July 14, 2001
OWNER
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
Dear OWNER and Members of SAMPLE CPA FIRM :
It has been a pleasure working with you and SAMPLE CPA FIRM in the development of your ExSTRM
(Executive Strategic Technology Resource Management) Vision Plan.
We are confident that
implementation of the attached recommendations will make your operations more effective and your
people more efficient, with the net result of making your firm more profitable and technologically capable.
Over the past few weeks we were able to visit each of your offices, analyze your production processes,
and share current CPA Firm “best practices” with a significant number of your personnel, both in general
and departmental sessions. These interviews allowed us to better understand the Firm’s current tax,
audit, administrative and other department production processes and the types of computer and end-user
problems the firm has been dealing with. In addition, we were able to review your computer infrastructure
first-hand, which has allowed us to make solid recommendations building upon the equipment and
software you currently have in place. Below we have summarized the immediate game plan for your
ExSTRM Vision Plan implementation.
IT Infrastructure Phase One Recommendations:
 Approve new Information Technology Committee infrastructure by July 15, 2001.
 Owners to approve overall budget amounts as well as communicate the ExSTRM Vision Plan to
all personnel by July 18, 2001.
 Verify all applications will run on Microsoft NT 4.0 by July 20, 2001.
 Bid out Phase One implementation on July 15 with responses back by July 21 (and guarantee of
ability to complete by January 31, 2001).
 Select or designate Interim IT Director by July 22, 2001.
 Select vendor to implement Phase One by July 22, 2001.
 Verify all existing licenses for Microsoft Windows and Office, purchase adequate licenses and
install on all workstations prior to August 15, 2001.
 Have San Francisco office cabling certified by August 15, 2002.
 Owners to increase fees or overhead allocation to include technology recapture fee for IT
infrastructure beginning January 1, 2001.
Attached you will find our ExSTRM Vision Plan and Budget which includes a comprehensive version of
the recommendations we presented to the Management Committee as well as recommendations for the
SAMPLE CPA FIRM Technology Team. We have also prepared a budget and included a proposal to
implement the network infrastructure from VENDOR in Roswell, Georgia. If we can be of any further
assistance, please call or email us.
Sincerely,
Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
President, Technology Consultant
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
Page 2 of 18
Executive Summary
SAMPLE CPA FIRM has faced significant challenges in regards to its information technology
infrastructure in the past year and has contracted InfoTech Partners North America Inc. to prepare an
ExSTRM (Executive Strategic Technology Resource Management) Vision Plan and Budget. In addition
to visiting each of your offices and reviewing your infrastructure first-hand, we were able to meet with a
large representative sample of your personnel as well as key individuals within each functional
department. In general, we have developed your plan with a focus on the following items:






Stabilization of Network Infrastructure prior to January 31, 2002
Development of an adequate IT Support Team
Improving VPM access and WAN utilization
Standardization of firmwide hardware, software and usage
Providing a comprehensive training infrastructure
Implementing a viable remote access solution
Finally, we have included a comprehensive two-year budget, which outlines expected expenditures for
2001 and 2002. We anticipate you will spend $1,343,867 in 2001. This amount will be 5.82% of your
projected 2001 revenue with the cost of technology passed on to your clients. The overall amounts by
category are outlined below:
Software/Applications
File Servers
Network Cabling/Infrastructure
Computers
Printers
Communications
Integration/Other Hardware
Training
Contingency (10%)
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
245,042
157,644
24,897
234,000
23,592
143,838
279,985
96,000
122.170
ExSTRM Vision Plan
Your ExSTRM Vision Plan is organized according to the original four objectives of our engagement letter
as listed below. This is followed by your budget for implementation.




Evaluation of your current information technology infrastructure and direction. We will analyze
your software and equipment and make recommendations as to acquisitions and updates as well
as explore the most effective remote access and communications opportunities. (Page 3)
Analyze your departmental processes and procedures. We will interview selected personnel via
group discussions (tax, audit, accounting, administration) to determine bottlenecks and
redundancy and make recommendations to improve these situations. (Page 10)
Evaluation of personnel to support and build this infrastructure and direction. We will analyze the
needs of an organization of your size and determine the number of personnel required to support
it, as well as estimate the overall costs you will incur. (Page 16)
Education of personnel on current Information Technology decision. We will present current IT
concepts in a “best practices” format to educate your personnel and to evaluate your issues and
priorities. (Page 19)
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
Page 3 of 18
1-Evaluation of your current information technology infrastructure and direction. We will analyze
your software and equipment and make recommendations as to acquisitions and updates as well
as explore the most effective remote access and communications opportunities.
Firmwide Servers: San Francisco Print and File Servers: We were disappointed to find underpowered
Clone computers with hard disks at capacity (and without any redundancy) in the San Francisco office
running your firm’s mission critical applications. When these servers experience problems (which they did
the entire week of our visit) the issues cascade to the San Diego and Chicago Offices, causing hundreds
of hours of lost productivity. We encourage you to calculate the cost of downtime and you will see that
your instability is costing the firm hundreds of thousands of dollars each year. A downtime cost calculator
is available at www.drplanning.org. Accordingly, we recommend you standardize on a name brand
server (IBM, HP or Compaq that can be professionally serviced locally) with adequate drive and power
redundancy and consolidate your applications and data from SAMPLE CPA FIRM 1, SAMPLE CPA FIRM
2 and SAMPLE CPA FIRM 4 on one print and file server.
San Francisco GroupWise Server: We feel your office should standardize on Microsoft Outlook for
firmwide groupware instead of GroupWise, which is not being used to capacity in San Francisco. In
addition to being integrated into the Microsoft Office Suites, the vast majority of email users have
standardized on Outlook (80% according to a recent study) including all of your other offices. To
complete the first Phase of your Exchange installation by the January 31 deadline, it will be necessary to
use your existing network IP addresses. There is a strong likelihood that this work will have to be
updated in Phase Two, as remote access is expanded and the Palo Alto office IP addresses are moved
to San Francisco. For Phase One, we recommend you replace your existing GroupWise server with an
NT 4.0 Exchange server.
San Francisco VPM/SQL server: Your current SQL server is being maintained by VENDOR and has
been very stable. As you rollover additional years and expand usage in the next year, more stress will be
placed on the server. While it appears you have adequate capacity for another year, we recommend you
schedule with VENDOR the planned upgrade at the end of year three and moving it to the central server
room for security.
San Francisco Citrix Server: We understand from your personnel that your current Citrix server was set
up as a test server but is now being utilized by dial in personnel and Palo Alto for remote access, mostly
to work with VPM. As this server has less than 128Mb of RAM (and we understand is a converted
workstation), we do not think it can be used adequately by more than a handful of people. We feel that
the Citrix solution will be a major part of the success of your VPM application utilizing the WAN.
Accordingly, we recommend you replace your Citrix Server with two production servers capable of
handling your firms practice management volume on a daily basis (and moving it to the central server
room for security).
Chicago NT 4.0 server is currently configured as a peer-to-peer server.
This causes major
inconvenience, as the individuals must log into the San Francisco server to get network access. When the
San Francisco server has problems, the people in Chicago also experience problems with their network.
