For all the strides finance and accounting professionals have made in moving to the so-called paperless office, a sturdy and versatile printer remains an essential part of their offices.
Sure, CPAs and financial advisors could simply put their documents and spreadsheets onto a thumb drive, and print them out whenever they made it into the office, but with the reasonable price of most printers, why bother?
In fact, about one in three finance and accounting professionals plan to buy a new printer for their small-office/home-office workspace within the next year or so, according to preliminary results from a Bay Street Group survey, "Home Office Trends and Issues"
The first decision point for accountants and financial advisors is whether to purchase just a printer. Do you also need a scanner? Fax machine? Photocopier? The answer is probably, yes. So you're looking for an MFP (multi-function peripheral) or AIO (all-in-one). An MFP makes a lot of sense for many, especially in a home office environment.
Assuming a printer will serve your needs, you'll have to decide between buying an inkjet printer, or a laser printer. This decision can be made on the basis of cost, but examining the types of output you usually produce will give you a better fit.
Here are some key questions to ask yourself:
1.
Is most of your printing producing monochrome (black & white) output? If so, an inexpensive mono laser printer might be the best choice. These are available in the $100 range, and have great looking output as well as fast print speed. Black and white printers
2.
Does your typical output include color graphics? A color inkjet printer is affordable, and fine for proofing. For this use, an inexpensive inkjet in the under $75 range is perfect. Color inkjet printers
3.
Do you produce "dense" color output? If your documents are color dense, like complex charts or PowerPoint presentations, then printing them on a color inkjet printer may cause the ink to soak into the paper. This can make the output wet enough to wrinkle the paper and compromise it's appearance. Color inkjets produce great photos on photo paper, but are not the best choice with color dense documents on regular paper. Color dense output also uses a lot of ink, draining the typical inkjet cartridge in a surprisingly few number of pages.
For some users who do produce a lot of dense color output, a color laser printer is a good choice. These are available in the $300 range, and can produce outstanding quality output in color as well as monochrome. Laser printing usually offers the best cost-per-page efficiency and cartridges typically run between $80 and $100 per color. Each cartridge can produce thousands of pages of output. Color LaserJet printers
4.
Do you want/need 2-sided printing? Duplexing is another feature that you might want to consider, especially if you will be producing final output from your home printer. This feature allows you to print on both sides of a page, saving paper and making your output more professional looking at the same time.
5.
Do you want/need advanced features? A "business class" inkjet is another option to consider. These generally offer advanced features such as duplexing, extra paper trays, and high-capacity ink cartridges. Keep in mind, however, that even a business class inkjet is going to wrinkle paper if you put down a lot of ink on a page.
A business class inkjet printer is also a good choice if you want or need to produce oversize output, such as large spreadsheets, or letter-sized booklets. Some business class inkjets are available in wide-format, accepting paper up to 11 x 17 inches (which folds in half to 8.5 x 11 inch booklets). Business inkjet printers
So give some thought to your printing needs and habits and make an informed decision on which to purchase. Or, choose more than one if you have the room in your home office. It might make sense, for instance to purchase a pair of printers—an inexpensive color inkjet for those times when color output is needed, and an inexpensive mono laser printer for the rest of your printing.
Rick Telberg CEO of Bay Street Group Research, is the most widely-followed analyst for the finance and accounting profession. He has helped launch and develop a host of leading products and services for accountants and financial advisors, including Accounting Today, Accounting Technology and Practical Accountant magazines, WebCPA.com, and e-commerce portals SmartPros and CPA2Biz. He serves as Editor At Large for the AICPA Insider family of e-newsletters and blogs at www.cpatrendlines.com
Any views or comments expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and not necessarily those of any other organization. No person quoted or cited has any known connection to or interest in Hewlett Packard, and their appearance here should not be construed as an endorsement.
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