If you have a website hosted with CPA Site Solutions and have email via the Workteam Collaboration Suite, then you should be aware of some changes with Internet Explorer 6 and Google. Google plans to discontinue support for Internet Explorer 6.

Shared Calendars is One Feature Offered by the Workteam Collaboration Suite

IE 6 Not Supported. Google plans to discontinue support for Internet Explorer 6 starting March 2010. According to an email sent out to those who use Google Applications, “over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers. We plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor on March 1, 2010.”

Since the Workteam Collaboration Suite is powered by Google Apps then the proposed change potentially affects those who use it. If you are of the 10% of those who still use IE 6 then you might consider some alternatives.

Switch to Firefox. In a previous post there is mention of many reasons to switch to Firefox. The decline of IE 6 can now be added to the list of reasons to switch.

Update Internet Explorer. It is free to just upgrade to IE 7 or just jump to IE 8 (option available within the same link). If you are like the other roughly 36% of users who like Internet Explorer then this is probably your best option.

Use Chrome. Google’s browser is called Chrome and, although only launched in September of 2008, already has over 10% of the browser share of users. It is faster than many of the other browsers and is easy to use. If you are interested in new frontiers this might be your option.

Use Safari. Safari is the default browser for those people who use a Mac. Even so if you own a PC you can use it as well.

Use Opera. You can also download Opera for free. Although only 2.2% of people use it, it is still an alternative to IE 6.

Although support for IE 6 is declining, there are alternatives. If you use the Workteam Collaboration Suite provided with any website hosted by CPA Site Solutions, then you want to be sure to choose one of the alternatives above.

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In a previous posting there was an offer for 10% off a February Jennings Seminar. As promised CPA Site Solutions is offering 10% off a Jennings Seminar for March. This time the topic is Lunch with Bob, The BIG 1040 Push, is scheduled for March 16th and is worth 1 hour of CPE credit!

10% off Jennings Seminar in March through CPA Site Solutions

Limited seating! The seating is limited so you will want to sign up early for this event. Be sure to test your system to make sure that you meet all of the system requirements.

1 CPE credit hour! This is a great way to get 1 hour of CPE credit. If you attend this event and answer 75% of the polling questions at the conclusion then you will get 1 credit hour for this event. There are no prerequisites for this seminar.

To get your 10% discount: Be sure to use the code marcpasite during the checkout process to get the 10% discount. Regular price $49. CPAsitesolutions.com customer price: $44.10

Event Description. “The big 1040 push – dealing with the big balance due returns and problem clients.”

Jennings Seminars was founded by Bob Jennings CPA, CFP, CITP, a national and World renowned speaker. Jennings has published articles in such magazines as The Journal of Accountancy and The Practical Accountant along with authoring several accounting and technology seminar manuals.

If you can’t make this event look for another posting in March for a similar offer for a April seminar. Click here to take advantage of 10% off Jennings seminar in March.

Every website with CPA Site Solutions comes with a free Tax Organizer. There is a previous post that details about how you can generate a PDF of the Tax Organizer to be used offline. The Online Tax Organizer has been recently improved making it faster and easier to use.

Save and Finish Changes for Later

Save and Finish Later. Although the Tax Organizer had an automatic save feature, there is now a button at the bottom of every page. Clients can now click on the Save and Finish Later button at anytime in the process.

Timeout. The Tax Organizer has a time out feature. This is designed to bump any user out after a long period of inactivity.

Although previously there were times when the Organizer would time out prematurely, that issue has been fixed. The current timeout is after approximately twenty minutes of inactivity. To avoid data loss, clients should save and close before they have to walk away from their computer.

Better, Faster, Stronger. It may not be the Six Million Dollar Man, but the Tax Organizer is faster then the previous version. This means that both you and your clients save time when using it.

Adding Client Access. Make sure you have either modified the default access rights or changed a specific user to include the Tax Organizer. This step assures that when they client logs into the portal they will see the Tax Organizer icon and have access to the Tax Organizer.

Add and Publish the 2009 Tax Organizer

Adding 2009 Tax Organizer. If you are unfamiliar with how the Tax Organizer works you can get help. You can add the 2009 Tax Organizer by logging in, choosing Manage Organizers and then clicking on Add 2009 Organizer near the bottom of the Subscriber Center.

Draft Versus Published. When the 2009 Organizer is added it is in draft mode by default. None of your clients see the Tax Organizer until it is published.

Before you publish the 2009 Tax Organizer you can edit the questions or add some of your own. Once you are satisfied then you can publish and all clients will then have access.

An important note to this is that once you publish the Tax Organizer you cannot edit it. It is good to make sure of your changes and then hit publish. If need be you can add another 2009 Tax Organizer and make a new draft with the changes in place that you need. This isn’t as efficient and should therefore be avoided.

The Online Tax Organizer is just one of many features included with any website hosted by CPA Site Solutions. Send us a comment on any of these by filling out the form below.

