Technology and Change

By David Chavez, CPA

The CPA profession has had difficulties adjusting to change. The use of technology makes us nervous because we’ll have to think in a different way and learn something new. How many times have you broken out your four-column ledger paper to work out a problem? I have a colleague who has a calculator that is so old that when he presses the plus button, it makes a sound so loud that the walls shake. It’s about the size and weight of a small tank. I will confess that I’m the first person in the office to show that piece of machinery to new staff members. I do it for a couple of reasons: I’m amazed that the calculator functions and provides my colleague with continued usefulness, and it provides me with a sense of comfort that sometimes doing something differently isn’t necessarily progress.

To find the balance between keeping up with technology without sacrificing quality and efficiency can be difficult at times. The truth is that accountants produce more work now than we did 20 years ago. This is done even though our rules are more complicated and regulations are more stringent. It would seem logical that technology is a major reason for this change.

As I have mentioned, the use of technology will continue to be emphasized in all of our committees this year. I also mentioned that I wanted to be sure to communicate to our members the resources CalCPA can provide. I invite you to click on CalCPA’s website and see some of the online resources we provide. The website has information on everything from how to become a CPA in California to peer review guidance. If you just take 10 minutes to look at the site, you will be pleasantly surprised.

Installation
I want to thank all of those who attended the June 11 installation dinner. I think all who attended had a great time.

As always, I would love to hear any comments, suggestions or questions you may have. I promise to read and respond to every question.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010 at 10:57 am and is filed under President's Message. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.