Accountant’s Scanning System: How to Build

By Charles Hall | Technology

In this article, I tell you how to build an accountant’s scanning system.

Are you overwhelmed by stacks of paper? Do you find it difficult to locate the information you know you have? Today, I teach you how to build an accountant’s scanning system.

Accountant’s Scanning System

I have the privilege of visiting other CPA firms, and our firm has about 120 people, so I have the opportunity to see plenty of offices. It is my observation that some CPAs are paperless, but many are not.

One problem with “paper everywhere” is we can’t find what we need. We have it (somewhere), but we can’t find it. Scanning is the easiest way to capture and organize the paper monster.

To create order, take three steps:

1. Buy a scanner
2. Build a scanning structure
3. Build scanning habits

1. Buy a Scanner

My scanner is a Fujitsu iX500. (There is a newer model now, the iX1500.) It sits just to my right in my office, so I don’t have to leave my desk to scan. Convenience is key to creating order. Otherwise, you will think I’ll scan that later, but it doesn’t happen. Then the paper litters your desk–and distracts you.

The iX1500 costs $420, so it’s not a huge cash outlay. The scanner’s footprint is small (the dimensions are 11.5 x 6 x 6.3 inches) and it weighs 7.5 pounds. Also, the scanner comes with  software (ScanSnap) that offers you destinations such as these:

I often scan to Evernote, my cloud-based library. (Amazon also offers Fujitsu ScanSnap iX1500 Document Scanner with Evernote Premium.) If I were buying my first scanner and didn’t have cloud-based storage, this would be my choice.

Another favorite destination: Caseware, our paperless engagement software. 

2. Build a Scanning Structure

So, of course, when you scan, you need final resting places for your documents.

My two primary file locations are:

• Evernote for non-engagement documents
• Caseware for engagement documents

Non-Engagement Documents

If you’ve followed my blog, you know I’m a raving Evernote lunatic. Why? 

• Ease of use 
• Notebooks (you use notebooks to organize your documents)
• Tags (you can tag each note with multiple tags, making it easy to find the material)
• Feed-ability (I can feed Evernote from my scanner, email, clip-apps, drag and drop, and many other ways)
• Find-ability (Evernote even recognizes hand-written notes making it possible to search electronically and find keywords–even if written)
• Accessibility (I can access Evernote from my iPhone, iPad, and desktop)
• Cost (paid version starts at $7.99 per month; they do offer a free version but with limitations)
• Allows storage of a variety of documents (including Excel, Word, PDF, Audible files)

There are other cloud-based storage systems such as OneNote and Dropbox. Pick one and learn it well.

Engagement Documents

If your audit and tax services are not already paperless, consider making the leap. We have used Caseware for years and, personally, I love it. We use this software for storage of the following engagement files:

• Tax
• Audit
• Reviews
• Compilations
• AUPs

My firm has built templates for each of these services, so everyone in our firm knows where documents (including scans) belong.

To scan promptly, you need to build habits, so creating a repeatable, mental system is critical to the process.

3. Build Scanning Habits

Build your scanning habits. My system is as follows:

• If it takes less than two minutes to scan, scan now
• If it takes more than two minutes, I place the paper in a file tray where I will later batch process
• Scan all paper by the end of the day
• Don’t leave unscanned paper on my desk (it’s a distraction)
• Keep a shred box just below my scanner (where I place sensitive paper documents)
• For long documents (e.g., CPE workbook), ask an assistant to break down the paper copy, scan it, and email it to me (I don’t use my Fujitsu scanner for heavy-duty scanning. We have a copy machine that will convert large scans to PDF.)

Like any new habit, new scanning actions will–at first–feel awkward and inconvenient. But push through the pain and the actions will become routine. (Some of the above thoughts come from David Allen’s book: Getting Things Done—one of the best productivity books you’ll find.)

Act Now

You may feel like the above will take too much time to implement, especially if you have lots of paper. So how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Schedule your scanning plan. Pick two days a week and put one hour a day on your calendar. Then attack. Slay your paper monster. I dare you.

More Evernote Information

For more information about Evernote, check out these posts:

Evernote for CPAs

Seven Ways to Feed Evernote

Tips on Searching Your Evernote Account

Independence in Attest Engagements

By Charles Hall | Auditing , Preparation, Compilation & Review

Independence in attest engagements in critical. 

Peer reviewers continue to focus on independence documentation. Today I’ll provide you with examples of what peer reviewers are looking for and guidance to keep you out of hot water.

Documentation of Nonattest Services

Peer reviews focus upon nonattest services provided to attest clients. How do we know? Well, see the peer review checklist question below (for an attest engagement).

