Paperless Engagement Systems Give Your Firm Big Five Efficiency.

• Author: WYLE, DAVE
• Position: Using technology to develop a paperless work environment - accounting firms

UNTIL RECENTLY, ONLY A HANDFUL of the largest accounting firms have been able to enjoy the benefits of paperless engagement systems. Using proprietary software applications they developed in-house, the Big Five has increased its efficiency and reduced the bulk of hardcopy paperwork. But with the advent of new technology, now paperless engagement solutions are available to the entire public accounting industry, making it possible for all firms to reach a new level of engagement effectiveness.

WHY GO PAPERLESS?

Going paperless can reduce costs and increase productivity by eliminating manual tasks, streamlining engagement workflow, and reducing the need for physical office space, since employees can gain access to work documents from any location.

"Not only are we more efficient since going paperless, but we're more consistent," says Tom Sulewski, a principal with Seattle-based Clark Nuber, a 90-employee accounting firm that specializes in auditing and taxation work. Sulewski says 90 percent of Clark Nuber's workpapers are electronic.

Further, Sulewski says going paperless has streamlined many office protocols that had become inefficient. "The whole conversion to the paperless environment has helped us rethink our process of doing the work," he says. "Why take a bad process and make it electronic? It's the perfect excuse to change some of those things."

WHAT IS PAPERLESS?

Paperless engagement systems are an electronic alternative to physical files and workflow procedures. They combine documentand project-management functions into a single application, customized to meet the specific needs of accounting firms. The document-management function is your electronic file room and engagement binders. The project-management function is the electronic equivalent of review notes, open-item lists, sign-offs, and other workflow-related items.

ELIMINATING MANUAL TASKS

In general, the most basic way technology automates an accounting firm is by eliminating manual and redundant tasks--in much the same way as using a spreadsheet program rather than a 14-column pad of paper streamlined workpapers. Similarly, firms now can automatically create engagements from customizable templates that include all of the workpapers, programs, checklists and other forms that would otherwise be included in a paperbased file, which eliminates time spent manually assembling binders. And because workpapers are never printed for inclusion in a physical file, no time is spent...