Some very common questions about record retention in paperless office answered....
Newsletter - Record Retention and the paperless office
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Accounting Software 411 : Achieving a Paperless Office In 2005
Well, it would have been nice if you had achieved a paperless office in 2005. However, it is not too late. Let's hit for 2006. It is affordable, it is possible, it is absolutely, positively fun to be working in a paperless office
Accounting Software 411 : Achieving a Paperless Office In 2005
Accounting Software 411 : Achieving a Paperless Office In 2005
Monday, January 23, 2006
Kiss the Office Good-Bye
This is a wonderful new article on how a paperless office can change your life.
Think about it - paperless - outsource -
Kiss the Office Good-Bye
Think about it - paperless - outsource -
Kiss the Office Good-Bye
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Paperless Office Work Flow Management
-----Original Message-----
From: Jana Denegri
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2006 5:09 PM
To: 'Paperless CPA'
Subject: RE: Jana, Thanks for Downloading the Ebook
Thanks ! I'll take a look at Outlook. My practice is about the size of yours, but growing rapidly.
Jana Denegri
-----Original Message-----
From: Paperless CPA [mailto:morani@officewithoutpapers.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2006 7:31 AM
To: 'Jana Denegri'
Subject: RE: Jana, Thanks for Downloading the Ebook
I had a small practice of about $350k revenue. Throughout the years of my operation I had focused on solutions which were long-term and growing with the times. I got to this attitude after I implemented a time and billing software very popular in the accounting industry and found it extremely archaic in the limitations it was putting on me to operate the office. So, about 5 years ago, I implemented Microsoft Outlook in my whole office as the scheduling and task management system. The Task management (and journal) feature in Outlook turned out to be an excellent office management system for my practice. Again, size may be an advantage for me and I don't know what is the size of your practice. Within a year my office became so used to Task management that we got almost total control on all the workflow in our office. Task and scheduling and journal in Outlook are very powerful features. Yet, sometimes when I mentioned to other CPAs that I was using Outlook they would look at me with surprise (thinking I was not "there" yet). Outlook worked outstandingly well for me. I would assign client tasks to staff from my computer and they would accept it and that way the task would show up in my list as assigned task and on their list as to do. Everytime they did some work on it they would update the task and I would get an automatice notification with update for my list. So, I would always be up to date on the status of each task. If there was no update on any task I would assume there was no progress and have the staff member answer for it in my own ways. When the task was complete I would get a notification that the task is complete and I could take the next step after it. This could be managed by the managing person whoever is responsible for managing the workflow in the office. So, although I did see some systems by SurePrep and Xpitax.com but since I was burned already with one expense I did not want to go with anyone else. Here is my other justification for going with Outlook. Outlook is a software that caters to a much larger market and so it can afford (although Microsoft can afford anything) to innovate and improve and grow. So, you benefit from innovation that happens in Outlook and a lot of support resources on them. Sure it has some limitations when used in a CPA office but then no solution is perfect anyways. You give some to get some. I was managing staff time with QuickBooks timer so I knew how much time was going on each client and my billing was in Quickbooks. With specialized software made for a particular industry such as accounting there are a lot of uncertainties. Will they be around for long to support after a few years? Will they continue to innovate and improve as technology improves (and you know the speed of that)? Will the cost be affordable for support year after year (remember there is no annual support for Outlook)? And other questions related to long-term sustainability. The abilities I developed to manage my office within Outlook were really great and I can now manage any office with that system and I have reasonable confidence that Microsoft will be around for a while and will innovate and will remain reasonably affordable - yet Outlook may not be a perfect solution - it will be there. Not knowing the size of your practice and your inclination towards various solutions, I am not sure if you would be convinced with the way I approached it but I presented the facts for you. This is exactly how I managed it for the last five years - $UCCE$$FULLY. Thanks and have a nice weekend. Regards, Amir Morani
-----Original Message-----
From: Jana Denegri
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2006 8:56 PM
To: 'Amir Morani CPA CMA CFM MBA'
Subject: RE: Jana, Thanks for Downloading the Ebook
I have read your publication. I don't think you mentioned a scheduler/tracker type system for a paperless office. Do you have one that you use, or that you can recommend? I need a system to track work flow/delegated activities/etc.
