Are you printing off contracts or financial documents only to turn around and scan them back in again to send them electronically? Why not try signing your accounting documents electronically? With a couple of clicks, you can collaborate with your accounting clients and streamline the sending, signing, and validating of those documents. Who doesn’t love skipping paperwork and added steps?
Why Use an Electronic Signature for Accountants
The net effect of using electronic signatures is that you’ll close contracts faster and boost the overall productivity of your accounting business. That sounds like a win-win situation.
Let’s look at some specific benefits of integrating legal electronic signatures into your accounting workflow.
Cost Effective
As an accountant, you manage countless pages of documents. When you need a signature on one page, you need to print off the entire document. Printing all those pages comes at a cost – paper, ink, printer maintenance. By using an electronic signature, you directly save costs in your business, including the overhead cost of sending those business documents through mail or courier to your clients. Beyond that, your indirect cost saving includes time – the next point on this list.
Time Efficient
Time is a precious resource. When you establish a workflow with electronic signatures for accounting, your biggest win will be gaining back time otherwise lost to admin tasks. You can turn around documents faster when you don’t have to chase physical signatures. That will make you and your clients happy and have more time for other priorities while the process stays in motion. Whether at work or on the treadmill, the automated system validates documents for you, keeping your workflow moving.
Track the Process
Electronic signatures automatically create an easy-to-follow audit trail, and every document interaction is digitally stamped, a step of extra importance in accounting. Additionally, by simply signing into your Signaturely account, you can check the status of your documents with a couple of clicks. Whether at the office or dinner, you can quickly save, track and return your documents in your dashboard–no need to search through file drawers or stacks of papers.
Automate Signing
Software like Signaturely allows you to streamline your entire accounting process from beginning to end. The next step in the process is automatically initiated as soon as you get a signature. Automated reminders also save you from chasing and confirming signatures. Meanwhile, your clients won’t mind the reminders when the software allows them to make a few clicks instead of burning time and gas to get to your office.
Easy to Use
Using an e-signature product like Signaturely in your accounting business is the easiest solution for properly signing documents. Electronic signatures reduce the chance of human error and provide an easily repeatable process. Signaturely clearly highlights the relevant sections in a form your clients need to sign, so they don’t have to flip through pages and miss a page. Clients can also create their digital signature once and apply it across all pages or documents rather than tediously signing page after page. The entire signing process is simple, easy, and consistent – for everyone.
Tax and Accounting Documents to Use an e-Signature On
E-signatures can be used for virtually any of your accounting contracts/paperwork. Manage everything from monthly financial closes to tax and payroll forms quickly and securely. You rarely need to handle physical documents in your business anymore. Imagine all the space you’ll have on your desk and in your office!
Here’s a list of a few accounting documents that can be signed with an e-Signature.
- Personal tax forms
- Payroll processing forms
- Client acceptance forms
- Consent forms
- Statement of work
- Non-disclosure agreements
Are electronic signatures for accountants and Taxes Legal?
Electronic signatures provide the same legal standing as handwritten signatures. However, official standards around the process were created as early as 1999 when the United States began codifying e-signatures. The following year, the Electronic Signatures in Global and National Commerce Act (2000) established specific guidelines for signature validity on electronic contracts and records. Each country now has its own specific laws regarding electronic signatures. Signaturely complies with all international laws and policies that govern electronic signatures. In Europe, electronic signatures for accountants are specifically recognized by the Electronic Identification and Trust Services (eIDAS) Regulation.
For tax and accounting professionals, digitally signed documents offer a layer of legal security beyond printed copies. Electronic signatures include traceable digital records (like an IP address) that connect a signer to a signed document.
Using Signaturely for an Accounting Business
Using electronic signatures in accounting adds both flexibility and security to your business.
Here are a few top reasons you’ll want to use electronic signatures for accounting.
Sign From Anywhere
Electronic signatures offer a fast and safe alternative to printing documents for your clients to sign, putting you back in control. You are not limited by the constraints of location or time. With the ease of a click on various devices, you can request perfectly legal signatures from anyone, anywhere, without having to wait around. They can sign in their own time, whether you’re at your desk or not.
Secure Client Data
Digital signature solutions like Signaturely use strict measures to ensure your document is safe. With the level of security and data encryption provided by electronic signature software, your client’s confidential financial documents are more secure than if they were sitting on your desk or getting sent out through your mail room. Documents are locked, and no one else’s hands or eyes are on them. Your clients might sleep even better knowing their information is more secure and the documents are being sent securely via email.
Legally Binding
e-Signatures are legally binding across several different industries, including accounting. Electronic signatures are coded with enough identification data to validate them in court. In the USA, the ESIGN ACT (2000) states that “[A contract or signature] may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form.” Signaturely’s signatures also adhere to the international laws and regulations required to bind them legally.
Simple to Work With
With a simple click, documents are seamlessly in front of your client on their chosen device. There couldn’t be a simpler option for your accounting business. Their signature can be typed, drawn, or written, and your document is validated within minutes. No one has to chase anyone or print documents. Click, send, and done. It’s as simple as that.
FAQs About electronic signatures for accountants
Have questions about accounting and electronic signatures? Let’s answer some of them for you here.
Accountants can absolutely use Signaturely! Electronic signatures are recognized in accounting, and accounting professionals can benefit from the fact that digitally signed documents have a more verifiable authenticity than documents with a “wet” signature.
Yes, US state laws have given electronic signatures the same legal status as handwritten signatures across many industries, including accounting. Elsewhere in the world, electronic signatures are governed by international law and carry the same legal efficacy as handwritten ones.
In March 2020, the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA) announced it recognized electronic signatures as meeting the requirements of the Income Tax Act. This follows after the United States Congress passed the “21st Century Integrated Digital Experience Act (IDEA)”, allowing the use of electronic signatures and an e-signature option for taxpayers e-filing through an Electronic Return Originator (ERO).
What You Need to Remember About Electronic Signatures for the Accounting Industry
Business moves fast in today’s world. Are you keeping up in your accounting business? Traditional signature methods hardly make sense anymore. Thankfully, you can easily upgrade your accounting efficiency with e-signatures. Signaturely wants you to regain your time and sky-rocket your productivity to grow your business. Your bottom line will thank you.
Isn’t it time you boosted your accounting business with Signaturely?
