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3 questions to smart minds
Photo: Alexander Weigert

Will tax consulting soon be paperless?

For this 3 questions to Alexander Weigert

Ecovis
Photo: Alex­an­der Weigert
17. Octo­ber 2017

The advan­ta­ges for paper­less elec­tro­nic proces­sing of docu­ments, receipts and invoices are obvious: great cost savings for the entre­pre­neur (less working time, less office supplies, less post­age), for the tax consul­tant (less sort­ing, stam­ping and typing) and lots of saved paper to protect the environment. 


For this 3 ques­ti­ons to Certi­fied Public Accoun­tant, Tax Advi­sor and Member of the Board of Ecovis in Munich

1. How far has digi­ta­liza­tion come for tax consul­tants today?

The average tax firm in Germany is rather at the begin­ning when it comes to digi­ta­liza­tion. As a modern consul­ting firm, we are alre­ady working inten­si­vely on digi­tal colla­bo­ra­tion with our clients. This applies to commu­ni­ca­tion, digi­tal data exch­ange, digi­tal filing and docu­ment storage. We also offer digi­tal products, such as a client portal, into which addi­tio­nal soft­ware can be inte­gra­ted. In the tradi­tio­nal consul­ting busi­ness, digi­tiza­tion supports our motto, which applies both online and offline, and that is: perso­nally well advised.

2. Are the clients alre­ady coming away “from the paper”? Can you say some­thing about any risks and error rates?

There are still some hurd­les here. On the one hand, we do not yet know conclu­si­vely what audi­tor prac­tice will reveal with regard to the exclu­si­vely digi­tal storage of receipts. We are curr­ently gathe­ring initial expe­ri­ence in this area. And of course, digi­tiza­tion is a sensi­tive topic, because our busi­ness always invol­ves confi­den­tial data that must be kept secure. No one can afford to make mista­kes here. For us as tax consul­tants, audi­tors, lawy­ers and manage­ment consul­tants, data protec­tion and data secu­rity have top priority.

3. When is the online tax advi­sor coming?

You won’t believe it now, but it’s alre­ady there. Ecovis acts as an incu­ba­tor here with its own startup within the group. All proces­ses run comple­tely online. The know­ledge we gather in the process will later bene­fit everyone.

About Ecovis

The consul­ting firm Ecovis supports medium-sized compa­nies. In Germany, it ranks among the top 10 in the indus­try. Appro­xi­m­ately 5,000 employees work in the more than 100 German offices and in part­ner law firms in over 60 count­ries world­wide. Ecovis supports and advi­ses family busi­nesses and owner-mana­ged compa­nies as well as free­lan­cers and private indi­vi­du­als. In order to sustain­ably secure and promote the econo­mic acti­vi­ties of its clients, Ecovis bund­les the natio­nal and inter­na­tio­nal profes­sio­nal and indus­try exper­tise of all tax advi­sors, audi­tors, lawy­ers and manage­ment consul­tants. Every Ecovis law firm can draw on this pool of know­ledge. In addi­tion, the Ecovis Academy stands for sound trai­ning as well as conti­nuous and up-to-date further educa­tion. All this ensu­res that the consul­tants provide good perso­nal advice to their clients on site. www.ecovis.com

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