Accounting Network News

By L. Gary Boomer, CPA

Most firms have document management on their agenda for this year. Before you start the project or if you have already started, it would be wise to step back and ask a few important questions in order to focus on priorities, meet expectations and ensure success. The “Paperless Office” means different things to different departments and personnel within a CPA firm. Too often we see firms committing to the hardware and software but not committing to the discipline and manpower necessary to succeed. The following list of questions should provide you with insight and vision as to the capabilities of digital document management.

Objectives	Yes	No	Priority
Do you want to implement firm standards, policies and procedures?
Do you want to reduce paper, supplies, filing and retrieval costs?
Do you want to store tax returns in digital format?
Do you want to want to store clients’ supporting documents in digital format (i.e. organizers, forms and other input documents)?
Do you want to audit using less paper and store documents in digital format?
Do you want clients to access documents though a private client site?
Do you want to access documents from remote locations via the Internet?
Do you want to maintain control over document versions with check in/out?
Do you need the ability to destroy documents in accordance with firm policy?
Do you need to manage client related email?
Do you want to improve workflow with integrated financial reporting?
Do you want to manage internal documents with an Intranet?
Do you want to invoice clients electronically?
Do you want to share client information with associates & other offices–CRM?

These questions can be broken into three primary categories:

Production
Client service
Practice management

Most firms make the mistake of looking too narrowly at a department such as tax, audit or firm management without considering integration of the entire firm’s requirements. Many of the vendor solutions have encouraged a departmental approach rather than an integrated firm approach. Document management is a significant undertaking and requires some planning. The following questions will help you in determining the scope and complexity of a document management project:

Who will be in charge of the project? _______________
What is your time line? _______________
What are your top five priorities?

_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________
_______________

Do you have written standards, policies and procedures? Yes No
If so, are they being adhered to by everyone in the firm? Yes No
Are you willing to terminate personnel (including partners) if they do not adhere to firm standards, policies and procedures? Yes No
What is your budget for hardware, software, implementation and training? _______________
Who is responsible for end-user training? ___________
How do you plan to store your files?

Server
SAN - Storage Attached Network
NAS - Network Attached Storage
ASP – Application Service Provider

How are you going to backup your files?

Tape
Host
Other _______________

Do you plan to back-scan old documents? Yes No
Do you have a document destruction policy? Yes No
If so, has it been reviewed with regard to current legislation? Yes No
Do you have adequate bandwidth for remote access? Yes No
Who are your primary vendors for core applications?

CCH
CSI
Intuit/Lacerte
CaseWare
CPA Software/Best

By now you many be confused, overwhelmed or both? It is best to simplify complex issues and one of the leading vendors has done that by referring to static and dynamic documents. Static documents are those in your file cabinets while dynamic documents are those you carry in your briefcase. Some documents will meet both definitions, but not all software will handle both types of documents efficiently. Check-in and check-out capabilities as well as version controls are important in a multi-user environment.

Firms should first focus on core production if they want to maximize the return on their document management investment. The primary vendors now offer applications that include a trial balance, work paper container, content (programs of work) and financial statement preparation. CCH has Engagement fx; CSI has GoAudit and its successor Engagement Solution, and CaseWare has CaseWare and CaseView. All of these applications have improved in function and feature as well as technologically over the past two years. There are numerous providers of content. Some integrate better than other with certain vendors’ applications. This is primarily due to company ownership and alliances.

On the static document management side, firms have used a variety of applications. The following is a list of those we have seen successfully implemented:

Document Management - Focus on Objectives