Firms that have gone paperless are learning and modifying their procedures. They are also obtaining the optimum desktop and portable hardware. "Changing to a paperless environment has cut my paper consumption by 50 percent," says Donald Mess of An Accountancy Corporation in Woodland Hills, Calif., which has been using Cabinet NG's CNG-SAFE document management (DM) solution since February 2003. "I spent approximately one year looking for a paperless solution suitable," he recalls.

"We're now able to e-mail projects to the client for preliminary review, and even e-mail the final product," says Cathy Sinnott, firm administrator for Antonio Lemus CPA PA in Altamonte Springs, Fla. "It can greatly speed up the communication process."

How They Got Started

Karl Springer, officer/shareholder in the Dallas-based Middleton, Burns & Davis, says his firm converted to paperless over five years, and has been "completely paperless" for a year. "Two years ago we were retaining an insignificant amount of paper, but we still had a paper file for each client," he recalls.

Sinnott says her firm started in 2002 "with baby steps of just printing tax returns to our document management software," and has increased to where the firm is now 90 percent paperless. Making the transition in steps has produced the smoothest results, she says.

"We aren't paperless yet, but we're moving toward a paperless environment," says Gary Frisch, partner at the Arizona-based firm Monheit & Zongolowicz, which uses eCopy. "We started taking steps towards paperless as a result of a need to replace our copiers. The benefits of moving towards a paperless environment helped allow us to justify the expense of upgrading the analog copiers."

Jonathan Holmes, director of technology, says Boston-based Vitale Caturano is "in the process" of going paperless, having implemented document management, and the scanning of paper now. Software, hardware, and tools have been the most effective and smooth part of the transition, he adds, along with VC having a "sufficient and knowledgeable administrative staff."

Commitment from the entire officer group smoothed the transition, too, Springer recalls. "They bought in and embraced the concept, and were an integral part of the conversion. We didn't have to spend time convincing anyone to move this direction. Also, our staff is fairly young. Utilizing the technology tools available is almost second nature, and expected on their part."

Biggest Challenges

"There's a comfort level with paper that's hard to overcome," Frisch admits. "When we complete a tax return, we scan a copy of the proof materials for our electronic archives, but we also make a traditional copy and store it. The paper copy is likely not necessary, but it serves as an added comfort factor."

Charles Tzinberg of Tzinberg, Goldenberg & Dowdy in Glen Carbon, Ill., says, "Our first step with paperless began in 2000, when we started printing 100 percent of our firm's copies of income tax returns to FileCabinet CS.

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