Our Background ...

Imagine a small public accounting firm in Arab, Alabama (population about 7,500) that started in 1957. Specializing in tax return preparation places some very big limitations on your business. Why? Because the tax filing season is only ten weeks long. Most people don't receive the documentation they require to file their tax returns until February 1, and the filing deadline is April 15.

With such a "seasonal business", we were forced to actively seek ways to increase productivity in order to perform the greatest output in a ten week period each year. By the mid 1960's two main frame computers utilizing punch cards replaced 12 typists that were hired on a temporary basis each year.

In the 1970's, we saw some technological advances that sped up our computerized system of preparing tax returns. We were utilizing pre-printed forms in triplicate with layers of carbon paper to produce three copies of each return (a government copy, client copy and file copy). Machines known as burster/decollators were used to separate the copies from the carbon paper. The "personal computer" (a new idea) came along and we welcomed it with open arms.

By the time the 1980's arrived we were replacing the old main frame computers with a Local Area Network (LAN) consisting of a server and several workstations. Our interviewers were recording taxpayer information on input sheets which were passed to data entry clerks (a huge improvement over punch cards). We used Novell software from 1983 for the next twenty-five years, until we pulled the plug on our Novell servers in 2008. We filed tax returns electronically with the IRS in 1989.

Technological advances kicked into high gear in the '90's. By 1993 off the shelf "canned software" was available to replace our "in-house" designed code. Actually, such software was introduced in the '80's, but the quality and features did not meet our standards. Adapting the Lacerte tax software was a tremendous time and money saving step for us. Every person in the office had a desktop computer, not just a few.

No more pre-printed paper forms! The software would print the form at the same time it printed the input data for it. By now we were filing the government copy securely and electronically. We also embraced the internet with open arms.

The year 2000 arrived (Y2K as it was known) and ushered in many more advances. I don't remember how much money we spent on computers and software in 1999 and 2000, but it was way more than we should have. Computer consultants were billing $125 per hour and hardware costs were more than double what they are today.

Well, the last ten years have been good to us, technologically speaking. Today we print our file copy of tax returns to pdf files and store them in a Document Management System. We did away with 119 four drawer file cabinets that contained our "retired files"! It took two people sixteen months to scan all those retired files. We scan current client documents at a rate of 80 pages per minute and are mostly paperless. These documents are more secure, more readily available, more portable and much more expedient to work with.

We routinely communicate with clients by email. Electronic mail has greatly changed the way we do business. Telephone costs have been reduced dramatically and although paper mail activity has been reduced, postage costs have not gone down proportionately. For us, this may be attributable to the IRS and State Departments of Revenue slow adaptation of technology. This coupled with the fact that we still mail those big packages with the taxpayer paper copies of tax returns.

We have walls of books, in fact one of the most complete tax law libraries anywhere. Today all of those tax laws are accessible from the desktop computer. In the '80's from compact discs (CD's), in the '90's from one of our servers and today across the internet.

What are the major benefits of technology? Two Words ... Time or Money

Some might say that the answer to the above question is one word simply, money. Understanding the old adage that "time" is "money", this might be true.  However, to narrow the answer to one or two words might be an over-simplification. There is however, a good argument that any of the following conjectures could be deduced back to time or money.

Precision comes to mind. Take for example our client that owns a fabrication shop. They have machines that cut templates from metal based on computer programming. Our mail clerk can type a mailing label once, verify it for correctness only once, and then use it over and over without the worry of mistyping the address. So we saved time by her typing the label only once, instead of multiple times. We saved money because we reduced the number of mailings returned to us due to an incorrect mailing address. Computers are great at math and have been performing mathematical equations for us without error for years. Error-free repetitive tasks are time and money saving.

Multitasking also comes to mind. Computers are great at multitasking. A most simple example is the fact that in the old days we ordered stationary from a printer, stored it at our office and inserted into a typewriter when we needed to write correspondence. Today the computer prints the letterhead at the same time it prints the letter. Again, this could be defined as both time and money saving.

Communication. Through this website we communicate information to the entire world 24 hours a day. We post important tax updates to a mobile website that automatically sends that information to subscribers on their cell phones. Employees check their email and messages from almost anywhere. A doctor in Nashville, TN found us through a Google search because he felt he had overpaid his taxes. It turned out he was right and we were able to file a $14,000 claim for him.

Everything in life has a good side and a bad side ...

For the most part, computers and technology make our day-to-day lives easier and better, especially in the work place. Some people will complain that computers replace people and cost jobs. It is true that we are running our office with fewer people than ever before. But at the same time, we are doing more work than ever before and with fewer mistakes.

It is important to remember that technology is merely a tool.