Printing reports, invoices, checks and other forms is a big part of most accounting
systems. What are your options when it comes to generating
multiple copies, variable content and scheduled printing?
Let's take a look at how printing has changed over the years and what companies
can do today to be as efficient as possible.
As companies began to utilize PC based accounting applications in the late
1980's and 1990's, dot matrix printers were the standard method of choice for
producing all types of output. The fact that these types of printers could
use carbonless paper to produce multi-part output made it easy to distribute
copies of management reports such as posting journals, inventory reports and
forms like invoices and checks, all from a single pass through the printer.
In addition, companies that shipped items could
purchase color-coded, multi-part picking forms that would be used by the
warehouse workers to determine what was to be shipped, and they would record
the actual quantities directly on the form. One part would be retained by
the shipping department, one part would be included as a packing slip for
the customer, with the remaining parts forwarded back to the accounting
department for invoicing and record keeping. Interestingly enough, the use
of blacked out sections on some of the copies would allow the accounting
department copies to show pricing, while the packing slip might have the
pricing columns blacked out.
The advent of Microsoft Windows based accounting applications and the general
use of laser printers has changed the way that companies generate reports
and forms. To produce multiple copies of forms and reports today, you can
simply increase the number of copies that your laser printer produces.
But is that
all it takes to have your organization printing as efficiently as possible?
Laser printers have brought a lot of flexibility to report generation, but
in some ways, multi-part reports and forms had their advantages too.
Wouldn't
it be great if there was a way to combine the advantages of both and maybe
even throw in a few extra benefits as well? Well, that is exactly what
is available with printing utilities that add directly into your accounting
software.
Let's take a look at some of the major benefits these utilities provide in
printing standard accounting reports, as well as forms like picking slips,
invoices and checks.
Multiple copies how you want them and when you want them
In our multi-part picking form example above, we would need to
make four passes through the laser printer and, even then, every copy would
end up looking exactly the same. Wouldn't it be great if we could do the
following?
- Automatically print the one copy you need now and schedule the
filing copies for night time
As we discussed earlier, your standard software allows you to
print multiple copies of a report at the time you generate it. But do
you need to tie up the printer by printing all of the copies during the
busy work day? Wouldn't it be better if you could elect to print some
or all of the copies of your long reports like posting journals and transaction
histories after normal business hours?
- Preselect different formats for each copy of multiple part forms
These utilities already come with preformatted choices for standard forms
like invoices, picking slips and checks which can be modified
to meet your particular format. Better still,
you can define each copy to look different from the others. When printing
picking slips and invoices for example, identify whose copy it is by
showing the word "salesperson", "shipping" or "accounting" on
the bottom of their copy. Also, just as you could use the blacked out
columns in multi-part forms, simply elect not to show pricing on the packing
slip copy.
- Print different copies at different printers
Multi-part forms had their advantages, but separating the parts and walking
them to the picking area wasn't one of them. Just as you can select when
a copy will print, you can also select at which printer. So while the
warehouse copy will print right away, on the warehouse printer,
the accounting copy will print
in the accounting department later that night after everyone goes home.
- Sort the output for easily filing
While the shipping department will print out the orders based on
the sequence the orders were entered, the accounting
department can have their copy sorted alphabetically by company to
reduce the time it takes your staff to file historical copies.
- Safely print and automatically sign accounts payable and payroll
checks
Companies can also save on preprinted forms by using copy safe check
printing directly from their own laser printer. And for those companies
with high volumes, the software can do automatic check signing for one
or two signatures with definable dollar limits for when they will be
applied.
So as you can see, there are many ways that companies of all sizes can take
advantage of these type of printing options to make their organization more
efficient.
For questions or more information about how you can make printing more efficient
in your organization, contact
Laura Kasman at lkasman@kastechco.com or 215-702-8155.
