AZ CPA October 2015

AZ CPA October 2015

In Good Company Profile

GoDaddy’s Mike Holt

Technology for CPAs The Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants y www.ascpa.com

The days are getting shorter, but your clients’ to-do lists aren’t.

As summer fades to fall, that means getting back to business for many of your clients. And chances are they look to your firm for more than just tax advice. If that includes complex HR issues like ACA compliance, health plans and overtime exemption regulations — that’s what we do best. We’re here for you, so you can be more for them.

See how ADP can provide a more human resource for your small business clients: adp.com/backtobiz

2 AZ CPA OCT. 2015

The ADP logo and ADP are registered trademarks of ADP, LLC. ADP - A more human resource is a service mark of ADP, LLC. Copyright © 2015 ADP, LLC.

Committed to a

strong and healthy ArizonA For more than 75 years, we have been helping take care of Arizonans.

We focus on the health of our members and the well-being of the communities in which they live. That’s why we’re proud to support Arizona Society of CPAs and the work they do to foster a strong and

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thriving business climate now and far into the future.

OCT. 2015 AZ CPA

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AZ CPA The Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants President & CEO

Cindie Hubiak

Editor

Patricia Gannon

Advertising

Heidi Frei

Board of Directors Chair Chair-Elect Secretary/Treasurer Directors

Rob Dubberly Greg Nelson Molly Montgomery Mike Allen Brenda Blunt Teresa Finley Gary Fleming Randy Fletchall Mike Holt Bill Judge Jennifer Nordstrom Mark Patton Vanesa Romero Curtiss Smith Nancy Thomas

Immediate Past Chair Anita Baker AICPA Council Members

Karen Abraham Armando Roman

Chapter Presidents Southern Chapter Northern Chapter

Cathy Poore Bethany de Alva Southwest Chapter Jennifer Sullivan North-Central Chapter Ellen Carpenter AZ CPA is published by the Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants (ASCPA) to provide information, news and trends in the profession of accounting. It is distributed 10 times a year as a regular service to members of the Society. The ASCPA, its members, board of directors and administrative staff assume no responsibility for advertisements herein. The ASCPA and the above people also assume no liability for business decisions made by readers in reference to statements and/or claims in articles or advertisements within this publication.

Opinions expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the ASCPA. Arizona Society of CPAs 4801 E. Washington St., Suite 225-B Phoenix, AZ 85034-2021 Telephone (602) 252-4144 AZ Toll-Free (888) 237-0700 www.ascpa.com

4 AZ CPA OCT. 2015

AZ CPA Volume 31 Number 8

October 2015

Features

11 In Good Company Profile

ASCPA Member Mike Holt shares what it’s like to be GoDaddy’s vice president of tax.

by Patty Gannon

Technology Theme Issue

13

Are Client Portals the Wave of the Future?

Portal solutions offer tremendous ease of use, increased efficiency and security of interactions with clients and customers.

by Richard Bingaman, CPA

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25

AZ CPA Quick Quiz

Practical advice to give to employees

on how to best secure their computer systems.

Read the magazine and take this short quiz to get an hour of CPE!

by Edward K. Zollars, CPA

19

Reducing Your Risk of a Security

Breach

Columns & Departments Chair’s Message by Robert E. Dubberly, CPA Members News A Dash of SALT by James Busby, Jr., CPA Classifieds

Training Members of the Firm About Security

6 7 9 26

Arizona Society of Certified Public Accountants 4801 E. Washington St., Suite 225-B Phoenix, Arizona 85034-2021 www.ascpa.com

What would you do in the case of security breach? The time to plan for a cyber attack is before it actually happens.

by Michael S. Nyman, CPA

Five Critical Steps in Choosing a

New Enterpise Resource Planning System

22

Avoid some common missteps by following these steps in the selection of a new ERP.

by Tom Maricle, CPA

OCT. 2015 AZ CPA

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ASCPA Chair’s Message

Technology in Today’s World I often find myself thinking about how technology impacts both my personal and professional life. Today, more than ever, we are surrounded by it in our homes, vehicles and workplaces. When I was a kid, I liked to visit Tomorrowland during our family’s vacations to Disney World. At the time, I admired all the futuristic gadgets and wondered if they would become a reality during my lifetime. Low and behold, many of them have.

by Robert E. Dubberly, CPA

According to this year’s AICPA Top Ten Technology Survey, CPAs say preventing security threats is their number one technology-related priority, followed by managing data, ensuring privacy, managing IT risks/compliance and preventing and responding to computer fraud.

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Technology now allows us to live in homes where we can control many aspects of our lives from a smart phone or tablet. Features such as lights, thermostat temperature, cameras, as well as setting the alarm are now all accessible from our mobile devices. Our smart phones contain our calendars, as well as contacts for our family, friends, colleagues and clients. As for me, I would likely miss many meetings and be unable to contact clients if I lost access to my device.

The efficiency of my days truly depends on this technology.

The smart phone, once a commodity, is now a necessity. We have all experienced a time when we have been without a phone, due to forgetfulness, an accident or we’ve simply run out of battery life. This can be a very traumatic situation, leaving us with feelings of withdrawal as we’re no longer connected to the rest of the world.