There are many times when your firm might want to create a quick image, or improve upon an existing one, for your CPA website. There are some online image editing tools available for free. Here is another example of an online tool you can use to edit that next image or create a fun message for your page header.

Main Page. Splashup is the site and there is a main page or you can just jump right in to start using it. There is also a much lighter version that you can download.

55 Logos

CPA Website Header. Every website hosted by CPA Site Solutions has a header area that shows on every page of the CPA website. The firm’s logo goes into this area. If you don’t have one, there are 55 logos to choose from, free with any website.

Alternatively you can create a logo or modify an existing through Splashup. Sometimes all you need to do is change some text or change an image and Splashup works great for this.

Accounting Page Header. Every website page has some header text and image that can be customized. Check out a previous post on just how to create custom page headers for your website. You can use Splashup to create both the text and images you want to use.

Footer Images. Another place to have fun on your CPA website is within the footer that displays on the bottom of every page. At default the footer shows your contact information.

Many CPA websites are now including Facebook or Twitter images. Check out a previous post on how to get Facebook and Twitter badges to use on your CPA website. You can also reduce an image of your firm to place next to your address or use an icon for a fun look.

However you use Splashup, it is one more tool you can use to personalize your CPA website hosted by CPA Site Solutions. The more you personalize and stand out from the rest the better chance you have of converting website visitors to clients.

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When you have a website hosted by CPA Site Solutions you have access to over 250 website designs. There are so many designs to look at and, most of the time, you need to show it to other firm members before deciding. Now, when you have just the design number, you can easily jump to any design with the click of a button.

Over 250 Ready To Go Website Designs

Flexibility. A nice bit of flexibility to any hosted CPA Site Solutions website is that you can change a website design at anytime without your content changing. This means that all that hard work you did creating custom content for your welcome page, stays with you.

Website Design Choices. When you look at any website design in the viewer there is a number below the design. When you find a design, write down that number for easy reference later.

You can then head to the bottom of the design listing page and there is a small area you can put the website design number. Click on the “Go” button and a new window comes up taking you directly to that design.

The Number For This Design is 353329

Saving Time. You can now save time when sitting down with another person to decide upon your CPA website design. Instead of panning through the designs until you find the one you were looking at, you can go directly there.

Multiple Website Designs. Look at multiple designs side by side to make it easier to decide. After you have put in the design choice and press go, take that window and re-size it. Put in the next design and re-size the new window that comes up as well until you have each side by side to compare.

Email Designs. You can email your website design choices by copy and pasting the URL of the specific design page in an email message. You can then make a list of your best choices to other people to vote on the best choice.

Having the right design for your CPA website is a fun process and just became that much easier with the “Jump to Style” button. New designs are coming out all of the time. Contact CPA Site Solutions via email at support@cpasitesolutions.com or calling 800-896-4500 with your website design choice. You can also consider customizing your website which can produce some great results as well.

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Any website hosted by CPA Site Solutions has access to a  Tax Organizer that saves time for both you and your client. For many that might use the electronic version, there are others who just want to print it out and fax it back. Here is a breakdown of some alternative ways to present any Tax Organizer to your clients.

Add Page. There is a page you can add to your website with the PDF version of the Tax Organizer. This page can be placed anywhere on your CPA website or you can take the text and link to include that within an existing page. Here is how you add the page:

• Login to the Portal.
• Click on “Modify Your Site.”
• When you are in modifying your website click on “Add Page.”
• Scroll down until you see the page titled “Tax Organizer (PDF).
• Click on the page and then click the “Add” button.
• Go to Site Map and drag the page where you want it to show on your website.

PDF Version of Tax Organizer

Download, Edit, Replace Link. If you have a PDF editor (if you don’t there is also a free PDF editor you could use), you can download the Organizer to edit it. You can then upload the PDF and link to that anywhere you want on your website.

Download, Print, Fax. You can now direct clients to your CPA website Tax Organizer PDF link. The clients can download, print out and then fax it back after filling it out.

Download, Modify, Upload. Another alternative is to direct your clients to the free PDF editor above or another one here. They can then download, modify with the right information and then upload it to their client folder within the Vault.

There are many different clients who like traditional methods of exchanging information. For them the PDF version of the Tax Organizer can be a great alternative.

There are others who just like to do their work offline yet still exchange electronically. Either way, having a CPA website hosted by CPA Site Solutions gives you the flexibility for all of your clients.

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Every website hosted by CPA Site Solutions comes with access to the Workteam Collaboration Suite powered by Google Applications. You can have an appointments page on your CPA website that clients can view and request appointments. Here is another solution for those wanting to leverage even more out of the Workteam Collaboration Suite.

Managing your firm’s calendars and meetings can be a full time job. You can shorten the time it takes by allowing the Tungle.me system to do some of the work for you.

Free Sign-Up. Tungle.me is free to sign up and use. Once using it you can have your own Tungle.me page that others can visit or you can just rely upon email.

