Industry Insights – A Conversation with Louis Columbus

Louis Columbus

For our latest Intacct Industry Insights post, we spoke with Louis Columbus, senior manager of Enterprise Strategies with Cincom, an enterprise software development company with a focus on manufacturing and ERP systems. Louis is also a regular contributor to Forbes and created the Cincom Cloud Computing University to help educate customers and resellers on business strategies in the cloud. He also regularly works with Cincom clients and his students at Webster University’s graduate program to see how cloud technologies can deliver value to businesses faster and with greater accuracy than would have been possible before. 

Our conversation with Louis covered a variety of topics, including trust in the cloud, excellence in customer service, and cloud financials. Here are the highlights… 

Read the full blog post »

Innovating the General Ledger: Multiple Books

In my introduction to this series on Innovating the General Ledger [see post], I discussed my passion about the GL and how it desperately needs a facelift. Although much of that post centered on my personal opinions, today begins the presentation of real world stories that back up my position and demonstrate how the innovation I suggest can yield real value for business users. I’ll start with how companies need multiple books – whether they know it or not.

Read the full blog post »

Innovating the General Ledger: The Time for Change is Now

I've spent some time over the past year writing about how to build cloud applications. Now I’d like to take a short recess and write about another topic near and dear to my heart: the general ledger. I’m sure I just lost half of you – probably more. But stick with me.

The general ledger (GL) is not exactly the kind of topic that attracts a huge readership, but read on and you’ll see the beauty in the simple elegance of “debits equal credits” and “assets equals liabilities plus owners equity.” To most people, the general ledger is that boring class you have to take to get through business school, but really the general ledger is the answer to many business riddles.

Read the full blog post »

What the Online Sales Tax Bill Means for Your Business

This week the Senate passed The Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013 (MFA), a bill that could radically alter sales tax obligations for your business if you sell into states where you don’t currently have the obligation to collect and remit sales tax. Earlier this week, Intacct partner Avalara announced a new resource to help small and medium-sized businesses understand what these changes could mean to them. Here is a quick snapshot...

Read the full blog post »

Industry Insights – A Conversation with Marcus Wagner

Marcus Wagner

It has been a few weeks since our last Intacct Industry Insights post. Our conversation this time is with Marcus Wagner, CPA, the founder and CEO of AcctTwo Shared Services, LLC, a business process outsourcing (BPO) firm for small and midsize companies, based in Houston. Marcus has nearly 20 years of experience working with companies in the areas of financial accounting and auditing, process and internal controls consulting, and management advisory services. He began his career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, in the financial audit and risk advisory practices and was a co-founding partner of accounting firm Calvetti, Ferguson & Wagner. 

Our conversation with Marcus focused on business process outsourcing and how this can help SMBs. Here are the highlights… 

Read the full blog post »

Industry Insights – A Conversation with David Cieslak

David Cieslak

Our latest Intacct Industry Insights conversation is with David Cieslak, a principal with Arxis Technology, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in the implementation and support of accounting and business management software. David specializes in accounting systems, information security, the Windows operating environment, cloud computing and project management. He has been working in the accounting technology industry since 1989 and is a frequent speaker for the California Society of Certified Public Accountants (CalCPA), the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) and other state accounting societies. 

Our conversation with David covered a variety of topics, including the market for midsize financial systems, best-of-breed versus single-vendor suites, and reporting challenges from SMBs. Here are the highlights… 

Read the full blog post »

The Anatomy of a Best-in-Class Multi-Entity Financial Management System

As we discussed in our post last week, operating a multi-entity, global organization without a flexible financial management system can be an expensive venture, riddled with add-on software tools, manual processes, poor visibility, and high labor costs.

A modern, cloud-based financial management system can alleviate many, if not all, of those worries and leave your organization well-informed, operating in real-time, and functioning efficiently. To achieve this feat, however, the solution must encompass a tremendous breadth and depth of functionality, including...

Read the full blog post »

Industry Insights – A Conversation with Bob Scott

Bob Scott

For our latest Intacct Industry Insights conversation, we recently had the pleasure to talk with Bob Scott, the executive editor of The Progressive Accountant. Bob has provided information to the tax, accounting, and mid-market financial software community for more than 20 years, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. For the past decade, his weekly Bob Scott’s Insights email newsletter has provided insight and analysis for the reseller community. 

Our conversation with Bob covered a variety of topics, including cloud accounting applications, CPA collaboration, and the consumerization of business software. Here are the highlights… 

Read the full blog post »

The Cost of Managing Multiple Entities in a Global Economy

Companies today face multi-entity and global business management issues far earlier in their life cycle than ever before. It’s not uncommon for a small company to start their business in one city, then open an offshore development office, house customer service in a yet another location, and grow to have sales offices scattered across the country and internationally – all within the first few years of business. As exciting as that kind of growth sounds, it’s a nightmare to manage for a traditional financial system. 

In a multi-entity environment, each office typically operates autonomously, subject to varying currency, tax, and reporting requirements – such as currency translation, exchange gain/loss accounting, local reporting, and an increased risk of non-compliance. But that’s not all they have to deal with. In addition to managing organic growth, mergers and acquisitions are common in many industry. And with each new business acquired comes more separate entities, their unique challenges, and often a second financial management system. 

Read the full blog post »

Industry Insights – A Conversation with Brian Jacobs

Brian Jacobs

It is time for another Intacct Industry Insights interview. We recently spoke with Brian Jacobs, co-founder of Emergence Capital, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that invests exclusively in early and growth stage technology-enabled services, including SaaS and cloud applications. Brian has more than 20 years of venture capital experience, including previous investments in BigFix, HireRight, WebTV, nQuire, Lexar and many others. He currently serves on the boards of Intacct, YouSendIt, InsideView, Bill.com, Janrain, and Donuts. 

Our conversation with Brian covered a variety of topics, including changes in the SaaS market over the past 10 years, go-to-market strategies for cloud vendors, and trends in the cloud financial applications space. Here are the highlights… 

Read the full blog post »