Forest Systems

Special thanks to the team at?BNY Wealth, and specifically to Banu Elizondo and Keith Kellum, CAIA, CTFA for their partnership & sponsorship on our recent event "Building Your Family Office" hosted at Davidson College's The Hurt Hub@Davidson. "Family Offices today face a unique set of accounting & financial reporting challenges and opportunities," said Forest Systems Founder/CEO Edward Van Deman, CIPM, CPA, PFS, CGMA, MBA. "Events like our?recent event with?BNY Wealth are critical to bringing people together to talk about these challenges, opportunities, and the exciting future of the Family Office among partners and systems ready to tackle these issues together."?

“We continue to be impressed with all the accounting and financial reporting functionality in the Forest platform. We have many entities to track and it meets our needs so well.” That's an excerpt from a testimonial from a large East Coast Family Office who utilizes Forest. We are grateful for their partnership - and their kind words for our platform. As a Family Office, you face a unique set of accounting and financial reporting challenges.?Fortunately, Forest Systems understands those issues intimately. Our platform, with its integrated general ledger and portfolio tracking capabilities, can meet all your financial management and reporting requirements. Here's how Forest is making life & work easier for Family Offices across the country: ?? Track all of your entities in one place ?? Retrieve & aggregate investment data ?? Aggregate data from all of your managers ?? Measure investment performance ?? Calculate performance & benchmark your managers ?? Easily produce financial reports & consolidated statements ?? Streamline your cash disbursements ?? Share information with family advisors Let us show you a demo and walk you through how it can work for you and your office. Schedule time here: https://lnkd.in/et7wXwQH

?? IN CASE YOU MISSED IT ?? The Forest Systems team is excited to announce the release of the new functionality, Forest Documents, a module now available to our current clients in their respective Forest platforms. We released this function over the summer, and it's gaining traction quickly among our clients. Why Forest Documents, why now? Our team built this new Documents functionality as a way to harness the power of one of our business world’s biggest digital transformations happening right now – AI. There are tremendous benefits for clients who actively use Forest Documents, but the biggest benefit: saving time, space and energy organizing and searching your data for accounting information. Three actions Forest Documents does for you now: 1. UPLOAD: Upload your .xlxs, PDF, etc. individual files or folders with multiple files. 2. DELETE AND MOVE: Delete and/or move files with ease and peace of mind – our system securely stores your client folder on AWS server. 3. STORE, SEARCH & FIND:?Forest Documents stores and organizes information by entity. Additional folders can be created within the entity for a customized organizational experience. Two actions Forest Documents will be able to do for you in the future: 1. PREVIEW FIRST:?Preview your documents before downloading them, saving time and space. 2. ATTACH & UN-ATTACH:?Attach and/or un-attach documents to payee/payors, transactions, and accounts. How Forest Documents works Once a client’s key documents are on the Forest platform, a client can utilize Forest’s AI models to view documents and release accounting data accordingly. This is a faster way to access important accounting information in documents versus reading and searching yourself for the data. Special note: For select Enterprise Edition subscribers,?Forest is pleased to offer?access to Documents for 30 days?at no cost. Please reach out to us directly if you’re interested in this offer.???

LAST CALL: Today is your last change to RSVP to our event tomorrow, September 17 -- Don't miss your opportunity to attend "Building Your Family Office Systems to Work with Your Service Providers," co-hosted by Forest Systems and BNY. ?? Date: Tuesday, September 17th, 2024 ? Time: 3:00 PM ?? Location: The Hurt Hub, 210 Delburg St, Davidson, NC 28036 Join us for an engaging session where we’ll explore how to optimize family office systems and ensure seamless integration with your service providers. ?? RSVP now: https://lnkd.in/erFXA4BE We look forward to seeing you there! Reach out if you have any last-minute questions. #FamilyOffice #Accounting #Networking #ForestSystems #BNYMellon #Event #RSVP