Thanks,
Jana Denegri
From: Jana Denegri
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2006 5:09 PM
To: 'Paperless CPA'
Subject: RE: Jana, Thanks for Downloading the Ebook
Thanks ! I'll take a look at Outlook. My practice is about the size of yours, but growing rapidly.
Jana Denegri
-----Original Message-----
From: Paperless CPA [mailto:morani@officewithoutpapers.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2006 7:31 AM
To: 'Jana Denegri'
Subject: RE: Jana, Thanks for Downloading the Ebook
I had a small practice of about $350k revenue. Throughout the years of my operation I had focused on solutions which were long-term and growing with the times. I got to this attitude after I implemented a time and billing software very popular in the accounting industry and found it extremely archaic in the limitations it was putting on me to operate the office. So, about 5 years ago, I implemented Microsoft Outlook in my whole office as the scheduling and task management system. The Task management (and journal) feature in Outlook turned out to be an excellent office management system for my practice. Again, size may be an advantage for me and I don't know what is the size of your practice. Within a year my office became so used to Task management that we got almost total control on all the workflow in our office. Task and scheduling and journal in Outlook are very powerful features. Yet, sometimes when I mentioned to other CPAs that I was using Outlook they would look at me with surprise (thinking I was not "there" yet). Outlook worked outstandingly well for me. I would assign client tasks to staff from my computer and they would accept it and that way the task would show up in my list as assigned task and on their list as to do. Everytime they did some work on it they would update the task and I would get an automatice notification with update for my list. So, I would always be up to date on the status of each task. If there was no update on any task I would assume there was no progress and have the staff member answer for it in my own ways. When the task was complete I would get a notification that the task is complete and I could take the next step after it. This could be managed by the managing person whoever is responsible for managing the workflow in the office. So, although I did see some systems by SurePrep and Xpitax.com but since I was burned already with one expense I did not want to go with anyone else. Here is my other justification for going with Outlook. Outlook is a software that caters to a much larger market and so it can afford (although Microsoft can afford anything) to innovate and improve and grow. So, you benefit from innovation that happens in Outlook and a lot of support resources on them. Sure it has some limitations when used in a CPA office but then no solution is perfect anyways. You give some to get some. I was managing staff time with QuickBooks timer so I knew how much time was going on each client and my billing was in Quickbooks. With specialized software made for a particular industry such as accounting there are a lot of uncertainties. Will they be around for long to support after a few years? Will they continue to innovate and improve as technology improves (and you know the speed of that)? Will the cost be affordable for support year after year (remember there is no annual support for Outlook)? And other questions related to long-term sustainability. The abilities I developed to manage my office within Outlook were really great and I can now manage any office with that system and I have reasonable confidence that Microsoft will be around for a while and will innovate and will remain reasonably affordable - yet Outlook may not be a perfect solution - it will be there. Not knowing the size of your practice and your inclination towards various solutions, I am not sure if you would be convinced with the way I approached it but I presented the facts for you. This is exactly how I managed it for the last five years - $UCCE$$FULLY. Thanks and have a nice weekend. Regards, Amir Morani
-----Original Message-----
From: Jana Denegri
Sent: Saturday, January 21, 2006 8:56 PM
To: 'Amir Morani CPA CMA CFM MBA'
Subject: RE: Jana, Thanks for Downloading the Ebook
I have read your publication. I don't think you mentioned a scheduler/tracker type system for a paperless office. Do you have one that you use, or that you can recommend? I need a system to track work flow/delegated activities/etc.
Thanks,
Jana Denegri
Thursday, January 19, 2006
Paperless CPA Office
Paperless CPA Office can start with a small scanner too
It sure is quite exciting when you decide to go paperless. Often in that excitement we end up purchasing equipment that are much more than what we need to start our process to go paperless.
