Michael J Yuda, CPA
Michael Yuda, CPA, thoroughly enjoys living in a tropical paradise. Who wouldn’t? His transition from California to Hawaii a few years ago was, in big part, made possible because of today’s advanced cloud technologies. After more than 25 years of owning a Los Angeles-based firm, Michael finally decided it was time for a change of scenery.
“My daughter went to school in Hawaii, and I had a condo on the island of Oahu. It was time for the move,” said Yuda.
Michael, a tech-savvy CPA, was confident that he could make the geographical transition with relative ease. Having run a paperless firm in California, it was a matter of setting up the same cloud-based infrastructure so that he could continue to serve his clients without interruption.
“I was able to take many of my clients with me,” Yuda explained. “With SmartVault, it makes it very easy to exchange documents and communicate with clients.”
Yuda stated that the recent tax season was one of the most efficient in his professional history—and he credited SmartVault with part of that success. Via SmartVault, he was able to send out 1040 tax organizers in batch. In previous years, having used a desktop document management system (DMS), this was not possible.
“With Lacerte [DMS], you couldn’t digitally send organizers in batch. It was a much more time consuming process.”
SmartVault’s Connected Desktop has also been a huge winner for Yuda. “Files appear in a simulated local drive. This makes it much easier to access files because it’s so organized and familiar, but I still get the convenience of the cloud. I love it!” stated Yuda.
A global presence
Michael Yuda has long since expanded his client base beyond his Cali clients. Today, he serves several Japanese clientele and a few in Australia. Michael’s wife, Misa Yuda, is fluent in Japanese while Michael is fluent in technology. Combined, this enables him to run a progressive firm that easily supports international clients.
“My wife is at the center of our Japanese client base. She expertly handles these clients because she speaks the language and is a seasoned professional. From a system’s perspective, we can easily handle the work remotely because we have advanced technology systems like SmartVault in place.”
Yuda stated that he still meets with clients during the year. “There is no substitute for being onsite with clients. You need that connection, so we make sure to do that.”
“One year we spent 87 consecutive days working in Japan. Our clients don’t care where we are, just that they receive excellent service.”
Sunset comments…
“I estimate that we’ve boosted efficiency during tax season by at least 90% since implementing SmartVault. Being able to send out electronic copies of the client tax organizer in batch represented a big win for us in terms of saving time,” Yuda explained.
In the words of this experienced professional, “Time is money!” So, the substantial time savings with SmartVault translates into a healthier bottom line for Michael J. Yuda CPA, LLC.
Yuda also mentioned that process enhancements have enriched his personal life. “I used to ‘survive’ during tax season. I now operate much more efficiently. SmartVault allows me to have the life outside of work that I desire as well.”
