Can accountants go green?

Going green means going paperless for the team at Pinnacle PAC in Castlegar.

The colourful surroundings at Pinnacle. What you don't see: a pile of paper. — Jeff Ross photo courtesy of Pinnacle PAC

What would a green accounting firm look like?

“We have taken the paperless movement to the next level with what we do here,” said Chris Brien, CPA, CA, a partner at Pinnacle PAC in Castlegar. “We don't store any paper here anymore. All of our documents are stored in various formats and are accessible through various software programs we use.”

In 2014 the company won the Green Award from the Castlegar Chamber of Commerce in recognition of its efforts to remove paper from the office. How did they do it?

“We educate our clients on how they need to deal with us," said Brien. "We try not to accept any paper from them, and we try not to give them back paper at the end of the year.”

Part of the green team: (L-R) Chris Brien, Terry Dornan and Jeff Ross. — Jeff Ross photo courtesy of Pinnacle PAC

Staff at Pinnacle use computer software to store and retrieve documents, files and reports. But education in green practices doesn't stop with employees, said Brien. Pinnacle goes as far as training their clients' bookkeepers to use cloud-based software. In addition, Brien and his colleagues carry iPads with signature software, so customers can sign documents right on the screen.

The firm is “technologically focused,” said Brien. “We train everyone around us to keep up with the latest developments in technology, and cloud-based software is at the forefront of that.”

Brien said the majority of the firm’s clients were on board with green practices right away. After educating and prompting, the others have adapted very well and now love it.

“We’ve pushed them into the new frontier,” said Brien, “where now they are finding themselves being more efficient by what we've sort of prodded them into doing.”

Pinnacle promotes an in-house recycling program and encourages an energy conservation mindset. Employees are asked to shut down all electronics, including monitors and computers, at the end of the day.