?? REMINDER: You're invited to join us on Tuesday, September 17th at 3 PM for our exclusive event, "Building Your Family Office Systems to Work with Your Service Providers," co-hosted by Forest Systems and BNY. ?? Location: The Hurt Hub, 210 Delburg St, Davidson, NC 28036 This event will focus on optimizing family office systems and improving collaboration with service providers. Whether you're already attending or still deciding, there's still time to RSVP! Don’t miss out on this valuable opportunity to learn and network with industry leaders. ?? If you have any questions, feel free to reach out! RSVP Here: https://lnkd.in/erFXA4BE #FamilyOffice #Accounting #AccountingSoftware #Networking #ForestSystems #BNYMellon #Event #RSVP

We’re excited to announce an upcoming event co-hosted by Forest Systems and BNY: "Building Your Family Office Systems to Work with Your Service Providers" ?? Date: Tuesday, September 17, 2024 ? Time: 3:00 PM ?? Location: The Hurt Hub, 210 Delburg St, Davidson, NC 28036 Join us for an insightful session focused on optimizing family office systems and streamlining collaboration with your service providers. ?? RSVP: https://lnkd.in/erFXA4BE We hope to see you there! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions. #FamilyOffice #Accounting #AccountingSoftware #Networking #ForestSystems #BNYMellon #Event #RSVP

As technology evolves, so do the threats and risks. As a result, cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly important need. How significant is that need? In 2023, the FBI received a record number of internet crime complaints from the American public – a total of 880,418. This was a 10% increase over the previous year. Potential losses exceeded $12.5 billion – a 22% increase over the prior year. While many institutions take a laissez-faire approach to cybersecurity, we are proactive from day one, adopting security standards that rival those at the nation’s top governmental institutions. Here are three moves Forest Systems is making to protect you, your clients, and their respective organizations. 1. Pressure-testing & certifications to achieve the highest standards Before we build any new products or features, we make a concerted effort to bring our back-end technology up to the highest security standards in the nation. To that end, we have dedicated the past few years to working towards qualifying for the most prestigious certifications on the market, including: - the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework, which helps businesses of all sizes better understand, manage, and reduce their cybersecurity risk and protect their networks and data; and - the SOC 2, a security framework developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants that specifies how organizations should protect customer data. Earning these certifications means that our back-end technology can withstand the most rigorous pressure testing that exists today. 2. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) as a top priority MFA is the technology you use every time you get locked out of an email or bank account, and you must verify your identity via another method, like text or an authentication app. Our team saw MFA – and the security of our clients’ accounts – as the highest priority for this year. This month, we are completing the rollout of MFA for all our clients. 3. Enhanced security for our team also protects you & your information To protect our nation’s top secrets, defense industry organizations rely on hardware authentication – an ultra secure form of MFA. Forest employees must use hardware security keys – small, USB-like devices – to log into any of the services and systems we use. Think of it like a key card that grants access to an office or building. This heightened level of security provides an extra layer of protection for our clients and for our organization and puts us among the very few financial institutions that have gone to such lengths to protect their clients and their businesses. What’s next We are evaluating how artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies can improve our security efforts – with threat analysis, for instance, or in searching for vulnerabilities within our systems. What are the threats & risks you're concerned about?

What's your family office or CPA firm doing about cybersecurity, AI & document management? If you're struggling to manage any of those three - or maybe ALL three - you're not alone. Which is why we created the Forest Financial Academy. Forest Financial Academy (FFA) is a trifecta of support – the best of virtual education, technology training and humanity. We are addressing some of the most important topics trending for accounting professionals today in an in-depth module format organized and led by well-trained and trusted members of the Forest team.? ? Here are three critically-important technology issues that the FFA addresses. CYBERSECURITY Cybersecurity is one of our world’s most complex and important issues. In accounting and financial management for family offices and CPA firms, cybersecurity is essential to protect the layers of sensitive financial data from unauthorized access and breaches. It ensures compliance with regulations like GDPR and SOX, avoiding legal penalties. Robust cybersecurity measures maintain client trust and safeguard against financial fraud. Additionally, they ensure business continuity and protect technological investments in accounting systems, like Forest. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) ? AI is revolutionizing accounting for family offices and CPA firms by automating routine tasks, increasing efficiency, and reducing human error. It provides advanced data analytics capabilities, offering deeper insights into financial trends and improving decision-making. AI enhances fraud detection and risk management by identifying unusual patterns and anomalies. Furthermore, AI-powered tools facilitate personalized financial planning and client services, elevating the overall client experience. DOCUMENT EFFICIENCY? Document efficiency – from spreadsheets, to PDFs, to platforms –?is crucial for accounting in family offices and CPA firms as it streamlines the management of financial records, saving time and reducing operational costs. It enhances accuracy and minimizes errors by ensuring that documents are organized and easily accessible. Efficient document management supports compliance with regulatory requirements by maintaining thorough and up-to-date records. Additionally, it improves client service by enabling quick retrieval of information and facilitating prompt, informed decision-making. If you're ready to learn more, schedule 15 minutes with a member of our team; they'll walk you through it and answer any questions. Schedule time via the link in our comments. ??

