Accountants Become Efficient With The Help of Document Imaging

When Olmsted & Associates, a CPA firm based in Fountain Valley, CA, went looking for a document management system in 2006, its needs were simple: “We needed a program that would allow us to scan multiple sizes and types of documents and then facilitate our search for them later. Security and retention periods were a concern as well,” says Tax Administrator Fernando Rocha. “Basically, we needed to have everything in one place so whomever needed to use it, could.”

Laserfiche was a name Olmsted’s partners were aware other accounting firms were using. And, says firm president Bernie Olmsted, with good reason. “There are a million document management systems out there, but nobody has the security ratings Laserfiche has in terms of being DoD 5015.2-certified,” she says.

Rocha says his fellow Olmsted staffers were particularly impressed by how user-friendly Laserfiche was, because it “had the look and feel of Windows and search engines we were used to using.” Another plus, he adds, was the comprehensive single solution Laserfiche offered. “Other programs you had to buy more products to get to that level of functionality. Laserfiche suited our needs right out of the box.”

The firm purchased document imaging software Laserfiche with Web Access to serve staff internally and remotely, as well as its clients. Implementation began in late 2006 with a backlog conversion of seven years’ worth of paper files. Adjamian and fellow solutions consultant Kristina Yassi worked with Rocha and Olmsted’s staff to set up templates and document types to establish the file structure that, with some enhancements, the firm still uses today. “Allen and Kristina helped us a design a folder and subfolder structure that allowed us get started scanning our documents right away,” Rocha recalls. “We’ve been able to improve on it since then, which is actually something we’ve come to appreciate about Laserfiche: It’s flexible enough to grow with us, without making a big project out of it.”

Rocha also says that Laserfiche’s document imaging interoperability with other programs and file types has brought efficiency and convenience to other business processes. “We transfer all our disparate types of data and document types into Laserfiche—QuickBooks, PDF documents, and Excel,” he says. “We can print directly to Laserfiche, save-to, or just drag-and-drop it. It’s that easy.”

And Rocha says that Olmsted & Associates has found a new way to work. “With Laserfiche we’ve found a document management system that offers us control in terms of securing and centralizing information, but also the flexibility to handle all kinds of content and make it readily available to our staff and clients securely and conveniently.”