Epson US
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Mar. 20, 2012 – More CPA firms are streamlining operations and using less paper with tools like the EPSON® WorkForce® Pro GT-S50 document scanner. Two small businesses in the heart of Silicon Valley – Alpha B Tax & Bookkeeping Services of Sunnyvale, Calif. and BTB Tax Services of San Jose, Calif. – are taking steps to help reduce the accounting industry’s widespread dependency on paper.
Hives of activity during tax season, both CPA offices are equipped with the latest technology tools for data entry, tax preparation, research, e-filing, document management and backup. Serving the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond for three decades, the hard-working firms specialize in high volume accounts. The firms prepare tax returns for hundreds of individual and corporate clients, as well as provide accounting services such as bookkeeping, payroll and new business management.
“The EPSON WorkForce Pro GT-S50 document scanner is a reliable and hard-working tool that has helped our office become more productive,” said Tri Hoang, managing partner at Alpha B Tax & Bookkeeping Services. “The scanner has not only cut down our paper usage, but also eliminated the need for multiple file cabinets, creating more space in our office.”
Within Easy Reach
The two Silicon Valley CPA firms are cutting their paper use to improve productivity and boost profits. Hoang has an EPSON WorkForce Pro GT-S50 on her desk to quickly scan letters for signature, payroll documentation, audit reports, proxy statements, work papers, reconciliation reports and printed emails, among others. With two-sided duplex scanning and automatic paper size detection, the scanner even allows her to scan business cards, rigid ID cards, and documents up to 8.5x35 inches.
“Before, if I needed to scan backup documentation, I put it into a pile for an employee to scan later at another shared scanner,” Hoang said. “But now having the Epson scanner within easy reach, I can scan documents directly for sending or filing without waiting. And, it works seamlessly with our document management system.”
The EPSON WorkForce Pro GT-S50 is also a favored tool on the desk of Mike Cruz, front office support, at BTB Tax Services in nearby San Jose. “The scanner gets most of its high-volume use in the months leading up to April 15,” he said. Cruz’s many tasks to support clients and accounting professionals in the office include scanning backup documentation such as W2 and 1099 forms, client letters from the IRS, and signature forms.
“We have a number of clients who live in other cities and states across the country,” said Cruz. “It’s really convenient for me to scan in important documents, then retrieve what they need, so they don’t have to physically be in our California office.”
Hoang at Alpha B agrees that the scanner has made it easy to fulfill certain client requests quickly. “It’s a great customer service tool,” she said. “If a client calls to get a copy of something, I can fax or email it to them immediately because I know exactly where it’s organized in our document management system.”
The EPSON WorkForce Pro GT-S50 enables any business to scan stacks of documents in the 75-page Auto Document Feeder, using a front control panel with up to 10 user-definable scan jobs, including scan-to-PDF and email. It can also scan up to 25 pages and 50 images per minute[i], and boasts a high-volume duty cycle of up to 1,200 sheets per day for added reliability.
Toward a Paperless Office
After continued use of the EPSON scanner, Hoang recognizes the advantages of managing less paper, including easier access to client files, savings in storage and administrative costs, less human error, and more return on investment for the business.
“I think the EPSON WorkForce Pro GT-S50 scanner is a step toward that ideal paperless office because it’s easy to use, dependable and affordable,” said Hoang. “Now that I use the scanner, I’ve cut my use of paper in half and no longer have piles of paper on my desk. It definitely has cleared up space and makes me feel better about my workspace.”
Cruz is also in favor of seeing all BTB staff rely on less paper. Last year he cleared out about one-third of the file cabinets in the office and plans to do more after the busy tax season. “Having the ability to digitize even more hard copy paperwork for sending, editing and filing would be a tremendous benefit,” he said. “So, using an easy-to-use, dependable scanner like the EPSON WorkForce Pro GT-S50 is a great start toward a more paperless office.”
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Epson provided WorkForce Pro GT-S50 scanners to Alpha B Tax & Booking Services and BTB Tax Services for business use. EPSON and WorkForce are registered trademarks of Seiko Epson Corporation. All other product and brand names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective companies. Epson disclaims any and all rights in these marks.
[i] 200 dpi, A4 size, black-and-white/color, Speed Priority Scanning mode, simplex (ppm)/duplex (ipm)