If you followed last month's worldwide, Crowdstrike system failure, you're well aware of the impact of such a critical disruption. Cybersecurity is critically important. Protect your operations with our new, fully-supported platform that ensures ROBUST security and RELIABLE performance. Forest Systems offers unparalleled cybersecurity features to safeguard your financial operations as well as a team that can work with you one-on-one to ensure a safe and easy switch. Here are the most important benefits to switching the Forest: ?? Protect your digital future:?Our most up-to-date security measures, ensure unparalleled protection for your data. ?? Experience innovative security solutions:?Our internal tools are cutting-edge and innovative, but designed to honor the original intent – keep your data safe and secure. ?? Benefit from advanced authentication protocols:?Our platform provides the latest in authentication and authorization protocols, providing robust security at every layer of your network. ?? Leverage comprehensive cloud protection:?Trust the security of Amazon S3 with API keys and encryption at every level for reliable and secure data storage solutions. For more information on how to transition to Forest Systems, schedule a consultation?via the link in our first comment below. ? ?

The accounting and financial services industries are built around the needs of the client: understanding their goals, providing efficient service, and safeguarding their financial information. ? Accounting and financial reporting platforms with built-in artificial intelligence (AI) fit that need. Though much has been said about AI over the last couple of years — some of it positive, some of it negative — the reality is that AI has a valid place within these platforms largely because it provides greater accuracy and efficiency than human effort alone. ? AI in accounting and financial services?is particularly useful for automating workflows, reducing errors, creating greater transparency, meeting and maintaining compliance, managing risk, personalizing client products and services, and identifying new opportunities that can strengthen client relationships.? ? Recognizing these benefits, we?previewed our plan to add AI?to the?Forest Systems platform?last year. Here’s a closer look at how we’re using AI today to streamline fundamental document and accounting processes while ensuring safety and integrity. DOCUMENT MANAGEMENT AI capabilities speed up and improve document creation and management by safely and efficiently storing, retrieving, “reading,” and analyzing data from a variety of different documents. With AI, firms and managers can upload and manage documents in the Forest platform with a greater degree of confidence. DATA EXTRACTION & JOURNAL ENTRY CREATION Once AI learns where to find correct information, it can automatically extract complete and accurate data for each transaction when creating journal entries, reducing the risk of errors from wrong or missing information that can impact financial reporting and decision-making.?? ? AI powers the data extraction and journal entry workflow in Forest, enabling users to: create a table with the financial data extracted using AI applications, include a description and the amount, create a debit and credit entry based on the description and amounts from the above table, and export the journal entries in a format that can be read by Forest Enter POSTING & REPORTING With the AI model in place, users can review and approve journal entries to ensure all information is correct.? ? AI streamlines the posting and reporting workflows in Forest, enabling users to: import journal entries from the AI model into Forest Enter, review or assign the accounts based on the entity Chart of Accounts, post the entries in the entity records in Forest, and produce reports to review entries and financial results As AI capabilities and use cases continue to evolve, the accounting space is wide open for opportunity. Yet the important takeaway is that when used with integrity, AI can enable human talent to retain a critical and valued place within the ecosystem — with AI as a complement, not a threat.? ?