Going paperless: are we there yet?

AuthorLarrivee, Bob

This year's PCPS/Texas Society of CPAs National Management of Accounting Practice (MAP) survey reported that 41% of CPA firm respondents indicated that they would consider going paperless, and 20% already have done so. In addition, 25% of the firms are planning to go paperless, but 13% will not consider it. In the following article, the author takes a historical perspective of efforts and advances that made the paperless office possible. By highlighting the milestones, he identifies and discusses the issues to be addressed and the obstacles to overcome in going paperless.

The world is moving faster than ever, and the generation now entering the workplace has grown up with computers, the Internet, and other electronic wizardry. One is forced to again ponder whether there is any real possibility of a "paperless office." I can attest that the paperless office, from the beginning of electronic communication, has seemed to be more myth than realistic aspiration. Clearly, however, we have come a long way toward reaching the goal of paperless business operations, but how close?

To answer that question, we must first define the paperless office. Is it the much-heralded nirvana where no paper exists in any form? Or is it a more realistic business environment in which there are minimal paper documents?

Realistically, the parties in many entities and transactions are not ready for a completely paperless environment. It's human nature to want tangible proof of whatever was done, bought, agreed to, and so forth. In addition, not all business entities are technologically prepared for true paperless operations. Many suppliers, distributors, retailers, and the transportation companies who move materials remain paper-heavy businesses.

So, let's define paperless in terms of the current environment: The ideal situation is that paper is replaced by electronic formats (imaging), resulting in electronically created information that reduces paper dependency and provides automating processes that effectively make using paper an option rather than a necessity.

The Mantra

Beginning in the middle 1980s, we heard that businesses would become paperless because "now we can scan paper documents and store them as images in a computer that is networked and can share the information among all those who have a need to know." We promoted the fact that we could be DIM (document image management) enabled. (Never did like being referred to as DIM.) Problem was, the process still started with paper. There were no industry-accepted standards, and communications infrastructures were not ready. As...

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