W. Michael Hsu, CPA — 26

Professional Associations/Memberships: AICPA, CalCPA, Irvine Chamber

Civic Involvement: UCSB Alpha Kappa Psi

Hobbies: Travel, Photography, Snowboard, Driving

Cell phone: iPhone 4. It is my lifeline and connects me to the rest of the world. I’ve been waiting for an Android phone to steal my heart away but so far everyone has failed. If anyone from Google or HTC is reading this, I’m hoping they’ll collaborate and build an Android phone that uses 4g SIM cards (not HDMA) with Verizon.

Favorite app: This is a tough one, but I’d have to give it to Evernote. The app is absolutely great for taking notes, snapping pictures for things to remember, and allowing me to sync across my Mac and iPhone. Its OCR ability also allows me to search for my notes/pictures easily when I need to retrieve it on a short notice.

 

What are some ways your firm/business has gone “paperless” and/or “green” in the last two years? DeepSky was founded in 2009 and was built from the beginning to be a paperless firm. Physical paper only exists as source documents that were sent to us by our clients or a third-party vendor. They are then scanned, shredded/recycled and retained digitally on our company server, properly categorized and backed up on a pre-determined schedule. Once the source documents have entered our recording process, all review work is done digitally directly on these source documents using Adobe Acrobat software, digital tickmarks and digital signatures. At the end of our recording process, client reports are provided to our clients as a PDF package. Unless expressly specified by our client during special occasions, DeepSky rarely provides any printed reports in an effort to reduce our footprint.

How many hours of the day are you plugged in and responsive to client needs? And what tools/products make it possible for you to have flexibility? I am plugged in and responsive to client needs nearly 24/7 thanks to today’s technology flexibility. Hardware-wise, I rely heavily on my iPhone and Macbook Pro to stay mobile and connected to the Internet no matter where I travel. The advancement in push technology and hardware reliability really allows me to be anywhere in the world and stay connected. In fact, I am writing this response halfway around the world in Shanghai, China. On the software side, I rely heavily on my remote desktop to stay connected to our client data; it is extremely important that I am able to pull up our clients’ books on a moment’s notice in order to have meaningful conversation with both our clients and my staff. On our operational end, DeepSky utilizes several online SaaS offerings to help us stay on the same page and connected. In order to converse with our clients and with each other, DeepSky also utilizes online messengers such as Skype.

Are you using social networking (such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Facebook) as a marketing tool for your practice/business … or do you use such sites for personal use only? Have you gained any clients or seen other demonstrable benefits from the use of social networking? DeepSky is very involved with social media on Twitter, LinkedIn and the blogging front. In the beginning, Twitter was one of the more skeptical choices; however, it had proven to be one of the most effective tools over time. DeepSky has retained a few clients through either direct or indirect referrals on Twitter. More importantly, DeepSky was able to connect with several likeminded professional peers through Twitter and other social media means that resulted in our professional growth through the sharing of best practices, ideologies and technical knowledge.

What pitfalls or what unwritten rules of social networking etiquette exist, which are frequently missed by others in the profession? From our perspective, we see the “professionals” of the world often take social media too seriously. During the last year, I’ve not been able to attend a single professional event/seminar without it having some type of self acclaimed social media guru present, teaching the rest of the world about the “secrets” or “rules” of social media. Seriously, social media are just different platforms used for people to connect. What you will not do in public or among friends, you probably shouldn’t do on any social media platform. If you are not the kind of person who will try to sell your product/services to everyone at a party, you probably shouldn’t try to do so on Twitter or Facebook. Be open-minded, connect with people, have an opinion and don’t take social media too seriously. Anyone who claims to be a social media guru is not.

