Anatomy of Filing --> in a Binder

I sincerely thought Trent's nose must have grown longer when he informed me that we only had one filing cabinet and that we rarely used it. I further imagined a leaf sprouting when he said that we filed in binders instead.

Huh. Er... Come again?

A tilt of my head and a look of disbelief were all it took for my new boss to launch into a patient explanation to assure me that he was not spinning a tale (indeed a talent of his), that in fact the use of binders is the preferred way to file here in Europe.

Honestly, I was really stumped by this way of filing. I'd been working for almost 20 years in several different office environments and in a range of industries and the filing was all done the same way: in a cabinet with pull-out drawers. Then I moved overseas and my filing-life was turned upside down! That was six years ago now and I honestly cannot imagine ever going back to a filing cabinet. And no, my nose did not just smack my monitor and bear fruit! ;)

The first thing I had to get used to was using a 2-hole punch rather than the 3-hole punch I'd so dutifully packed with my outfit. The last time I used a 2-hole punch was when I worked in the mortgage industry and we used the 2-hole to bracket loan docs into client portfolio files (aka. manila folders). At this point I must confess that I can count on 1-hand the number of times I've used my 3-hole punch in 6-years.

The next thing to get used to was using clear plastic sheet protectors in place of a manila folder. Aside from college, my only experience with these slippery little things was in the set of family recipes that my Mom had compiled and given to my brothers and I for Christmas. She used sheet protectors so that the recipe could be pulled from the book and placed on the counter during cooking while being protected from food splashes. And since they are plastic they're easy to clean as well.

The next somewhat familiar items were the dividers to separate by category, person, account or other designation. Again, the last time I'd used a divider was in college to separate my Strategic Management class notes from the ones for Christological Epistles.

Then there was the binder itself. It had a funky bracket inside to secure the pages, sheet protectors or dividers as well as an external box-like thing that is called the "archive." When filing in a binder is complete, the whole thing fits into the archive and then sits nicely right on the bookshelf.

Here's an example of how the binders are organized:

• The color of the binder tells what budget year is covered (Green=2008, Yellow=2007, Black=2006, etc)
• Petty cash - binders by country, dividers by currency and reconciliation documentation
• Reimbursement reports - binders by country, dividers by worker, sheet protectors by month w/receipts
• Monthly work papers - binders by quarter, dividers by month, sheet protectors for approvals and monthly backup
• Reports - binder by year, dividers for major categories, sheet protectors for reports grouped by month
• Permanent documents - binder by year subdivided by category for the permanent records, reports, journals, etc. A backup disk with all the years data (both accounting program backup and report backup) is stored in a pocket taped to the inside binder cover as well.

By using the binders, previous years documents are stored on bookshelves and easily identifiable from their color and binding label. My binders for the current year are on a bookshelf right behind my desk and so, literally, at my fingertips. Additionally, by using a specific code at the beginning of an expense description when entering into our bookkeeping program I can easily track exactly what binder will have the hard copy backup for that entry.... a proven asset to have for an audit. :)

Now you may be wondering what on earth would inspire me to write an "Anatomy of Filing" blog. Well, the reason is simple: I'm knee-deep in filing at the moment due to the field-structure change that went into effect during the last two months of the fiscal year. I've had to re-organize the filing system to accommodate the change, and in the process it struck me how differently I file today as compared to when I was in the US.... and how filing in binders of all things is normal for me now and so I thought it'd be fun to share. :)

Now I must confess that I'm not at all a fan of filing (in fact it was number 3 on my list of things I don't like to do--right behind doing dishes) but I have found that re-organizing things is much easier since our "books" are filed in binders. Hmmm... I may just have to add "filing in binders" to the "If you told me 10 years ago I'd be doing this I would have thought you were crazy" list. :)