The Benefits of Paperless Accounting
Paper cuts are literally the worst. There’s scientific evidence to prove it.
They hurt a lot, they’re always in the worst spot, and you’re always left wondering how it happened.
For accountants, paper has been a longtime friend. But, the future is now.
Computers, cell phones, and the cloud have rendered paper billing, invoicing, and cheques nearly obsolete. Tech is all the rage. No cuts, no buts.
Nearly everyone’s doing it, but most are just following the trend.
For this article, I’m not trying to convert the finger lickers and page turners. I want to reiterate the benefits of paperless accounting, and remind everyone of the gains.
(And that paper is evil.)
- Efficiency
Actual image of where files go to die.
Besides the fact that pencils need constant sharpening and pens run out of ink, it takes a long time to write things down.
On average, a person can hand write 13 words per minute.
The average person types 38 to 40 words per minute.
You can literally get 4-times the work done typing than you would writing it all down. And by all, I mean writing checks, ledgers, invoices, and anything else required to keep books and records.
Many of these tasks are now considered repetitive, easily automated tasks. Software like QuickBooks, NetSuite, and Xero allow accountants to automate these once time-consuming tasks while keeping all information accurate.
This amount of wasted time can easily turn into late fees, penalties, and the list goes on.
Another inefficiency about manual and paper accounting is that, for even the most organized person, things can get out of hand quickly.
Depending on the size of your practice or firm, files upon files start to pile up until you have no idea where Janet’s invoices or Pierre’s transaction documents are.
2. The Environment
Not to beat a dead horse, but paper isn’t exactly great for the planet.
While many point out that paper is ultimately biodegradable (unlike much of our technological products), studies have shown that paper is just as bad if not worse than plastic products depending on the way they’re disposed of.
Be honest, you’re not composting all your paper yourself. But you know who else isn’t? Literally everyone.
So, solving the “killing the planet” issue isn’t about finding a better way to dispose of a bad product, but creating better ways to perform the same tasks.
Enter spreadsheets, the cloud, and instant messenger.
But, saving the environment is a bit out of reach for the average accounting practice. So, marketing your change of heart properly could offer more immediate benefits.
For today’s brand-aware consumers, businesses are almost required to position their brands in a way that’s appealing to a millennial, tech-savvy client base.
Well, depending on your core demographic.
Marketing yourself as an environmentally friendly, green business can add a little extra to your branding on top of the other benefits of going paperless.
But, there’s something even more beneficial when going paperless.
3. Connection
Manual operations simply don’t gel with communication and connection.
If you’re still writing out ledgers and keeping track of invoices by hand, you might as well send them by owl to your clients Harry Potter style.
While automating these processes makes them easier to perform, a bigger value prop is that they’re even easier to communicate.
A file attached to your email can land almost instantaneously into a client’s inbox. No need to wait on an invoice to finally arrive to be approved. No need to spend time rifling through filing cabinets for invoices just to scan and email them off. It’s unnecessarily tedious and mind-numbing work.
And, in the meantime, your client or their vendor is still waiting on you.
This kind of operation simply doesn’t work for global businesses. They need their finances done as quickly, efficiently, and securely as possible. Paper files, invoices and ledgers hold none of those three requirements.
4. Risk and Security
Though issues of tech security have flooded the news lately, physical and centralized records have an even worse track record.
Back in the day, an earthquake, lightning strike, or stroke of bad luck could wipe out entire historical records of families, businesses, and even towns.
Important financial information held in a centralized, physical space can be more of a risk than a cyberattack. And natural disasters aren’t the only things threatening paper files.
What if your basement floods?
What if your dog rips up the papers?
What if your kid pukes in the box?
There are just too many points of entry to destroy stuff.
And that doesn’t even include the businesses who rely on the security of their financial information just to keep the doors open and the lights on.
Accountancy is a dynamic and constantly changing field. It’s not just about recording transactions and numbers anymore. Spending time manually filing and recording everything under the sun means accountants don’t have time to spend on the things that really matter in today’s accounting firms.
Put down the pencils and pens. Throw away your filing cabinets.
Welcome to the present.
This content was originally published on the Veem blog. For more information and exclusive content, click here.
