data extraction

Why Accounting Firms Need A Document Management System

Performing Manual Calculations

For any financial services company, a client’s financial data is at the heart of its operations. As such, it becomes crucial for them to invest in a document management system and all the tools and processes it entails.

Underscoring this fact, CPA Practice Advisor outlines a number of pros and cons for having a paperless office with a document management system in place. As expected, the benefits presented by the pros outweigh, by far, the struggles imposed by the cons.

A document management system can drastically improve the workflow for accounting firms and clients alike.  

For one thing, it saves business costs on paperwork. Businesses and customers can reduce paper dependency, ultimately making documentation, transactions and records easily accessible online.

For another, it allows companies to automatically create an electronic audit trail that can keep documents accurate and in compliance with industry standards. Document workflows can be set up and incorporated into daily processes, making routine procedures easy for accountants.

However, one important caveat to keep in mind is that simply having a document management system in place doesn’t mean your workflow is fool-proof. Depending on the dynamics of your clientele and your document processing routine, your needs can shift and change from day to day. In fact, companies that incorporate document management systems can still struggle.

CFO Momentum
Momentum, a renowned financial and credit services  company, is one such example. They keenly  felt the affects of a document management system that quickly became inadequate. “Our working volumes grew exponentially and then came to a point where the manual process no longer made any sense,” Riaan Verbeek, CFO of Momentum explains.

Turning A Flawed Document Management System Around

As one of the leading services in the area of financial advising, insurance, investment and health, Momentum had client data already digitized in the PDF format. But there was a weakness in their document management system.

The company quickly found that they needed a dedicated PDF to Excel converter in order to improve, complete and streamline their document management system.  They needed to efficiently extract the vast amounts of PDF data to Excel and handle the data generated by the accounting department, as well.

Improving Document Management With Able2Extract

With this in mind, the company added Able2Extract to their document management system to fill that need.  A case study on Momentum shows that the company’s workflow did nothing but improve from the addition. You can read the full Momentum case study here. Successful highlights from the case study include:

  • Saved $30,000 annually
  • Saved 100% of their time on information assembly
  • No training required to start converting PDF to Excel
  • Experienced accurate data conversions

By making an adjustment in one troublesome area in their document management system, Momentum was able to start processing and handling their client data more effectively.  

Implementing a document management system can do wonders for the productivity of accounting firms. But that system must be flexible enough to change with your daily activity and routine.  

If your firm has a system already set up, make sure it has a tool for every step in the process. Tailor the workflow and make adjustments as needed. If the addition of one PDF converter can improve Momentum’s metrics, think of what it can do for your firm.

Exploring Document Management Needs For Insurance Companies

Document management in the insurance industry is important. Clients submit documents in a number of different methods and formats. As such, insurance companies need to be prepared to handle any type at any time, whether paper-based or electronic.

However, with PDF files being the de facto standard for document submission, insurance companies can expect to deal with high volumes of digitized data. This means being able to handle, process, and store those files.

Document Management Folders

Despite this obvious fact, some insurance companies are still hesitant to invest in document management software or individual tools. But for some companies, the onslaught of data and documents that need analysis is pushing them forwards, forcing them to explore their options.

Insurancenewsnet.com, in fact, provides a timeless guide for companies who need to start thinking about it and make sound decisions in choosing a document management software tool.

How To Start Your Search For Document Management Tools

To start, there are a few main questions you should keep in mind: How easy is scanning? How are documents organized? Are documents editable?

These are essential questions to think about. For instance, as you get into analyzing those documents, editability will determine the tools you use and the work you perform.  Not only that, but it will determine the time spent on working to convert the data from one format to another.

Document organization determines how efficient you’ll be–how do you store, name and retrieve files later on? 

With paper-based workflows still largely in existence among clients and third parties, you can expect many setbacks before that data is even ready to be digitally processed and analyzed. How can you get them quickly into an electronic format?

Struggling With Extracting Data From PDF Documents

As a case in point, one insurance company, AgencyOne, struggled especially with making the data they received in PDF files editable. But dealing with PDF files without a specific tool in place affected their efficiency as an insurance company, an issue not uncommon in the industry.

“It was frustrating that I could find no way to speed up the process of data extraction or take real advantage of the import capabilities,” says Alexandra Smolen, Commission Specialist at AgencyOne. “It used to take me all week to get my work done auditing commission statements.”

AgencyOne Commission Specialist

Finding The Key To Improving Document Workflows

They struggled with PDF files and, later on, found success with data extraction using Able2Extract Professional. The benefits the company experienced include:

  • 3x increase in efficiency
  • Time previously wasted was converted into time spent on strategic activities
  • Affordable for company budget
  • Week-long data extraction tasks turned into a few days’ work
  • Increase in productivity led to an employee’s raise in wage

Without doubt, insurance companies need to start looking at document management solutions. As technology becomes more and more advanced, things such as electronic submissions will quickly become the basic standard. The key to tackling the new digital document age is to make sure your insurace company stays one step ahead of the game.  

Read the full AgencyOne case study here for inspiration on how you can get your own insurance company’s workflow up to speed.