Trends in your Field

For the last 10 years, I have been working as a bookkeeper for a variety of companies. The main things that have changed over this time is the move towards being paperless. Since I learned from someone who started working in the 1960's I am very attached to paper. I keep copies of everything from invoices, bills, bank reconciliations, communication, and more. This move to being paperless has many benefits but will take time and effort to complete.

Technology has been advancing the way we keep records from the 1800's when the typewriter was invented to the modern laptops and cell phones. Now I can work from anywhere that has cell signal. However, you must be setup to do this. After reading the article from Firm of the Future titled "Is Creating A Paperless Accounting Office Worth It?" I can see the path forward. Below discusses how I will be incorporating paperless into my current work. The four reasons discussed in this article are worthwhile thinking about yourself.

Reason #1 It costs too much

Most offices already have a scanner with their printer so this will not be an issue. We are already setup with a scanner and receive/send invoices through email. So there is no additional cost.

Reason #2: It doesn’t seem safe

In order to keep electronic documents safe, you have to have a secure server or a secure online service. These take some education but are easy to setup. We have a server onsite and that gets backed up to an online service. The only issue is that we can only access it from the office. This year we will be moving to a cloud-based server and will able to access from home or in the field.

Reason #3: I don’t like changing the way I do things

While it may be difficult to change the process you follow, it will make things more streamline in the end. This can save you time and therefore cost you less. We have been printing work orders for the staff everyday and this year we will be changing to an online system. Going back to the costs, each team lead already has a company cell phone and will receive the work orders on this instead. If you do not have this infrastructure in place you will have to purchase some devices.

Reason #4: In the long run, it may not save time

There may be some processes that you still want to do on paper and that is okay. This has to be done as a step-by-step process. I know I do not like to reconcile bank statements on screen and print them out instead. I find that I miss things unless I can check them off with my red pen. It will take time to change these processes and figuring out new ways to doing things. But one day you will be paperless

The last thing to consider is the environmental impact of paper printing. Every little bit helps.