Information Technology

Broaden Your Outlook: May 2010—Lisa Kianoff—Ever miss the obvious when it was right in front of your face? Look no further than Microsoft Outlook. If you’re like most business people, you use it every day. Yet how much do you really know about all it can do for you? Sure, the cost of data storage is going down, and that may be lucky for you based on the increase in “digital junk” you’ve accumulated. Some of that junk is crazy large but Outlook has a feature that helps you quickly identify the largest of the...
Positively $mart – It’s Positive Pay: February 10, 2010—Lisa Kianoff—We really don’t think about fraud until it somehow touches us. We felt for Alabama and it’s image when the HealthSouth fraud was uncovered, but there is no stronger wake-up call than when it gets personal. L. Kianoff & Associates, Inc. was a victim of fraud the first time about 3 years ago. It’s a big club, according to the Association for Financial Professions (AFP). In 2008 – the last year reported – more than 70% of the organizations surveyed had...
Critical Information Security Audit Considerations: January 2010—Ron Box—Imagine that the finance department internal audit passed with flying colors. All accounting and finance policies / procedures were found to be in-line with best of industry standards. Would you sign the financial statements? Your answer should be an emphatic “No”. Even if accounting and finance is working at a very high level, a significant failure in the information security audit would call into question the quality of all of the organizations financial...
The New CITP Liaison Program: Dec 2009—Ron Box—The Certified Information Technology Professional (CITP) Credential Committee has established a liaison program with participating state societies of certified public accounting. The basic concept of the program is to leverage the strengths of each state society and enhance the position of the CITP credential, which is growing in popularity since the certification was recently re-defined.
Troubleshooting Technology Issues: Get To The Root Of The Problem: November 19, 2009—Lisa Kianoff—They called Sue the “go to” person at the small manufacturing company. She was the Controller who had picked up some technical skills over the years and everyone knew it. Whenever some piece of software didn’t work just right, the response was “call Sue.” Recently there were more “system emergencies” that were consuming more of her work day. Sue was happy to help, but felt some users took advantage when they might have done their own troubleshooting. So...