My recommendation is to start small. Buy a small $200-300 scanner with Automatic Document Feeder. I started with Visioneer 9450 with a USB connection. It is a great scanner and served my purpose for the first few months very well until I had to add another scanner, still a Visioneer and with just a little bit more power.
Paperless CPA Offices can start small – you don’t need to go very fancy quickly on scanners.
It sure is quite exciting when you decide to go paperless. Often in that excitement we end up purchasing equipment that are much more than what we need to start our process to go paperless.
My recommendation is to start small. Buy a small $200-300 scanner with Automatic Document Feeder. I started with Visioneer 9450 with a USB connection. It is a great scanner and served my purpose for the first few months very well until I had to add another scanner, still a Visioneer and with just a little bit more power.
Paperless CPA Offices can start small – you don’t need to go very fancy quickly on scanners.
Friday, January 06, 2006
Paperless Office with Multiple Monitors
Paperless Office – CPAs with Multiple Monitors
Going paperless in professional offices, such as those of CPAs, sometimes could become inconvenient for the professional to work. When a CPA is working on a client’s tax return and needs to refer to prior year return, it is easy for her to look at the paper printout while working on this year return on the computer. However, if her filing system is paperless it would be very inconvenient for her, sometimes, to switch between screens to take a look at the prior year return and come back to this year return – back and forth. This could even result in use of more paper than before if the CPA ends up printing a copy of the prior year return to refer during the return preparation and then destroying it. That would result in her printing almost all her clients’ prior year returns and then destroying them because she has an electronic copy of the return.
The technology available at this time makes it easy to avoid this problem. Over time it has become more and more easier for CPAs to go paperless as some of these inconveniences have been addressed by the available technology.
A small investment can help CPAs resolve this problem forever and would save them all the inconveniences related to it. Windows XP allows the use of multiple monitors with one computer. This feature is already there in the Windows XP. However, the user would need to buy a special video adapter to attach to the computer to connect multiple monitors. Multiple means up to 10 monitors can be attached to one computer. There are numerous benefits of this convenience in Windows XP.
If all your prior client documents are already in electronic format on your server and you need to refer to several of them at once to work on a particular project, you could open each of those on separate monitors connected to the same computer. This would eliminate the need to switch between different screens each time you need to look at another document.
The set up for connecting additional monitors to your Windows XP computer is not very complicated. If you use a notebook computer you can use the feature of Dualview which is also available in XP. You can just connect an external monitor to your notebook and set up your XP, from Control Panel, for Dualview. The limitation with Dualview is that your notebook or laptop monitor would always be the primary monitor. The other feature, that of multiple monitors, allows you to set any of the monitors as the primary monitor.
Once you set up your computer with multiple monitors, you can eliminate one of the major inconveniences that staff faces in a CPA offices, that of referring to multiple documents from the file and having to switch between screens while working. Even if you have already become comfortable switching between screens on one computer, you may still want to test out this feature of multiple monitors and you may be pleasantly surprised by the ease it brings to your life. The details on setting up multiple monitors are explained on the Microsoft website.
Going paperless in professional offices, such as those of CPAs, sometimes could become inconvenient for the professional to work. When a CPA is working on a client’s tax return and needs to refer to prior year return, it is easy for her to look at the paper printout while working on this year return on the computer. However, if her filing system is paperless it would be very inconvenient for her, sometimes, to switch between screens to take a look at the prior year return and come back to this year return – back and forth. This could even result in use of more paper than before if the CPA ends up printing a copy of the prior year return to refer during the return preparation and then destroying it. That would result in her printing almost all her clients’ prior year returns and then destroying them because she has an electronic copy of the return.
The technology available at this time makes it easy to avoid this problem. Over time it has become more and more easier for CPAs to go paperless as some of these inconveniences have been addressed by the available technology.
