As a new CPA on the block, about eight years ago, I had made it a practice to read as much as possible on practice management along with the regular reading I had to do keep up with the technical matters. I came across articles after articles about how it was possible for CPAs to operate in an almost paperless office. It was, however, quite difficult for me to imagine my own office being a paperless office.
How could a CPA really operate a practice without papers? I would wonder all the time. I thought of these talks about paperless offices as being something of a creation of imagination about how life would be in 2035 when I may not be there.
The technology that I was using in my office was helping me improve the production. It was also helping me learn some of the more advanced possibilities in my system. In my small practice, it was a simple client-server network with a T1 internet connection. It was during one of my overseas trips about four years ago, that I discovered the power of my system to its best. With the T1 connection and a static IP address, I was able to work on my office system from over 10,000 miles away without any problems. This was a wonderful...