Technology surrounds us in our professional lives. In some cases, it has made our lives simpler and our bags lighter. Many businesses have replaced desktop work stations with laptops. These smaller, portable devices allow us to do our jobs virtually anywhere at any time. Further, for those who travel, it makes life easier. Gone are the days of carrying heavy bags with files of documents. Gone too are the days when a courier would deliver work papers to remote locations for linear reviews. Today, we enjoy the benefits of real-time access by multiple members of the engagement team at any time of the day or perhaps night.

These enhancements have truly created and cultivated a better environment of collaboration.

Every year, the AICPA conducts a survey about what techonology trends are affecting the profession. According to this year’s AICPA Top Ten Technology Survey, CPAs say preventing security threats is their number one technologyrelated priority, followed by managing data, ensuring privacy, managing IT risks/compliance and preventing and responding to computer fraud. In this issue of AZ CPA, members of the ASCPA IT Committee address some of these issues and concerns.

Technology continues to improve our lives, both personally and professionally.

At my house, my boys are often more capable of navigating the various devices, and many times teach me a thing or two about them. I have heard them proudly discussing with friends their role in teaching their parents and grandparents how to maneuver their iPhones or iPads.

Technology is evolving so fast that we all struggle to keep up with it. Whatever your challenges with technology may be, I leave you with the cautious words of Ben Parker (Spiderman’s uncle): “With great knowledge, comes great responsibility.”

Thomas J. Marki, CPA, was hired as operations manager of AXIOM Financial Advisory Group LLC.

Member News

CBIZ MHM, LLC & Mayer Hoffman McCann P.C. promoted the following individuals to senior associates: Eric Anderson, CPA, Lacy Hamilton, CPA, Courtney Heins, CPA, Katie Shotwell, CPA, Armand Slason, CPA, and Libby Zukowski, CPA. Eric Majchrzak, shareholder and chief marketing officer at BeachFleischman PC, was named the 2015 Marketer of the Year at this year’s Association for Accounting Marketing Summit, an award sponsored by Inside Public Accounting.

Congratulations to Jena Ford, former director of professional education for the ASCPA, who recently received her CPA license in Colorado. Jena is doing auditing work for CliftonLarsonAllen LLP in Denver.

Wendell Jones, partner emeritus at Henry & Horne, LLP, has joined the Mesa Community College (MCC) Development Board of Directors.

Henry & Horne, LLP employees participated in the firm’s back-toschool drive to make sure Valley children have all they need for the new school year. Team members donated more than 400 items to the pre-school at the Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center (SARRC).

In Memoriam Robert “Bob” Berberian, CPA, a longterm member of the Arizona State Board of Accountancy Tax Practice Committee, recently passed away.

(L to R): Alan Gold, Mike Edgell, Jim Auge and Wayne Neill.

Four Games … Four Cities… Four Days …

Wayne Neill, Alan Gold, Mike Edgell and Jim Auge all started their careers at Price Waterhouse (Now PWC) in Phoenix within a year of each other back in the early 1980s. They have remained close friends over the years, and all have a love for baseball. Wayne owns a local financial planning, investment and tax firm in Scottsdale; Alan is a partner in the pension consulting firm MGKS in Phoenix; Mike is a partner with Sarvas, Coleman, Edgell & Tobin; and Jim and his brother own Teton Motors, a car dealership in Jackson, Wyoming.

The four of them, along with a couple of other friends, headed out recently on a trip to see four baseball games in four cities on four consecutive days.

The quartet started in St. Louis with some famous barbecue and a night game between the Cardinals and Rockies at Busch Stadium.

Game two was in New York at Citifield Park between the Mets and Nationals. Next, a train ride to Baltimore and Camden Yards for the Orioles and Tigers game. Final Stop: PNC Park in Pittsburgh for the Pirates and Cubs. “The four of us had a fantastic time,” said Neill. “We are hoping to see a few more ballparks around the country during the coming years!”

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A Dash of SALT

Voluntary Disclosure: An Alternative to Arizona’s Upcoming Amnesty Program This month’s state and local tax (SALT) column explains how unsatisfied tax liabilities can be resolved under Arizona’s voluntary disclosure program.

As taxpayers, all of us should pay our fair share. However, for a variety of legitimate and illegitimate reasons, sometimes taxpayers do not timely pay the right amount of tax. When that happens and Arizona taxing authorities discover it, they generally assess penalties that often amount to at least 25 percent or more of the tax liability, plus interest, which can really add up over time — especially if the taxpayer lost the protection of Arizona’s standard four-year statute of limitations by underreporting tax by 25 percent or more.

Accordingly, many Arizona taxpayers are planning to satisfy outstanding tax liabilities during the state’s upcoming amnesty period scheduled for September 1 through October 31, 2015. However, some taxpayers would be better off pursuing a voluntary disclosure agreement (VDA).

by James G. Busby, Jr., CPA

How VDAs Generally Work in Arizona As the name suggests, VDAs are agreements that the Arizona Department of Revenue (Department) enters into with taxpayers that voluntarily disclose unsatisfied tax liabilities. Because our tax system relies on voluntary compliance and the Department is not able to catch every person and company that does not pay taxes or that did not pay as much tax as it should have, the Department rewards taxpayers that voluntarily disclose unsatisfied tax liabilities.

The Department’s VDA program applies to transaction privilege (sales), use, withholding, individual, and corporate income tax obligations.

