see this week’s research update newsletter
in comments this week, subscribers are sharing ideas about the end of data entry, the new staff shortage, and the problems of mixing business with friends or family.
cheryl biondolillo is looking forward to the end of keying-in. “i will be glad when it becomes a reality,” she says. “it feels likes a waste of time being a data entry person.”
noting that “finding qualified staff is back in focus in 2013,” dan gaffney sees small and mid-sized firms changing their steadfast ways and looking at flexible staffing models.”
and, “after 30 years in the business,” janice page refuses to mix business with family or friends. “i have decided that i hate being the accountant for friends and family. i don’t ask the questions i should ask, i don’t say the things i should say, i say the wrong things at the wrong times, i know too much about how they spend their money and i don’t know how to bill.”
– rick telberg
president / ceo
3 responses to “in this week’s newsletter: life after data entry”
hitendra patil
if accounting industry wants to see zero data entry in our life time, it calls for “data standardization” – just like what telecom industry has done decades ago or capital markets have done over last 2-3 decades. it will require strong will from the “regulators” of accounting profession to enforce standard data formats and the technology providers to think beyond their turf.
katrina geety
standardization of forms containing data (w-2s, 1099s, etc.) should be a requirement in the next 12 months. but the argument will be amongst the software companies.who has to change? nonsense, come to consensus, compensate the players that didn’t win and have to change their applications. let’s all move on. it doesn’t have to be so difficult. we should be able to front end scan, but can’t in the current environment.
katrina geety
data entry will end when the scanning process has a “zero defects” standard. i read on this website http://www.cpaperless.com/products/tictiecalculate.aspx, a product designed to help deal with the issues of front-end scanning. and as they state, 25% of the documents scanned are “unrecognized”. it is far more time-consuming to figure out the discrepancies and sift through irrelevant information than to enter the data initially. i prepare 700 returns a year and until they successfully scan at a rate of near 100%, it is more efficient to do back end scanning with notations and tape totals attached.
front end scanning today equates to looking for a needle in the haystack. and if there is missing information and subsequent documents, it gets even messier. forms need to be standardized in a scannable format before we will achieve anywhere near a 90% successful scan rate.