The big “no-no” is to assume management responsibilities and then perform an attest service. Why? Performing management responsibilities impairs your independence. 

Preparing Financial Statements

Below is another question from the peer review checklists. Notice the first item below: Accepting responsibility for the preparation and fair presentation of the client’s financial statements. The client (not the auditor) must assume responsibility for the financial statements. 

If the client can’t–or is unwilling to–assume responsibility for the financial statements, then we are not independent, and we cannot perform an audit or a review. This assumption of responsibility does not mean the client has the ability to create financial statements, but it does mean that:

• that the client will oversee the nonattest service,
• the client will evaluate the adequacy and results of the nonattest service, and
• the client will accept responsibility for the nonattest service

If we prepare financial statements and perform an audit, review, or compilation, we have performed a nonattest service and an attest service. Why is this important? Because if we perform a nonattest service and an attest service for the same client, we must assess our independence. And if we are not independent, then we can’t perform an audit or review engagement. (It is permissible to perform the compilation engagement when independence is impaired, but the accountant must say–in the compilation report–that he is not independent.)

Other Peer Review Questions

The peer review checklists also ask for:

• The name and title of the client personnel overseeing the nonattest service and
• A description of the accountant’s “assessment and factors leading to your satisfaction that the client personnel overseeing the service had sufficient skills, knowledge and experience.”

Separate Form to Document Independence

So do we need a separate form in our file to document independence?

It certainly would not hurt, and I suggest that you do. PPC and CCH offer such forms (and I am sure other work paper providers do the same). These forms provide a place to document all nonattest services and to assess and document our client’s ability to assume responsibility for the nonattest services.

The PPC and CCH forms also address the cumulative effect of performing multiple nonattest services. The AICPA has stated that the performance of multiple nonattest services can impair independence. So you should document your consideration of whether the cumulative nonattest services create a problem. Peer review checklists ask if we documented this consideration.

Additionally, if significant threats are present, the accountant should document the safeguard(s) used to mitigate the risk. This documentation is particularly crucial in Yellow Book engagements. The PPC and CCH independence forms will assist you with this documentation. Below are peer review checklist questions:

Alignment in Independence Documentation

We should–in the engagement letter–specify the nonattest services and the responsibilities of management. If you are performing an audit or a review engagement, add additional language to the representation letter regarding the nonattest services performed and the client’s responsibility for those services.

So I am suggesting you document the nonattest services in three places:

• Engagement letter,
• Independence form, and
• Representation letter (when relevant)

And when you do, please make sure the nonattest services listed in each document are the same. 

Nonattest Services and Independence

Here’s a video that explains nonattest services and how to document your independence in regard to them.

25 Ways Fraud Happens: Audit Brainstorming

By Charles Hall | Fraud

As auditors perform their fraud brainstorming, it helps to have ideas to consider. So today I provide you with 25 ways fraud happens. 

25 Ways Fraud Happens

Here’s a list of common company thefts:

1. Collection clerk steals cash prior to recording it
2. Collection clerk steals cash after recording a customer receipt; he voids the receipt and adjusts (writes down) the customer’s account
3. Collection clerk places a personal check (for $5,000) in the cash drawer and takes an equivalent amount of cash; the clerk leaves the check in the drawer for months—in effect the clerk has an unauthorized loan
4. The cash collections supervisor steals cash after receiving funds from collection clerks but before the money is deposited; she adjusts the related bank reconciliation by the amount stolen
5. The person opening the mail steals checks before they are receipted; these amounts had not previously been recorded as a receivable
6. Employees steal capital assets (knowing that no one performs periodic inventories)
7. Employees use company credit cards for personal purchases but code the transactions as company expenses
8. Accounts payable clerks cut checks to themselves (or to an accomplice) but record the check as company expenses; the check signatures are forged
9. Accounts payable clerks establish fictitious vendors using their own addresses, a P.O. Box, or that of an accomplice; payments are made to the fictitious vendor and covered up with fictitious invoices; the checks are signed electronically as they are printed
10. Accounts payable employee intentionally double-pays an invoice, then requests that the vendor refund the extra payment (with the refund going directly to the payable clerk)—check is converted to personal use
11. Payroll personnel increase the pay rate—in the master pay rate file—for themselves or for friends working in the company
12. Payroll personnel pay themselves (or friends) twice for each payroll
13. Payroll personnel purposefully overpay withholding taxes and inflate the withholding amount on their own W-2, resulting a tax refund that includes the excess payments
14. Purchasing department personnel are bribed by a vendor; the vendor recoups the bribe costs by inflating its subsequent invoices
15. State, city, county elected officials are bribed; the vendor recoups the bribe costs by inflating its subsequent invoices
16. Vendors give favors (e.g., free vacations) to those with the power to buy—commonly called a gratuity; vendor recoups the cost of the favors by inflating its subsequent invoices
17. CEO orders accounts payable staff to make payments to himself (with an implied threat); payments are coded in a manner that hides the payment
18. Money is wired by the CFO to the CFO but is recorded as a legitimate expense using a journal entry
19. Money is wired to the CFO who then leaves the country without trying to cover up the theft
20. The CEO or CFO makes payments to someone who is threatening their life or is blackmailing them; the expense is coded as legitimate
21. A secret bank account is opened in the name of the business by the CFO but the sole authorized check signer is the CFO; checks are made from a legitimate business bank account to the secret bank account; the CFO writes checks to himself from the secret account
22. A sales person steals rebate checks that belong to the company; she deposits the checks into her personal bank account by writing “pay to the order of…” on the back of the check
23. The payables clerk writes a manual check to himself and then records the check with a journal entry that reflects a legitimate vendor
24. The CFO inflates revenue at year-end with fictitious journal entries; stock prices go up; the CFO sells personally-owned company stock, then the CFO reverses the year-end accruals
25. The inventory clerk steals stock and covers the theft by altering the inventory records