Taxpayers that enter into voluntary disclosure agreements with the Department generally get all of the penalties that otherwise would be assessed abated, and those that owe taxes for more than four years back often can get the Department to agree to accept just four years of past taxes, plus interest. Taxpayers that approach the Department with gray nexus or tax issues may be able to get the Department to agree to abate all or some of the interest and past taxes as well.

When a VDA May Be Preferable to Amnesty While the Arizona legislature periodically establishes amnesty programs that last for a couple of months at a time, the Department always entertains offers from taxpayers to enter into VDAs. So, VDAs are a good option for taxpayers that miss out on a particular amnesty period.

For taxpayers that have the luxury of deciding between pursuing relief under an amnesty period and pursuing a VDA, a VDA may work out better for taxpayers that: (1) have outstanding tax liabilities for more than four years that are not protected by Arizona’s standard four-year statute of limitations, (2) would find it burdensome or expensive to complete the original or amended tax returns that must be completed in order to participate in Arizona’s upcoming amnesty program, (3) want to resolve city privilege (sales) tax liabilities at the same time they resolve state sales tax liabilities.

James G. Busby, Jr., CPA, is a state and local tax attorney at The Cavanagh Law Firm. Busby previously worked in the SALT departments at Arthur Andersen and Deloitte & Touche. Before entering private practice, Busby was in charge of all transaction privilege (sales) tax audits at the Arizona Department of Revenue.

If you have any questions, please contact the author. He can be reached at (602) 322-4146 or JBusby@CavanaghLaw.com.

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ASCPA Conferences

Arizona Federal Tax Institute Nov. 5-6

Attend one day or both to get updates and reviews from the experts on the following topics: • Estate Planning • International Tax • ADOR • Economic Update • IT Updates for CPAs • Exempt Organizations • IRS Representation Update • Social Security • Ethical Highlights and Lowlights: 2014-2015 • Current Federal Tax Developments

To register, go to www.ascpa.com and click on conferences.

10 AZ CPA OCT. 2015

On the other hand, while Arizona’s upcoming amnesty period requires taxpayers to file original or amended tax returns, does not limit the statute of limitations, and does not apply to the cities, it may be a better option for taxpayers that would owe a lot of interest under Arizona’s VDA program because interest generally is not abated as part of Arizona’s VDA program.

How to Pursue a VDA in Arizona Although taxpayers that decide to pursue a VDA in Arizona can attempt to negotiate agreements directly with the Department, taxpayers that have a representative anonymously negotiate for them generally have more leverage than they would if they approached the Department themselves because, when working through representatives, taxpayers can walk away from negotiations and remain anonymous if they choose to do so.

VDAs may be negotiated either directly with the Department or through the Multistate Tax Commission’s

(MTC’s) multistate VDA program. Taxpayers that need to resolve the same issue in multiple states may save time by negotiating through the MTC, which will coordinate with the appropriate states on the taxpayers’ behalf.

The Department and the MTC have voluntary disclosure applications on their websites that require the taxpayer to disclose information about their nexus with Arizona; the type and amount of their unsatisfied tax liability; the types of state taxes they have paid, if any; whether they collected sales taxes from their customers, if applicable; whether the taxpayer has been contacted by Department; and the VDA terms they propose.

Practice Tip! – CPAs who encounter taxpayers with unsatisfied Arizona tax liabilities should help them evaluate whether Arizona’s VDA program is the best way for them to satisfy their outstanding tax liability.

In Good Company with Mike Holt, CPA

Vice President of Tax GoDaddy

CPA Helps Drive GoDaddy to New Levels Two years ago, Mike Holt, CPA, made the move from public practice to take the position of vice president of tax with GoDaddy, the world’s largest domain name registrar.

Holt was in public accounting for 29 years, most recently as a partner with BDO and was previously a partner at KPMG. The jump to industry has proved anything but boring, as Holt helped them take the company public this year.

AZ CPA: What made you decide to go from an almost 30-year career in public accounting to working for GoDaddy?

I had worked with some of the biggest companies when I was in public accounting, companies like Intel, Ford Motor Company and US Airways. When GoDaddy, a long-time client of mine, asked if I would join them, I realized that this was probably the last opportunity I had to do something I had never done and that was work for

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In Good Company ...

Profile Ideas? Have you always wondered what

it’s like managing the finances at a certain company? Do you work in a fun industry or interesting business? We are looking for ideas for this new column —In Good Company —and members who are willing to share their experiences with us. Please contact Patty Gannon at pgannon@ascpa.com. a private company. I figured this was a great way to finish out my career.

AZ CPA: Has working for GoDaddy been what you expected?

It has been far more challenging and even far more creative than I ever thought it would be. My biggest concern when I came here, in fact, was that I might be bored. It has been far from boring. When we did the IPO, we did one of the most interesting and complex tax structures related to an IPO that any company in the country has ever done. We were on the cutting edge in many ways. That made it kind of cool, and I would never have been able to be so involved in something like that in public accounting.

I knew coming in that the IPO was planned; that is one reason GoDaddy hired someone at my level. I had experience working with other clients in public accounting as they did an IPO, but it is very different being on the inside. It worried me a bit, and I didn’t realize how involved I would be. It was far better being directly involved and much better than I imagined.

