Top 10 iPhone Applications for Accountants On the Road
The iPhone is a terrific portable travel buddy and a marvelous asset for all service professionals, including CPAs.
Right out of the box your iPhone is a powerful tool, but to really get the most of it there are a number of apps designed to help you run your practice on the move. Here are some of my favorites.
Best of all, they’re all free.
- Trip Tracker – A fully automated application that keeps track of your travel itineraries with minimal set-up. All you have to do is register your frequent flier and hotel rewards numbers on the site and your complete itinerary will automatically be displayed in the program. The app will alert you to status changes as they occur.
- GateMaps – This is a brand new app, but once it’s fully developed it’s going to be really amazing. The application currently supports only five major hubs: Atlanta (ATL), Chicago O’Hare (ORD), John F. Kennedy (JFK), Los Angeles (LAX), and Miami International (MIA). Not to worry, though. More are coming soon.
- Skype – An excellent program for international travelers who want to save their pennies abroad. There’s no charge for placing calls via skype over wifi. If you prefer, the mobile version of Skype also includes their text feature. Unfortunately skype has recently started charging for using skype over cellular connections.
- Yelp – Yelp is very handy when you’re out of town. It provides user reviews for restaurants, bars, and shops making it a whole lot easier to find a good, nearby place to eat.
- Unit Conversion – This nifty little app lets you convert currencies on the fly.
- Taxi Magic – This app handily allows you to call a cab at the touch of a button. All you need to do is enter your pick-up location and the app does the rest. You don’t even need to make a phone call. Taxi Magic coordinates with the local taxi dispatch services to find the closest to your location. You can even monitor the cab’s progress via GPS. This application is available in most major cities in the United States.
- Bump – This is a very interesting little app. All you need to do is hold two phones next to one another and it swaps their contact information. No more fumbling for business cards or worrying about forgetting your pen.
- Expensify – I love this one. Expensify is simple and brilliant. All it does is track your receipts for you, but it spares you the hassle of lugging around pockets full of loose scrap. It keeps track of your expenses as you go. When you’re ready it compiles them into a single IRS-friendly report. One of this app’s major selling points is the ease of uploading information: all you have to do is take a picture of the receipt with your phone’s camera!
- HopStop – This app turns your iPhone into a public-transportation-sensitive GPS of sorts. By inputting your start and end location, your route will be calculated, taking into account buses, trains, transfers, and turns, and always getting you there as quickly as possible.
- World Customs and Cultures – Lessen the chances of cultural missteps with this app, which compiles a list of local customs so you can avoid offending important clients.
Hitting the road can be a hassle, but with an iPhone and a few helpful programs you can make your business trips a whole lot simpler – and possibly even fun!
About the Author
Brian O’Connell is the owner and founder of CPA Site Solutions, one of the country’s leading edge website design firms oriented solely to <a href=”http://www.cpasitesolutions.com”>CPA sites</a>. His company currently provides websites for more than 4000 CPA and accounting firms.