been lost, missing or reported stolen from its 15 divisions. Some 672 computers were lost by the Census Bureau -- you know, the one responsible for collecting statistics about the United States, including the country’s citizens and its economy -- with about 250 of those machines containing some personal data. As the quid pro quo of such a disclosure, Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez was at least able to say that the data was protected by a combo of passwords and complex data formats, whatever that means. Gutierrez said in a statement that to this point, it appeared none of the information had been misused. If anything, Commerce can take solace in that even its collective whoopsie-daisy falls short of the biggest single governmental gaffe -- that happened early this summer, when U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs announced that a laptop and hard drive containing personal information, including names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth on about 28 million veterans had been stolen from a worker’s home. For those of you keeping score, 28 million Americans of any category is close to 10 percent of the entire U.S. population. If it’s of any consolation, the computer and drive were recovered by June, and last month, a pair of teenagers was arrested for the theft. The feds of course, aren’t the only ones who have had to learn the hard way about the dangers of transporting sensitive info and the need to put some solid safeguards and guidelines in place. In recent month, major accounting names, from Big Four firms to the American Institute of CPAs, have had to reveal major losses of data. The individual incidents, whether the result of seemingly outright carelessness (leaving a laptop in the seatback of a plane) or ill-advised action (sending a hard drive out for repairs via a commercial shipper), should serve to showcase a simple fact -- these sorts of privacy gaffes could happen to anyone. There’s tons of great options when it comes to encryption and physical locks for computers -- and don’t get me started on all the suppliers an organization can turn to when it comes time to offer clients that free year of credit monitoring -- but the only way to stop the data dump is by taking a good hard look at where your organization is storing its data and an even harder look at where that data absolutely, positively, has to travel. And the next time you think it can’t happen to your firm, run the numbers and seriously consider the likelihood that one of those 93.7 million private records could have been you, or one of your clients.

And then there were three -- three major tax software companies, that is. With CCH taking over the operations of ATX and TaxWise, there are very few tax preparation software companies left that are not owned by billion-dollar corporations. The remainder are Drake Software, Greatland, Orrtax, Petz Enterprises, and TaxSimple. Everybody else of consequence is owned by CCH, Thomson (Creative Solutions and GoSystem), and Intuit (Lacerte and ProSeries. If anyone is interested in nostalgia, there's a long litany names that have vanished over the last 15 years, and many of them over the last five. But nostalgia doesn't help to run a business, and the question is what this last rush of consolidation means to preparers. It probably means that the large vendors have greater control over pricing, which is where the battle is increasingly taken place, since most vendors had loaded up on features that make a difference. This doesn't necessarily mean higher pricing, because CCH, which was at the high-end of the market with ProSystem fx Tax, is likely to put pressure on Intuit at the low end. But it means the vendors have more flexibility. Suites, or at least one-stop shops, will get greater impetus. CCH has already expressed its intention to bring other accounting firm applications into the ATX and TaxWise offerings. And Internet-based computing will spread. The larger companies have an advantage in being able to develop Web-based platforms, and a big interest in cutting cost by trying to get out of the business of shipping CDs. They have a lot to gain on the cost-cutting and delivery side, and as they integrate their other applications with document management systems, the Web is a natural place to move.

SAGE TO BUY DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT FIRM: The Sage Group will acquire Tampa, Fla.-based Emdeon Practice Services Inc., which sells practice management software and patient data systems to doctors' offices. Sage will pay about $567 million in cash to EPS's parent company, Emdeon Corp., and plans to close the deal this month. For the 2005 fiscal year, EPS had revenues of approximately $300 million and about 20,000 mostly small and midsized customers.EPS software is used in administrative and financial processes - such as the scheduling of appointments and the handling of prescriptions and billing - and has capabilities for the creation and management of electronic health records.

The old adage, "If you can't beat them, join them," apparently also holds true for Microsoft Excel, as software developers of all varieties are implementing features that make their products look more like the universally used spreadsheet program.Coupled with the increasing ability to integrate with Excel and other Microsoft Office products such as Word, adoption of the familiar worksheet interface is designed to make learning other, related applications easier.

Net@Work, one of the largest Sage-only software resellers, announced that it has purchased Eagle Consulting Group, a top Sage Software MAS 90 and MAS 500 reseller in the tri-state area.Eagle Consulting Group's founder and chief executive, Debra Ellis, will serve as manager of consulting services.

Financial reporting and SOX compliance solutions provider Movaris has rolled out OneClose, an application that enables users to automate and standardize account reconciliation tasks during the "last mile" of finance.The company said that five key features of Movaris Account Reconciliation include:

Estimating documentation costs for a technology project that you're managing seems like it's almost outside the realm of possibility, like finding the perfect hamburger or a jacket that fits you just right. Like clothing and food, there isn't a "one size fits all" amount of hours that your company can estimate for each project, because each project and each writer are different.One or more of the following situations may apply to your current project:

Are you happy with your firm's technology? Do you treat technology as a strategic asset by planning and budgeting for it?Questions like these typically result in a variety of answers from personnel within the same firm. It's no wonder that most firms need to work on consensus-building. Unfortunately, those with the strongest opinions typically have the least amount of knowledge.

