100 Victoria Street Bristol BS1 6HZ United Kingdom a Sift Media publication E-business for accountants 15 July 2008 John Stokdyk Technology editor, AccountingWEB.co.uk

What holds you back from e-business? “Only fragmented information available… too much time required to keep up-to-date in a rapidly changing marketplace.” “My business clients tend to be more expert on IT systems than I am.” “Knowing enough to avoid risk of poor advice”

E-business for accountants– Agenda — James Pennington, NB2BC - How to make websites work — Richard Sergeant, PracticeWEB - Integrating the web into your client services — Case study - Vipul Sheth, AdvanceTrack Outsourcing — Steve Gold, Business IT Guide – An accountant’s view of IT security — Coffee break — Workshop – Towards a self-help group for accountants who want to get more involved with e-business

IT: “accountancy’s greatest failure” - Simon Hurst “IT is now such an integral part of almost all aspects of almost all businesses, that it is hard to imagine how an accountant can satisfactorily advise clients without dealing with a reasonably extensive range of IT issues… “It would be hard for an accountant not to get involved in [data security and business continuity] as part of their ‘normal’ accounting services to the client.” “A more ebusiness-confident accountancy profession should be able not only to offer advice itself, but also to recommend, trust and work with specialists where required.”

E-business workshop: Self-help starts here — Delegates who stay behind get back their seminar fee – but you’ve got to earn it! — AccountingWEB and National B2B Centre need your feedback to make the initiative a success — Share your experiences of e-business — The challenges of advising and supporting clients' e-business strategies — How to develop the appropriate skills for e-business consultancy — Information needs and preferences