I was used to being the outside expert coming in, giving my advice to my client and leaving. The client would be the one who had to deal with the details.

Now on the inside, I’m the one who has to oversee all of those details, and it is a fully different experience than I understood it to be. It has been very stressful at times, but it was worth it.

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In some ways, my work at GoDaddy is similar to public accounting, but instead of going from client to client, I go from department to department. It is one big company with lots of different constituents. There is a lot of variety to my work here.

AZ CPA: What is the best part of working for GoDaddy?

So far, it has been the people I work with here. I’ve gotten really lucky and I’ve been able to build a team in the tax department that is very high quality – they are great people. People are interested in just helping the company; there are not a lot of personal or hidden agendas. The attitude here is: “Let’s figure out how to do it and get it done.”

AZ CPA: What is your typical day like?

A typical day would involve a lot of conference calls. Like today, I will be talking to our outside attorneys in an hour and then later have a call to our outside accountants. I will have some more internal meetings for various issues related to China and some other countries. We are a global company, and it is fun dealing with other countries, their particular rules and the people and their customs. That is something I did not fully grasp until coming here. That is a typical day for me – dealing with lots of people and lots of different issues.

AZ CPA: What has been the most defining or exciting moment of your career?

I’ve had so many great career moments, like the day Intel called and said, “OK, we are going to hire you guys.” To work so hard to get that company as a client, and finally get the account – that was certainly a highlight. Also, the day we got Ford Motor Company as a client.

But really, although I’ve had a lot of career-defining moments, what is most important to me is my family. (Holt has four children, four grandchildren and has been married to his wife DeAnne for 35 years.) All my hard work is just a means to an end. At the end of the day, my kids still call me Dad and my grandkids still call me Grandpa, and that is why I work so hard. I enjoy what I do, I make a good living and I have no complaints. I feel very blessed. This profession has been very good to me.

AZ CPA: Has the CPA designation helped your career?

Yes, I believe I would not be where I am today without it. I think professors today need to do a better job of letting students know the importance of the CPA designation. It opens doors. It might not get you a job, but it might preclude you from getting one if you don’t have the designation. Students don’t understand that if there are two job candidates interviewing for a position – one who has the CPA and one who doesn’t – the CPA will get the job.

AZ CPA: What do you like to do for fun?

The motorcycle is a big part of my life.

I ride it to work almost every day. My youngest son and I also drive a custom jeep. We have driven all over Arizona.

We spend hours climbing hills, rocks, anything we can find to go up, or over, we will! I also enjoy lots of hiking in the mountains of East Mesa. Arizona is such a great place to do all kinds of outdoor activities all year round. And yes, even in the summer. — Patty Gannon

Are Client Portals The

Wav e Of The Future?

by Richard Bingaman, CPA Internet portal solutions have evolved quite rapidly over the past decade in their functionality, appearance and security safeguards. Today these portal solutions offer tremendous ease with implementation in our public accounting practices due to subscription based licensing and instant Internet access to the platform by the firm and the client. Use of an Internet portal significantly increases the efficiency and security of interactions with clients in exchanging information and documents while providing the firm with a competitive advantage to other firms.

The traditional definition of “portal” is a doorway, gate or other entrance. The definition in the context of computing is an Internet site allowing access or links to other sites. To define a portal in the context of our accounting and advisory practices would be defined as “an electronic gateway used to exchange information with others in a convenient and secure Internet environment.” Two terms in this definition are very important, convenient and secure. Clients demand convenience so they can keep up with their fast-paced lifestyles. They also demand security to avoid their sensitive information falling into the wrong hands.

First, in evaluating whether we are using a client portal for the right reasons, we must ask ourselves the right questions. Consider the following: Do we desire to exchange information and documents with our clients in a more secure manner than we are currently (e.g. email, fax, mail)? Will our clients embrace this new technology? How will we educate clients to

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use the portal properly and securely?

How will use of a portal enhance the value proposition to the client? What operational procedures will we need in our practice to support an efficient and secure use of the portal?

I currently utilize a client portal in my practice. When evaluating the implementation of a portal solution, I needed to answer the questions above, in addition to others. I needed a solid understanding of how my team and the client would interact with the portal in order to select the most appropriate solution for my practice. I’ve recently transitioned to a new portal solution to improve the experience for the clients and the firm. The majority of the portal users are business clients which the firm interacts with frequently, although some individual clients have expressed interest and have used it on an intermittent basis.

Business client portal users consistently express that they love the convenience of the portal. Regular, recurring use of the portal helps the user become proficient more quickly.

How secure is a client portal compared to other methods of communication?

The IRS and many new state laws require us to have proper security measures in place in our practices to protect client information. Clients expect this of us as they’ve always entrusted us with their most sensitive and confidential information. We, therefore, must seek to find the most secure method(s) to exchange information with the client. The level of security inherent in our exchange with the client is predicated upon ensuring we obtain a proper “handshake” with the client. This handshake is defined as obtaining a verification that we are communicating directly with the client and not another party. Examples of communication methods that do not always include a handshake include postal mail, email and fax. These methods are very susceptible to interception and do not ensure proper encryption of the information. With a client portal solution, once you complete the initial handshake with the client (completing the process of providing a username and password that they have accepted), every

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The only method that is more secure than a client portal is an actual in-person delivery of the documents by the client or the firm. interaction with the portal ensures the client and the firm are the only parties in the exchange. The client and the firm interact directly with the portal server and the files are encrypted in transit and at rest on the server. This ensures that the client portal is more secure than the other methods mentioned. The only method that is more secure than a client portal is an actual in-person delivery of the documents by the client or the firm.