We feel the existing Dell server is adequate to act as an Exchange and production server for the Chicago
office to minimize the impact of San Francisco issues. Unfortunately, the existing server was not
implemented properly and the data will have to be backed up, the server software reinstalled, the data
restored, and the connections to the San Francisco WAN reconfigured. Additionally, we recommend you
move the server to a secure room or purchase a secure rack where it can be enclosed.
Palo Alto NT 4.0 server configuration was not complete during our visit and our concern is that it will
cause problems in the future. We heard that the Novell to NT migration was the first that EMPLOYEE
and EMPLOYEE had implemented and that there were some issues with the permissions that had been
transferred. We are very strong proponents of outsourcing first-time, one-shot implementations. For
optimization over the next two years and to move the SAMPLE CPA FIRMAssoc.com email to the central
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
Page 4 of 18
SAMPLE CPA FIRMCPA.com address, we recommend the server be reinstalled and the permissions
corrected.
San Diego has a new print and file server (NT 4.0), which should be adequate for the next two years.
Unfortunately, the other servers are clones and we do not have the same level of confidence in their
reliability. We recommend you implement a new NT 4.0 Exchange Server configured for email and
groupware management as well as remote access through the Internet utilizing RAS.
Network Operating System: We recommend you move completely away from your current Novell
Operating System to NT 4.0. In addition to inadequate licenses (you currently have some borrowed), we
have heard that CLR Go System Fast Tax will not be supporting their product on Novell 3.x or 4.x. While
Microsoft Server 2000 is out today, we do not feel that SAMPLE CPA FIRM has adequate time to work
through the nuances of this relatively new operating system because of the January timeframe. If one of
the integrators you bid the proposal out to has significant experience with Server 2000 and accounting
applications and can guarantee the implementation by the January 31 deadline, it would probably be a
better long term choice. Unfortunately, as the project is starting so late, we do not feel it worth the
increased risk of failure this busy season and recommend NT 4.0.
Network Cabling: San Francisco: We heard from your staff that your existing cabling had many “dead”
or unusable connections as well as witnessing loose cabling and connections. Your personnel stated that
you had the cabling done yourselves, but were not sure if it was certified. Often times, the simplest
components cause the most problems (as with cabling that runs close to power or light sources). We
recommend you have all existing cabling certified (and replaced if necessary) along with the office
expansion scheduled in January.
Chicago: We are aware that your lease is up for negotiation next year. If you decide to move your office,
you will need to budget for the cabling of your office as well as moving your WAN and Internet service.
Please explore the cost to move these data lines as part of your review process.
Network Hub/Switches: There has been a transition in the computer industry to utilize Switches rather
than hubs to connect individual users. Switch technology provides faster individual throughput and
causes less traffic/impact on the network further adding to the reliability of the network. Additionally, the
cost has come down to make it competitive with traditional hubs. We recommend the HP or Cisco
Switches
San Francisco: Your personnel told us that your Kingston hubs had many unusable ports. We
recommend you first test your cabling to see if that is the issue, and then replace those hubs that have
failed with switches.
Chicago: As you are planning an expansion and could add more than five people, we recommend you
move to a switch.
Desktop Workstations: We feel your firm could definitely benefit from standardization of you equipment
throughout the firm. In the San Diego office alone, we found at least 15 different configurations on their
20 computers. Studies done by the Gartner Group alluded to standardization within businesses leading
to a reduction in cost of as much as 26%. With your firm’s annual total cost per workstation probably in
the $6,500 to $8,000 range, standardization can provide significant savings over the three-year life of a
desktop computer.
We encourage all of our firms to buy six months behind the bleeding edge of MHz technology and
maximizing the RAM they will need at the end of the workstation’s life. In today’s environment, that would
be at least 800Mhz with 256Mb RAM for a desktop computer. As we move forward in the traditional
networking environment, RAM is critically important for multi-tasking and your firm has been buying
behind the curve.
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
Page 5 of 18
Additionally, as you upgrade machines, the newer machines should go to the tax “grinders” that have the
most production hours, where they can have the greatest positive economic benefit, rather than be
allocated by status. We suggest you upgrade your monitor specifications to at least 17”, and preferably to
19” (for those with enough desk space). Monitors tend to last 3-5 years and we feel you will benefit way
beyond the additional cost by being able to have more information on the screen at one time.
Laptop Workstations: Laptops today are a very effective business tool for accountants where the laptop
is their only computer. We are fully aware that laptops cost more and have a shorter useful life (two
years), but by purchasing laptops with Mhz six months behind the leading edge and current RAM
standards, we feel they are cost justifiable. Studies have shown that many laptop users work an
additional 2-10 hours per week, which can negate the additional cost. We recommend you plan on
purchasing adequate laptops for all personnel working out of the office consistently at least one day per
week, and plan on replacing all laptops every two years. Splitting the purchases between two years
makes maintenance more difficult but is better than trying to make laptops last three years. Minimum
specifications for laptops today should be 733Mhz with 256Mb Ram.
We recommend you purchase all your new laptops with internal modems and Ten-key pads but suggest
you buy port replicators instead of docking stations as they add a layer of complexity to network
maintenance. In addition, the firm should acquire modem line testers (Konnex or Port-$29) and
digital/analog converters (Konnex USB-$169). These line testers/converters will allow your personnel to
connect from any client office without risk of damage to their laptop or to the clients phone system.
Finally, we strongly encourage you to buy security locks (such as the Kensington cable-$39) for use in the
field.
We are often asked if we saw many firms leasing, rather than buying PCs. In general, we have only seen
the national firms lease laptops (two year replacement cycle), as most CPA firms prefer to purchase and
extend the life of PCs as backups or by utilizing Citrix. EMPLOYEE mentioned that she had already done
a buy vs. lease analysis for the Management Committee, in which she recommended leasing, so we did
not duplicate the effort. As your firm has more than half of its computers as laptops (and this percentage
is projected to grow) we would concur with your leasing decision. Additionally, you may consider leasing
these laptops for a 30-month period to help spread out the transition period. For ease and consistency of
budgeting, we have included a purchase, rather than lease price for your laptop computers.
Backup Computers: It is important to have one or two backup computers (both desktop and laptop) on
the shelf ready to be used for personnel as backup computers. When it is determined that a machine can
not be easily fixed, the machine should be immediately swapped out to minimize the down time for the
end user. This is especially important in Chicago and San Diego where maintenance is outsourced and a
timely response is not always available.
Printer Production: The cost of printers has come down dramatically in the past year. With the
standardization of Microsoft NT for your networks, you will be able to utilize NT printer pooling that allows
two side-by-side machines that are configured exactly the same to look and act as one increasing you
throughput. At the high-end, the HP 8150N prints 32ppm (pages per minute) -$2,449, in the mid-range,
the HP 4050N prints 17ppm-$1,478, and at the individual level the HP 1100xi prints 8ppm-$375. Please
note: the original HP1100 that was introduced last year for $300 is no longer available in the US. We
have found it is very cost effective to place an HP 1100 on individual’s desks that regularly print
letterhead, envelopes, or forms as it reduces the impact on tax and audit production printers that should
be dedicated to standard white paper production. For portable printers, the industry is going through a
transition where the laser printers have come down so much in price that we believe our traditional
portable inkjet printers are being phased out. HP and Canon have traditionally produced the best
products (with the Canon having a much higher per page price). We recommend the firm standardize on
one printer brand throughout the firm and load the printer drivers on all laptops to minimize printing issues
in the field. In the short term, it will probably be the Canon BJ85, but we feel there will be a transition next
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
Page 6 of 18
year to an HP printer that may require that we carry a larger audit bag into the field or work entirely in a
paperless environment.
