The DocTech team have supported Accountants for many years, in 2 capacities.
Firstly with a document management system for themselves to replace disjointed document storage and secondly as a partner for them to refer their clients to when they need higher levels of data capture and automation for AP processes for example.
In this article, we'll discuss how many Accountants store and share documents, the pitfalls and reason why many are looking for more formal docuemnt solutions.
Accountants tend to have multiple ways of storing and processing documents still.
Our team regularly attend Accountex exhibitions and these are some takeaways from conversations we have.
For Accountancy Practices without a formal document management solution: It is clear that all of them have documents stored in multiple locations such as the practice management software, Dropbox, OneDrive, Google docs and on server based folder structures with shared issues:
* Zero Version control
* Poor or no user permissions
* Duplicates
* No Retention rules
* Clunky processes to onboard new clients
* Overly manual processes
* No doc integration with main systems
* Disjointed tools - e.g. forms & digital signature solutions
* No logic such as data capture, tasks and workflows
Informal solutions do provide an accessible area, but they cannot offer the same efficiency improvements as a document management system such as DocuWare can.
Watch and listen for yourself how this client worked with DocTech moving from Sharepoint to DocuWare:
According to recent research, 20% of Accountancy firms are operating without a true document management system. Instead, they're using document storage tools. When storing accountancy documents in a network file system, can all employees name files and store documents where they choose? If so, it’s likely documents are being misfiled and therefore hard to find.
If it takes more than seven seconds to find a document, it’s likely that a document management system can improve performance. Businesses using document management systems that easily integrate with emails and other applications, report that employees are more organised and productive.
Have you ever spent too long looking for a document? Searching through filing cabinets, draws, Windows folders or colleague’s desks? All a big waste of time! Storing documents digitally makes them easy to store, find and share. Powerful search tools, coupled with strict file naming conventions means documents can be found instantly by anyone with access.
Workflow rules means tasks, deadlines and responsibilities can be assigned and tracked, keeping firm members in the know.
A document management system can retrieve information from your Tax or Accountancy software and file them in an organised manner. Staff no longer need to jump between applications to transfer files. This saves time, reduces manual processes and errors, as well as keeping your practice organised.
You can ask for a chat, demo or pricing, wherever you are up to: sales@doctech.co.uk 0161 667 7040