A small investment can help CPAs resolve this problem forever and would save them all the inconveniences related to it. Windows XP allows the use of multiple monitors with one computer. This feature is already there in the Windows XP. However, the user would need to buy a special video adapter to attach to the computer to connect multiple monitors. Multiple means up to 10 monitors can be attached to one computer. There are numerous benefits of this convenience in Windows XP.
If all your prior client documents are already in electronic format on your server and you need to refer to several of them at once to work on a particular project, you could open each of those on separate monitors connected to the same computer. This would eliminate the need to switch between different screens each time you need to look at another document.
The set up for connecting additional monitors to your Windows XP computer is not very complicated. If you use a notebook computer you can use the feature of Dualview which is also available in XP. You can just connect an external monitor to your notebook and set up your XP, from Control Panel, for Dualview. The limitation with Dualview is that your notebook or laptop monitor would always be the primary monitor. The other feature, that of multiple monitors, allows you to set any of the monitors as the primary monitor.
Once you set up your computer with multiple monitors, you can eliminate one of the major inconveniences that staff faces in a CPA offices, that of referring to multiple documents from the file and having to switch between screens while working. Even if you have already become comfortable switching between screens on one computer, you may still want to test out this feature of multiple monitors and you may be pleasantly surprised by the ease it brings to your life. The details on setting up multiple monitors are explained on the Microsoft website.
Message from a user of ebook
-----Original Message-----From: Richard L Moore II CPASent: Friday, January 06, 2006 8:22 AMTo: Amir Morani CPA CMA CFM MBASubject: Re: Extended support - 60 days instead of 30 days
This whole thing reminds me of the joke about the chicken and the pig and their relationships with breakfast. The chicken is involved, the pig is committed. We are committed. Utilizing your workbook, we have set up our file structure, scheduled our files and began scanning. I forgot to mention the investment in scanning equipment. We have regrouped periodically and modified our approach and continued. We have set Feb 3 as our deadline to have our current files refiled electronically. Once you start this process, there is no turning back even if you wanted to. We have set sail into the unknown.
I'll be in touch.
Thank you.
Richard
This whole thing reminds me of the joke about the chicken and the pig and their relationships with breakfast. The chicken is involved, the pig is committed. We are committed. Utilizing your workbook, we have set up our file structure, scheduled our files and began scanning. I forgot to mention the investment in scanning equipment. We have regrouped periodically and modified our approach and continued. We have set Feb 3 as our deadline to have our current files refiled electronically. Once you start this process, there is no turning back even if you wanted to. We have set sail into the unknown.
I'll be in touch.
Thank you.
Richard
Thursday, January 05, 2006
Paperless Office for under $1000
Paperless Office for CPA for under $1,000
Considering what CPAs are being asked to pay for pre-packaged paperless solutions for their offices, the title of this article is quite radical. Since the title and what is discussed here is based on actual experience of the author, it is alright for it to get some media attention.
Most CPA practices these days have a small office network in place to handle the operations of the business. Rather, it is almost impractical for them to be operating without some kind of a computer network in their offices. Most CPAs and accountants also efile their clients’ tax returns and so they need a reliable internet connection in their office. Unbeknownst to them, CPAs have over 90% of what they need to go paperless, at least on the hardware and the software side.
CPAs have almost all the hardware and software needed, in their office, to convert their practice into a paperless practice. Almost means close to 90%. However, they need to build up another asset to be able to go paperless in a very short time. The asset they need has to be built in house and cannot be purchased. They have to first recognize the extreme importance of the need to go paperless and then develop a strong determination to do so within a short time and limited budget.
Recognition of the importance of going paperless is the major hurdle facing the accounting industry at this time. Many CPAs are still waiting on the sidelines to watch how this trend evolves. Generally, that is not a very bad strategy. Not all trends become permanent in any industry and so a lot of times it is good to wait a little before getting on the bandwagon. However, paperless movement has been building momentum over a long period of time. In fact, it probably has been in discussions for over a decade. There have been some early adopters who benefited from it. It has not become a general trend yet in accounting industry, other professional services industry and business in general. But there are signs that it is picking up speed.