Chicago: To increase printer capacity with minimal cost, we recommend you move the Palo Alto 5si
printer to Chicago to implement NT printer pooling. We also recommend you purchase at least one HP
1100 and place it at the front desk for administration.
Personal Digital Assistants: We feel very strongly that the usage of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs)
such as the Palm Pilot improve productivity within firms. In addition to securing updated data at the
earliest possible time, the data is backed up on the owners PC and the firm network for additional
redundancy. We recommend the firm purchase Palm Pilots for the remaining Partners and Managers
that work consistently out of the office. In year two, we believe the firm should standardize on them for all
personnel that work out of the office at least one day per week. The current model we recommend is the
Palm Vx because of its slimmer form factor. In the next year, other Palm alternatives such as the
Handspring Visor, Sony Clie, or the Microsoft-enabled Pocket PC may be a more functional and cost
effective solution.
Scanners: The cost of scanning technology has come down dramatically and we think it is important that
you get comfortable with the technology. We feel that scanning technology is very effective for email
delivery of any document that you would normally copy and distribute manually or route to multiple
people. Your Chicago office also suggested it as a method for capturing deposit slips and storing them
digitally rather than on paper. A scanner and software can be implemented for less than $200. We
recommend the Visioneer 8600USB and the PaperPort Deluxe software for its ease of use. The viewing
software is free and must be loaded on all computers to view attachments sent via email. We
recommend the each office acquire a scanner and implement it at an administrative person’s desk
(teaching two or three people to use the application).
Workstation OS: We recommend your currently stay at Windows 98 Second Edition through this next
busy season and then evaluate the move to Windows 2000 professional. We have had two firms make
the switch, both of which had access to IT personnel with significant NT Workstation experience.
Windows 2000 is an upgrade to NT Workstation (which highlighted the weakness of our somewhat
unstable accounting software). We recommend you to test it thoroughly this summer on your accounting
applications prior to committing to a move (or at least be prepared to move back to Windows 98SE for the
departments that are adversely impacted by the upgrade). We have concerns that VPM will have
problems but heard from two NCO users in San Diego that they were using VPM on Windows 2000
workstations. We have heard from some Windows 2000 users that it can take over 100Mb RAM to load
the basics, which will be a problem for all your existing machines that have 128Mb of RAM or less. (This
is why we recommend you begin buying all production machines with 256Mb RAM from this point
forward).
Business Continuation: Your firm’s only protection against loss of data is ensuring that backups are
made daily and kept offsite. Each location is making backups to some degree; we encourage you
standardize on full-system daily backups with permanent monthly tapes kept offsite in two different
locations.
San Francisco: During our interviews, we heard that you are currently making full system backups, which
are being rotated offsite on a weekly basis in one location. We also heard you are making and keeping
permanent monthly/annual archives in an additional location. We suggest you improve this by taking your
two-day old tapes off site on a daily basis as an additional precaution. Please note this is critically
important in San Francisco at the current time as there is no redundancy in your current fileservers. If you
have a hard crash, it could take 2-3 additional days to become functional if a new server must be
acquired.
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
Page 7 of 18
Chicago: We recommend you buy 3 additional “Friday” backup tapes, 12 permanent monthly tapes and
immediately begin taking full system backups offsite (in at least two locations). Additionally, as not tapes
have been tested since April, we recommend you immediately test your current backups to see if they are
valid and begin testing monthly.
San Diego: We recommend you begin taking two day old tapes offsite on a daily vs. weekly basis and
keep permanent monthly tapes offsite in a second location.
Help Desk/Support Application: One of the IT hallmarks of successful firms is the standardization of all
equipment and applications. Once this has happened, the firm can utilize a centralized helpdesk
application to record and respond to issues. A firm of your size should either use a help desk application
(such as Blue Ocean) or develop one internally utilizing Microsoft Access. We will provide you with a
sample database developed by one of our clients that will work well with your firm once the support
infrastructure is stabilized. Until a team is designated and firm infrastructure standardized, we suggest
each office track all computer “instances” and resolutions in an Excel spreadsheet locally. After adequate
personnel have been hired, we recommend you schedule them for maximum daily coverage (7am to
7pm) and schedule individuals on call for busy season deadline dates.
Computer/Internet Usage Policy: We are not strong proponents of Internet monitoring software as they
often cause degradation in network access to the Internet. Instead, we recommend you have a
computer/Internet usage policy that clearly states what is acceptable (and unacceptable) usage. Virtually
every firewall/proxy product allows for logging of sites visited so you can be made aware of any employee
abuses. We will provide you a sample policy that we created for the AICPA MAP Handbook.
Virus Software: Virus software that is updated on a real time basis, is critical in today’s environment.
You are currently running Norton Antivirus, which is one of the top three virus products on the market and
your personnel stated that they were updating the footprint consistently, which we feel is important. We
recommend you automate this process as much as possible.
UPS: Uninterruptable Power Supplies are important for maintaining constant power to your equipment.
Currently your Chicago and San Diego Offices do not have any in place so we recommend you
implement adequate protection immediately and train one or two additional personnel to safely shut down
the fileserver. In addition, you mentioned problems the San Francisco office experienced with power
filtering within your office and that five of your desktops were already on UPS devices. If you continue to
have problems with workstations power cutting off or corruption, we suggest you purchase additional UPS
devices. Additionally, make sure your people understand how to turn on the AutoSave feature within the
Office products and to save their data regularly to minimize the impact of lost information.
Equipment Security: It is important that your server equipment be adequately protected in a secure
environment. We noticed that your San Francisco office has a lock on the door, but two large windows
that could provide access. You may want to consider safety glass or other alternatives to secure the
room.
Chicago: Your server is in an unsecured area next to your copier, phone system, and fax with
unobstructed access. We recommend you find a way to physically secure this fileserver (either in a
locked room or cabinet) with adequate ventilation and air conditioning.
Password Security: Each of your offices had issues utilizing passwords. We recommend you require
that everyone change their password prior to busy season and mandate everyone change least every six
months. The standard expectation for a password is that it is at least 6 characters long and have at least
one number or punctuation symbol. Passwords can only be utilized once, and not repeated.
We also recommend you incorporate screensaver security passwords to discourage other people from
accessing your computers when they have been dormant for a set period of time (in case the are left
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
Page 8 of 18
unattended or “on” overnight. We also recommend you immediately incorporate password security on
Modem dial-in to remote access services (RAS) such as in Chicago or disconnect the line.