Do you embrace cloud computing? I do embrace cloud computing, as my entire business is built around it. Rewind time to 10 years when companies were all busy acquiring their own IT infrastructures and hardware — companies are extremely dependent on the physical location of either the infrastructure or the professionals. Take accounting for example. Tax and accounting professionals spend most of their time commuting to and from client locations, moving and filing physical pieces of paper and forms, logging into the different workstations that allow us to do different tasks. If we take a traditional 40-hour workweek, I’d attribute five hours to waiting for the “stuff” to print, seven hours travel time (be it between companies or between offices), three hours for me to copy files from this computer to that, two hours to turning the computers on/off, two hours of the computer “being slow,” two more hours for the computer to simply be malfunctioning, and the remaining 19 hours for actual work time (including coffee breaks, bathroom breaks, chatting breaks). Cloud computing acts as a company network on a global basis, with a centralized (and distributed) infrastructure, one expert team responsible for uptime and maintenance and one single place to look for “stuff.” As long as each individual is able to secure a stable Internet connection, he/she can quickly access and work on that information with minimal interruption. My most integrated client is so tapped into our system that his financial report changes as our staff processes transactions from 3,000 miles away. So long are the days of “let’s walk over to accounting so they can print us the most-up-to-date report.”

How is cloud computing changing the accounting profession, and how concerned are you with the security issues related to cloud computing? Cloud computing has been around for longer than many accountants believe. In fact, the issue of cloud computing security has been around since back when I was still in college. Back then, I was concerned with security. After all, I trusted myself more than anyone else. The fact that I know my data are stored inside a box that sits inside my office makes me sleep better at night is just the illusion of security. Heck, I even believed that whatever was stored on my laptop was more secured than anywhere “in the cloud.” However, the illusion of data being in the cloud being “un-secured” and data in your hard drive being “locked down” couldn’t be more backwards based on my elementary level of IT security. When I was a SOX IT auditor, I was blessed with the opportunity of visiting data centers from around the United States, and I was absolutely blown away with the type of security present at these data centers. We are talking about $50,000 to $60,000 pieces of equipment that are responsible for a single aspect of the data center security, machines built to regulate electricity, provide emergency power and then safely power down servers … and sometimes even armed security guards. I am confident that once an accountant has visited one of these data centers, they’d understand how the illusion of security may seem silly.

Do you foresee the majority of firms still implementing servers for the majority of their computing in their offices five years from now or do you think they will be outsourcing this component to vendors who specialize in this area? It really depends on the size of the firms. Take PwC or any of the Big 4 firms for example: They require such a huge computing power and database that it is very cost effective and reasonable for them to maintain their own network of servers … or they own private “clouds.” (i.e., Google, IBM, Quanta, Foxconn all design, co-manufacture and maintain their own servers) However, for most mid-size firms, I’d imagine more and more people move towards utilizing either customized or standard cloud services instead of hosting their own servers to save on costs and increase productivity. As part of the global trend for business, I am hoping more and more companies outsource all of their non-core competence and only focus on what they are good at.

Do you subscribe to a magazine and/or local newspaper? I subscribe to many magazines and am starting to move some of my subscriptions online. As tech savvy as I often claim to be, I am still very traditional when it comes to consuming print media (magazines and books). I like the way a piece of paper feels in my hand while reading and could not stand the strain backlit monitors put on my eyes for long-hour reading. With that said, I’ve recently subscribed to a few foreign magazines digitally to save on shipping costs. I also consume a lot of digital media via blogs and short online articles — the shorter length allows for easier reading on a monitor.

What ONE piece of technology could you absolutely not live without? The Internet. (Is this cheating?) Seriously though, this is the first thing that came to mind. I can still remember the first computer that I received when I was just a boy — a 286 desktop computer running DOS. What I could not remember was what I did with it. In fact, I cannot remember what it was like before the Internet. As time has gone by, I’ve time and again found myself lost with a computer that is without Internet. All of a sudden it seemed like I couldn’t get anything done. In fact, I am so tapped into the Internet that I feel lost and disconnected without it.

NOT including your current employer, what company do you most admire and why? There are many companies that I admire and learn from, taking little aspects from each and implementing them into my own. If I had to pick one company that most people have heard about, I’d have to say Apple (post-2004 and pre-2010). Steve has demonstrated that culture and belief absolutely triumphs over price and product through proper development, marketing and sales process. If one is to take a close look at Apple during these few years, one would see that none of the products that Apple brought out were first to market, yet they were all better marketed, better designed, easier to use and without hassle. MP3 players existed years before the first iPod was ever created, yet Apple was able to turn it mainstream with its beautiful design and easy-to-use interface. Apple was also able to look deep into its Mac line and realize, admit to and make changes to the entire source code and hardware industry design. The difference between Apple and Microsoft is that while Apple bit the bullet and completely redesigned its OS from the ground up, Microsoft continued to build upon a broken platform, fixing and patching along the way. It takes a great deal of courage for the leader of an organization to openly admit that their product is crap and start from square one. But constant review and improvement is definitely needed for any successful company to exist.