Clients are already using portals in their everyday life. Examples include Internet access to bank accounts, credit card accounts, mortgage accounts, investment accounts, insurance policies and countless others. These institutions provide a secure login to customer accounts via the Internet so the institution can provide information and documents to their customers. The use of this technology is so prevalent today that institutions are making great strides in their efforts to eliminate postal mail delivery of documents with sensitive information and only providing these documents via portal access (e.g. bank statements, tax statements). My business client portal users have expressed that the client portal experience is the same as their other portals although there is one major difference. Navigating a portal with the bank and others is done through use of a menu structure.

Navigating a client portal is normally done through a folder hierarchy and use of a “search” bar. There is a bit of a learning curve but not a significant one.

Security experts argue that the chance of a data breach via a direct attack against the portal provider’s server is minimal. The real risk originates from data breaches from a portal user’s account access being divulged. Therefore, an important aspect of educating the client on proper use of the portal is

in making them aware of proper login information security practices. This education can take many forms, but it will not be foreign to clients. Clients are currently bombarded from many companies attempting to find the best ways to inform clients as to the importance of login information security.

What is the best use of a client portal in your practice? Some technology experts argue that the client portal functions as a secure online storage solution.

As a matter of practice management, will the client expect all of their documents to be available in the portal requiring us to use it as a storage location? Or is it best used only as a secure method of exchanging documents with clients without long-term storage? From a data security perspective, limiting the documents available in the portal limits the information potentially exposed to a data breach. Clients may not need to access the portal frequently to get what they need, so our security practices would only require placing documents there when needed. The ease of placing documents in a client portal with today’s solutions allow this important security measure to easily be an integral part of portal security procedures.

Client Portals are here to stay! Interacting with clients in the cloud has now become mainstream for public accounting firms, and clients expect us to keep up with technology while safeguarding their information. As trusted advisors, we will need to find the best portal solutions that allow us to meet these client expectations while improving the value we provide to the client relationship.

Rich Bingaman, CPA, is principal of Richard E. Bingaman, CPA, PLLC and an ASCPA member. He can be reached at rich@rebingamancpa.com.

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Whether we like it or not, each person working in today’s connected world has a personal responsibility to understand safe computing practices and implement them. That includes both the newest member of the clerical staff and the senior partner in the firm with 30+ years of experience.

Training Members of the Firm About Security

by Edward K. Zollars, CPA A challenge facing most small businesses, CPA firms included, is dealing with potential security threats to the information on our systems. Today’s threats arise quite often not from direct attacks on the network’s defenses, but rather by taking advantage of poor habits of users of computer systems.

Getting access to even the lowest level employee’s PC gives a foothold that can slowly be used to expand the access the intruder has by making it easier to infect other machines on the network. And if the intruder manages to get an initial foothold on a high level employee’s computer (such as a managing partner), then the intruder may have full access to virtually everything without doing any additional work.

This brief article will look at some of the practical guidance that firms can give their employees (and those in top management) to help secure their systems.

Whether we like it or not, each person working in today’s connected world has a personal responsibility to understand safe computing practices and implement them. That includes both the newest member of the clerical staff and the senior partner in the firm with 30+ years of experience.

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No Duplicated Passwords Those looking to infiltrate private data have learned that most users are suffering from “password fatigue,” which can make it very easy to gain unauthorized access to systems. When a user ends up using the same password on multiple sites, a security breach on any one of those sites enables the attacker to log in to the other sites. Quite often the usernames these days will be a person’s email address on most sites, so if the attacker has the password, it’s likely that access can be gained to other sites.

The password breaches have happened on very well known sites that are used by CPAs, including Adobe and LinkedIn in the past few years.

But beyond these high profile sites, attacker will go after lesser used sites that have no obviously valuable data to obtain passwords. In such cases, it’s very possible the site will never detect the intrusion, and it’s also very likely the passwords will not be carefully protected if the site just has a log in to let people post comments on posts to the site.

At a minimum, users should ensure that unique passwords are used on all “high value” sites, and that would include any site that contains client information or used for business. The passwords also should not be words found in a dictionary or items that can be easily guessed from personal information (the names of your children or pets are really bad passwords). Rather, the password should contain a mix of uppercase, lowercase, letters, numbers and special characters and, as well, should be relatively long (the longer the better).

Of course that begs the question about how to remember these passwords and, even more significant, how to deal with these passwords on mobile devices where typing in a complex password is tedious and error prone at best.

Password managers serve to reduce some of the problems in this area.

Note that they do pose their own risks (someone who gets control of the password manager login for you now has everything), but if properly managed

18 AZ CPA OCT. 2015

Email wasn’t ever designed to be truly secure and it is easy to make a mail message appear to come from a source that is not the actual sender.

(use a long password for the main login to the manager and have a system that uses rock solid cryptography so that the password is the only reasonable way to get a look at the data inside), they allow the use of high grade passwords on all sites.

