Mind maps made productive for public accountants

I’m a huge fan of visualizing things. Things like data. Data is fun, sure, but not as fun as a data visualization. Pictures are worth a thousand words, and pretty pictures have gotta be worth at least 1,001.

What’s helping me visualize data these days? Mind maps.

That’s because there are two really cool web apps that make creating and sharing mind maps a snap – bubbl.us and Mindmeister.

Mindmeister appears more polished at this point, but you have to sign up to use it. Bubbl.us will have you mapping right away (before needing to register) but isn’t as slick yet. Both are pretty cool tools for visualizing some interconnected data.

Mindmeister audit mind mapI’m hoping to use these tools in the near future when I’m leading an audit planning meeting. I think this is where I could use this technology for productive purposes (rather than just messing around) and display the relationships between sections of the file and the engagement’s specific risks.

It wouldn’t take much to liven up a planning meeting, that’s for sure. I think it would encourage more participation and livelier discussion of the relevant issues, engaging everyone from the partner down to the junior staff. For juniors, it would illustrate how interconnected the issues and risks are and enable them to better understand the client and the engagement.

There’s also Mindomo, which is more feature rich than both Mindmeister and bubbl.us, but less Web 2.0ish. I’ve found so far that it’s easier to just get going with the first two apps, plus I think they’d be easier to use in a meeting to brainstorm. For more detailed maps, Mindomo is probably better.

But what do you think? Are mind maps an exciting new frontier for the staid business meeting?

Microsoft plunges into social networks with accounting and finance site

This is probably the type of thing I should be blogging about. The phrase “right in my wheelhouse” comes to mind. The intersection of several of my favourite things: accounting, technology, and social networks.

Microsoft Dynamics logoMicrosoft has announced a new “community” around Dynamics Live specifically for accounting and finance professionals. The site isn’t named yet but if you join now you can participate in the poll to rename it and vote for any of three uninspiring names: Capital Chat, Finance Forum, or Net Knowledge.

I joined up, the better to assess its chances at gaining a foothold in a rapidly evolving sphere.

Networks are only as good as their users, and LinkedIn already has a bundle of them. I wonder whether another network focused on this demographic, even if its further specializes at first in accounting and finance, can really offer something new.

Microsoft is planning to advertise the community through their Dynamics product, but the community may be perceived to be advertising for their other products.

I’ve read that Dynamics has respectable market penetration, and personal experience bears that out as several clients I personally work with use it. If Microsoft can harness their current users into producing quality content for the community, they may hold the key to attracting new users.

What do you think?

Cell phones become mobile

I’ve been waiting for tomorrow for a long time. The rest of the country has been waiting for tomorrow for a long time. And that time has finally arrived.

Wireless number portability is now here.

Canada is finally catching up with the rest of the world and unshackling phone numbers from phone companies. My number is mine alone, and I’ll be taking it wherever I want!

I’ve already decided to switch. I’ve been with Bell for a couple years now, and although the plan I’m on is pretty good, the reception is often deplorable.

When I’m sitting at my desk at the office, on the 17th floor of a 17-storey building surrounded by no other taller or as-tall buildings, I lose calls within a few seconds of answering them every time. So I’m anxious to try another provider to see if their towers are more advantageously located.

Tomorrow will mark a momentous day for consumers in Canada. It has been a long time coming.

Shared office space can preserve scarce cash

Smart cash flow management is critical to any business, but especially so for startups. Leasing the building, furnishing it, maintaining it, equipping it with phone and computer systems and networks… These are significant costs that startups would do well to avoid for as long as possible.

So it was with great interest that I read about the Indoor Playground, “a next generation co-working environment … for the entrepreneur who needs an office space on occasion as well as a community centre for collaboration.” They’re even using Ning for their web presence!

It sounds pretty cool. They have 14 smaller meeting rooms averaging 100 square feet, four larger shared meeting spaces, and a breakfast bar with shared room for working.

There’s an article in BusinessWeek.com about the phenomenon called co-working that features Indoor Playground:

One of the newest co-working facilities, for-profit Indoor Playground, opened in Toronto on Feb. 1 with a mission statement focused solely on supporting local entrepreneurial activity. The space’s hanging dividers and movable desks allow for reconfigurable work areas that can accommodate growing businesses as well as community events. Those events are planned by members themselves, both in person and through wikis.

I’ve toyed with the idea of setting up an accounting firm in a similar manner, with both private and shared working areas, but no assigned cubicles or desks. It’s not that far out, since work tends to come in somewhat “discrete units” in the accounting business. It would encourage employees to move around and enable more interaction amongst departments that wouldn’t normally be situated together.

Tell me in the comments what you think of the idea.

(Via Maple Leaf 2.0.)

Using blogs as marketing tools

A while back, about a day or two after passing the UFE, I was approached to write a short editorial for The Bottom Line, a finance and accounting monthly, about how and why accountants and accounting firms should blog.

I sat down soon thereafter and punched out a short, authoritative screed extolling the virtues of embracing blogging. It was pretty cool to see my writing in print:

Blogging about accounting will allow you to keep up on the hot topics in the industry in a more meaningful way. In 2006, options backdating in the US and income trusts in Canada have been on the front burners of accountant blogs. Being able to weigh in on those topics with some credibility allows a blogger to have a level of influence that otherwise would go untapped.

So, how successful has my article been at spurring a Canadian accountant blogging renaissance? Probably not so much, since I haven’t heard of any new ones! Maybe they’re just waiting for busy season to be over before getting started. Yeah, that’s probably it.

Anyway, the full article is available.