The Paperless Office Paradox

In an academic research paper titled “Ecological Paradoxes: William Stanley Jevons and the Paperless Office”, Professor Richard York of University of Oregon has presented, what he calls, “The Paperless Office Paradox.” Using the Jevons Paradox, as explained later, Professor York has presented the case that the failure of computers and electronic storage medium to bring about the paperless office is a paradox that is the development of a substitute of a natural resource sometimes results in an increase in the consumption of that (not the substitute) natural resource. This paradox was initially presented by William Stanley Jevons in his famous book "The Coal Question" what later on came to be known as Jevons Paradox. As explained by Professor York, "Jevons observed that as the efficiency of coal use by industry improved, thereby allowing for
the production of more goods per unit of coal, total coal consumption
increased."

I believe it is an interesting paradox and I wonder how it applies CPA offices. A paperless CPA office has been in discussions in professional literature for a long time. However, a visit to a traditional CPA office would sometimes make the Jevons Paradox come alive for us, probably in the form of a CPA Paperless Office Paradox. CPAs now have online tax filing, document management systems, in office networking and yet it is not unusual to come across a CPA office that is overloaded with papers.

I wonder how many of us actually experience the Jevons Paradox in our office on a daily basis.