Firewall: We are concerned with your lack of security within the network. When we contacted VENDOR,
the salesman had stated that they had firewalls in place and adequate security, but they could not outline
exactly what was in place. During our visit to your Palo Alto office we used grc.com’s network probe and
were able to find open NetBios ports, which is a standard security hole. Additionally, we were able to get
access in San Francisco to a variety of data directories from the Internet utilizing hastalavista.com’s test
utility. We feel that firewall security is a critical network responsibility and should be implemented by
professionals. We recommend that VENDOR first lock down their components of the network and verify
they are working and then implement a firewall or proxy server outside of each network connection.
Remote Access: Remote access will be a critical need of firms moving forward. We have divided our
recommendations into two phases. Phase one will be to get your VPM practice management acceptable
usage through this busy season and Phase two will be to expand usage to all applications by remote
personnel and possibly even to San Francisco Desktops as the PC inventory ages.
Phase One: Your firm has some experience with remote dial-in via a Citrix server, as Palo Alto
administrative support personnel and some remote users from the San Francisco office have utilized it to
enter their timesheets over the WAN or through a dial-up line. Unfortunately, it has not been fully utilized,
as your server is limited to the amount of user capacity (128Mb RAM is OK for 4-6 users) and bandwidth
has been limited. We feel the implementation of two full scale Citrix servers will allow 50-60 concurrent
VPM Open users to enter daily timesheets via the WAN or Internet connection. Also, by having all laptop
users connect from the field via the Internet either through Citrix (VPM Open) or being trained to properly
synchronize VPM Mobile via dial-up. This will require that the firm buy an additional Internet service for
the Chicago and San Diego offices for remote synchronization of Outlook and VPM Mobile, leaving the
WAN for those connected directly too it (be sure to include firewall/proxy protection at each location). We
feel this will improve VPM performance enough to get through busy season.
Phase Two: Phase two will entail the firm evaluating which applications you would want to access
remotely and adjusting bandwidth and expanding equipment if necessary. If the firm wishes to expand
Citrix to 100 concurrent users, two additional Citrix servers will need to be installed.
WAN/Internet Bandwidth: We agree with your personnel that a major reason for the difficulty of utilizing
your WAN, interoffice telecommunications, and Internet connectivity (for all offices except Palo Alto) is
due to inadequate bandwidth. When your network was originally designed, you were told that VPM only
required 10K of bandwidth per user and the WAN was designed to give Palo Alto 256K of “pipe” while
San Diego and Chicago were each given 128K to do VPM Open over the WAN. In addition to this, you
requested that a certain amount of this bandwidth be given to interoffice telecommunications and that the
Chicago and San Diego offices also use their bandwidth for Internet connectivity (which they shared 512k
of Internet access with San Francisco). What no one anticipated was the explosive impact the Internet
would have on your available bandwidth. Palo Alto alleviated some of their bandwidth restriction by
moving their Internet connection to a DSL line getting over 1,200K for under $350 per month (but
providing a security problem). We suggest you provide separate Internet access from your San Diego and
Chicago offices and dedicate the WAN to VPM Open timesheet entry and reporting. It will also be
imperative that you place firewall protection (a Microsoft NT proxy server will suffice in the short-term)
between each of your offices and their Internet connection.
To complicate WAN matters, all technical personnel that were involved with the original WAN design were
not available and existing personnel did not know the technical specifications, which were not listed any
of the original invoices or contracts we were provided. We contacted the newly assigned VENDOR
representative who was not familiar with your current system, but promised to meet with a system
engineer to deliver a comprehensive summary of your WAN design and current utilization reports. We
are curious to see the current bandwidth allocated to your interoffice phone connections as the cost of
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
Page 9 of 18
long distance has gone down dramatically (possibly to the point where it would be advised to pay for
interoffice phones at the reduced rate to free up more bandwidth for VPM). As your people in San Diego
informed us, most bypass the interconnected phone as the quality is unacceptable.
Because of this situation, we were not able to do a more thorough review of your WAN infrastructure. We
suggest you proceed by first finding out from VPM updated statistics for operating VPM Open over a
frame relay (WAN) line and the specifications required to run it via a Citrix server. Additionally, it will be
important to contact VPM to provide you with updated requirements for operating the new 32bit VPM
Mobile via the WAN connection and over a dial-up connection via Citrix (through the Internet). Another
option to explore will be if your personnel only enter time at the end of the day, it may be more effective to
use Citrix’s nFuse product, which will allow personnel to enter their time over a web browser. The next
step is to have VENDOR analyze your current WAN utilization to ensure adequate bandwidth is available
for running VPM Open from each office (for interoffice connections) as well as the requirements to
transfer VPM Mobile time. The firm should then negotiate with VENDOR for any additional bandwidth
requirements for required to support VPM Open via the WAN.
Chicago: If DSL (or other expanded Internet service) is not available in Chicago, the WAN line will need to
be expanded to accommodate their additional requirements, which we would expect to be 256k for their
usage. Also, as a reminder, the Chicago lease is up for renewal next year. You will want to factor the
cost of moving the WAN/Internet lines or consider a location with cost-effective and available bandwidth.
San Diego: Even with the addition of Internet access, because of the size of the office, it may be
necessary to increase the WAN “pipe” to 256k. Once you have the updated bandwidth requirements from
VENDOR and VPM, you will be able to more accurately make the decision on this issue (including fixing
the telephone “clipping” problem).
Please note as we read the VENDOR contract, they promised to meet with you on a monthly basis “to
review and report the state of this Agreement based on performance, service, uptime, training,
maintenance, support and staffing.” The VENDOR contract also stated they would do an annual review
which would also include “sharing any additional savings that may be achieved through an increase in
technology, increase in productivity, or Company’s ability to negotiate a decrease in equipment cost
related to the per user monthly addition charge.” As WAN design has evolved significantly in the two
years since the contract was signed, and competition from DSL, Cable and microwave have entered the
market, we feel you should be able to negotiate additional bandwidth or a reduced fee based on their
reduction in costs.
IT Benchmarks: Your firm has requested industry standards to see how you compare with other firms. In
general, industry studies find most technologically capable CPA firms spending between 6% and 7% of
net fees for multi-office firms on Hardware, Applications and Infrastructure (but no salaries), as outlined in
the attached budget. From a workstation perspective, we normally see firms spend between $6,500 and
$8,000 per user each year. Please note that this is significantly less than the Gartner Group’s 1998-1999
study that estimated that the average total cost of ownership for a Windows 95/98 workstation was
between $7,500 and $10,000 in a Fortune 1000 company. The difference being those firms that had
implemented standardization and those that had not. We feel our figures are extremely conservative as
most larger companies have a fraction of the software we have, it changes less frequently, and is much
more standardized.
IT Recapture: We feel that technology is an investment that must be recouped by the firm. We generally
calculate the cost of technology per charge hour (usually $5-$7), and raise our billing rates accordingly.
Your staff told us you also had a 6% overhead factor which could be increased to accommodate your
technology fee but that it was already difficult to collect. In this case, we would encourage raising rates
instead of increasing your overhead %. We have consistently found in our firms that throughout the year,
your firm’s productivity will improve by reducing the amount of downtime and increasing utilization through
training.