Fraud Brainstorming for Auditors

In performing your fraud brainstorming, consider printing out this list and seeing if any of these thefts are relevant to your audit.

How to Prevent Payroll Fraud

By Charles Hall | Fraud

Do you know how to prevent payroll fraud? Today we take a look at how you can protect your business.

Direct deposit of payroll checks can open the door to theft. Also when one person is in control of payroll processes, danger lurks.

I was teaching a fraud prevention class this past Friday, and one of the participants, a school payroll clerk named Dawn, asked me to address how fraud might occur in her department. So I asked her a series of questions.

“Does your school use direct deposit?” She answered yes.

“Do you fully control the issuance of W-2s?” Dawn said yes.

“Who adds the direct deposit information to your payroll software?” She answered, “I do.”

“Can anyone else change the direct deposit file?” Her answer was no.

“Who controls the master pay rate file?” Here again, she was the only one who had rights to this payroll function.

Then I asked Dawn if she reconciles the bank statement. She said that Randy, a gentleman sitting in front of her, reconciles the account. I was also told that they have hundreds of employees.

How Can Dawn Steal?

I told the class that a person in Dawn’s position could steal in multiple ways. Here are a few:

• She can leave a terminated employee on the payroll and change that person’s bank account number to her own, allowing her to receive all payroll payments for the discontinued staff member. Then, she can also alter the related W-2s to cover her tracks.
• She can change the master pay rate of any employee, including herself.
• She can inflate the hours worked for any employee.

Prevent Payroll Fraud

After pointing out the flaws in internal control, I asked the class how they would reduce these threats. Angela (another student) sang out: “Create transparency by allowing another person to review or see what the payroll clerk is doing.” (This made me smile since I had been preaching this idea all morning.)

To lessen the threat of fraud, always ask, “how can I create transparency?” The answer will almost always involve allowing another individual to monitor the work of the primary persons in the process. And I am not proposing that this observing person be present 24/7—just that she periodically review the activity of the primary person (e.g., payroll clerk). 

The monitoring person can be someone that works with the entity or someone from the outside (e.g., external CPA). Here are sample fraud prevention measures for the above-described threats:

• Download all the payroll records, including each employee and direct deposit bank account number; sort for identical bank account numbers (a same bank account number may mean that a terminated employee was left on the payroll, and their deposits are being routed to another person such as the payroll clerk)
• Have someone (other than the payroll clerk) pull the payroll personnel files for twenty employees and then compare the authorized pay rates (in the personnel file) to the payroll master file (in the software); tell the payroll clerk that this procedure will occur with some frequency and will happen without notice
• For hourly employees, have someone (other than the payroll clerk) pull the reported hours for two departments and review for appropriateness; inquire of the department head regarding any higher-than-normal hours
• Examine the W-2s of the payroll personnel
• Print a budget to actual salary report or a current year/prior year comparison of wages; provide the same to the governing body
• Report findings from these procedures to the governing body; do this at least once per year (regularity makes the payroll personnel think twice about theft)

Take Away

By the way, the payroll clerk was the only person with access to the payroll master file. This is not necessarily a bad thing. You want to limit the number of persons with access to payroll master file, but a second person should monitor the payroll clerk’s inputs into the payroll software.

So how can you prevent payroll fraud? Think about your own payroll system. Are there any potential threats to your payroll system? Also, be aware of ghost employees.

If you’ve seen payroll fraud, please share a comment about how it happened.

If you are interested in more information about white-collar crime, check out my other fraud prevention articles.

