Let’s start with a bit of a history lesson 

According to my sources, paper was invented by a very nice chap called Cai Lun in AD105, using bark, hemp, linen and fishnets. (Hmmn…)

 We now move on to the mid and late 1400s, when the Europeans wanted cheap reproduction of written documents, so Johannes Gutenberg and later William Caxton met the need with their printing techniques.

 And of course we all know (and I assume many of us have read) Luca Pacioli’s famous 1494 book, Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proportioni et proportionalita, so I don’t need to go into detail on the birth of bookkeeping here. 

So, if paper’s been working for well over 2000 years, and accountancy’s had its methods and means of recording for over 500 years, why change? 

Before I go into all that, I have to say I believe paper should have a place in our offices for ever, for two main reasons.  

The first is that printed text can be easier to read than text on a screen. This has been demonstrated many times in practice where a document has been created on screen, passed through a variety of contributors and modified many times before printing. It’s only when the urgent document is printed at two minutes to five on a Friday afternoon (and the courier’s revving his motorbike in reception) that the glaring error is spotted. 

My second reason’s a little less obvious, as it’s all about history. We all know we can now store the entire works of William Shakespeare 24 times over on a device the size of a gnat. What does this give to the historians of future generations (apart from working out how to read a gnat?) They won’t be able to see early drafts of documents, they won’t be able to wonder over those old leather-bound ledgers. The world’s museums risk ending up as facsimile electronic copies of all others. 

OK, enough about the reasons for not changing, how about the reasons for changing. 

Reducing the amount of paper in an office simply reduces costs. It can also make life more fun and assist with client-relationships. 

So, let’s have a look at a typical professional office, where your client’s dropped you a line, asking for a copy of last year’s accounts and an explanation of why your fees were so much greater this time around. 

Scenario 1

Day 1

0901 – Letter arrives from client (you’ve paid extra for an early morning postal delivery)

0920 – Secretary opens the letter and puts it onto your pile

1120 – Read the letter (your quick strategy meeting at 0900 went on a bit)

1125 – Dictate a memo to the manager on the job, asking her to deal

1150 – Finish the tape and pass it to your secretary for typing

1440 – Arrive back from lunch and see all your dictation neatly typed up in your in-tray

1445 – Spot the accounts year end is incorrect and manually alter (it’s only an internal memo after all)

1446 – Put the memo and original client letter into your manager’s tray

1447 – Manager takes the memo and reads it (the review she was working on was getting a bit tricky, so she needed a break)

1450 – Manager goes to the filing cabinet to get the copy accounts (should have just printed them out again, but never did find time to go on that computer training course)

1515 – Manager finds the accounts (filed under the client’s company name, rather than under the client’s name as indicated on the memo)

1516 – Manager starts trying to work out what happened on the job with regards to costs. This goes on the “too-hard pile”, as tonight’s bowling evening really won’t organise itself

Day 2

0900 – And so it goes on…

1130 – Eventually, the manager produces the spreadsheet analysis of costs and you discuss it with her. It would appear the time overruns were caused because the correspondence file was lost and it took some time to find. Also, the audit was planned on-site, but part of the file was left in the office, so a follow-up visit was required and charged

1230 – You dictate an apologetic letter to the client, enclosing the copy accounts and a credit note

Day 3

1200 – Your letter arrives with the client

1945 – You complete your timesheet for the last few days, which appear to have been rather hectic (although you can’t remember actually achieving anything.) You book an hour to the client, in case you’re able to recover the time on the next year’s fee

Scenario 2

Day 0

Your client logs onto your website with their username and password. They click to download the relevant accounts. Their account is automatically debited with £5 for this service, as agreed. They also decide to have a look at their Annual Return, paying another fiver. They have a quick look at the WIP ledger and see how the current project is progressing. While on your site, they notice you’re running a course on business processes and workflow. They book on-line and log off.

 For those of you experiencing Scenario 1 on a regular basis, Scenario 2 may be a little way down the line. However, you can implement a number of processes and systems to move you towards the goal. 

Now, the various columnists contributing to this series will tell you their particular product is the best way to reduce costs. However, before you do anything, you should set out the ground rules. 

Replacing poor paper-based systems with electronic, paper-less systems will prove disastrous. It’s as simple as that. 

Electronic document management can only work if you file documents where they can be found. Would you believe there are still organisations out there where documents are filed by creator rather than by client or other relevant heading? This means that the creator can find them very quickly and easily. But no-one else can!  

Although I usually recommend starting any project with the easy bits, in this situation the first decision can prove rather traumatic. If you’re going to manage your documents, you have to agree on a system. If you’re going to have a single system, clients, suppliers and contacts must belong to the business and not to any one individual within that business. 

If you'd like a chat or even a debate about this, please contact me on Mark@Cynare.com