A colleague is leaving. Perhaps to another office, perhaps to retire. The handover takes two weeks. And then it turns out that half of the customer history is stored in his personal mailbox. Or worse, in his head.
Richard Schouten, accountancy specialist at Docubird, observes this pattern at virtually every firm. The accountancy sector is struggling with structural staff shortages. At the same time, the workload is increasing. And that is precisely when what has been going well for years comes back to haunt us: knowledge that is not recorded anywhere.
In this blog, Richard explains why staff shortages call for better document structure, and how you can prevent knowledge from disappearing with the people who leave.
Knowledge is too often stored in people's heads and individual mailboxes.
Ask an accountant where the agreements with client Jansen are. Chances are the answer will be: "I know that off the top of my head" or "Somewhere in my sent items." As long as that accountant is there, that works fine. But as soon as he leaves, the search begins.
The new colleague opens the customer file and finds the annual accounts. But where are the agreements about the billing frequency? Where is the email in which the customer agreed to that advice? Where does it say why that different approach was chosen last year?
That information does exist. Just not in a place where someone else can find it.
With fewer people, there is less room for searching.
In a team of twenty people, there is always someone who knows where something is. With ten people, that luxury no longer exists. And with five people, every minute spent searching is one minute too many.
Staff shortages don't just mean fewer hands on deck. They also mean that the hands that are there have to work more efficiently. Time spent searching is time not spent with customers. Time spent reconstructing is time not spent advising.
An office with fifteen employees who spend an average of ten minutes a day searching loses more than six hundred hours a year. That is almost four months of full-time work.
Departure exposes weaknesses
The moment someone resigns, it's too late to get the documentation in order. You then have two weeks for a handover that takes two months. The departing colleague still knows which emails are important. But searching for them all and saving them? There's no time for that.
So knowledge disappears. Not deliberately, not out of unwillingness, but simply because no one has previously established the structure to safeguard that knowledge.
Archive ongoing cases, not just completed files
Most offices neatly archive annual accounts and tax returns. But what about the correspondence that preceded them? That remains stuck in mailboxes. Yet that is precisely where the context lies. Why was something done a certain way? What did the customer say? What commitments were made?
Make it a habit to save ongoing correspondence as well. Don't wait until the file is closed, but do it while you're working. Spend five minutes every Friday putting the most important emails of that week in the client file. It costs almost nothing, but it prevents knowledge from disappearing.
Structure is not a luxury but a necessity
With a full team, document structure feels like extra work. With a small team, it is a prerequisite for getting the work done at all. The fewer people there are, the more important it is that everyone can find everything. Without having to ask, without having to search.
This requires clear agreements. Where do we store what? What information belongs in the customer file? And how do we ensure that everyone adheres to this, even under time pressure?
Start today, not at the next departure
The best time to organize your document structure was five years ago. The second-best time is now. Don't wait until the next colleague resigns. Start today to capture the knowledge that is still in people's heads.
Docubird helps accounting firms store emails and documents in the right place with a single click. This means that knowledge is no longer dependent on who happens to be working. Would you like to see how it works? I'd be happy to show you in a short demo.