Articles

The American Institute of CPAs has come out with a new Top Ten Technology Initiatives a few months later than normal it usually does. This was supposed to be a year for the AICPA to think about a new way of doing the list, which it has issued for the last 21 years. But I don't find the latest technique to be an improvement. It may be that the real issue was someone tried to kill the annual selection and this was really about saving the process. It that case, the effort should be applauded. But the fact that in my Bob Scott's Insights newsletter I referred to it as a top-something list gives my general reaction to the 2010 edition.

So many items were jammed into different choices that there are about 19  elements in the Top 10. Take the items lumped into the No.1 issue “Security of data, code & communications/data security & document retention/security threats.” It's not the only item like this and I had trouble simply figuring out how the punctuation indicated different components.

One friend said he didn't think the list had much value to members and that's possible. But I found the real value was that it gave the often self-absorbed AICPA something that could receive recognition in the general press.

Moreover, the publicity suggests the organization didn't put a high value on the results. While the press release talked about the Top Ten Initiatives, the selection was buried in a document that began "Certified Public Accountants are increasingly being asked to solve information technology problems for clients and prospective clients ... "  We needed a committee-led effort to find this out?

The release highlighted a list of top 10 questions CPAs are asked, starting with, "Are we ensuring that our data and technology resources are protected against hacking, viruses, or other compromises?"

I don't know if the general press paid attention to the Top Ten list. But the AICPA should have made sure that happened. But there's nothing here that's going to generate much publicity. From a writer's point of view, the questions are even more cumbersome than the Top Ten technology list, which is not in the press release itself but was linked from it.

Next year's list is supposed to be issued closer to the beginning of the year. I hope it's something that more resembles to what's come out in the past. I've looked forward to the Top Ten list each year. I don't look forward to a repeat of this one.

• Prev
• Next