To start the series of General lessons on Cimplico Workpapers, we think it's important to define what a workpaper is and what Cimplico Workpapers aims to accomplish.

How do we define a "workpaper"?

There are several definitions over the internet of what a workpaper, work paper, working paper, etc. is. Often workpapers are coupled with accountants and financial statements/records. While this may be the primary use of workpapers currently, we believe a workpaper encompasses more.

We define a workpaper as:

"The creation, collection, and completion of information by a professional to evidence & support the conclusions reached in the conduct of a professional assignment". 

Put simply, we want to provide a tool to allow professionals to evidence their work, whatever it may be.

At Cimplico our first core value is to "Challenge the norm". While this definition may challenge the traditional notion of a workpaper, we believe it more correctly defines the potential for this overlooked and undervalued practice. Our vision and direction for Cimplico Workpapers is to break-the-mould of lengthy checklists and cumbersome spreadsheets, and to provide a tool to simplify and encourage the use of workpapers for professional services.

What do workpapers look like in Cimplico Workpapers?

As a starting point, the type of workpapers we accommodate for are accounting compliance workpapers, where the base information to be verified is the trial balance, and some other schedules (such as tax reconciliations). 

Cimplico Workpapers has several features built-in to ensure accuracy and governance around this evidencing process, while providing features to boost efficiency and visibility.

To learn more about Cimplico Workpapers check out our Introduction to Workpapers article. You can read more about its key features in our Overview of Workpapers article.

Next: General 2/7: Creating an account

Now that you have a good understanding of what a workpaper is and what it looks like in Cimplico Workpapers, let's  learn more how to get setup with an account so you can begin exploring!