|  BRIAN T. STONER, CPA
You can count on us to count for you! |
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Award for Best Accountant in Burbank, CA by Best Businesses - 2014 and 2015
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October 1, 2016 
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2600 W. Olive Ave, 5th Floor
Burbank, CA 91505
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I write a BLOG called 'MUSINGS OF A BURBANK CPA' on Financial and Tax Items I feel are worth sharing! You can access
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GETTING A CUSTOMER PORTAL AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT SPAM?
This Month's Newsletter is Computer Related!
Article one talks about
having
a customer portal and Article two discusses how to deal with "Spam" (not the lunch meat, the junk we get with our email.)
Call Now
818-333-5095
or 818-317-6035
Brian T. Stoner, CPA has been featured on
Also you can download my business app:
 
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Cool Tech Tools: Customer Portals
(Note: this is a post from a year ago, but it is pertinent now more than ever!)
If you have a business where you have to send documents of any kind to your customers, then you may benefit from a portal. You can save time on customer service and possibly postage and labor. You will also look most professional while increasing service delivery.
What Is a Portal?
A portal is software in the cloud that allows users to upload and download files from a secure space that only they have access to. For each client you have, you can set up a private virtual filing cabinet where only you and the client will have the key. Your client will have their own user ID and password into their area of the portal. There, they can upload and download documents. Some portals also have secure signature capability to help you take the paperwork out of obtaining signatures.
How Can I Use a Portal?
Think of all the paperwork that occurs between you and your customer, and that will give you several ideas about how to use a portal. If your business is data-intensive, you will definitely benefit from a portal; imagine moving all of those documents out of email and into a clean, private filing folder in the cloud.
Businesses that would benefit the most include:
- Any small business with remote employees: a portal can be where they pick up and drop off work.
- Mortgage companies where the loan officers are collecting a great deal of information for the underwriters.
- Construction companies: each subcontractor could access the schedule, estimates, material details, invoices, and certificates of insurance.
- Real estate agents to collect the details of home purchases and sales
- Accountants, attorneys, consultants, coaches, and other professionals who deal with private customer information.
- Web design, ad agency, and marketing companies
Types of documents and files you can upload and download from portals include:
- Contracts, estimates, and legal documents
- Invoices and credit card authorizations
- Instructions and training materials and aids
- Company policies and procedures
- Brochures and marketing materials
- Reports and spreadsheets
- Forms and applications, blank and completed
- Graphics, drawings, and photos
You don't necessarily have to set up a portal for every client; perhaps it's cost-effective to use a portal on your largest customers or vendors.
Where Can I Find a Portal?
One of the leading vendors in the portal space is Citrix Sharefile. You can find them here:
http://www.sharefile.com/
Your industry may have specific solutions for you as well, especially if you have regulations such as HIPAA that you need to follow.
You may also have heard of DropBox and Box.net. These companies offer file transfer and don't have a dedicated user area, so they are useful, but a bit different than a portal.
Look for software that provides each user with their own unique login, and that will distinguish the software as a true portal.
If you decide to implement portals for your business, you can private-label them with your logo and place a direct link to your portal login page for easy client access.
Using portals will keep your inbox cleaner, save time looking for lost emails and documents, and help you look professional in the eyes of your clients.
A Final Note: As a CPA, I have used Citrix Sharefile for many years now as a tool for me to send tax documents to clients and third parties (with client permission) and provide a secure link to email me their documents.
You can count on us to count for you!
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CALL NOW
818-333-5095
OR 818-317-6035
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Accounting Employment Opportunities
Pauline Casbon of Casbon & Associates, LLC is a professional recruiter I have known for quite a while. She is very professional and can help accountants looking for work get a new position as well as find accounting professionals for business and industry.
Full Time Job Opportunities: Contact Pauline Casbon at
310 859 3805
Referral fee for any potential employee that is placed in any of the following positions.
Tax Managers needed for Encino, West Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Century City and Pasadena. $$$ Competitive and top salary! Career track to Partnership if desired.
Audit & Tax Accountant, looking for a Generalist for our Sherman Oaks location. Great career path opportunity! Competitive salary and benefits.