Products that take care of this include Lastpass (www.lastpass.com), Roboform (www.roboform.com) and 1Password (www.agilebits.com/onepassword). With these products, a single log-in to the password manager allows for automatic completion of the passwords in both websites and on mobile devices.

It is important that the system used to encrypt the data be solid enough that merely gaining access to the encrypted database won’t help an attacker. You must assume that there will be issues and at some point that data will leak out. But if the database is encrypted well enough, that won’t be helpful unless the password you are using to protect the database itself is weak. So you do need to remember one complex password.

Enable Two-Step Authentication A major leap forward in security can be obtained if a website allows for and you enable “two-step authentication” for logins and taking certain actions, especially from devices you have not previously used to access the site or application in question. With two-step authentication a user must, in addition to providing the username and password for a site or application, provide some other information.

Most often this other information is a code that is either sent as a text message to a cell phone number the user provides or a special code generated by an application that runs on the user’s device (Google Authenticator is the best known application of this type).

A party seeking access is required to both provide something that the legitimate user knows (the username/ password) but also needs access to something only the authorized user should have (the cell phone or the specific instance of the authenticator application running on his/her device).

Generally if a site allows for twofactor authentication, your employees should be advised to enable it and, if the site allows it, you should turn a requirement that such verification be used.

However, you should note that all too often the sites make it far too easy to report that the user has “lost” access to the other item. Someone should study what steps the site requires a user who claims to have lost access to the second factor device to regain access to the service. If that process is too simple, there may not be nearly as much security.

Most major sites now have twofactor authentication as an option.

Google was a leader in providing this option. Microsoft enables the use of this option for their hosted services (including offering their own application to provide the codes). Citrix also enables that option for the Sharefile portal/file sharing system they offer to CPAs and others.

Email Link Risks Targeted attacks against entities most often use email as an entry vector, looking to get someone to infect their machine via email. Since we now often have scanning of attachments at the network gateway or even remove certain attachments to email coming into our network, attacks more often move to embedded links that a user is tricked into clicking to deliver the payload, which may very well be to get the user to a website that either “harvests” data from the user or makes use of a known flaw in the browser or operating system to install software.

To entice users to click the link, the email will most often appear to take the user to a site that the user would expect to go to. In a targeted attack, the attacker would likely use some information he/she obtained about the entity to determine a site that a user would expect to receive mail from and

then design an email to trick the user.

Email wasn’t ever designed to be truly secure, and it is easy to make a mail message appear to come from a source that is not the actual sender. As well, it is also easy in a formatted email (which most of the sites we work with use routinely) to disguise the actual place a user will be directed to when a link is clicked.

Users may think they are safe if, before clicking, the mouse is hovered over the link. Email clients generally will show a “tooltip” that shows the actual location where the link will take the user. But, unfortunately, if scripting is turned on in the mail client (which it most often will be for convenience), it is possible to put up a “tooltip” that will also lie about the target.

When a user goes to a “bad” site, the site may obtain information or install malware, including software that encrypts the user’s hard drive and

then gives the organization a demand for payment of a ransom (in essentially untraceable Bitcoin) to obtain access to the data.

Despite being inconvenient, the only really safe way to deal with emails asking you to go to a website is to manually type the address for the website you want to go to in the browser’s address bar. While clicking the link is convenient, doing so in today’s environment has become a very risky step to take.

Edward Zollars, CPA, is a partner with Thomas, Zollars & Lynch, Ltd and a member of the ASCPA. He is an author and lecturer with Nichols Patrick CPE and is an author of the Arizona Income Tax Guide. He can be reached at edzollars@ thomaszollarslynch.com.

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OCT. 2015 AZ CPA

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Reducing Your Risk of a Security Breach It is critical that all

by Michael S. Nyman, CPA

businesses plan for

Quick: Name Everything in Your Wallet. Now do the same for your network.

the eventual situation

We’ve all lost our wallet before. When it happens, most everyone knows to cancel

where a cyber-incident

their credit cards and order a new driver’s license. But not everyone thinks to file

occurs and data is leaked or stolen.

a police report or initiate a fraud alert on their credit report. Even fewer could list an accurate inventory of all the items in their billfold. Now think of your computers and the data on your network as the items in your wallet. Would you know what to do if your data within your organization or practice was stolen?

Data breaches have become so prevalent across all industry sectors that the United States Department of Justice now advises every organization that contains or maintains personally identifiable information (PII) to develop a proactive incident response plan. Locally, the State of Arizona has enacted legislation, too.

So it is critical that all businesses plan for the eventual situation where a cyberincident occurs and data is leaked or stolen. While it is genuinely frightening to think of how a breach could impact your business, an incident response plan can help you reduce your risk and the severity of a breach. Here’s how to begin: 1. Start with good information governance — Knowing where your data is located, how it is secured, and removing data you are not legally required to keep reduces the risk associated with a breach. This will help your incident responders respond efficiently and effectively and let the incident responders know who to get involved like upper management, legal counsel, or even law enforcement and when to get them involved. It will quickly tell you the scope of a breach and give you an idea of what the attacker had access to.

