Macaccounting Experts were happy to have attended the 2013 Accounting Technology Seminar Tour for Accounts and Bookkeepers in in Mississauga Ontario on 10/23/13.  The highly successful seminar tour is marking its 22^nd year of travelling across Canada to bring the latest accounting software and technology for accountants, bookkeepers, and consultants.  The seminar that we attended on had over 140 professional accountants at the Mississauga Convention Centre.   

As “Mac Accounting” experts, we are always interested in what’s new, if anything, for Mac based business.    This is always our primary focus and we know that an event like this is dominated by PC solutions.

The first part of the day’s presentation was dedicated to trends in technology as it affects professional accountants.  We learned that many accountants and bookkeepers are not protecting our client’s data as well as we should be, no matter if they are Mac or PC.  For example, using a 15 character or more passwords to protect clients data, especially if you are using a cloud service like DropBox.  Another very interesting point related to the End User License Agreement (EULA) that is agreed to when installing software.   Most of us never read this and click OK without even thinking.   Some of these agreements can have a wide-ranging issue on privacy information so be aware before you click “Agree”.

A good part of the day was dedicated to PC solutions for tax and accounting.  Sage is a dominant player in the PC accounting software market and spent a lot of their presentation clarifying the new branding of Sage 50, which was formerly Simply Accounting.   Admittedly, as Mac users, these presentations are difficult to focus on completely as they do not offer much if anything for the Mac business users we cater to. 

Finally, something for a Mac user!

Glenn, from Acclivity, presented the latest version of Accountedge, formerly MYOB.  Accountedge, which is available on both Mac and PC, is one of Mac Accounting Experts supported products so it is great to hear what is new for Mac users.   Glen showed us that AccountEdge was “Not Easy”- meaning -  AccountEdge while easy to use, really differentiates itself from other entry-level accounting software with advanced features that require the support and knowledge of accountants. New enhancements included the expansion of AccountEdge Mobile and a focus on Retainer and Trust accounting.  

Later in the day, Marilyn presented the Connected Accounting & ERP software.  Connected is another one of Mac Accounting’s supported products.  This presentation focused on Connected’s unique ability to share data between Mac and PC users at the same time.   A short recorded video demonstrated Connected’s ability to track inventory by lot and/or serial number – a feature that is typically only available in much more expensive PC based packages.   The presentation also touched on Connected’s new integration with Authorize.net payment gateway, new Cloud hosted options, and new Data Exchange.   

This event was a great place for practitioners to learn about new technology trends and see what options are available to them for their own practices and to their clients.    It was also great to see the participation of the only two viable accounting software options for Canadian small businesses that choose to use Mac.  From what we could determine, both Accountedge and Connected are able to keep up with their PC counterparts – something that may not have been possible five years ago.