Sage Software announced that year-end print services for the 2006 tax year will be available through Sage Compliance Services.

Microsoft announced the release of a public beta for Microsoft Office Accounting 2007, formerly called Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting. According to a release from the company, the latest version of the product adds online marketplace integration and invoicing to help small companies conduct their businesses online. The product will still be aimed at small businesses, even if that's no longer apparent from the software's title. Among the specific new features are integration with eBay and online payment via Paypal.Specifically for accountants, where SBA failed to generate the massive response it had initially hoped for, a new "Accountant Navigator" has been designed to help accountants manage multiple clients and a dashboard-driven payroll center should allow payment processing to be run for multiple clients from a single place.

CARTESIS REPORTS '06 SOFTWARE REVENUES UP 28 PERCENT: Cartesis, a provider of finance and performance management software, announced that for the 2006 fiscal year, the company saw its software revenues growth 28 percent - including a 61 percent leap internationally and a 57 percent rise in North America. Cartesis said that the success is likely due to additional investment in international sales and marketing and the introduction of its new product line, Cartesis 10, a business performance management solution that integrates internal and external financial data for publication, benchmarking, and merger and acquisition planning.Chief executive Didier Benchimol said that in recent quarters, the business has grown at a rate triple or quadruple that of its competitors. The company also reported:

Tax and accounting software and products provider CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business, has agreed to acquire ATX/Kleinrock, a provider of tax preparation and research materials. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.ATX/Kleinrock, headquartered in Rockville, Md., supplies tax preparation, accounting and tax research software products to more than 48,000 tax professionals and CPAs throughout the country.

Not a day goes by without one of our clients asking, "How do I motivate my people?"When I was younger and more apt to answer questions than ask them, I'd launch into a listing of ideas and activities that we've seen motivate teams in the organizations we serve. These ideas and activities have value, and I'll share them in my next article, but first, let's explore the most important idea I have to help you motivate your people: Ask them!

Even the best intentions sometimes have unexpected results. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 was enacted in reaction to the Enron and WorldCom financial debacles, where poor internal controls resulted in dubious transactions being unchallenged. The result, as you know, was the collapse of several huge corporations, with many top executives facing considerable jail terms. Add in the document-shredding parties at Arthur Andersen, and in retrospect, SOX seems unavoidable.SOX was enacted in hopes of preventing something like this happening again. It not only holds management responsible for creating and maintaining internal controls tight enough to prevent or expose unauthorized or unusual transactions, but requires that publicly held corporations document how they are accomplishing these goals. There are numerous sections of the reform act, but the two that deal most directly with compliance are Section 302 and Section 404.

According to the most recent salary survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, the average starting salary this past recruiting season for accountants was $45,656.With starting salaries at these levels, and escalating salaries for experienced staff, firms should be reviewing their economic model. Too often, partners and owners are busy working in the business rather than working on the business. Is your firm still using billing formulas that were developed prior to the current investment levels in technology and the shortage of accountants?

Accounting software provider Intuit Inc. narrowed its fiscal fourth-quarter loss from a year earlier, boosted by strong performances from its QuickBooks and Consumer Tax businesses.

Just how big a deal can Intuit's QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions become?

SAP ACQUIRES PRAXIS, WILL FOLD CRM INTO BUSINESS ONE: SAP AG has acquired Praxis Software Solutions and will integrate the company's Web-based CRM and e-commerce capabilities into SAP Business One, which targets small and midsized companies. Financial terms of the deal weren't disclosed. Minneapolis-based Praxis, a private software company, had previously been a Business One partner.Last year, SAP acquired start-up iLytix Systems, which specializes in reporting and budgeting tools, and promptly incorporated those features into Business One. Business One is itself the result of the 2002 acquisition of TopManage. The product, which offers companies a set $3,750-per-named-user fee for enterprise resource planning and accounting functions, competes with offerings from Microsoft Business Solutions and Sage Software.

"Firms need to find ways to bring their clients into the loop," maintained James Bourke, shareholder-in-charge of firm technology and information technology consulting services for Red Bank, N.J.-based WithumSmith+Brown, which earlier this year introduced a new client portal. "Firms have struggled with ways to bring their Web site to their clients. Outside of publishing firm brochures and newsletters, in the past there was just no reason for an existing client to visit.""The majority of firms simply use the Web as an expanded Yellow Pages ad or brochure," said Bic Wood, business and technology consultant with Austin, Texas-based Wood Johnson Heath. "A high percentage seems to use cookie-cutter templates and provide only minimal information. This is partially a lack of understanding of how the Web can impact their business, and partially a lack of a real market-driven focus within the firms. Your Web presence needs to reflect your ideas, your services and your value."

Retention and attraction of people is definitely the No. 1 challenge in all professions. The accounting profession will face a crisis if it does not make significant changes in the way it practices firm management.This is demonstrated most clearly in a recent survey conducted among firms across the country that reveals that less than one-third of them reported having a strategic plan. Of those that did have a plan, approximately 50 percent shared it with managers and staff.