I have worked in accounting, been a financial controller, and have started multiple businesses; one of the most notable being S.H.A.R.E. Nelson in Nelson BC. Needless to say, for a young guy, in my mid 30’s, I’ve been around the business block of finance in the East and West Kootenays for quite a while.
One of the most exciting changes I’ve seen over the years is the shift to paperless offices. I’ve now worked in both types of offices and there are pros and cons to having paper and being paperless. Paper Goat has decided to go the paperless route.
Four reasons the Goat is paperless:
· It’s safer for your information. By having offsite backups of your information you mitigate the chance of losing your information.
· It’s faster to recall documents when you need to find them.
· It’s easier to find documents. Having everything stored in a digital filing cabinet means staff members can all access the information at the same time. Gone are the days of spending time running around the office finding the person that has the file you’re looking for tucked in the bottom drawer under their bag of gummie bears.
· It’s more organized and there is less clutter. Bookkeeping and accounting firms attract a lot of paper from clients. Only having the current month of paper from your client means there is a lot less stuff to keep track of and a lot less piles around your office.
There are a few very important things to be aware of though when considering whether or not paperless is right for you. I was speaking with an auditor from CRA one time and they told me CRA still requires people to keep the paper copies of all their documents. This means keeping books and records in paper form for a minimum of seven years. I advise all my clients to keep their paper records somewhere safe and secure.
The second important thing to consider is the security of your information from loss or theft. I recommend speaking with someone that has experience with computer network systems before making the plunge into paperless.