It is during the last few years that the capacity of the technology, that is being used in accounting offices, like other businesses, has increased tremendously at very affordable prices. Until a few years ago, going paperless in an accounting office was a major undertaking as it would require upgrading of hardware and software in a significant way. Now, there is no need to upgrade. If the hardware was purchased during the last 2-3 years, it probably has adequate capacity and speed to handle a paperless office without much upgrading.
In that case, a typical small CPA firm just needs to add a couple of scanners at $300 each and a PDF converter software that can be purchased for about a $100 these days. A strong commitment to go paperless and a determination to get it done within a given time frame is short in supply and is not available with any hardware or software vendor.
It is a very strange phenomenon. The technology is available and the need is there and yet most small CPA practices are not paperless, and one would hope that they are at least thinking about going paperless sometime soon. Why shouldn’t they go paperless if they could do it within a $1,000 of additional hardware and software?
Considering what CPAs are being asked to pay for pre-packaged paperless solutions for their offices, the title of this article is quite radical. Since the title and what is discussed here is based on actual experience of the author, it is alright for it to get some media attention.
Most CPA practices these days have a small office network in place to handle the operations of the business. Rather, it is almost impractical for them to be operating without some kind of a computer network in their offices. Most CPAs and accountants also efile their clients’ tax returns and so they need a reliable internet connection in their office. Unbeknownst to them, CPAs have over 90% of what they need to go paperless, at least on the hardware and the software side.
CPAs have almost all the hardware and software needed, in their office, to convert their practice into a paperless practice. Almost means close to 90%. However, they need to build up another asset to be able to go paperless in a very short time. The asset they need has to be built in house and cannot be purchased. They have to first recognize the extreme importance of the need to go paperless and then develop a strong determination to do so within a short time and limited budget.
Recognition of the importance of going paperless is the major hurdle facing the accounting industry at this time. Many CPAs are still waiting on the sidelines to watch how this trend evolves. Generally, that is not a very bad strategy. Not all trends become permanent in any industry and so a lot of times it is good to wait a little before getting on the bandwagon. However, paperless movement has been building momentum over a long period of time. In fact, it probably has been in discussions for over a decade. There have been some early adopters who benefited from it. It has not become a general trend yet in accounting industry, other professional services industry and business in general. But there are signs that it is picking up speed.
It is during the last few years that the capacity of the technology, that is being used in accounting offices, like other businesses, has increased tremendously at very affordable prices. Until a few years ago, going paperless in an accounting office was a major undertaking as it would require upgrading of hardware and software in a significant way. Now, there is no need to upgrade. If the hardware was purchased during the last 2-3 years, it probably has adequate capacity and speed to handle a paperless office without much upgrading.
In that case, a typical small CPA firm just needs to add a couple of scanners at $300 each and a PDF converter software that can be purchased for about a $100 these days. A strong commitment to go paperless and a determination to get it done within a given time frame is short in supply and is not available with any hardware or software vendor.
It is a very strange phenomenon. The technology is available and the need is there and yet most small CPA practices are not paperless, and one would hope that they are at least thinking about going paperless sometime soon. Why shouldn’t they go paperless if they could do it within a $1,000 of additional hardware and software?
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
White Paper - Paperless Office
White Paper: How a Small CPA firm can improve profitability by up to 27% with a paperless office
http://www.officewithoutpapers.com/whitepaper.jpg
CPAs now have very little time to catch up with the paperless revolution. This is a trend that will spread really fast and if the CPAs are not ready to adopt this change they will have some serious career decisions to make. I have evaluated this trend in this white paper and how it is no more a change that requires highly sophisticated software and consultants. It can be done by all CPAs themselves if they just pay attention to what they already have in their offices.
