Why your organization should be using open document standards

Microsoft has the enterprise market cornered with its Office productivity suite. Skill with Outlook, Excel and Word is pretty much required in the corporate world. As a result, most companies have significant data tied up in the proprietary binary file formats doc and xls. This is not to mention all the web-based software designed forContinue reading “Why your organization should be using open document standards”

Will the netbook save the desktop?

There has been a migration in recent years from the desktop as primary computer to the laptop. As the cost of the laptop relative to its performance specs decreased, more and more people were finding that the benefits of mobility and a small form factor justified moving to a laptop. Enter the netbook. These areContinue reading “Will the netbook save the desktop?”

Programming and auditing

A recent post on Coding Horror on pseudocode reminded me of my work as an internal auditor. You might think it’s strange that a blog post on a programming/development technique would make me think of auditing – well, you’re right. It is a little weird. But hear me out. Pseudocode is called that because it’sContinue reading “Programming and auditing”

Dropbox makes USB drives obsolete

Well, maybe not obsolete, but definitely less integral for the mobile professional. I started using Dropbox roughly six months ago and have been consistently impressed with the service, single tweet of discontent aside. Dropbox syncs your files between computers on which you have their lightweight software installed. It creates a folder where you can storeContinue reading “Dropbox makes USB drives obsolete”

Changes to GAAP for private companies in Canada

Since the mid 90s there has been debate within accounting circles on whether there should be two versions of GAAP – one for public companies and one for private companies. Big GAAP and little GAAP. The logic is that there are sections of GAAP that do not apply to non publicly accountable entities, and timeContinue reading “Changes to GAAP for private companies in Canada”