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
Page 10 of 18
2-Analyze your departmental processes and procedures. We will interview selected personnel via
group discussions (tax, audit, administration) to determine bottlenecks and redundancy and make
recommendations to improve these situations. We had very successful meetings with the various
departments within your firm and were able to pull together suggestions to streamline processes within
each office. Below we have laid out SAMPLE CPA FIRM top priorities and suggestions for improving the
processes within each department.
Firmwide Applications: SAMPLE CPA FIRM has made a move to the Microsoft Office but is running
multiple versions. We feel it is imperative that the firm evaluate the current skill level of all staff on Word
and Excel, which can be done through a self-assessment. The firm should then provide either computer
or web-based tutorials for beginning users and individual training for intermediate and advanced users.
Excel can be a very powerful tool for auditors to prepare financial statements or produce sampling if they
are taught to perform these functions. We recommend you standardize the setup of the SAMPLE CPA
FIRM “small capital” font on all workstations for use within Word and Excel. Also, simple features such as
the AutoSave command would save your personnel much time as your equipment has frequent lockups.
We also recommend you eliminate the other non-Microsoft Office products (i.e. WordPerfect) as people
will learn faster making the firm more standardized.
Additionally, licensing is a major issue that must be addressed immediately as the firm is at risk. W e
recommend that the firm do an analysis of all existing licenses for Office 97 and Office 2000 (for upgrade
pricing) and buy adequate licenses for all personnel. We were unable to ascertain the exact number of
legal licenses. Based upon our discussions with your people, we estimated that approximately one fourth
of your licenses were valid. Additionally, licenses for single user products (such as PPC, FARS) should
be purchased at a firmwide level, so your personnel do not waste time “unloading” and “reloading”
applications so they can be used individually. We feel these applications can be centralized once a
remote Citrix installation has occurred after busy season.
One important aspect of the accounting profession that is critical to understand is that our environment is
much more difficult to maintain and stabilize than in virtually all other industries. In affect, a CPA firm is
made up of at least four distinct businesses that have very specific needs requiring different hardware
and applications. Tax users require high-end workstations, high printer capacity, and have software that
is updated regularly, not to mention a “crunch” production period that causes stress on staff and
infrastructure. The audit department requires remote working capabilities (laptops), document storage,
version control, and interaction with an administrative pool that must deal with preparing a professional
looking product. Client service personnel have to deal with multiple versions of client-generated
documents and data that have to be transferred. And finally, the firm is managed by a common
groupware and time and billing system that have very high-end database needs. Generally, firms have
between 75 and 125 applications that must be supported and maintained in conjunction with all of the
hardware and infrastructure listed above. Also, as the overall accounting market is very small (only about
2,400 firms with 10 members or more in the U.S.), the application developers for our industry are usually
small companies also, which leads to common support issues and conflicts amongst our software. Over
the years, we have heard CPA Firm Owners try to compare the stability of internal systems with other
industries and we feel that this is not a valid comparison as our industry is so much more complex.
Tax Department: Your Firm has is utilizing CLR FastTax, CCH ProSystem Fx and Lacerte for individual
and business production. We strongly recommend you evaluate each of these products after this busy
season and transition to the one that makes the most sense for the firm moving ahead. Except for the
“25-30” multi-state consolidation returns where CLR had an advantage in the past, we feel that CCH is
usually more cost-effective and handles the vast majority of the returns you produce. We recommend
you select a main “tax guru” for business and individual questions and encourage the firm to formalize the
list of product champions for each application (to eventually be placed on the intranet for firmwide
access).
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
Page 11 of 18
We discussed your organizer production, which appeared to be working effectively in each of your offices.
One issue of concern for all CPA firms is in the updating of client information (i.e. phone numbers and
addresses). We suggest that all such changes be forwarded to a central person (such as the front desk)
for updates in all databases including practice management, groupware, and tax applications.
Tax Research and Forms: San Francisco: You stated that your current SCI-net CD-ROM tower was
working fine but that the manufacturer was no longer in business, leaving you a little at risk. We think you
will need to maintain CD-ROMs for at least another year, but will then relegate the tower for remote
access to firmwide applications with a small number of users (such as FARS). VENDOR has included a
quote for a new system if absolutely necessary. We suggest you also consider installing and maintaining
your CDs on your fileserver hard drives, which will allow for faster access for all users. Once your firm
has Internet “web tone” (adequate, reliable and secure Internet connections), you should consider going
to the web-based services as your primary research resource.
Due date monitoring is currently being done through a variety of methods in each location. We heard
that Palo Alto was using Creative Solutions, San Diego was using File in Time and the other offices were
using spreadsheets/databases. With most firms, we suggest they explore the due date capabilities of the
practice management or tax system first. Other practice management products, such as CPASoftware
and tax systems such as CCH, have this capability built in. As we are not aware of VPM’ capabilities in
this area, we cannot comment. To proceed, we recommend the firm first evaluate if VPM has this
capability, then evaluate whether a centralized tax product would have this built in and then evaluate the
viability of a single firmwide product such as the Creative Solutions product for implementation over the
summer.
For tax processing charges, your offices are utilizing a fixed overhead percentage. We commonly see
firms charging a fixed amount (i.e. $75 setup/processing fees), which you may consider.
Most of your offices are still copying final tax returns rather than printing them. A study done by Jack
McClure (Quantum PC Report) this past year alluded to the average CPA firm employee using 30,000
sheets of paper in a year, and that it was cheaper to print than copy. We would encourage you to take
the next step in efficiency and train your personnel to do more on-screen reviewing and would reduce the
amount of paper thrown away and to evaluate to possibility of printing the additional tax return copies
rather than copying them. San Francisco: The San Francisco office has a new administrative duplicator
that has this capability and could easily add additional HP production laser printers to improve the
production process. San Diego: With limited administrative staff, we suggest you dedicate a part-time tax
assembly person during busy season to alleviate time delay in production. This will standardize the
process as your San Diego people stated “many do their own thing to get it out on time.”
As you are aware, we feel that training is a critical component of firms utilizing technology effectively. We
suggest you start out new tax staff by working through computer/web-based tutorials. We have heard
that both CLR and CCH’s tutorials provide standardized training at the base level, which would be more
training then they are currently receiving. In most cases, training can qualify for CPE if properly
documented according to the various State Board of Accountancy rules, and the information managed by
an administrative person (training coordinator).
In addition, we recommend regular tax meetings in the larger offices during busy season with discussion
points and decisions summarized and posted to an intranet for easy searching and access. We also
suggest you distribute any tax documents or newsletters (that do not have copyrights) via scanner and
email rather than copying and distributing manually.
As you eventually get more comfortable with scanning and accessing images, you may want to evaluate
imaging solutions (such as WaterMark) for capturing of tax documents. Most firms have experienced the
difficulty in managing files during the busy season. Firms that have implemented paperless solutions,
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
Page 12 of 18
usually find that it is not cost effective to scan previous year documents and usually start by selecting a
single department to participate and then roll out the rest the next year.
Audit Department: Even though you feel strongly that your audits are already risk-based and very
efficient, we recommend you still consider the AuditWatch program to improve overall audit efficiency.
