{"id":17751,"date":"2019-10-24T08:00:29","date_gmt":"2019-10-24T13:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taxprocenter.proconnect.intuit.com\/?p=17751"},"modified":"2020-03-10T09:48:11","modified_gmt":"2020-03-10T14:48:11","slug":"5-ways-to-go-green-in-your-tax-and-accounting-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accountants.intuit.com\/taxprocenter\/practice-management\/5-ways-to-go-green-in-your-tax-and-accounting-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Ways to Go Green in Your Tax and Accounting Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Going green has gone mainstream; if you haven\u2019t yet thought about how your tax and accounting practice can lend a hand, now is the time! There are so many ways we can contribute to the cause \u2013 and the great news is that it will clean up some pain points and cluttered areas in your practice\u2019s workflow.<\/p>\n

During the course of our engagement with a client, the ways a firm can impact the tried and true \u201creduce, reuse, recycle\u201d motto starts with the very first step we take with a client, and continues all the way through the very end of the engagement.<\/p>\n

#1: Engaging With Your Client<\/b><\/p>\n

How do you communicate with your clients at the beginning of tax season? Are you still printing out tax organizers with letters and mailing them? Digital is the new mode! If you don\u2019t want to give up the traditional organizer and newsletter, consider an email blast to your clients with a tax organizer attached.<\/p>\n

There is a PDF tax organizer with a letter you can tailor to each client in Intuit\u00ae ProConnect\u2122 Tax Online<\/a>. What\u2019s great is that the organizer can be sent via email because there is no sensitive information it generates. The feature also pulls up a checklist of the documents the client had the previous year. Not only will you save time; you will also save postage, paper, printer ink, gas from the trip to the post office, and wear and tear on your printer.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take it up a notch. Go the extra mile and use the live tax organizer in Intuit\u00ae Link<\/a>, where there is also a virtual questionnaire and letter of engagement. You\u2019ll get encrypted documents that are ready for data import directly into the tax return. You can custom build the virtual questionnaire to suit your needs, knock out some due diligence questions and get verifiable sources for sensitive data. For example, I use this questionnaire to obtain the client\u2019s bank account number for direct debit or direct deposit, and also ask due diligence questions about foreign financial assets and cryptocurrency<\/a>. This gives us a reference within the return to double-check data entry, as well as documentation on what the client gave us should any questions come about later, all in a secure environment that is downloadable as a .csv file. The savings of time, money and resources, and the tightening of procedures that will occur as a result is mind-blowing.<\/p>\n

For accounting or bookkeeping practices, the concept is similar. If you use QuickBooks\u00ae Online Accountant<\/a>, documents can be requested through the Work tab, or your client can simply upload documents in My Accountant. Now, the documents you need are nested inside where you need them, you just saved our environment, and everything is way more secure than having loose papers or a USB drive.<\/p>\n

#2: Interacting With Your Client<\/b><\/p>\n

I am a strong believer that the personal touch is best when it comes to dealing with clients. There are many ways to deliver that, maintain a Firm of the Future<\/a> and save the environment. Here are a few suggestions:<\/p>\n

Virtual meetings.<\/b> When you start offering virtual meetings<\/a> as an alternative to meeting in person, you will be surprised how many clients will take you up on it. Meeting online also shows your clients that if they move away, you know how to go the distance by working remotely<\/a>. For going green, this one is a no brainer.<\/p>\n

Document Control.<\/b> Reducing paper in your practice is a matter of routine and habit; converting to a paperless process will help keep documents in control. Make sure you have something to scan documents in easily and simply. I recommend a phone scanning app, such as Microsoft Office Lens<\/a> or Adobe Scan<\/a>, where it\u2019s easy to grab scans on the fly. If you are proper in your naming protocol, you will never lose another document. Unless there is a large stack of documents, all paper leaves with the client and does not stay.<\/p>\n

After scanning docs, you\u2019ll need a process to keep track of them; if your practice is in the cloud<\/a>, chances are your cloud file storage is much more secure than where you would normally keep client documents. File date and time stamps leave you an audit trail with no effort at all. And, using a secure cloud file exchange to preempt the gas and driving it would normally take to get those docs to you will make Mother Nature smile.<\/p>\n

Other Choices to Bring That Special Touch.<\/b> When I moved my firm into a larger space, the choices I put around us were noticed by all our clients, and I believe it truly makes them feel comfortable and special when they are here.<\/p>\n