20 AZ CPA OCT. 2015

2. Engage your vendors on their breach procedure — As businesses continue to outsource more IT functions, know how your vendors will help in the event of a breach and who you need to call. This includes outside agencies, other internal departments, and law enforcement that may be called on to assist with an investigation. Establish communication with these partners pre-incident to discuss what they will need in the event of a breach. Speed can help minimize the impact of a breach, especially early into the intrusion, and you don’t want to be fumbling for phone numbers or navigating a department during a real cyber intrusion.

3. Test and review the plan — Incident response procedures and tools should be periodically tested and reviewed.

Incident response is an iterative process, so after each incident there should be a “lessons learned” review that is used to make improvements if necessary.

Similarly, if your wallet is stolen, it’s likely that you won’t repeat the scenario again in the future.

4. Stay current on Arizona law requirements — Arizona is one of the many states enacting laws requiring companies to report breaches and communicate to those that may be impacted. Arizona 44-7501 applies to any person, group, or business who conducts business in the state of Arizona and who owns/licenses/maintains unencrypted personal identifiable information (PII). Examples include (but are not limited to): • Companies headquartered in Arizona • Commercial websites that permit Arizona residents to access or interact with their sites • Large companies with offices or customers in Arizona Under Arizona state law, PII is constituted as a person’s first name or first initial and last name in connection with any of the following if unsecured: • Social security number • D r i v e r ’s l i c e n s e o r s t a t e identification card • Credit or debit card number or financial account number, in combination with any password,

security code, or access code that would allow access to the account 5. Identify then notify — Under Arizona law, a “breach” is unauthorized access or acquisition to unencrypted or unredacted personal information that compromises the security or confidentiality of that person and that causes or is reasonably likely to cause substantial economic loss to an individual. The key is that PII must be compromised and the potential exists

for economic loss. In Arizona this may include: • Hacking incident • Loss of computer, laptop, memory stick, or hard drive • Employee misconduct with existing PII and accidently emails PII to third party If your organization becomes aware of an incident as defined by law, you must conduct an investigation promptly to determine if there has been a breach.

Depending on the severity of a data

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breach, an organization may need to contact law enforcement to be involved.

If a breach is confirmed, the data owner or maintainer must notify the individual “in the most expedient manner possible and without unreasonable delay.”

Acceptable contact methods include: • Written mail • Phone • Email notice (only if that is the primary method of communicating indicated by individual) Substitute announcements may be permitted if more than 100,000 people need to be notified or if the notification would cost more than $50,000. Substitute notice includes the following: • Email • Posting of notice on company’s website • Notification of major statewide media 6. The gray areas — Arizona law does not define what encryption is.

Encryption means that the data becomes encoded making the data unreadable to unauthorized parties. Authorized parties can decrypt the data and read it with the use of a secret key or password.

Encryption can be applied to “data at rest” where data stored locally in databases, server, and disk drives or with “data in motion” where data is being transferred from location to location like through email communication, file transfer, etc. It’s possible that future legislation will provide more clarity, but in the meantime, do the best you can/ ask professionals for their advice/etc.

So take out your wallet and empty it on the table. Look at each item that is in there and decide if it is needed.

Remove stuff that you have never used, forgot you put it in there, or rarely use.

Now, repeat that same process with your network.

Michael S Nyman, CPA, CISA, CISSP, CITP, CRISC, is an IT security senior manager in the Phoenix office of CliftonLarsonAllen LLP and an ASCPA member.

He can be reached at michael.nyman@ claconnect.com

and don’t allow scope creep into your project.

Step Two

5 Critical Steps in Choosing a New Enterprise Resource Planning System

by Tom Maricle, CPA When the task has fallen to you or your department to choose the next Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, there are probably several things flowing through your mind as you begin to panic. Following the five steps below during your selection period might help you avoid some of the common missteps in the process.

Step One Figure out what budget you are working with and discern how much a system will REALLY cost. This will save you time in finding the right fit for your needs and help keep the expenses under control.

Add in the cost of additional hardware and software that will be needed to support the system (new servers, operating systems and the user licenses that go with them).

Understand how you’ll be charged for usage (i.e. per named user or concurrent user). For example, a company that has 100 people that will need access to the system would need 100 “named user” licenses but in a “concurrent user” environment, they might only need 60 licenses to support their needs.

Work with the software provider or Value-Added Reseller (VAR) to nail down a set total cost of the conversion, training and support you’ll need. Many will give you an open figure based upon their “guess” at your usage and when you use up their budgeted resources, you’ll find yourself with no option but to pay more to get the job done. In the industry this is referred to as being “half pregnant” as you’re left with no choice but to go forward.

Keep customizations to a minimum until after the conversion has been completed and operational for at least a quarter. Many companies refuse to follow standards, and the cost of being a “special snowflake” is very high in a software conversion. Identify mission critical changes up front and then stick to your guns

Research your current system and discover its successes and failures so you can use that information in gauging how an ERP candidates fits your true needs.

Send out questionnaires to staff members at all levels.

Test processes yourself to get a feel as to how good or bad they are.

Make sure the new system will fix your bottlenecks and improve the areas that are the most critical to your company. For this I highly recommend you read Eli Goldratt’s books, “The Goal” and “Necessary but not Sufficient,” which are excellent books written as business novels that you’ll find extremely useful in evaluating a system.

Ask managers what they feel they should be getting from the current system but aren’t.

Step Three Technology Roll Call: Match candidates with current technology and trends in technology.

