Electronic Document Management (EDM) software can absolutely help accounting go green.

Seems strange I know, but whether we’re talking about CPA offices, or in house accounting departments, it is possible to go green with Electronic Document Management.  More information is being submitted electronically than ever before.  I recently met with the president of a large manufacturing outfit in Boise who is pushing to completely eliminate the paper that they receive and send out from their offices.  Whether this was from a desire to be green, or a simple frustration with the rising cost of paper I can’t say.

What I can say is that Electronic Document Management (EDM) software can absolutely help accounting go green.  We’re doing it here at Fisher’s as well.  While we still receive a lot of our invoices in paper format, we are getting more in electronically every month.  Prior to our EDM days, we’d print that out, create a file, and store it.  Now since we have implemented DocuWare internally, we can directly import those invoices, match them with the appropriate PO, and route the invoice for approval and payment.  All of this is done without ever needing to print or copy it even once.

There are several benefits to adopting this practice.  While it is true in some small way we are reducing our carbon footprint and conserving resources, we are also enjoying the benefits of faster approvals, and instant access to all of our data.  We are better able to service our customers and vendors because with a few keystroke we are able to have the information at our fingertips and we can answer any questions without needing to root through drawers of files.

I ran across a case study that details how a CPA firm did the same thing.  I thought it was interesting that they decided to go green too.  I hope you do too.

-Jason Ruston