Papermore

LESS, I mean, paperLESS; at least, that's the goal. As I looked in my office door last week and saw the neat stacks of paper in different piles on different surfaces, I wondered if I've really made any progress at all on the paperless journey. Happily, the answer is most definitively, yes. As I reviewed the last year's efforts, a few points become very clear.

First, it is plenty of work just to scan or import the electronic files from the current projects and financial recordkeeping. Going back and inputting prior years' efforts at the same time really increases the time requirement. This calendar year marks the first full year of financial data that is paperless, as well as half of the year 2005, and that is a major accomplishment.

Secondly, the year-end work that we accountants are burdened with will actually be a little lighter for me this year, as I will not be required to sort through which documents to save for the IRS and which to shred. They are technically ALL saved and already sorted.

Third, I will actually have increasingly more time to input other things than my current accounting records, due to Point Number Two, and also due to the reduced retrieval time of documents that are already in the system.

And probably most important to the continuation of the effort: when I experience a fun electronic success, it greatly encourages me to plod on. Last week, a contractor sent me an email wondering if her bill had been paid. I could retrieve her invoice, look at my payment of that invoice, go to the bank website and get a copy of the canceled check along with the date it cleared, and answer her email including that picture of the canceled check - all in less than 20 minutes, and all from my desk at home! I felt so efficient.

So, when I'm tempted to get discouraged in the efforts to see less paper around our office, I remind myself of those efficiencies. Besides, I'm not alone. There is an article in today's East Valley Tribune that talks about Maricopa County courts going paperless. It was interesting to me just because it's on topic, but the most interesting point was how long they've been working on it:

Going paperless will also allow the clerk’s office, which employs 700 workers, to double the number of filings in coming years without additional employees, Jeanes said.

The court has been steadily going paperless since 1998.

I hope to have our office completed long before 8 years have passed.