I’m always curious about what another golfer has in his or her bag. 60-degree wedge? Belly Putter? Callaway driver? You can tell a lot about a golfer by what he carries.
The same is true with, “what’s on a CPA’s computer desktop?” Our desktops say a great deal about how we think and get things done.
So, in the interest of sharing, here are some things on my desktop. Hopefully, you’ll see some ideas that you can use.
With one click I can see all of the practice aids I’ve subscribed to, things like:
Engagement letters
Audit programs
Risk assessment forms
Letters to those charged with governance
I also have access to PPC’s Interactive Disclosure Libraries. I use this to find sample note disclosures.
2. The peer review general audit engagement checklist.
With one click, I can see what the AICPA peer review checklist says about work papers. (There are many more peer review checklists, but this one provides a generic quick look.)
3. The most recent PPC disclosure checklist.
The checklist provides me with quick answers to disclosure questions.
Finally, let me recommend Fences (by Stardock) for Windows-based systems. It allows you to group your desktop icons into one area of your screen (e.g., Research).
Do you ever find yourself digging through hundreds of emails to find one message? You know it’s there somewhere, but you can’t put your electronic finger on it. Use Slack to communicate by project–that way, you’ll have all messages (by project, e.g., individual audit engagement) in one place.
What is Slack?
Slack is software designed to allow project teams–e.g., audit team–to send and store messages. Why use Slack rather than traditional email? Messages are stored by channel (by project), making itmuch easier to see project conversations.
The Slack website says the following:
Most conversations in Slack are organized into public channels which anyone on your team can join. You can also send messages privately, but the true power of Slack comes from having conversations everyone on the team can see. This transparency means it’s quick to find out what’s going on all across the team, and when someone new joins, all the information they need is laid out, ready for them to read up on.
How CPAs Use Slack
How can you as a CPA or auditor use Slack?
Create a channel for each project, and ask all team members to communicate using Slack (rather than email).
In CPA firms, some activities are year-round such as quality control reviews (we perform several hundred a year). Other activities are a true project, such as an audit engagement. Either way, you can use a separate (Slack) channel to communicate and store all related messages.
Using Slack for Quality Control Reviews — An Example
Below you see an example of how Heather, my associate, and I use Slack to communicate about file reviews in our quality control department. By doing so, we can see who is doing what and when. Also, all of the messages are searchable by channel. So, suppose I’m wondering when we reviewed the ABC Bank engagement. I can search the CPR (cold partner review) channel to see who performed the review and when. Notice, in this channel, Heather and Iare posting status comments. We do so for the following reasons:
To create a history of each review
To notify each other that the review has commenced (Slack automatically sends a notification message to those included in a channel)
To select our quality control channel, I click the CPR channel on the left (where all the channels appear). Once I click CPR, I see the most recent messages for this channel.
Made with Stitcher
Audits – Another Example
Think about a typical audit. You have three to five team members, with some individuals coming and going. To maintain continuity, you need a message board that allows all audit team members to see what is going on. That’s what Slack does when you create a channel for a particular audit. Think of it as a message board in the cloud since the designated personnel can see the audit communications with their PC, iPad, or cell phone.
Other Advantages of Slack
Advantages of Slack include the following:
Accessibility from all devices, including cell phones and tablets
Shareability of documents such as PDFs and spreadsheets
Configurable notifications of messages to team members
Private messaging (when needed)
Basic plan is free
Give It a Try
The best way to see how Slack works is to try it yourself. You don’t need any training since it’s easy to use. To see more information about Slack, click here.
A cell phone is an auditor’s Swiss knife. And with all the options, I am continually looking for another way to use mine. So I’m sharing my ideas with the hope that you will likewise share yours. While I use an iPhone, I realize there are plenty of other nifty cell phones; my comments below are directed not at a particular phone but how I use mine as an auditor.
Below you will see a screenshot of my cell phone home screen and information concerning how I use various apps.
An Auditor’s Cell Phone
Camera
I use this iPhone app to capture pictures of documents as I perform internal control walkthroughs. I embed these pictures in my walkthrough documentation. A picture says a thousand words. If the person explaining the accounting system creates pictures on a whiteboard, I take photos of the drawings.
Sometimes I need a copy of a page from a hardback book (e.g., research); rather than using the copy machine, I take a picture of the page and email it.
Keynote is Apple’s version of Powerpoint. I build the Keynote slide deck for presentations and use my phone to present. If you use iCloud, the slide deck you create on your iPad will automatically appear on your iPhone (if your settings are right).
You can also present a Keynote slide deck using your iPad as the presentation device and your iPhone as a remote. Your iPhone moves the slides of the iPad slide deck as you stand at a distance. Both devices (iPad and iPhone) must be on the same wifi for the remote feature to work.
I buy most of my books using the one-click option in Amazon. Most books are 50% less in price (or more) than physical books. You can highlight books you read and then create a summary of those highlights (which I then place in my searchable Evernote account–see below); you can copy and paste these highlights to Word or other software.
If I am waiting on a plane, taxi, a friend, a doctor, etc., I have all my books handy for reading. You can even purchase my fraud prevention or SSARS 21 books (shameless advertising, yes I’m guilty).
I love Evernote! It is my cloud storage, and at $70 per year for the premium version, it provides me with tremendous power. All the research I have performed and stored is available everywhere I go. All the articles I have saved are at my fingertips. (And it is so easy to store information in this application.) At present, I have thousands of screenshots, websites, articles, presentations, conversations, books, pictures, and answered research issues. It’s my knowledge library.
You can use this app to record conversations that are automatically loaded into Evernote.
Dropbox
I also use Dropbox to store some documents. Most apps connect well with Dropbox, and it handles large video or audio files well.
I save all my passwords in 1Password. No more wondering how I’m going to get into my computer with a password I’ve forgotten–again (I know this never happens to you).
Messages
I text my audit team members to see how things are going. Messaging is much more efficient than calling if the communication is short. (You can also take a picture of anything with Camera and message the picture. If your audit team member needs to see something on your computer screen, take a picture of it and message the shot to them with comments.)
Don’t want to type the message? Just say it out loud, and the app will record your words for sending.
My Fantastical calendar app syncs with my Outlook calendar, so regardless of where I am, I can check my appointments and schedule the same. I can also add reminders in Fantastical, so I don’t forget the milk.
I read the Wall Street Journal to keep abreast of current events. This WSJ app provides me access to one of the best newspapers in America (and there aren’t many these days).
Siri
While not an app, I push the button on my iPhone and Siri asks me what I want to do. This is how I make phone calls by simply saying, “call my wife,” for example. I also send texts (or emails) the same way by saying “send a text to C.S. Lewis”; then I tell Siri what I want to say–works amazingly well; she even understands my southern accent (and that, my friends, is truly amazing).
What About You?
How do you use your cell phone at work? I would love to hear from you.