Is the system Cloud compatible? If not you should concerned about two issues: first, it just isn’t going to be as flexible as current ERP leaders are in regard to accessibility and, second, since pretty much all ERP solutions are either in the Cloud or moving there, you’ll need to ask yourself how long it will be before you need to upgrade again.

How does this system work with apps and devices and the common tools of business and with your specific industry? Do you need flexible remote timesheet entry on a variety of handheld devices? Is your CEO wanting to review his Key Performance Indicators on his iPad over WIFI at the local coffee shop?

How difficult is it to get information into and out of the system. This is an extremely important consideration if you believe you’ll need to merge your system with other applications or use external tools to analyze, use or change your data.

OCT. 2015 AZ CPA

23

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Step Four See your future.

Talk with others who are using the systems that you’re investigating.

If possible, attend User Group meetings for the prospective systems as these will give you exposure to many different companies that can each explain their experience with the ERP and how it is supported.

Communicate with others who’ve recently made the conversion and ask them about their experience and lessons-learned.

Seek online reviews about the ERP solutions you’re looking at and the companies you are using to assist you in the conversion.

Step Five

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Create a selection and review committee. You’ll want feedback and buy-in from as many areas of your business as you can get. Not only will they find things you might miss or not even know about, but their buy-in might be your only salvation when the mob begins to turn.

Establish an up-front contract with department leaders about what the expectations are and how issues and especially morale should be handled.

Create a group checklist regarding the strengths and weaknesses of each ERP solution and review it at each stage with everyone involved in the decision.

Define the anticipated process to everyone along with a budgeted timeline.

Explain what is expected to happen along the way like: • “Wow this looks cool” prior to the installation • Anxiety over change as the installation begins to set in • Hatred of the new, combined with exposure of unforeseen challenges • Refusal to accept the new system and extreme loyalty to the “old ways” • Loss of production and anger about the confusion of the new system • Reluctant acceptance • Increased productivity as the system settles in and is accepted This probably sounds like an enormous task, and it is. Not only do you need to ensure that you’ve found the best ERP fit for your company, but you will need to prepare everyone for what is coming and try to avoid as many undiscovered pitfalls as you can.

You’ll need allies and resources to make it to the checkered flag safely, and it starts with proper planning and ends with effective management.

Tom Maricle, CPA, is the director at CCS Presentation Systems and is an ASCPA member. He has been a CPA in Arizona since 1996 and has more than 20 years of experience working with, changing, designing and implementing accounting, management and operations systems. He can be reached at tmaricle@ccssouthwest.com.

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24 AZ CPA OCT. 2015

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Fees: Members $25 Non-members $40 Online Access Login to www.ascpa.com and go to CPE/OnDemand CPE Quick Quiz to access links to all active quizzes. Purchase quiz and the quiz link and password will be emailed to you. Your results will be sent immediately after completing, and certificates are emailed within two business days.

Hard Copy Please select one answer for each question. Fill out registration/payment information below and mail or fax to the Society office. Quiz results and certificates will be emailed to the address provided on the registration form.

October Issue of AZ CPA* 1. What should users consider when creating passwords? m Passwords should not be items that can be easily guessed from personal information m Passwords should be words found in the dictionary m Passwords should be brief and memorable 2. What is a two step-authentication process? m A special coding program that deters attackers m A process involving two different email accounts m Requires the user to provide user name and password for a site plus some other information or access only the authorized user should have 3. What could happen if a user goes to a “bad” site? m Malware could be installed m They could receive a demand for ransom m All of the above 4. What is used most often as an entry vector for targeted attacks? m Social media sites m Email m Sweepstakes offers

5. Which of the following does not describe client portals? m A doorway, gate or other entrance m Internet site allowing access or links to other sites m A means to decrease the efficiency and security of client interaction 6. What is the best use of a client portal in your practice? m A secure online storage solution m An e-Commerce site m Professional development opportunities

7. How does Arizona law define encryption? m Arizona provides yearly updates m Clearly defined as unreadable data m Arizona law does not define encryption 8. What is the first step when choosing a new ERP system? m Do a pilot test first m Investigate Voice Over Internet Protocol systems m Figure out your budget and decide how much a system will really cost in order to find the right fit for your needs 9. How can you best research your current ERP system and discover successes and failures? m Test processes yourself to get a feel as to how good or bad they are m Hire a research and development team that can provide the best recommendation m Start a discussion forum on sites such as LinkedIn to gather data 10. Who is GoDaddy’s vice president of tax? m Jonathan White m Mike Holt m Kenneth Blanch *This quiz will be available until October 2016. Please note that users have three attempts to pass the quiz with at least a 70% score.

Registration Name: ____________________________________________________ Email:_____________________________________________________ Telephone: _________________________________________________

Payment

m Member: $25 m Non-member $40 Checks: Please make payable to: The Arizona Society of CPAs Credit Card:

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Credit card #: _______________________________________________ Expiration Date: _____________________________________________ Name on Card: _____________________________________________ Mail to: ASCPA, 4801 E. Washington St. Suite 225-B, Phoenix, AZ 85034-2021; fax to (602) 324-6043; scan and send to ASCPACPE@ascpa.com.

OCT. 2015 AZ CPA

25

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26 AZ CPA OCT. 2015

complex tax return and financial statement preparation. Strong general ledger accounting skills are essential.

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