Make CPE Useful: Seven Suggestions

By Charles Hall | Accounting and Auditing

In a thirty-five year career as a CPA, you will spend well over 1,400 hours taking CPE classes. Are you using this time wisely? Today I share how you can make your CPE useful.

It’s 3:32 p.m. on a Friday and you are thinking, “When will this CPE class ever end?” Your golf swing, a late tax return, your daughter’s college tuition cost–each float through your mind. Your thoughts continue, “So much to do, and I sit here wasting another day. Why can’t this be more interesting?” Tired. Bored. Numb. You want to be anywhere but where you are. You feel trapped. 

Why does this happen? Many CPAs mistakenly believe this pain is a requirement of the profession. They seem resigned to death-by-CPE, as though there is no other choice.

But then you’ve been in classes where you’re laughing, learning, and even wanting more. The day ends quickly, and you walk away satisfied.

Wouldn’t you love to increase the quality of your training and your engagement with what you are learning? Here are seven suggestions to make your CPE useful.

1. Create Three-Year CPE Learning Goals: Tie Training to Vision

Create a three-year rolling CPE plan. While you may not be able to plan each individual class, you can still sketch out your desired objectives and learning path.

Fifteen years ago, I decided to become a Certified Fraud Examiner. I thought, “Why not use my CPE hours to move me in that direction?” Over the next year, I purchased the training material from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners and trained. In September 2004, I reached that goal. Without the goal, the idea would still be just that–an idea. 

What training goal can you set that will make your dream a reality? What vision do you have for your future?

In your career, you will spend hundreds of hours in training. Why not use those precious hours to get you to your desired destination? Continuous learning about new things is no longer an option.

2. Plan Your CPE Classes Annually: Avoid Cramming in December

Planning your CPE calendar will allow you to spread out the learning load (I do not recommend taking 40 hours of CPE the last week of December). The human mind is not designed to absorb large quantities of complex information in a short period. Space out your classes. The separation will allow your mind to digest and retain what you learn. 

3. Seek Out the Best CPE Trainers: They Will Elevate Your Game

Will excellent trainers cost more money? Sometimes yes, but what’s the alternative? Cheap teachers that bore you to death. Signing up for any old class for convenience’s sake or because it’s cheap is a terrible idea.

Great trainers make for excellent learning experiences. Seek them out. Pay the extra money, if need be. This will make your CPE more useful.

4. Revisit CPE Information: Move Learning to Long-Term Memory

For each one-day class, write a one-page summary. Do this the day after you attend the course. (Once you create the one-page outline, archive it in Evernote for future reference.) Merely writing the summary will drive the learning deeper into your mind. 

Then revisit the summary using the following intervals:

• One week later – review for 20 minutes
• Two weeks later – review for 10 minutes
• Three weeks later – review for 5 minutes

There’s nothing sacred about the intervals. The method is what is essential.

Additionally, try to recall the information before reviewing the notes. Doing so facilitates retention according to the book Make It Stick. Revisiting the information and trying to recall it will move your knowledge from short-term to long-term memory–where you need it!

Another suggestion to help you remember the information is that you teach it to your firm members. You can’t explain something you don’t understand. Teaching forces you to learn.

5. Use Livescribe Pen to Take Notes: Record the Audio 

For about $180, you can own the Livescribe pen. No, it will not allow you to remember everything you hear. However, it will record the full audio as you write. Then, later, you can touch a particular word in your notes with the tip of the pen and “voilà,” you hear–from the pen–what was said at that moment. You can upload the written notes and audio to your computer. Don’t ask me how it does this, but it works. Amazing! Now you can have a full recording of your training with shortcuts (notes) to find the audio you want to hear. The pen holds up to 200 hours of audio. 

In terms of learning, writing your notes is more effective than typing (and I might add, less distracting to those around you). Science has proven that writing has a more significant effect on learning and retention than typing.

Another learning tip to make your CPE useful: Read the table of contents before the class starts.

6. Read the Table of Contents: Prepare Your Mind 

The human mind likes to anticipate, to know what’s coming. If you can access your CPE material before the class, I encourage you to scan the table of contents and highlight the areas you are most interested in. Highlighting the table of contents will prepare you for what’s coming.

7. Sit Up Front: You’ll Learn More

Finally, sit up front. The farther back you sit, the more distractions you will see (like the guy reading the latest ESPN headlines or the couple talking all day).

Take Action Now: Plan Time to Consider Your Goals

I challenge you to take action now! Go ahead. Specify a time on your calendar to think about your goals and the CPE classes that will get you there. Become an expert in cybersecurity, fraud prevention, litigation support, data mining, artificial intelligence. Pick an area and move toward your goal.