So what are the best practices to keep data in your financial planning software out of the hands of nefarious cybercriminals?

1. Financial Files Should Be Password Protect

Protecting files in your financial planning software with iron-clad passwords gives your data an extra layer of protection. Passwords prompt user familiarity when accessing the file. And if a cybercriminal attempts to crack the code, they're instantly thwarted. Password protect your entire client database to go the extra mile.

2. Trust Your Instincts

Nothing beats common sense. Even if your organization deals with cold hard facts, going with your instinct can prevent a major breach. Daily monitoring of data in your financial planning software allows you to stay on top of any sudden change. Understanding client behavior helps as well. For example, if a customer typically calls or prefers to interact in person when dealing with their finances, stop and think if they suddenly begin to email or text. Cybercriminals only require one opportunity to strike, leaving financial planning organizations vulnerable when not keeping an eye out for suspicious behavior. Always have a fail-safe plan once old habits get questionably broken.

3. Stay Educated

Regardless of your job description, it's always a good idea to stay on top of the latest phishing and hacking techniques. Make an effort to educate the employees of your accounting firm on new cyber threats. If your company is not large enough to hire a dedicated security specialist, assign or have someone volunteer to host monthly sessions informing employees about security concerns. Choose one day of the month to provide lunch catering, thereby, enticing employees to attend a company meeting during lunch. These meetings provide a tremendous ROI with minimal cost to your organization and reduce the likelihood of a financial planning software breach.

4. Limit the Amount of Information Collected

Even with the most state-of-the-art security systems and protocols, clients can't help but worry about the safety of their financial identity. To mitigate this concern, limit the amount of personal client information collected to first and last name, age, state of residence, and email address. Stay away from collecting social security numbers, date of births, physical addresses, and employment information. Anything that will give away their identity is serious bait for cybercriminals.

5. Limit Access

If your financial planning software allows you to collaborate with multiple users, limit their functionality depending on the user. Sure, this feature allows other financial advisers, attorneys, or accountants to access the files remotely, but it also expands a cyber criminal's reach.

As the creator of the best in PDF financial file converters, MoneyThumb uses Pinpoint OCR, (optical character recognition) our proprietary algorithm that instantly flags questionable transactions. This is just one more way you can help protect your clients' sensitive financial information.

The post 5 Ways Financial Planning Software Protects Your Accounting Clients' Data appeared first on MoneyThumb.

Not all OCR programs are created equal…

Optical recognition technology evaluates image files and translates them into usable data. As science-fiction as that may sound, OCR has quickly established itself within a real-life context. Law firms use it to search for information in 100-page depositions. Businesses can classify and index invoices with OCR barcodes. The post office uses it to sort mail by zip code. You may have even used OCR when depositing a check into an ATM.

Though this technology can be used within a variety of frameworks, the function is the same. OCR programs begin by creating a hierarchy of information. First it analyzes the layout of an image file (such as a PDF), identifying tables, columns, and text blocks. It then breaks down that information into lines and characters. Most programs then cross reference the structure of the document with the recognizable characters and an internal dictionary to provide a comprehensive overview of the content. This entire process of analysis and conversion of a page into usable data take less than a minute.

…For that matter, nor are PDFs

Many documents that you will encounter in the accounting sphere are text-based PDFs. Invoices and bank statements are often transmitted from institution to individual in this format. In these types of PDFs, you can select and copy items to paste into spreadsheets and accounting forms. But there may be times when you get an a PDF that doesn't have any clickable fields; what do you do then?

Your file is most likely image-based. Image-based PDFs are large, high-resolution photos or scanned copies of physical documents. On rare occasions, you may receive a PDF that looks and behaves like it is text-based, but when you paste a selection onto a form, it shows up like this:

You’ve just come upon an encrypted PDF. These PDFs are meant to keep sensitive information confidential, but very few banks use them. Often, internally encrypted PDFs must be converted into image-based PDFs for processing.

Although image-based PDFs are an easy and accurate way of conveying information from one person to another, it relies upon human interpretation. Upon receiving the image, you (or your team member) have to read and manually enter that data. Not only is this time consuming, but the accuracy of data entry is subject to human faults, such as fatigue, boredom, and simple error. During periods of high volume—such as tax season—this puts your information at risk.

PinPoint OCR for the most accurate financial forms.

The use of an OCR program can drastically cut down on time and substantially reduce the possibility of error, but we take this a step further. MoneyThumb's new PDF+ line uses PinPoint OCR to integrate with our standard text-based converter products to give you the first character recognition program designed specifically to recognize elements within bank statements. This contextual format provides superior structural analysis and error correction.

Extracting data from financial documents such as credit card and brokerage statements for your personal finance and accounting files has never been easier. Explore our PDF+ products and see what we mean.

[ Compare PDF Convert Products ]

The post OCR and the Future of Financial Data Entry appeared first on MoneyThumb.

MoneyThumb is proud to introduce PDF+, the only optical character recognition (OCR) software designed specifically for reading scanned bank statements. PDF+ quickly and efficiently converts data from scanned documents and other PDF statements that contain images or internal encryption into usable data.

What is OCR?

OCR recognizes image based documents and translates them into data electronic devices can recognize. OCR technology is already being used to extract text and characters from books and magazines to preserve data into a digital format.The technology can identify everything from text to non-textual elements, such as images, columns, and rows. MoneyThumb's PDF+ is the first platform to implement this new and effective technology specifically to bank statements and bookkeeping forms.

What PDF+ Can do for You.

That means it can take read-only PDFs or scanned documents, interpret them, and deliver the data into an editable file. Whether you use desktop or online accounting methods, PDF+ can make life easier. Simply convert your scanned PDF documents to today’s most popular digital accounting formats:

• QuickBooks
• Quicken
• Excel
• MoneyDance
• Xero
• Zoho
• AceMoney
• Ynab

PDF+ can drastically reduce the amount of time spent manually entering data onto complex accounting systems. Furthermore, it removes the chances of human error, making your data as accurate as possible.

MoneyThumb currently offers PDF+ software bundles and express subscriptions. Software bundles include MoneyThumb’s classic conversion software (yours for life, upon purchase) with a one-year subscription to PDF+ OCR capabilities. For those looking to satisfy a short-term need, the express subscriptions give you access to MoneyThumb’s OCR services for 50 days at a lower cost.

All it takes to get this new technology on your computer is a simple download. You’re mere minutes away from supercharging your conversion software for PDFs.

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