Office/Desk setup

I'm curious to see how other Accountants have their office or desk setup?

I am curious to hear about any game changing software or applications that one could not do without these days.

Obviously, everyone has a computer and uses tax and/or bookkeeping software, but I'm looking for operational efficiencies, like fax to email programs or even voicemail to email services. Or how about docking stations? I have a Surface Pro 6 and would like to use it more, but too use to PC with dual monitors.

Any tech savvy accountants looking to share what they are using, or at least considering?

Nothing earth shattering but I have dual monitors. I use one for Current year and the other for input documents and prior year return. I also have a docking station for my laptop that connects to the dual monitors.

On the credenza is a scanner/fax machine. I have 2 printers. One on my credenza and the heavy duty one on a separate table in the corner next to a few file cabinets.
I am a one man shop with an assistant so my office is sparsely furnished with a 3 seater sofa, a center table and 2 chairs across my cherry wood table (family heirloom) with my 2 line phone.

It works for me for now. I may buy a new sofa next year!

After working at a number of firms which used dual monitors, I opted for this:

LG 34UC80-B 34-Inch 21:9 Curved UltraWide QHD IPS Monitor

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074JKT894/

Actually, the purchase was borne out of necessity as I needed two monitors and my laptop had only one HDMI output. Even so, I have four of them now and I'll never go back.

Working on a spreadsheet laid out uninterrupted over a 34-inch widescreen monitor is borderline scandalous.

Those are nice monitors but too rich for my blood! I tried a curved screen monitor/TV that my son got as a gift but was not satisfied with the view. I grew up with green screen monochrome monitors, so I still like the traditional look.

I use three monitors for myself, two are vertically-oriented and one the standard horizontal. None of them are too expensive or ornate, but the vertical orientation helps with reading tax forms.

Our standard setup for full-time permanent staff is a Surface Pro with a docking station hooked up to two 24" monitors (so three screens). There's only one port, but we pick up USB > HDMI or VGA adapters to add the other one. None of us could go back to two screens after having three. A couple of us also have iPad Pros on our desks for jotting down notes and planning (my post-it note addiction seems to be gone). We have standing desks that we don't use as much as we should, and little USB heaters to warm freezing hands.

On the software front, Karbon is the best thing ever for project / communication management. I would've said SurePrep is fantastic for OCR / PDF bookmarking but it's been a ROUGH season with them this year. When it works, it's a huge timesaver. When it doesn't... not so much.

Most of us have 3 monitors.
Personally I have 2 26” verticals and a 32” horizontal. I would have one more if I could find the spot on my desk for it.

Wanting to upgrade to a VOIP system but that’s been tabled to May.

I broke my tenkey have been using excel. I may not replace it, which I find shocking.

Using Office 365. Overrated. I mean I love it, but it’s not meaningfully different than Office 2016 and far more expensive.

but it’s not meaningfully different than Office 2016 and far more expensive.

IMHO most accountants can do their tasks just as well with Office 2010. I spend more time on good old Excel than any advanced features of Office 365

Razorback, why not take Judy's Tenkey for a spin?

I have a very old version of Office that I use for 1 thing - printing a specific report. It allows pie chart to have proper labeling.
Everything else I use Libre Office - free. If Libre would upgrade to do the labeling of pie charts I wouldn't use MS Office at all.

VOIP has been a godsend. Cut our costs to 1/6th and I can basically be anywhere in the world and clients have no idea I'm not in the office. (I'm not an accountant though / FP and tax). The wife and I travel for a month every year and nobody has a clue I'm not in the office.

Resilio: free file sharing program. Basically you load it on two or more computers and you can share folders via encrypted connection. That means you have an automatic backup to access your files at another location. If my computer dies, my home laptop has everything. If I'm out of town, I have a copy. It's nice and exceptionally fast. If it's a snow day and you don't want to go into work, you have all your files automatically updated at home. (you'll need your primary program files on your computer but the data files will transfer)

Stock market data - use Koyfin. It has a lot of quality information available to you for free (for now). They say they'll have a fee based product this year at some point but it's free now.

My biggest use of a ten key is to have a different area to just type a number on to keep for later use. I don't run a tape on most anything. Excel is my tool of choice.

Office 365 is great for me and I find the pricing more than reasonable given that I have my e-mail through them, and it's nice to have access to the full lineup including publisher. Plus, everything's integrated, and there's a value to that.

I don't run a tape on most anything

Last time I ran a calculator with tape was almost 10 years back.

I too rely on Excel and my trusted HP 12C

Last time I ran a calculator with tape was almost 10 years back.

Me too. Got rid of the 10 key about 10 years ago - about the same time that I got a third monitor.

Haven't missed the 10-key at all. Use Excel for most calculations. Have a Sharp QS-2130 (portable calculator that functions like a 10-key) for meetings, etc.

Razorback, why not take Judy's Tenkey for a spin?

I had to google this. Will give it a shot.

I use three monitors for myself, two are vertically-oriented and one the standard horizontal. None of them are too expensive or ornate, but the vertical orientation helps with reading tax forms.

I don't think I've ever seen a vertical monitor even when I was looking for one at Best Buy. I ended up with a 32" and thought I would use the "snap" feature in Windows 10 to put the prior-year tax return on the left and current year on the right. ProSystemFX doesn't reduce down proportionately (as far as I can tell) so that game plan didn't work well.

After tax season, I may take a look at dual monitors which would work nicely.

Adding machine vs Excel vs on-screen calculator? Not even a choice for me. My trusty adding machine will never leave my side the same way the Lone Ranger would never be without Silver!

My trusty adding machine will never leave my side the same way the Lone Ranger would never be without Silver!

I can understand your sentiments. I have an old Casio 120V adding machine with tape that I used for many many years. But it is almost a square foot print and took up valuable desk space. So now I am back to using my trusted HP 12C financial calculator that can fit in my shirt pocket!

I've been using a TI BA-35 calculator since 1986. Bought it in the college bookstore I think.
I also have a HP10B I bought in 1988 because I lost the TI for a while but I'm just not as big of a fan.

I use three monitors for myself, two are vertically-oriented and one the standard horizontal. None of them are too expensive or ornate, but the vertical orientation helps with reading tax forms.

I don't think I've ever seen a vertical monitor even when I was looking for one at Best Buy.

I am unaware of any monitor that is, by default, a vertical monitor. I have two Acer monitors where the base allows them to be easily rotated. Otherwise, you can get a monitor holder that attaches to your monitors (those four holes in the back of the monitor) and rotate them to your heart's content.

My primary PC is a laptop. I have an executive desk with three 32" monitors that literally surround me, it is like being in the cockpit of a plane except I am surrounded by numbers instead of interesting views. Have an AIO Brother laser printer on a wood file cabinet to the right of my desk that I use to store client check stock.

Behind my desk is a conference table, and behind that a loveseat. To the left of both the conference table and my desk is another tall table with a large safe under it (it holds physical client tax docs), an extra computer/host, scale, and label printer. To the left of that is a bookshelf and then some makeshift bookshelves out of wooden crates.

Also have a small shredder, which quickly eats all paper I do not need to return to clients (once it is scanned, if important).

Above my three monitors are various certifications, degrees, and some marketing stuff I have used at high end events.

As for tech, I am as paperless as clients allow me to be. TTC proves very useful for tax return prep/review. SmartVault or similar is invaluable for exchanging documents with clients (as well as Encyro, if they prefer to use secure e-mail). I am starting to look for a decent practice management system, but don't like anything I have come across, so far.

Both my verticals are from Dell. They are sold as rotable horizontals.