Our clients have consistently stated that the program paid for itself in the first year and that they would
recommend it. We have commonly seen firms experience 25% reduction in the time of a previous audit
and the lowest improvement we have heard about was 10% across the board. If you have an $8,000,000
audit practice and can save 10% of the time over previous years, you would benefit as long as the
program was less than the cost to implement. Bill Yates stated that you had a quote for $45,000.
Additionally, you had sent an auditor to one of their training programs that came back with good results.
We strongly encourage you to talk to other MRI firms that have gone through the process.
Your firm is currently performing audits using GoSystem Audit, but you are using different versions
(Chicago is still on ACE), which can cause problems when data is transferred (such as files being deleted
without any reason). We were glad to hear that you had scheduled training for May 9, 2001. We strongly
encourage you to set an agenda with the trainer to specifically discuss coding tax groups to bridge data to
your tax returns (both CLR and CCH) and preparation of financial statements directly from GoSystem
Audit. If the GoSystem Audit format is not acceptable to you, have them show you to transfer/link data
into Microsoft Word and Excel and video tape the session for firm standardization and future utilization.
Personnel in each of your offices commented on the amount of time it takes to produce a financial
statement. Please note: we recommend that all auditors make changes on financial statement and
footnote templates (that were rolled over from the previous year) and they bridge the information for the
first draft of the tax return. When administrative staff get the financial statements and footnotes, their
main task is “cosmetics”, which dramatically reduces the production time. Your Chicago office also spoke
of the “edgarization” of financial statements and difficulties with Word. We have no experience with this,
but would suggest you consider utilizing the PDF format if feasible or talking to the GoSystem audit
representative, as well as your internal Audit leadership. Additionally, we recommend you have them
show you how to work on a single client in a field network situation.
Please be aware that there are other “less-paper” applications that provide workpaper container
capabilities. You stated you were also already looking at the programs from McGladrey and Grant
Thornton (through MRI). We have also heard good things about ePace! Software that is built upon Word
and Excel. This product duplicates much of what GoAudit does, but makes for easier financial reporting
and rollover to future years as well as store all of your files in one “package.” We strongly encourage you
to look at the unique needs of your client base (SEC “edgarization” of financial statements) and work with
an audit efficiency expert such as Tom Davis (tcd@tcdcpa.com) who has experience with each of these
products.
Your offices are utilizing some additional applications where they do not have adequate licenses. In
Chicago, they only have one license for FAS depreciation, which is required for one of their clients and
need at least one more.
Another standardized application that all offices should have is Tvalue Amortization. We have found this
to be an invaluable basic tool, but heard that not all of your people had access to it. Our review of your
expenditures led us to believe that you had a limited number of licenses and the application was not
loaded on everyone’s computer. In the past the CPA Firm Associations (MRI) were able to negotiate
firmwide licenses for under $1,000 to ensure that everyone had legal licenses.
SAMPLE CPA FIRM is not currently utilizing any data extraction or sampling applications, but some of
your personnel were importing trial balances utilizing Excel 2000’s data parsing capabilities. As your firm
does not have any commonality (specific niches) in the types of audit clients you work with, we suggest
you standardize the use of Excel and train your personnel on specific data parsing commands. For
instances where you need large scale sampling or specific utilization (such as fraud sampling on
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
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duplicate invoices), we recommend you outsource your data extraction to an expert. We have found that
while such data extraction and analytical tools are very effective, there is a steep learning curve that must
be recouped. Our experience has shown us that it can take 40-80 hours of utilization before an individual
is proficient enough to go into client databases and work efficiently.
Security of data on your laptops is critically important. We suggest you backup your working files each
day and place the disk in audit bags or in the pockets of your auditors. In most cases your GoSystem
Audit data and supporting schedules can be backed up onto a single floppy disk. If you project the
volume of data expanding beyond this in the next year, we would recommend you standardize on a
higher capacity laptop backup solution such as the LS-120 SuperDisk or the Iomega Zip or Clik disk. We
also recommend as a final step in your audit programs/procedure to include the backing up of the final
client files to the network and standardization of its location.
By utilizing field networks, personnel can enter data into a single client file (a unique GoSystem feature),
and then backup data to each other’s computers at the completion of the day. A small hub and cables
utilizing Windows network neighborhood allows this to be performed.
Scheduling for all audit groups is always difficult and we have not seen an accounting practice
management system that works as effectively as a spreadsheet for medium-sized offices. We
recommend you continue utilizing Excel and consider keeping a copy on your intranet that can be easily
viewed and updated. As periods pass, you can hide the previous columns to develop a rolling history.
A final audit issue that we would like to address is your current Independence Notification process that
entails a huge amount of administrative time in each office. If a specific signature is not required of all
staff, a more manageable method would be to set up an email account in San Francisco called
IndependenceNotification@SAMPLE CPA FIRMcpa.com that sends an email to all firm personnel with
the name of the client listed within the subject field. Staff would be asked to reply to each item via email
with a yes or no, providing documentation.
Administrative Department: We feel the firm would definitely benefit by the implementation of an
intranet for the storage of firm manuals, employee rolodex, firmwide web sites, and internal forms. We
are also aware of your concern that the project becomes so large that it completely takes over an
individual’s time. Utilizing FrontPage 2000 will allow your personnel to do centralized updates internally
at a minimum cost and minimum time commitment. We feel the maintenance of your employee extension
list alone will justify the cost as this is currently very inefficient in your offices. We have a FrontPage
template available to assist you with the development of a Microsoft-based intranet. We estimate that
We recommend you standardize on a firmwide file structure organization that utilizes the client name,
year, and individual department files that are utilized by all personnel. We realize there are specific files
(litigation support and final financial statements) that must be secured but these should be the exception
rather than the rule. The current “security” rights that were set up are causing too much lost productivity.
This is especially true in Chicago, where all client files are located in individual’s own data files making it
difficult to access if a person terminates or does not remember who last worked with the document. We
also heard in San Diego that people were unable to access any firmwide shared folders, which negates
the purpose of the public folders.
Practice Management-VPM: Your current VPM implementation needs to be completed and the system
made workable. We heard from all of your outlying offices that there was difficulty in accessing the
system, causing data to be re-keyed multiple times, creating a very inefficient environment. In addition to
slow speed (45 seconds between screens in Chicago), it appears to be causing multiple lockups on the
individual workstations. Additionally, VPM Mobile update can take 30-45 minutes to refresh and posting
takes 3-4 hours every two weeks (San Diego). As mentioned above, we feel the main issue is a
combination of slow WAN connections and lack of training on the part of the end users. We feel that by
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
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“offloading” Internet access in each location, moving VPM Mobile users to Internet connectivity, and
improving throughput utilizing Citrix servers, an acceptable input rate can be achieved via the WAN. We
also recommend you plan on scheduling some re-training in all offices in early February.
Producing reports within any practice management system is always difficult because of the variety of
ways that owners want data presented. Additionally, as VPM utilizes a SQL database, the way that data
is organized is even more complex. We recommend you outsource the production of these reports to
third parties that have more experience.