The White Paper can be downloaded from
http://www.officewithoutpapers.com/white paper.htm
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
Top 10 Technologies 2005
Top 10 Technologies 2005
Look at the number 2 item on the top 10 technologies that CPAs were watching and interested in 2005. You are right? It is Paperless...... Do you think the interest will go down in 2006? I don't think so.
Look at the number 2 item on the top 10 technologies that CPAs were watching and interested in 2005. You are right? It is Paperless...... Do you think the interest will go down in 2006? I don't think so.
Paperless Trend being noticed by the world
I just noticed this article (blogged below) in the Christian Science Monitor. I guess the trend is now being noticed by a lot more people. Paperless is the way to go and to go immediately. I do notice that a lot of people say that it takes time and it will come slow and they may be right. But, fortunately, my experience was that I was able to go paperless very quickly – in fact within 60 days. Sure, I had a lot of commitment towards it and I considered it a top priority for my practice and it paid off in a real big way.
Monday, January 02, 2006
Paperless CPA Myth or Reality?
Paperless CPA – Myth or Reality?
As a new CPA on the block, about eight years ago, I had made it a practice to read as much as possible on practice management along with the regular reading I had to do keep up with the technical matters. I came across articles after articles about how it was possible for CPAs to operate in an almost paperless office. It was, however, quite difficult for me to imagine my own office being a paperless office.
“How could a CPA really operate a practice without papers?” I would wonder all the time. I thought of these talks about paperless offices as being something of a creation of imagination about how life would be in 2035 when I may not be there.
The technology that I was using in my office was helping me improve the production. It was also helping me learn some of the more advanced possibilities in my system. In my small practice, it was a simple client-server network with a T1 internet connection. It was during one of my overseas trips about four years ago, that I discovered the power of my system to its best. With the T1 connection and a static IP address, I was able to work on my office system from over 10,000 miles away without any problems. This was a wonderful experience and my desire to learn more about the paperless office became extremely strong at this point.
I spent a lot of time, powered by my strong desire, to learn on the ways I could possibly convert my CPA practice into a paperless practice. I had already enjoyed the pleasure of working on my office system from around the world. I thought that if I could only access all the other papers I needed to look at while working on a client’s file I would not even need to be in the office at all to work. Besides enjoying the frustrations of continuous interruptions, accessing papers was the only remaining reason for me to be in the office. Sure there were other reasons, but to carry out my work for a client, accessing papers was the only one.
Now that my desire was so strong, I started running into various pre-packaged solutions advertised in the direct mail and magazine advertisements. I checked out a few, called a few 800 numbers and received some promotion materials. All turned out to be beyond my budget. I had learned a lot about the potentials of my simple office network by now, and figured out that I was too poor to afford some of the good pre-packaged solutions available out there for CPAs.
Upon a thorough study of the technology in my office and the hardware available in the market at affordable costs, I came to an unbelievable conclusion. It was unbelievable because based on my calculations the cost of converting to a paperless office was going to be 5 or 10% of what it would cost me to go with a pre-packaged solution. This happened within one year of my trip overseas and it has been three years since then. I could not believe it but I had a gut feeling that I was right in my conclusion. I considered the cost of failing in an attempt to go paperless not too high. I was already managing a paper-full practice and if an attempt to go paperless were to fail – I would remain where I was – a paper-full practice.
I spent a considerable amount of time developing the detailed plans on the whole process of going paperless, ordered the scanner that I had studied and found to be most affordable and launched the project. In terms of managing the staff time to work on the conversion process and managing priorities it was quite challenging. The process itself was quite enjoyable and revealing (about the hidden treasures in my filing cabinets) but above all quite enriching.
At the conclusion of my project to go paperless, about 60 days from when it started, I discovered that it was truly possible to manage an almost paperless office. I enjoyed more than two years of paperless office at my practice. The efficiency of the office went up significantly during that period. Clients experienced a different, a much higher level, of efficiency in service.
