Have you ever had to put a client on hold so you could quickly dig through a pile of paperwork stuffed in a filing cabinet, or even worse, in the unsorted mess of the to-do pile? This can be a common occurrence during peak seasons and it can leave a bad impression on clients if it happens for too long and too frequently.
As a CPA, a part of your job description shouldn’t be paperwork hunting. But when there are so many piles of paperwork to file and keep track of, even keeping things organized on the computer can be difficult and time-consuming to search through.
If you want to stop digging through the piles and piles of paperwork, just go digital. Labeling the piles of paperwork (bills, forms, things to sign), keeping categories separate (insurance from financials,) ensuring that your papers remain neat, and making sure that there aren’t any papers askew or disheveled are all steps that will help.
What you need is a fool-proof system that organizes your piles of paperwork in such an intelligent manner, that you’ll be able to find any document you need in an instant. Document management makes this a reality, allowing you to search for documents with just a few keystrokes. eFileCabinet further streamlines this process with intelligent organization tools such as Zonal OCR.
When you organize documents on a computer’s normal interface, you can create folders and subfolders to sort paperwork into. However, when it comes time to bring up a specific document, it can be time-consuming to go searching for it through your system if don’t remember exactly where it is.
You can categorize subfolders within subfolders to make the browsing easier, but it still takes time. Also, human error is inevitable, so if you or a coworker happened to file it in the wrong location, your only recourse is to use the search function. However, most file explorer interfaces only allow you to search for the file name, leading to more challenges if the office doesn’t have a consistent naming system or there was a typo.
Whether you have tons of important medical bills to handle or more simple office forms, eFileCabinet deals with them all.
eFileCabinet helps you avoid these scenarios with its unique document management process that’s built around your business and your needs. You can process all of your piles of paperwork with Zonal OCR, which can identify the text in predefined fields of a standard form. So for invoices, you can set it to recognize names, addresses, balances, and notes. All of this data is entered into a profile for the document so you can create folder structures for any of these factors.
The best part is that eFileCabinet’s capability to conduct a full-text search for your documents. When you need quick access to a document, like a 1099 form, in the search bar type in the client’s name and “1099”, and the system will immediately bring it up. You can add more keywords to further narrow down the search such as the tax year as well as user names.
For example, if you’re looking for the file drawer of a particular client named Smith, but have several clients with the last name Smith, you can do a search for Smith along with any other identifying information you remember about them, such as the name of their business, what street or city they live in, or a unique purchase you remember from one of their invoices. The system brings up the document, and you can immediately go to its location where you have the rest of the client’s related documents. It’s that simple!
With such accessibility, you may be concerned that just about anyone who works in your firm will be able to find and open documents. When you’re worried about breaching compliance, eFileCabinet gives you permission and governance tools to keep certain documents for your eyes only. All users on the system can search for documents, but your client’s drawers will only be visible to you and anyone you designate. You can also give users permission to only read documents and even set expiration dates for how long they have access to them.
When your client asks for a certain document, you’ll be able to bring it up in a matter of seconds rather than minutes and keep the conversation going. eFileCabinet also gives you the capability to share that document with your client, right from the interface. You can give guest access to your client so they can securely download it.
The bottom line is that going with a document management system like eFileCabinet will inevitably save you time and relieve your stress thanks to the ease and functionality of our software. Instead of spending time sorting through piles of paperwork, turn your focus to more important things.
To read more about how eFileCabinet helps CPAs, download our eBook Take Back Your Life
