Raise your hand if your firm is currently looking to hire people with four to seven years’ experience. If you just raised your hand (or thought about it but didn’t at the thought of looking silly), read on. While this article is not about where to find them or how to recruit them, I will discuss how to better leverage the experienced professionals you already have on staff so that, by operating more efficiently, you get more bang for the buck from your staff.

Let’s begin this discussion on the topic of technology. You are going to receive a significant amount of leverage by utilizing technology in your processes. “Paperless” is a big buzz word these days. But just how paperless are you? Most firms are probably “back-end paperless” — meaning you scan and store all final documents electronically. But are you “front-end paperless?” “Front-end paperless” means that you’re paperless right from the beginning of the process.

There are many software applications on the market that assist accounting firms with workflow and becoming “paperless.” I chose to examine SurePrep’s 1040SCAN™ because it uses OCR technology more extensively than others on the market. What I found out was enlightening!

Two people are involved in completing a tax return; the preparer and the reviewer. Do you agree that it’s difficult to recruit and hire qualified reviewers (those with 4-7 years’ experience)? So, if you could cut the time they spend reviewing each tax return in half, where would you allocate that extra time? Maybe you could process more tax returns; or, allow them time to think strategically about tax planning and other cross-selling opportunities for these clients. How would that impact the growth of your firm?

Using an application such as 1040SCAN™, you can have up to three people involved, save a lot of time, and all three people really add value to the process. How? First, an Admin can scan all of the source documents “straight out of the shoebox.” With this OCR technology, manually shuffling and reorganizing the source documents is unnecessary and wasted time.

Once the source documents have been scanned and submitted, the 1040SCAN™ server will automatically organize, read, analyze and import the source document data, and even “tic and tie” much of the data for you using a color-coding system to help mistake-proof the reviewing process.

This next part is what really excites me, because this is where your people really begin to add value to the tax return process. Not only that, your people will feel more challenged and will have a greater sense of worth by being involved in moving your clients up the value ladder (i.e. taking a tax return-only client to one who uses multiple services from the firm).

Because the Preparer no longer has to do much, if any, data entry, they can spend their time doing the first review. This is GREAT training for them, and the color-coding really does make the process mistake-proof (or darn near close). I know there is a fear with OCR that data will not be read correctly, but the software application is “smart” and takes that into consideration by asking you to review anything it is unsure of. And remember, human-error is probably just as prevalent in data entry! That’s why there is STILL a review process in place.

A typical Reviewer may spend 50 percent or more of their time “ticking and tying” the return. By using an OCR technology and allowing your Preparer to have the first review, the Reviewer can spend some of their budgeted time thinking strategically about the client and what other services they may benefit from. Again, this is GREAT training for these people, and will get them thinking like a rainmaker for your firm.

Over the next several months, we will be investigating new cutting-edge technologies that can take your firm from good to great. OCR is one of those technologies. I hope you will consider these as you read about them, because by automating some of your processes, you can significantly increase your firm’s efficiency and better leverage your employee’s time. Many of these technologies also allow for greater flexibility for your staff (i.e. work-life balance), which can help with employee retention. But that’s another article for another time!

If you have any questions about OCR or 1040SCAN™, please contact me at Kristin@EnterpriseNetworkWorldwide.com.

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Kristin Gentry is Associate Director at Enterprise Network Worldwide. Gentry is the primary member services contact for many of the Enterprise Network Worldwide member firms in the U.S. In serving those firms, she finds solutions to questions posed by members and assists with member-to-member referrals. She is also the primary contact for the Member Consultant Network and Business Builders workshops. Enterprise Network Worldwide is an alliance of independent accounting firms working together to provide the best possible service to clients on a worldwide basis. Member firms offer innovative business solutions in a range of specialties including Assurance, Valuation, Financial Services, Tax and Family Owned Businesses. The network continuously evolves and changes depending on our member needs. However, the desire and determination to be true to our members and our mission never does. We are here to help firms "THINK BIG!" and provide the platform for them to generate BIG ideas, build BIG relationships, and earn BIG results.