“Virtual Office” in High Demand Among Businesses

Businesses gain a competitive edge Kenneth D. Prather

In a today's competitive market place businesses are constantly looking for ways to become more efficient and get an edge on the competition. A growing number of businesses are finding that one of the smartest things they can do is to implement “Virtual Office” technology and streamline their day to day accounting and payroll duties. One of those businesses is the Ear, Nose, Throat and Allergy Center, PLLC located in Claremore. Dr. Mark Welch and his wife Jennifer recently decided to implement Virtual Office into their medical practice which allows access to all of their accounting and payroll needs from anywhere a high speed Internet connection is available.

In order to keep up with the demand of today's fast paced business owner, Kenneth D. Prather, Inc. a certified public accounting firm decided to make a substantial investment in technology. “People are demanding information immediately and they want to be able to access it at anytime from anywhere,” says Chris Fleming the firms tax and accounting manager. “If you take a look around you will see people banking, investing, shopping, and communicating online via their computers, PDA's, and cell phones. This is why we decided to invest substantial resources in order to implement and learn this cutting edge technology that seems to be the way of the future,” says Chris.

As an example, when it is pay day for the employee's of Ear, Nose, Throat and Allergy Center, PLLC, the Welch's submit the employee's hours via a secure online portal accessed through the accountants website. The accounting firm processes the payroll, direct deposits the funds to the employee's bank accounts, and makes payroll reports available for the client online. The employee's can even log in to their own secure portal through the accountants website and view their pay stub, year-to-date earnings, W-2's, update their withholdings, change their address, etc. “This feature is known as “Web Employee” and we now have several local clients providing this to their employee's as well as clients in other states such as Illinois, Missouri, and Texas as it is all done online. With more and more focus on the environment today, this technology is attractive as it is virtually paperless,” says Chris.

Dr. Welch can also visit the accountant's website 24/7 to access corporate income tax returns, individual income tax returns, payroll reports, quarterly reports, and year-end reports that the accountant has prepared. A bookkeeping program called “Client Bookkeeping Solution” is also accessed online where they can pay bills and record deposits.

You might be thinking that this technology must be expensive...but it is actually affordable. “Yes, it is affordable and the reason is that our firm operates so much more efficiently than before and we are able to pass on the savings to our clients. An initial meeting with Chris to demonstrate the system costs you absolutely nothing, so contact any of the firms three locations in Claremore, Pryor or Owasso today!

For more information, contact

Kenneth Prather Inc.

(918) 341-0900

(918) 825-4050

(918) 379-4494