Capture Receipts, Capture Cash!

Document, document, document…… You’ve heard it used often and for many reasons. In the world of finance, this concept holds just as important as in other industry worlds. Receipts in the accounting world are often referred to as “source documentation”. More specifically that means “an original record which contains the detail that supports or substantiates a transaction that will be (or has been) entered in an accounting system. Historically source documents were paper documents, today they can often be an electronic records”

In the US source documentation isn’t as stringently required as other countries, such as Canada, where they are required to keep documentation for everything and a simple bank or credit card statement won’t qualify as a receipt. Big ole high-five to all the US-based bookkeepers who are breathing a sigh of relief right now! But……despite that a receipt may not be mandated to have, as a finance professional looking to provide the best service, your bookkeeper would like it. In fact, if you were a client who would provide the receipts, and do so timely, you would quickly become a top 10 client winning the hearts of bookkeepers from around the world!

But Christina, you say, gathering all the receipts is difficult. By the time you have made the purchase, life has happened, it ended up on the floor of your truck under your toolbelt and four weeks later it isn’t even legible anymore let alone you might be lucky if you can even remember what the purchase was for. I hear you! Oh boy, do I hear you! And that is why I wanted to make a post to discuss technology and how it can drastically decrease the inconvenience of this process by using functionality you likely already have and are paying for with your accounting platform!

That’s right, you may be sitting on a gold mine of efficiency that will actually generate more cash for you by saving time and we all KNOW

Time is Money!

My firm uses and loves Quickbooks Online (QBO) due to the many features and integrations including the recently upgraded “Snap Receipt” feature. To find this handy feature simply:

• download the QB app to your smartphone, with a camera
• open up the QB app
• click the “Snap Receipt” on the dashboard page
• The camera app will open up and you simply center the receipt and when the box turns green, click the button!

And Wala — the receipt is transported into a queue for you or your bookkeeping to review at a later time!

Brilliant!

QB Desktop has also this feature, which they call receipt management. Although I haven’t used it as of the time of writing this blog, I would highly recommend you check it out if you are a QB Desktop user. Here is a link to GET MORE INFO.

If you don’t use Quickbooks at all, never fear, the other platforms likely have a version of their own or you can look into a third-party app such as:

• Expensify
• Dext (previously known as Receipt Bank)
• HubDoc

Take some time to check out this time-saving tip, which will lead to more profitability as your find easy ways to lighten the workload with minimal to no expense increase; a direct effect of more profitability!

Have a favorite app that you use? Share it below and let us know what you love about it!