Searching for documents costs chartered accountants in the UK an estimated £2m a day in lost fees, research claims.

Despite this, only one in four accountancy practices has replaced its paper filing with digital document management, according to the survey commissioned by software group Invu and conducted by YouGov.

It reckons that 83% of the 270,000 accountants in the UK waste up to an hour a day searching for paper documents, often related to all-important compliance and audit matters.

With each hour worth £88 on average, the figures add up to £2m lost per day.

The survey, which sought the opinions of more than 800 managers and directors across a range of industries in the UK, also revealed that the 4.5 million small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) waste an estimated £42.2 million in total a day trying to local paper documents.

The average time spent searching for information across all SMEs is 31 minutes, and on this basis traditional paper filing is costing each firm up to £11,000 a year.

Accountants were singled out for wasting more time than other professions, losing 26% of their time, compared to 21% in areas such as construction, legal and insurance.

The survey, reported in Accountancy Magazine, says just 3% of accountancy firms have 91% or more of their documents saved electronically, even though paper documents can easily be lost or mis-filed due to human error.

Canotec is Invu’s main partner in the South, providing frontline support.

By managing all your documents electronically from your desktop, Invu improves efficiency, lowers costs and makes you more responsive to enquiries because of easy access.

David Newman, a director at Canotec, said: “The beauty of Invu is that you can access files, dating back years, in seconds from your desktop, and it allows anyone who ever needs a document to find it, share it, change it and store it, all within a few clicks of the mouse.

“What’s more, no training is required, so there is ease of roll-out. The software is simple to use, and intuitive.

“The YouGov survey was done nearly two years ago but is still as relevant today. We have no reason to believe the level of electronic filing in the accountancy sector has improved, despite the obvious benefits to the bottom line through increased efficiency and competitiveness.”

Invu also creates watertight audit trails for regulatory compliance and cuts query response times because staff can lay their hands on relevant information within seconds through key search words or folders.

One of Canotec’s clients, Poole-based accountancy Inspire, is already switched on to Invu.

With 450 clients, Inspire wanted to cut down on paper waste and associated costs, so Canotec provided licensed software from Invu for the digital copiers platform.