Tungle Meeting Scheduling Multiple Times

Pick Times. When you schedule a meeting multiple times are given to the participant(s) via email. They are taken to the meeting page where they can choose the best time that works for them.

Once they decide and click on the one they want,  an email is sent to both you and your participant. The best part is that your calendar is automatically updated.

No Conflicts. If you have multiple appointments there is bound to be a conflict in times at some point. These types of conflicts are avoided by the system as it automatically updates meetings as they are booked so you don’t have to.

Your Personal Page. You have a personal page that can be linked to from your CPA website. Anyone can then organize a meeting complete with multiple times to choose from.

Once the time is accepted then the meeting is automatically added to your calendar. You can even personalize your page as much as you want.

Mobile Devices. The system works with mobile devices, Outlook and more. You can do everything on the go easily because if you have access to email you have access to your calendar.

During the busy season it can be a chore to get the right appointments in place. When you  use the Workteam Collaboration Suite alongside Tungle.me you can reduce meeting confusion and stress.

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Managing to-do lists, including updating your CPA website, obviously becomes the most challenging during the busiest parts of the year. When your CPA firm is busy you may need to enlist help, but that requires more management of other tasks along with your own. Although a previous post has a great free task manager to use, Hiveminder is another that can leverage what little time you have.

Hiveminder

Free Sign-Up. Sign-up is free and, although they do have a pro version, looks to remain that way. The interface is simple and easy to use.

Tags. You can use multiple tags to help organize your to-do list. Mark an item with Intern, temp help, birthday, fun, etc. and it becomes that much easier to find all tasks with the same tag.

Email Tasks. A great feature is being able to email a task to a person who isn’t already a Hiveminder member. This is a great feature if you use Interns or other short term help. You can add a task, tag it with the keyword of Intern, and email it to be done.

They receive an email with a link to a page with the task details. They can comment on the task, change the priority, tags and more. If they are not a member then this is all they have access to.

When done with the specific task, they can click save and complete. You then get an update and can view the notes if any.

Add Tasks. You, or others you give a special email address to, can update your list with a task to complete. This can be great if you just want to send a quick task to yourself without having to login.

Review All. Once a week or so you can click on a button to review all open tasks. This forces you to either set a new completion date, mark it as done, or otherwise. This feature makes it so you can make a quick overview and clean up as necessary.

However you look at the busy season it is important to have a task manager that helps manage what you have. If your looking for a new task manager or a quick tool to help you through this season, Hiveminder might be the ticket.

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A previous post talks about helping to establish your CPA firm’s online image. One of the tools used for this is Facebook. Here are some fun and helpful guides for using Facebook.

Silverlight Application For Facebook

New Silverlight Facebook. Microsoft has come out with a great application that works independently from your browser with Facebook. The application uses Silverlight and, if you are used to logging in directly to Facebook, enhances the visual experience ten fold.

Free Download. You can go here to download the application. You first have to download and install Silverlight if you don’t already have it. You then come back to the same link and finish the process.

You link into Facebook and can then access it anytime by starting the application instead of going to your browser. The appearance is not only a lot more appealing but it is easier to keep track of what you are doing.

Understand Settings. If you use Facebook at all, displayed on your CPA website or just personally, you should take the time to understand privacy settings. By doing this you have much more control over who sees what. This becomes important as you might end up blending private and business with unintended consequences.

Promote Your Blog. Any website with CPA Site Solutions can have a blog directly on their website. You can link directly to your CPA website blog from Facebook by editing your profile with the hyperlink.

Facebook makes changes on a regular basis to what you can do with your settings. Facebook is usually pretty good about notifying users of the changes but it is good to keep checking news or back on the help page.

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If your CPA firm has a website hosted by CPA Site Solutions then you know you can easily create regular and custom forms. Although these options are great there is an even easier method to not only create the forms but also manage the responses. Here is a breakdown of how the service works.

Custom Form Responses Easily Managed

Free Sign-Up. The site is called Formspring and has both a paid and free plan available.  The free plan is pretty good with three forms, ten fields, and 50 entries saved. As long as you do regular deletion of old entries this could work for many small to medium sized firms.

Creation. It couldn’t be easier to create a form. You can choose one of the pre-made forms and then change everything from how it is set-up to who the form is sent to. You can even specify multiple email addresses that the response is sent to.

Data Saved. The true benefit of this type of set-up for your CPA website is that you get all the responses saved in one place. You can then organize the data or export it as an Excel or Word document.

Management. The data for the forms is all in one place so you can easily review responses. This way responses don’t get lost within a list of other emails for the day.

You can export all the responses when it comes close to the 50 response limit. You can then delete and start over.

Multiple Forms. This makes it much easier to create multiple forms for different pages on your CPA website. You can also have forms created for different marketing campaigns being run. You can then export the responses and compare the data with previous responses you might have received.

Have a moment, go ahead and send along a comment with the form below created with Springform.