Since the first PCs were brought into the workplace over 20 years ago people have talked about the paperless office. It has been a long time coming but we now have the tools necessary to make at least most of the back office paperless. Accounting systems kill trees, but they don’t have to. Most accounting programs (including QuickBooks) have available tools that can automatically catalog and file the registers and reports your accounting systems are generating as .pdf files. These programs include a database for filing and a tool to find and view your reports. Some will also allow you to file scanned document, like invoices from vendors, as attachments to registers.

Here some of the benefits of implementing a paperless system:

Save on hard costs: Take a look at your printing costs: paper, toner, printer service, and eventually replacement. Electronic storage space, on site or remote, is a fraction of your printing budget.

Save time filing:  Either you or your staff members are spending time each month standing at the filing cabinet sorting papers that may never need to be seen again. Over the course of one year, you may find your payroll is funding a full-time salary for all of the time spent filing.

Save time finding: The papers you are looking for are always the one that didn’t make it in the right file. By storing the documents electronically, each file can be retrieve instantly. Even if it is filed in the wrong directory, electronic files can be found using search tools like Google Desktop.

Save on real estate: How many square feet of your office is dedicated to file storage? Some business are paying monthly fees to store paper offsite.

Save time restoring: Paper is susceptible to fire, water, and theft. With your month end processing, write your paperless directories to CD or some other  removable media and take it off site so you have multiple copies in different locations.

Save time destroying: When the time comes to purge your paper files, you either burn up your shredder or hire a vendor to dispose of your files. When the time comes, you can destroy your CDs and erase your electronic files. Talk to your IT resources first.

Save your mind: The stacks of paper to be filed that were previously collecting on your desk won’t continue to be the last item on your to do list. Without moving from your desks, those papers will be cataloged and filed as soon as you approve them.

 Aside from purchasing and installing a integrated application, a system can be hacked together inexpensively. Of course you will need an application for to create .pdf files. The price of Adobe Acrobat Pro has increased dramatically but several low-cost or free .pdf converters are available; we have used both CutePDF and doPDF.

Your structure may differ, but by creating a hierarchy of directories on a network hard drive that is being secured by your regular backup procedures, you are ready to take your first steps away from the filing cabinet.

Root Directory: Paperless

Sub Folders: Accounts Payable/Check Register; Accounts Payable/Invoice Receipts; etc.

Paperless files

Create a naming convention that includes the date, for an Accounts Payable Check Register, perhaps APCR042109 so it can be identified if it is inadvertently relocated to another folder. Making the default printer in your accounting application to the .pdf converter to save redundant mouse clicks. You are ready to GO PAPERLESS! When you’re ready to take the next step, expand your folder structure and begin scanning vendor invoices, packing slips and contracts too.

Some of our customers feel uncomfortable initially after their implementation and promise to continue printing hard copies. You may choose to do the same thing but after a few days of staring down the papers to be filed or a few trips back to the cabinet, the feeling passed for them as they learned to trust the systems we put in place. In the end, they admit that going paperless had a dramatic impact. It could change your life too.