We also reviewed your financial statement production process and heard that they were not delivered
until the 25th of the month because of the delays caused by VPM. We strongly encourage you to move
billing up one week to allow for firmwide financial statement distribution to within one week of month-end,
improving overall cash flow and providing more timely information. One of the hallmarks of our best firms
is the ability to get their financial information into the hands of partners no later than the 10 th of the month.
For those firms that do daily time sheet entry and more frequent billing, month-end is less of an issue and
firms are able to produce reports on a shorter timeframe.
Marketing: We are all becoming aware that the Internet is providing a whole new level of opportunities
that never existed before. This is very true in the area of marketing, as web sites and email provide an
extremely cost effective method of communicating with clients (with computer access), on a more timely
and frequent basis. In comparison with physical newsletters that must be individually labeled, stamped
and mailed, with a high production cost, the developmental and delivery cost of digital communication to
the same target audience is significantly less. As you collect email addresses from all your clients and
update that information in your practice management and within Outlook at the same time you update
your CCH files. Many companies will have multiple personnel with different email addresses, so it
important to determine which specific personnel will be targeted for which niche e-mailing list.
As we discussed with you, InfoTech Partners has been very successful with focusing on a target niche
and developing this list by collecting email addresses at targeted seminars/trade shows in exchange for
giveaways. In addition, we started our e-mailing list with a membership directory of a specific
Association, with which we are involved. Some of your individuals are utilizing ACT!, which we feel is a
powerful individual organizer, but we have reservations as far as a firm-wide solution. We have found
that in addition to data being rekeyed and maintained in one additional database, the majority of features
that caused you to select the product are never used. In most cases, Outlook has all the functionality that
your personnel require.
If the majority of your e-mailing list is existing clients within Outlook, it is easier to eliminate the duplication
of the database by creating categories within Outlook (such as “Construction eLetter”) and creating a
distribution list. If you want to maintain a simple niche email list, our firm utilizes a Word document that
includes all of our “external” email addresses. The search and replace feature make this a very simple
and effective way to maintain a small niche list. We want to stress very strongly that it is imperative that
you have procedures in place to ensure that you ALWAYS send out group email under the BCC (Blind
Carbon Copy) format to ensure privacy of the list and that you always test every email by first sending it to
someone within the firm and testing each data link to articles.
Regarding content for your niche “eLetters,” we suggest you include a consistent theme that features the
niche expertise of your firm, and personalization from the niche Champion. We suggest you include at
least references/synopsis of one to three feature articles that are targeted to your niche audience with
links to the full text on your web site. When using content developed by other people, be sure you have
authorization, or that you present it in a legal format (such as quoting the article and listing the source).
You may also want to include comments from the niche Champion on why this article would be important
to that client/prospect. The time to get up to speed on desktop publishing applications is extensive.
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
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We reviewed your web site and made general suggestions to update it more frequently. One item we
suggest you do is analyzing the performance of your page. If you go back to www.submit-it.com (where
you added your firm to the main search engines), there is a service that will determine the average load
times of each of your pages (and individual graphics) to help you streamline your site, as well as make
you aware of any missing links.
We also discussed two sites (www.clientsource.com and www.cpaserve.com) that provide frequent
content updates to CPA firms. We have not had any prior contact/experience with these organizations
but would suggest you have your marketing person inquire about them through your existing Association
for Accounting Marketing (AAM) contacts.
Finally, there are many sites that can provide much more thorough marketing tips and experiences than
we can provide, so we would suggest you have your marketing person search through the resources at
www.accountingnet.com, www.accountingweb.com, and www.cpamarketingtips.com to start.
3-Evaluation of your personnel to support and build this infrastructure and direction. We will
analyze the needs of an organization of your size, and determine the number of personnel
required to support it, as well as the overall costs you will incur. The successful implementation of
any plan is dependent on the people responsible and the authority given to them to accomplish the task.
Therefore, it is imperative that SAMPLE CPA FIRM designates the appropriate people and make sure
they are given adequate resources. The first step to successful implementation is to approve the overall
objectives and confirm the technology team. The team will be responsible for implementing the overall
objectives and insuring that the first phase of the plan is completed with minimal impact on busy season.
To successfully implement and manage SAMPLE CPA FIRM information technology infrastructure, we
feel there needs to be two groups: the Overall IT Committee responsible for the implementation of the
plan and the IT Support group, which will maintain the infrastructure once it has been implemented.
Overall IT Committee: One of the goals of our ExSTRM Vision Plan is to help organize and develop the
technology committee to implement the recommendations made within the plan and budget. When we
visited with your personnel, we were looking for a combination of capabilities that we feel will provide you
with the greatest possibility of success.
These capabilities include visionary, integration, implementation and specific departmental skills.
Visionary capabilities are focused on directing where the firm will be in regards to information technology
over the next two years and require those selected for this role to attend industry IT conferences to keep
current. Integration capabilities are the skills needed within SAMPLE CPA FIRM to monitor and
communicate IT plan progress to the firm. Implementation capabilities are the combination of internal and
external resources needed to see that the “hands on” technical implementation of the recommendations
is done properly the first time. And finally, the individual capabilities of your tax, audit, and administrative
personnel that bring first-hand “best practices” experience of your current applications and processes.
For a four-office firm approaching 130 personnel, we would recommend you have a core IT Committee of
no more than seven personnel to keep the group manageable and to assign accountability through
implementation. This group will need to meet weekly through the first phase of the implementation, which
should be completed by January 31, 2001. They will then meet only as needed during the busy season,
and then monthly until the core goals of the plan are accomplished. At that point, the IT Support Group
should be capable of managing the day-to-day operations, and the overall IT committee will only meet as
needed (usually quarterly) to address new issues. During our visits, we had a chance to meet with your
current committee members and firm personnel and suggest the following re-alignment of responsibilities:
IT Co-chairman: For the overall leadership of the IT Committee, we suggest OWNER and
OWNER act as Co-chairman to see that the technology plan is implemented. We feel the
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
Page 16 of 18
combined role will provide leadership and input from the two largest offices as well as on-site
representation in San Francisco during the next few months.
Committee Members: To reduce the number of personnel and increase accountability, we
recommend you make the following personnel the primary members of the committee:
 EMPLOYEE -representing tax and IT training/IT support group issues
 EMPLOYEE -representing audit production issues
 EMPLOYEE - representing San Diego and remote access issues
 EMPLOYEE -representing VPM and administrative issues
 EMPLOYEE -representing the firm’s central network issues until an IT Director can be
located
Other Committee Liaisons: In addition, we recommend that the following personnel be included
as specific department liaisons, but only as needed by the IT Committee on the specific projects:
 EMPLOYEE -VPM Implementation
 EMPLOYEE -VPM training/implementation
 EMPLOYEE -Palo Alto Tax
 EMPLOYEE -Chicago representative
 EMPLOYEE -Palo Alto NCO and industry experience
IT Support Group: In today’s incredibly complex CPA Firm network environment, our general rule of
thumb for a mixed Novell/ NT environment with multiple locations, is one IT related individual for every
twenty personnel. Prior to visiting your firm, we would have estimated that a growing 130 member firm in
four locations would take at least five, and possibly six full-time equivalent personnel to manage your
systems effectively. As you are organized today, you are running IT operations with three internal
personnel and a limited amount of external support. Additionally, your personnel do not have adequate
depth of training and are working with a very unstable and problematic network infrastructure, giving you
the unmanageable situation you have today.
