Are They Serious About Paperless Accounting?

Brigante, Cameron, Watters & Strong, LLP
By John Cameron, Managing Partner
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For most of us, the words “accounting” and “paperwork” are almost synonymous. So, when we hear about “paperless accounting,” something doesn’t seem to fit. A widely known CPA, John J. Cameron, was interviewed on this subject recently. He’s the managing partner of Brigante, Cameron, Watters & Strong, LLP, the largest accounting firm headquartered in the South Bay.

Q: How can an accountant or accounting firm do business without paper, and why would you want to?
Cameron: First, let me say that we’ll probably never be completely paper-free. What we’re working toward is less paper, not a paperless workplace.

Q: To save money on paper…
Cameron: That’s one reason. Somebody estimated that accountants each use four reams of paper per month. But the more important reasons have to do with efficiencies and cost control in the accounting and tax preparation processes.

Starting with the paper itself, there’s the cost of the material and the storage space for it. And when a piece of paper becomes a document, it has to be filed and stored. That means more costs for storage space, and for securing, heating and air conditioning the space. Then, there’s the cost of maintaining the storage system so the paper document can be retrieved quickly. There is also the matter of file space and the regular purging of old files that’s required; it’s very time-consuming. And should a paper document be mis-filed, it would be nice to have an automated system to search for and retrieve it, but no such system exists. Experts estimate the cost of this maintenance at $70 a year.

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