Page 214 - Accounting Best Practices

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Summary
copy be clarified with all users to ensure that there is not a problem if it is no
longer printed.
Despite the number of possible problems, this is a best practice that can usu-
ally be implemented at least in part and will result in immediate gains for the fil-
ing staff in exchange for a moderate amount of implementation effort.
Cost: Installation time:

TOTAL IMPACT OF BEST PRACTICES ON THE FILING FUNCTION

This section groups together all of the best practices described in this chapter
and shows how they can be applied in a typical corporate environment. As
opposed to the best practices in most other chapters of this book, all of the fil-
ing best practices can be installed together, for they are not mutually exclu-
sive. They tend to cluster into two categories: those that are concerned with
the reduction of manual filing labor and those that are intended to completely
avoid filing by using a company’s computer system as the primary data stor-
age point. Though the computer system is obviously the more advanced and
efficient method of storage, it takes a long time to convert a company entirely
to that storage medium (if only because of employee resistance), so it is rec-
ommended that all of the best practices, including those for manual filing, be
implemented.
As noted in Exhibit 10.4, there are six best practices that are associated with
the manual filing function. Some involve cleaning up the work area by either
moving old documents off-site or by using a document-destruction policy to
entirely eliminate them. Other best practices eliminate documents before they
ever have a chance to be filed, by such means as stopping the use of reports and
reducing the number of form copies. The other main category of best practices
assumes that there will be less need for filing work if documents are stored in a
company’s computer system. If so, the main focus is on increasing computer
access to the largest possible number of employees, while also increasing the
reliability of the computer system and storing the largest possible amount of
information on it. By implementing the largest possible combination of these
activities, one can, at a minimum, bring about a reduction in a company’s filing
workload, and may even be able to eliminate the majority of the work.

SUMMARY

This chapter covered two main categories of best practices for filing. One focused
on ways to reduce the amount of filing work needed, on the assumption that
some filing of paper documents must always be done. The second cluster of best