Why are CPA Firms Not Scanning?

Source: Possibilities for CPA Firm Leaders

Following are excerpts from a blog entry by Rita Keller:

Why are CPAs not scanning “up front” and why does a recent survey tell us that many are not scanning at all? Copanion, the maker of the GruntWorks family of scanning and tax organizing products, conducted a survey that indicated 55 percent of CPAs surveyed are not scanning at all. I don’t know exactly who they surveyed, but 55%??

Is this the year for you to do it for real (scan up front) rather than just talk about it? If it is, you should already be finished with your planning phase and ready to go. Many firms are. If you are not planning to scan up front—I urge you to reconsider. One of the biggest issues I see is training and best practices inside your own firm.

Many of your people are very skilled at reviewing on screen and can manipulate the data efficiently and quickly. The people who are good at it need to teach the others. Simple as that!

In case you are doubting, I have seen this first hand. An experienced tax manager has shown me how she does it and how easy it is. She has offered to teach “others” in the firm (managers and partners who do a lot of tax review) and basically they refuse because they are too comfortable doing it “the old way.”

Eventually, there will not be a choice for some of the “old timers.” However, I would warn them, if they believe they can continue to work part-time as they phase into retirement, they need to learn the technology.

To read the complete blog entry, click here and select the December 30, 2008, entry “On My Mind—Paperless, Scanning and All That Goes With It.”

Rita Keller, president of Keller Advisors, LLC, is a nationally known consultant, speaker and author with 30 years’ experience in management of a growing regional firm. For the last four years she has been named one of the “100 Most Influential People in the Accounting Profession” by Accounting Today.

From Possibilities for CPA Firm Leaders, December 30, 2008, the blog of Rita Keller, president of Keller Advisors, LLC, [email protected].  Visit http://cpamanagement.blogspot.com.