Tapping into the Internet

Abstract

Accountants, take note! information highway and more specifically, the Internet--or the Net, as Internet aficionados call it--is vital to the health of the profession and your future income. This article will tell you why the Internet is important to you and how to use it to your advantage. Internet is one of the major arteries of the information highway. But before most people can maneuver onto the highway's entrance ramp, they'll have to endure some sizable potholes and detours. (They'll also have to learn some new words and phrases. See the glossary on page 61.) Right now the Internet is three things: * A nearly free communications channel. For example, a Net user in New York can dash off an electronic letter (e-mail) to a business associate in Australia. In fact, with the right software, he or she can even conduct a voice conversation with that person half way around the world. only charge is the price of a local phone call. In addition, some groups, such as the American Institute of CPAs, have arranged places on the Net where users can dialog--ask questions and share information and opinions (for more on this see the sidebar The AICPA Online, page 62, and Answers to Some Frequently Asked Questions about the Accountants Forum, page 80). * A vast storehouse of information--from the history of abacuses to the physiology of zebras--including accounting and financial information. However, the Net's utility often is obscured by the way the data are stored--tucked away in electronic libraries all around the world. Many users see the Internet as a giant library that never closes, lacks a card catalog, has all its books shelved helter-skelter and often classifies titles in an esoteric code. However, those in the know, able and willing to decipher codes such as http://www.servtech.com/re/acct.html, find the Internet the single greatest source of data available today. * An electronic storefront. Businesses as diverse as flower shops and airlines are setting up virtual shops on the Net, and their cash registers are beginning to ring. Marketing-savvy CPAs and consultants also are setting up shop on the Net--offering both free services as loss leaders and advertisements for their consulting expertise. Slowly the barriers to accessing the Net, uncovering data hidden in its libraries and setting up shop, are coming down. One of the Internet's most powerful utilities, the World Wide Web (WWW), can now be accessed and navigated relatively easily with a mouse. key point is that the Internet is becoming both user friendly and user vital. And unless accounting professionals recognize that the future of their business is information--finding it, creating it, formatting it, using it and distributing it--and become involved in this emerging technology, they may find themselves fending off fierce new competitors. THE CPA MARKET For accountants, the Net represents yet another opportunity--or challenge, depending on one's point of view: Although it's only a trickle right now, in the near future a considerable amount of business information will be transmitted by online systems. For example, clients can e-mail their general ledger transactions to their accountants' bookkeeping systems. Net-wise CPAs today download marketing information, prospectuses and newsletters. They also view instantly Standard & Poor's data, Securities and Exchange Commission filings, analysts' reports, financial statement data and earnings data on various industries. In addition, for those businesses that sell merchandise or services on the Net, the virtual cash register data also will be transmitted via the Net. In fact, one accounting software publisher, SBT Accounting Systems, just introduced a module called the Web Trader that handles such data. These are just some of the resources and business opportunities available now on the Internet. There's no telling what it will be able to offer in the future. …