There were certain things that went right for me in this process. I was able to develop my understanding in this area over the years due to my curiosity and had a good handle over the capacity of my seemingly small office network. I discovered that the current office networks, in many small CPA offices, are like human brains. They are highly powerful and highly underutilized.
A paperless CPA office is no more a thing of the future. The true beneficiaries of this move by CPAs are their clients. CPAs who do not have to spend a lot of their time pushing papers and locating lost documents, would definitely be able to provide high-level services to their clients and benefit them more. All clients deserve a CPA who is at least paperless at the basic level, which is completely possible with a small office computer network and a very small investment.
As a new CPA on the block, about eight years ago, I had made it a practice to read as much as possible on practice management along with the regular reading I had to do keep up with the technical matters. I came across articles after articles about how it was possible for CPAs to operate in an almost paperless office. It was, however, quite difficult for me to imagine my own office being a paperless office.
“How could a CPA really operate a practice without papers?” I would wonder all the time. I thought of these talks about paperless offices as being something of a creation of imagination about how life would be in 2035 when I may not be there.
The technology that I was using in my office was helping me improve the production. It was also helping me learn some of the more advanced possibilities in my system. In my small practice, it was a simple client-server network with a T1 internet connection. It was during one of my overseas trips about four years ago, that I discovered the power of my system to its best. With the T1 connection and a static IP address, I was able to work on my office system from over 10,000 miles away without any problems. This was a wonderful experience and my desire to learn more about the paperless office became extremely strong at this point.
I spent a lot of time, powered by my strong desire, to learn on the ways I could possibly convert my CPA practice into a paperless practice. I had already enjoyed the pleasure of working on my office system from around the world. I thought that if I could only access all the other papers I needed to look at while working on a client’s file I would not even need to be in the office at all to work. Besides enjoying the frustrations of continuous interruptions, accessing papers was the only remaining reason for me to be in the office. Sure there were other reasons, but to carry out my work for a client, accessing papers was the only one.
Now that my desire was so strong, I started running into various pre-packaged solutions advertised in the direct mail and magazine advertisements. I checked out a few, called a few 800 numbers and received some promotion materials. All turned out to be beyond my budget. I had learned a lot about the potentials of my simple office network by now, and figured out that I was too poor to afford some of the good pre-packaged solutions available out there for CPAs.
Upon a thorough study of the technology in my office and the hardware available in the market at affordable costs, I came to an unbelievable conclusion. It was unbelievable because based on my calculations the cost of converting to a paperless office was going to be 5 or 10% of what it would cost me to go with a pre-packaged solution. This happened within one year of my trip overseas and it has been three years since then. I could not believe it but I had a gut feeling that I was right in my conclusion. I considered the cost of failing in an attempt to go paperless not too high. I was already managing a paper-full practice and if an attempt to go paperless were to fail – I would remain where I was – a paper-full practice.
I spent a considerable amount of time developing the detailed plans on the whole process of going paperless, ordered the scanner that I had studied and found to be most affordable and launched the project. In terms of managing the staff time to work on the conversion process and managing priorities it was quite challenging. The process itself was quite enjoyable and revealing (about the hidden treasures in my filing cabinets) but above all quite enriching.
At the conclusion of my project to go paperless, about 60 days from when it started, I discovered that it was truly possible to manage an almost paperless office. I enjoyed more than two years of paperless office at my practice. The efficiency of the office went up significantly during that period. Clients experienced a different, a much higher level, of efficiency in service.
There were certain things that went right for me in this process. I was able to develop my understanding in this area over the years due to my curiosity and had a good handle over the capacity of my seemingly small office network. I discovered that the current office networks, in many small CPA offices, are like human brains. They are highly powerful and highly underutilized.
A paperless CPA office is no more a thing of the future. The true beneficiaries of this move by CPAs are their clients. CPAs who do not have to spend a lot of their time pushing papers and locating lost documents, would definitely be able to provide high-level services to their clients and benefit them more. All clients deserve a CPA who is at least paperless at the basic level, which is completely possible with a small office computer network and a very small investment.
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