Account Manager for business management accounting firm. Does not require datafaction! Excellent opportunity, competitive salary and benefits.
Senior Staff Accountant for firm in Encino. Business management accounting firm. Fantastic career, competitive salary and great benefits.
Bookkeeper for West Hollywood. Salary up to $75k. School/educational industry background required.
Account Manager Supervisor for Business Management Accounting firm in Encino. Overseeing and reviewing work administered by Account Managers. Datafaction required.
Assistant Bookkeeper for business management accounting firm in Beverly Hills and Westwood. Opportunity for great career path in business management, salary up to $55k, other locations in Encino and West Los Angeles.
Account Managers with Business Management accounting experience and Datafaction. Locations: Beverly Hills, Century City and Encino.
Bookkeeper for CPA firm in Arcadia. Need an experienced bookkeeper looking for a long-term career.
Audit Supervisor, CPA for great firm located in Encino!
Tax Accountant, CPA for prestigious firm in Century City, definite opportunity for career path.
Senior Staff Accountant for Business Management accounting firm located in Encino. Paying top $$$$ plus great benefits!
Bookkeepers for CPA/Business Management firms in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Los Angeles, Century City and Encino. Competitive salary, career growth and great benefits.
Tax Seniors for West LA, Century City, San Fernando Valley and the San Gabriel Valley; CPA firm and Business Management Accounting firm, seeking potential employees looking for a career path!
Audit Seniors for CPA firm in Santa Monica, Woodland Hills, Century City and Pasadena; Great career path. Competitive salary and great benefits!
Audit Manager, CPA for a great firm located in Pasadena and Immediate Hire!
Business Manager for Bus. Management Accounting firm to become a Partner. Century City. Preferably with a CPA Certification.
Two Audit Seniors for CPA firm located in Santa Monica. Career path opportunities.
Tax Manager for firm in Thousand Oaks. Long-term career path to become partner!
Tax Accountant for Century City and Encino 1 to 2 years experience of tax preparation with a CPA firm and/or Business Management accounting firm.
Tax Partner/ Tax Senior experience with real estate syndication, West Los Angeles.
Looking for immediate hires!
I am looking to expand my client base, if you would like further information regarding my staffing services, please do not hesitate to call. I am happy to visit your office which helps me gain an even better understanding of your firm's culture and staffing requirements. Please review my website at
and/or review my Linkedin profile.
Call 310 859 3805 for further information. Send resume(s) as a word attachment to :
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Unfortunately, spam is an inevitable part of today's digital world. The bad news is if you have your spam settings set too tightly, you will lose good emails. If you receive new prospects via email, you may miss out on good clients and revenue. If you have your settings too loose, you have to take up extra time to wade through the spam emails.
Here are some tips and facts that can help you control it.
Anti-virus software
Desktop-based (not cloud-based) anti-virus software is a must anyway, and most have an anti-spam component that can be activated to mark spam and move it to a junk folder in your Outlook or email software. You can then periodically review and delete the items in the junk folder.
Web hosting software
Many website hosting packages come with SpamAssassin which you can set up via your website's control panel. You can choose whether to delete the spam and you can set the level of deletion which is based on an email scoring system as to how spammy it is. Your webmster can help you set this up.
Third-party email
About half of all businesses have gone to third-party email solutions such as Google mail, Rackspace, Office 365, and many others. Many of these have built-in spam protection on their servers.
Gmail, which is free, is also very popular and filters the spam automatically. You can set up your gmail account so that it sends from your business email.
Challenge and response software
Some business owners have gone to a challenge and response software such as SpamArrest. All emails coming in require validation via a captcha (those boxes that have you prove you're a person and not a robot by entering letters and numbers) on the sender's part.
Old email addresses
Older email addresses are subject to more spam than newer ones. Also, if you use common emails such as [email protected], you probably get more spam than most. Start over every 3-5 years with new emails. It is worth the time.
You Can Count On Us to Count For You!
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Brian T. Stoner, CPA
2600 W. Olive Ave., 5th Floor
Burbank, CA 91505
(818) 333-5095 CELL (818) 317-6035
FAX (818) 566-1499
[email protected]
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