Shaun mentioned a while ago that he scans all his documents to create a paperless office. What do you use please Shaun. I have a scanner on my printer but it would take oodles of time to do it that way. Can I somehow use the data from the scanner onto a spreadsheet? Receipt Banks out of the question as it will eat too much into my labour charge.
Do you then return paperwork back to the clients? I find I'm now struggling for space in my office as I don't return paperwork, maybe I need to start doing that?
__________________
John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
I have a fujisu ix500 scanner which is fab. small on the desktop when not in use. Does double sided, business card to A4 in size paper and scans to excel or word. has new receipt scanning software but I haven't tried that yet.
Great question John and one that I was also interested in, but parked for the time being, after Kris also mentioned it.
That bit of kit looks neat Alison - liking the idea of it not taking up too much room. I currently just use the scanner on my printer, although Ive not tried if you can feed it like you can when copying!
__________________
Joanne
Winner of Bookkeeper of the Year 2015, 2016 & 2017
Thoughts are my own/not to be regarded as official advice,which should be sought from a suitably qualified Accountant.
You should check out answers with reference to the legal position
the scanner is ace - really speedy and effective. I use it a lot for scanning stuff and sending it to clients etc. Works over wifi
Did about 400 business cards for a client the other week, way better than manually inputting everything. Its not cheap but it is a time and space saver. WE got ours in the USA so it was cheaper there.
I do a paperless office for some clients. I've got the same scanner as mentioned, the Scansnap ix500 - it's brilliant.
For example, you have a large 6 page double sided invoice from a supplier - it takes seconds to scan in one pass, does it double sided, then saves straight to your computer as a pdf that you can save to BOX or your own storage place, plus attach into the software if you're doing this as well - its such a pleasure to use and EVERYONE comments on how good it is when they see it in action.
__________________
Carol Saunders Lady of Ledger Book Keeping Telford, Shropshire
That looks great Alison, and will be a boon, especially if it will go into excel. I currently input 250 small receipts a month from one client and it's a very tedious job.
__________________
John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
Thanks Alison, it's exactly what I'm looking for, and will pay for itself in time saved.
Just noticed from Carol's link you can put 50 in at at a time, that's even better, as I was thinking I'd have to feed one receipt at a time, which I wouldn't have minded
-- Edited by Leger on Tuesday 2nd of February 2016 08:19:19 PM
__________________
John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
sorry, I could have sworn that I responded to your earlier question John.
I just use a flat bed scanner for storage rather than entering the information into the system, nothing fancy like Alisons excellent suggestion.
I've just had a glance at that fijitsu scanner and it looks excellent. Its available from Amazon UK for £117 complete with the software so next time I get a soul destroying number of receipts to scan I'm thinking that's the way to go.
Nice find Alison.
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Cost about £600 from memory a year or so ago but worth it. Scans about 80 pages a minute double sided if necessary.
We scan all incoming mail, working papers when the job is finished, and other relevant documents then save them into Docusoft.
We will start moving files saved in the server over to Docusoft over time as you can save word and excel documents into Docusoft then reopen them in their original format.
Docusoft also saves all emails in and out to the relevant client.
Only problem is that it just links up to one computer but the scanning is all done by office junior so not a big problem.
If we start using something like IRIS openaudit will mean we can go totally paperless and effectively get rid of all our client files and 5 filing cabinets which would mean we could probably get another desk and computer in for another employee without the need to move to a bigger office.
Would then just mean investing in a good fast laptop and dial into the office when out seeing a client to go over anything discussed.
I am a bit tired and confused... so that scanner could scan and input the data onto a spreadsheet, which can be fed into accounting software. That sounds amazing! In addition it saves an image of the original paperwork, so when paperwork is handed back to client, can be reviewed later? I think I need one!
Can it deal with invoice data? Picking up VAT etc
sorry, I could have sworn that I responded to your earlier question John.
I just use a flat bed scanner for storage rather than entering the information into the system, nothing fancy like Alisons excellent suggestion.
I've just had a glance at that fijitsu scanner and it looks excellent. Its available from Amazon UK for £117 complete with the software so next time I get a soul destroying number of receipts to scan I'm thinking that's the way to go.
Nice find Alison.
I may have missed it Shaun, it was a hectic month!
Where is it for £117? Can you link me Shaun please please please. Price I saw was £350 and I've just had another looksee and cheapest I can find is £340. That in itself is a good price but you know us Yorkshire folk lol.
__________________
John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
-- Edited by Shamus on Wednesday 3rd of February 2016 11:10:33 AM
__________________
Shaun
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
When I looked yesterday, I too only saw it for around £350 - and looking now, there appear to be two separate listings for it at around that price, here and here.
Looking now, to find that £117 one, I think Shaun may have been referring to this one. i.e. not the one Carol linked to, with its 50 sheet feeder, but the one shown in the picture on the page for the ScanSnap software Alison linked to.
__________________
Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
Responses are not meant as a substitute for professional advice. Answers are intended as outline only the advice of a qualified professional with access to all relevant information should be sought before acting on any response given.
Ah thanks Shaun and Vince, a junior version but nethertheless has the receipt option, which is what I'm after. Will probably opt for the £350 one, as it will be heavily used and will more than pay for itself imo.
__________________
John
Any advice given is for general guidance and professional advice should be sought applicable to your circumstances.
I'm thinking about that smaller one and wondering if it's small enough to squeeze safely in my (or a new) laptop bag. Rather than grab a pile of receipts and bring them home, feed them through it to generate a CSV file along with the scans for me, and leave the originals with the client.
I suspect it's not a practical idea - it may be too fragile, and would need to stay boxed in the bag, which would make the whole thing bigger.
__________________
Vince M Hudd - Soft Rock Software
(I only came here looking for fellow apiarists...)
