NOVEMBER IS TECHNOLOGY MONTH

The CPA Journal's Home Page Unveiled

A computer consultant, analyst, and commentator closes his weekly radio show on NPR with, "What you learned this week will be null and void by this time next week." He is, of course, alluding to the fast pace at which computer technology is changing. While his statement is an exaggeration, the point being made is not. Since last year's November technology issue, the amount of accounting and tax information available on the Internet has increased a zillionfold, Intranets have replaced the World Wide Web at cocktail chatter time, the AICPA has switched its emphasis away from its CompuServe Accountants Forum to its home page on the Internet, and Luca Online™ is expanding its capabilities.

This month's issue of The CPA Journal is designed to help keep you current and bring you up to date. First and foremost, is the article by Will Yancey, Dennis Schmidt, and Roxanne Spindle on the enormous amount of tax related information that is available on the Internet. In one relatively small sidebar, the authors present a comprehensive list of sites on the Internet where tax information can be found. The sites take advantage of the linking capabilities of the Internet. For example the Yancey and Schmidt sites can link the Internet browser to home pages of state governments from which state tax forms can be downloaded and printed for use by taxpayers and tax return preparers. This article with its site references is a wonderful place for the Internet neophyte to begin catching up and making the Internet the working tool it is capable of becoming.

Other articles this month include software reviews and surveys to provide a broad range of information about using technology. A fifth article by Julio Bucatinsky is not about computers and technology, but rather about the importance of their effective use. Especially for small enterprises that have had their computer capability grow in unorganized fits and starts, it tells of how to bring order and productivity to chaos and underutilization. A final article speaks of opportunities to take yesterday's computers and technology and recycle them to help the severely disabled communicate and work in the world.

The CPA Journal Home Page

Joining the list of places for CPAs, accounting educators, and accounting practitioners to seek out on the Internet is The CPA Journal home page. Its address is http://www.cpaj.com or www.cpajournal.com. Editor of the page, Michael Rosencrantz, has put together information about the Journal, how to communicate with us, and most importantly a comprehensive list of other sources of accounting and tax information that can be accessed by the point-and-click capabilities of hypertext. It very well can be the one-stop shopping place for accounting information.

Those who know of additional sites that editor Rosencrantz should add are encouraged to contact him via the site or by email (mrosencrantz@luca.com). *