Once your plan has been implemented, you will need a support group capable of maintaining and
growing the infrastructure. We believe the support group should consist of a National Director of
Information Technology, an enterprise-level network administrator, a training coordinator, a help
desk/support person, and at least two system maintenance personnel (which you may have to partially
outsource in Chicago and San Diego). In a perfect world, the IT Support Group for a firm that is planning
on growing to 150 people in the next year would be:



National Director of Information Technology: Your firm should have an internal person at the
owner level dedicated to managing your firm’s future technology direction. This person
should have exceptional knowledge of information technology direction and experience with
managing networks as well as managing IT personnel and projects. Estimated Salary:
$90,000-$125,000.
Enterprise Network Administrator: Network administration requires a full-time person to
monitor the network, provide updates, and be involved in infrastructure discussions. It is
imperative that this person be given regular training and exposure to other network
administrators (join an NT User’s Group). We also suggest they get specialized training as
outlined below. Estimated Salary: $60,000-$90,000.
Training Coordinator: The training coordinator is responsible for administering needs
assessments, developing a training curriculum, providing firmwide application training, and
supporting accounting personnel in presenting courses. We have found that personnel with
good communication skills and an interest in information technology, working at the same
level as the network administrator, and as a liaison with accounting staff, works the most
effectively. We feel that half of all system issues come from a lack of understanding/training
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
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

on the part of the accountants, which further justifies the need for a training coordinator
position. Estimated Salary: $40,000-$60,000. The average salary of twelve CPA firm training
coordinators that attended the 1999 Training Symposium was $46,675.
Help Desk/Support: The firm needs to have a central contact to submit IT issues that will log
the issue, make a basic attempt to resolve the issue (while trying to determine the problem in
more detail), arrange for someone to look at the problem and follow up with staff. This
person should have basic computer skills and works closely with the network administrator
and training coordinator. Estimated Salary: $30,000-$45,000.
System Maintenance Person: We anticipate a firm of your size to require the services of two
system maintenance personnel. You have this today in San Francisco and Palo Alto, but not
in your Chicago and San Diego offices where they are best outsourced to local integrators
that can provide immediate response. Training on basic network and workstation
maintenance (A-Plus) would be very helpful. Estimated Salary $30,000-$45,000.
Evaluation of your existing personnel leads us to believe that you have two system maintenance
personnel (EMPLOYEE and EMPLOYEE) and a VPM Training Person (EMPLOYEE) in place that are
consumed by their current responsibilities. To effectively implement the first phase of the network, the
majority of the work will need to be outsourced and a central person responsible for the implementation.
If the firm cannot locate an IT Director immediately, we feel you must hire/ designate an interim director
capable of monitoring this project or outsource this function.
Please note that we have do not include IT salaries as part of your plan as all of our benchmarks
specifically exclude them. If you do not put an adequate technology team in place, these services will
have to be outsourced to a third-party provider and the amounts added to our budget. We have factored
in an estimate of outsourced network maintenance, which may be duplicated via the VENDOR proposal.
Training for IT Personnel: The speed at which technology is evolving is making it very difficult for any
one person to become proficient at all issues. We annually budget $600 per person for general training
and $5,000 per IT person for training and certification. We suggest you send at least one IT
representative to an industry program annually, such as the AICPA Tech program or one of the larger
CPA Society shows. We would also encourage you to have a representative at one of the COMDEX or
NetWorld+Interop expos at least every other year to find out about specific trends and technologies.
These conferences expose your personnel to the other vendors/products available to our profession as
well as user groups. Finally, one or two of your personnel should be involved in local Microsoft User’s
group where they can be introduced to current Microsoft issues. For personnel education on technology
topics, we would recommend you receive Berst Alerts from ZD.net as they continuously address products
and technologies on the leading edge.
Training for SAMPLE CPA FIRM Personnel: We are very strong proponents of a full-time dedicated
training coordinator as a liaison between your IT Group and your personnel and the development of a
comprehensive training curriculum. Some items we feel your coordinator should be involved with, are the
maintenance of the “product champion” list, which has every application, primary and secondary support
person, and all vendor contact information. A current listing needs to be created and placed on an
Intranet for easy access and maintenance. We feel that all information of this nature should be
distributed via the intranet.
The training coordinator should be responsible for capturing and
standardizing firmwide “best practices.” Also, whenever anyone goes to outside training, the trainer
should schedule in-house training and document the course either with “cheat sheets” or videotaping for
later viewing. This champion/application list could be placed on an intranet for easy access. The training
curriculum should be targeted to each level of staff. We have provided you samples of training position
job descriptions, training curriculums and additional information to help you develop this position.
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP
SAMPLE CPA FIRM
January 14, 2001
Page 18 of 18
4-Education of personnel on current Information Technology decisions. We will present current IT
concepts in a “best practices” format to educate your personnel and to evaluate your issues and
priorities. We have visited each of your four offices and walked through their current technology
processes for tax, audit, and administrative production to recommend solutions to improve their
productivity, with production recommendations in section 2. At the same time we discussed what other
leading firms were doing to provide your personnel a glimpse of what is possible and to get their input on
current issues and priorities, which helped us confirm our overall recommendations. We also met with the
partner group in each office and additional staff groups in Palo Alto and San Francisco to present an
industry overview to ensure owner input and general staff input were obtained and were in line with the
specific department findings. Additionally, we visited with representatives from your Litigation Support,
Real Estate, and National Consulting Office to evaluate whether they had additional needs beyond the
rest of the CPA Firm. From these meetings, we feel we were adequately able to provide awareness of
today’s technologies and tools as well as get user feedback.
We are now recommending a critical implementation during the next six weeks, which will have an impact
on everyone as we will be working to standardize your groupware (Outlook) and working to stabilize VPM,
in addition to rolling out local infrastructure changes at each office. We feel these changes will be
successful if they are effectively communicated to your personnel and adequate training provided. For
this to occur, you will need to have a training coordinator in place as well as a standardized training
curriculum, which we have provided to you in an electronic format.
Conclusion
The effective implementation of any plan begins with action on the part of the owners. We believe that
the schedule to implement before January 31, 2001 is feasible only if you begin immediately.
SAMPLE CPA FIRM will need to update the plan on an annual basis to adjust for growth and new
evolutions in technology. We suggest that the team meets annually with your network integrator to
update the plan and that members attend industry technology sessions where they can keep abreast of
changes affecting the accounting and financial markets.
We have prepared a technology budget based on documentation provided to us and an on-site review of
your infrastructure. Actual prices will vary depending on local vendor pricing for equipment and services,
purchase quantity discounts, and any incurred travel expenses. We will be available to answer any
questions you have regarding this technology plan and budget.
We hope you feel your objectives for this engagement have been accomplished. If this is not so, please
contact us immediately to discuss what we can do to complete this engagement to your satisfaction.
ExSTRM Vision Technology Plan and Budget Prepared by Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA, CITP