Are you an accountant or tax preparer and getting a wee stressed about the upcoming tax season? Is managing client files and documents always a bit of a hassle? As tax season nears, accountants and tax preparers can boost their productivity and client satisfaction through the smart use of a document management system.
A document management system is a secure cloud-based software solution that stores, manages, and indexes your files and documents. With powerful search tools, the document management system enables you to quickly find any document you need. A good document management solution can also enable secure document sharing and collaboration.
For accountants and tax preparers, a document management system is also a great way to receive and securely catalog client financial records that may be needed to prepare and file their tax documents.
Document management systems have benefits for almost all businesses and organizations. For accountants and other tax preparers in particular, document management solutions offer some very helpful benefits.
Saving costs is always a good idea, and document management can help with that. Reducing dependency on paper files ultimately saves money in many ways, from the cost of paper and printer ink to the office space taken up by filing cabinets.
You can also save on the costs of mailing out paper copies of documents to be reviewed by clients. Instead, they can be viewed securely online. As postage becomes increasingly expensive, sharing documents online just makes sense.
Especially since the coronavirus pandemic, accountants and other professionals need to find ways to connect and work with clients without requiring a face-to-face meeting. A secure cloud-based document management system can provide a great way to connect with clients and collaborate with them on tax documents.
Off the shelf “freebie” solutions such as Google Drive simply do not allow for the level of security, privacy, and access control that a robust document management solution offers.
Audits are never fun, but the right document management system can make auditing a lot easier for you and your client. Paper-based systems, on the hand, can be an absolute nightmare during a tax audit. No-one wants to have to go through mountains of paper in rusty old filing cabinets in order to fulfill the requirements of an audit.
With a robust document management system set up, it will be much easier to access and search through old financial documents securely and quickly. Document retention also becomes much easier when things are digitized and securely stored. Not only is physical space saved (no need for rows of filing cabinets), but out of date documents can be automatically archived or purged when it is no longer necessary to retain them.
A document management system can also establish an audit trail, which may be an important for an audit. This is especially true if your company needs to abide by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
With a document management solution, your organization will have a record of everyone who accesses sensitive financial records – which can also be helpful for client (you might recommend to them to also transition to a document management system). This can be very useful when trying to track down issues such as fraud or embezzlement.
With access controls and encryption, document management can keep sensitive information secure.
A document management system makes it easy to search through invoices and other financial documents to develop accurate cost analyses and budgets. This can also enable transparency in the organization, which supports healthy collaboration as well short- and long-term planning.
Right now is a great time to get started with implementing a document management solution. You will immediately see benefits in terms of productivity, efficiency, and cost savings. At Edwards Business Systems, we have extensive expertise quickly setting up document management systems to help tax preparers get ready for tax season.
Edwards Business Systems specializes in document management solutions for accounts and tax preparers. We can help you get set up for the 2021 tax season. For more information and a free assessment, contact us today!