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e) Will review be on paper or online? If review is online, does the firm’s need increase from one to two or three monitors?
f) How do you control the workflow of tax returns? Will you need a replacement for your control sheet? Will you need workflow software like XCM or GoFileRoom FirmFlow?
g) How will you ensure data accuracy on products that can do optical character recognition (OCR)? Who will work with the processed returns to map the data into your tax software? How is this training going to take place?
h) Do you have properly installed production-quality scanners like the Fujitsu fi-6140 or fi-6240? Do you have the resolution set to the firm or manufacturer’s standard, most likely 300 or 600 DPI (dots per inch)? Do you have the image cleanup software Kofax VRS installed and working properly? Are all of the other scanners and multi-function copiers also set to the standard and the images passed through Kofax VRS, as well? Have you instructed practitioners and staff to only use the other devices when the production scanners are not available?
i) Have you decided on a standard naming convention for the files? Do all team members know how to insert and process those late-arriving pages?

What are the top reasons for using 1040 workpaper software? The following benefits can be realized with an electronic workpaper product:

Electronic workpaper products convert paper documents to electronic source documents that provide a much more efficient alternative to Adobe Acrobat for organizing, bookmarking, referencing and reviewing client source documents. These products provide consistent, standardized organization of source documents to do the following:

• Automatically create better documentation from client paperwork with less manual intervention.
• Optionally deliver to clients, driving up perceived value.
• Help standardize tax workflows in the firm.
• Make it easier to find information to address client requests for financial statements and potential IRS inquiries when client data is in long-term storage.
• Assure that every set of workpapers a preparer or reviewer opens looks the same and has the same information in the same place.
• Reduce write-offs resulting from staff performing tasks below their level of expertise.

Electronic workpaper products also improve the efficiency of a paperless tax preparation process by making it easier to do the following:

• Bookmark, organize, reference, and annotate source documents.
• Review source documents and workpapers.
• Track the status of tax returns through an electronic workflow.
• Share and distribute workload with team members in other locations.
• Access workpapers from any location.

Utilizing an electronic workpaper product also reduces the strain on staff (i.e., overtime) caused by tremendous workload compression during tax season. This takes the “edge off” for staff during tax season by doing the following: