Managing Business Expense Receipts

Once you had to take all your expense receipts back to the office and someone (usually you!) opened the accounting software and typed in the company name and address, amount, VAT amount and how it was paid. Today you don’t need to do any of that! Take a photo with your smartphone using an app like ReceiptBank. Then click to upload, and their software will recognize all the information above, and, when you are back in the office, ask you if you want to enter or amend the entry.

Or, even simpler, get your accountant to handle the office function and train the software to recognize transactions and enter them into the right category for your accounts. Record-keeping really doesn’t get any easier.

So is there a catch? Well, yes … and no! The software will do exactly what it says if it is set up correctly. The weakest link is usually the human software. The data cannot get automatically entered if you don’t take a picture of the expense receipt. Bank accounts cannot be automatically reconciled if the bank feed isn’t downloaded.

None of the above is remotely difficult if done regularly. If you don’t let the train pull out of the station before you have snapped the receipt, or leave the copy shop without pulling out your phone, then you’ll be fine! Everything will be there and up to date. However, if the bills pile up then your business reports will be out of date and you will be back to late night sessions with piles of paper!

It’s all a question of creating good habits and creating a regular routine. Once you’ve done that, everything is easy and you will save lots of time to run your business better.

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