Do you use online resources like webcasts for CPE training? Yes. I do utilize many webcasts and videocasts for CPE training. Again, the ability to interact through the Web has allowed us to connect with other more knowledgeable individuals quicker and more effectively. I am a firm believer that learning can occur better when materials are broken down into smaller pieces and integrated with conversation and exercise. Breaking a full-day seminar down into eight separate webcasts with Q&A sessions is definitely a more effective use of time in my opinion. As such, I highly utilize online resources like webcasts for CPE training. In addition, the minimal upfront investment in time and capital allows me to opt out as soon as I find the lesson to be ineffective. Jason Fried from 37 Signals and Seth Godin both mentioned that there is no reason to continue with something once you’ve discovered it to be substandard.

Do you listen to podcasts? No, I do not listen to podcasts.

What is an “old school” business practice or process you’d like to see changed in the next five years and why? I’d like to see traditional accounting departments replaced by centralized service providers like DeepSky. During my time as a public accountant, I was given opportunities to look into the accounting departments of an array of corporations and have discovered them to be tired, “old school” and extremely ineffective. I blame this on two aspects: 1) the traditional accounting profession is considered conservative and uninventive and 2) the private accounting profession was too close-minded to learn otherwise. As such, you are left with a profession that tends to filled by uninventive individuals who are close-minded to what they’ve learned from one mentor in the one company they’ve been in. Technologies and new methodologies are looked upon as “unconventional” and “unimportant.” Accountants have become so stuck in what they’ve learned 20 years ago that it is time for major changes. It’s time to really think about our goal, our process and what kind of technology is available to help us get there faster. “Begin with the end in mind,” as Steve Covey said. Lose the tunnel vision of debits and credits and start seeing what we can do to really add value to the business for which we work. At DeepSky, we always ask our staff to keep the goal of their tasks in mind. It is only then that they can bypass all obstacles and produce the desired result. Or as my controller Nell says, “I can review the balance sheet for an entire year and still not find my revenue; your (accounting staff) job is to bring me the report that answers my question. So listen carefully to my question before you make a move.”

What sports team/championship event do you absolutely refuse to miss? I am a die-hard 90s Chicago Bulls/Michael Jordan fan. Although my friends have been trying to convince me otherwise, I’ve decided that there are no games going on today that matched up to the excitement produced by those championship events led by Michael Jordan. He is one of those people who you feel you can depend on in times where you’d otherwise be hopeless. Otherwise, I really enjoy NBA games on TV (no one team in particular,) live Dodger and Red Wing games and the once-a-year Super Bowl party.

What are some of your favorite books, movies, music, websites and TV shows? There are way too many books for me to list out here. I am an absolute book junkie and have managed to collect several rooms full of books since I was young. If I’d have to list one of the more recent ones I’ve read, I’d say “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” (Okay, “Buyology” was pretty good too.)

As far as magazines go, I would not miss the Taiwanese version of Business Weekly. In my opinion, it is 100 times better than the U.S. version. You can find it on Zinio reader. Other magazines I read on a regular basis include Forbes, Inc, GQ, and Road & Track.

My Google Reader has about 20 to 25 blogs that I follow religiously with Seth Godin, Gizmodo and Lifehacker being my absolute must-reads on a daily basis.

Movies and music are again way too much to list. Let’s just say my iTunes is on whenever I am up.

TV shows I could care less about, although I do find the new ‘Lie to Me” show extremely entertaining.

How many monitors do you have on your desk? Two. I am a huge believer that dual monitors increase productivity significantly. In fact, everyone at DeepSky has at least two 23-inch monitors when we are in the office.

What operating system and version of Microsoft Office is installed on your work computer?

Mac OS Snow Leopard and MS Office 2008 are installed on my Macbook Pro. On our virtual desktop, we use either Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 with MS Office 2010.