Record Keeping Tools for a New Financial Year
As the 2021 financial year has come to a close and the calendar resets, not only is it a great time to stop for a break, but it’s also a fantastic time for business owners to review their record keeping practices. Things to consider are the types of tools available to help business and to give the ultimate reward: time and efficiency.
Cloud Based Programs – Receipt Capture Apps
In a generation where technology is a part of everyday life, there is a great opportunity for business owners to jump on board and utilise a number of capture apps that have been aligned with popular cloud based accounting programs. The most popular programs are Xero, Reckon, MYOB and QuickBooks Intuit, all of which have capture apps designed to integrate directly with key data captured that will match to financial transactions recorded through online bank feeds. Below we explore these apps and how they can assist your business.
Xero Hubdoc and Xero Expense.
Hubdoc is a data capture tool which extracts key data from documents, then creates transactions in Xero. As soon as Hubdoc receives a document, it extracts the key data such as contact, date and amount. When you publish the document, Xero creates the invoice, bill, credit note, or spend money transaction with a copy of the document attached.
You can set up Hubdoc to automate every step, so all you need to do is reconcile the transaction against your bank statement line in Xero. This is particularly useful if you get regular bills from the same supplier.
Hubdoc also stores documents so you don't need to keep paper copies of bills and receipts. You can organise the documents in Hubdoc using tags and folders, or send them to another cloud storage system your business might use, such as Bill.com or Dropbox.
Like Xero, you can also invite your accountant, bookkeeper, or team member into your Hubdoc organisation, and decide how much access you want them to have. If your Xero organisation is on a business edition pricing plan, Hubdoc is included in your Xero subscription.
An additional tool exclusive to Xero is Xero Expense. The app helps small businesses reduce the time spent tracking and managing employees’ expenses. It allows an employee to capture their costs as they happen by snapping and submitting expenses and mileage claims anytime. The app allows all receipts to gather in one central location for a business owner to review and approve all employee expenses in one click. Xero Expenses automates every step of the process and allows an employer to monitor all spending in real-time with accurate views to help manage cash flow.
Reckon and Expense Manager
Expense Manager is designed for all organisations that struggle with record keeping, processes and automation of financial transactions. The software is designed to help replace paper receipts and manual expense claims. It is designed to implement a completely paper free and automated process. For businesses who are processing their supplier payments manually, Expense manager has helped organisations remove paper invoices and rekeying of data to their finance system with easy integration with leading ERP systems.
Expense Manager is an add-on option with full integration with Reckon in both cloud environments as well as desktop programs. The program allows for full capture of receipts and cash claims from mobile apps that can be sent directly to the reckon file. The data management tool also allows for a merchant to send digital receipts directly to the reckon file to allow matching of key data including supplier details and auto fill data.
As explained above, Expense Manager is an add-on feature to your reckon subscription and would need to be purchased as an additional monthly subscription. Further details can be found at https://expense-manager.com/contact/.
Reckon will also integrate with a number of other capture programs with full integration. Each add-on will provide different services and can be customised to each different business. Other apps available can be reviewed at https://www.reckon.com/marketplace/all-add-ons/.
MYOB Capture App
The MYOB Capture app is based on a similar integration process of other document management programs by capturing a photo of the receipt and identifying key data that allows direct matching to transactions recorded through the MYOB file. The tool works by syncing data captured through a photo taken on a device installed with the app, digitally scanning the document to grab the information presented and sends it to your MYOB Essentials account, automatically matching it against the corresponding payment.
The app also allows centralised storage of all digital receipts capture that can be shared with your accountant easing the burden of compliance and producing data at tax time as the details will already be recorded.
The bonus of the MYOB Capture App is that it is included as part of a standard MYOB essentials subscription so no additional cost to business owners.
QuickBooks Intuit and Smart Receipt Capture
Following the implementation of document management apps to most mainstream accounting programs, QuickBooks online have followed suit with the release of the Smart Receipt Capture app.
The added QuickBooks Online offerings enable customers to simply enter, attach and track expense receipts and bills captured on their mobile device. Customers can upload them by both dragging and dropping onto QuickBooks Online using a web browser, or by emailing the receipt or bill to QuickBooks for the relevant information and transaction to be created.
Once uploaded, users review and edit the extracted information, create a new expense in QuickBooks and consequently match their receipts and bills to the existing expense recorded.
Not only does the offering provide businesses with time back in their day, but also provides the added convenience of storing the digital versions in a centralised, easy-to-access location.
As technology continues to evolve, the benefit of digital scanning apps will grow in usefulness as businesses increase their efficiency over time. We would expect businesses will be aided in not only speeding up the processing of financial information, but ensuring that accurate and adequate records are maintained to satisfy substantiation requirements with the Australian Taxation Office. If you are currently using a Cloud Based online accounting program and would like to explore what benefits an add-on app could provide for your business, please contact one of our accountants who can discuss in detail how technology can help you directly.