For many years, individuals and businesses were required to keep receipts and invoices many years after they were issued. This means stacks of papers on desks, heavy workloads, and bulky filing cabinets taking up a lot of space. Then there’s the possibility of losing receipts, which can lead to unreimbursed expenses and disputes with employees. All this does not seem to add value to the company.
Fortunately, times are changing. Today we are in the midst of a digital revolution towards replacing digital receipts and invoices with paper prints. Countries like the US, Spain, Luxembourg, and Australia even have digital receipts that are legally recognized.
Here, we’ll look at how you can gain a competitive edge by digitizing and modernizing your UK bookkeeping and your options if you want to store your receipts digitally.
Paperless Receipt: Seven Ways To Store Paperless And Paperless Receipts At Work
1. Train Your Employees To Adapt To The Paperless Office
Not all of your employees can easily adapt to a paperless receipt management office, especially those who have been accustomed to printing or photocopying documents for a long time. It makes expense tracking much easier. With that said it would be a good idea to train them in digitization, such as scanning, converting paper documents to PDF, or using new software or a digital receipt app. If you don’t give them the necessary training, these workers will continue to produce paper records, and this defeats your purpose of switching to digital records in UK bookkeeping.
2. Switch To Digital Invoice/Digital File
Going with paperless receipt management in your UK Bookkeeping processes can boost your business performance and capabilities, leading to a more seamless user experience and better customer engagement. By switching to digital invoices or digital files, you can rest assured that your documents won’t get lost or fade over time. In addition, paperless receipts management saves time in the transaction process and can be tailored to each specific customer in UK bookkeeping.
3. Use Mobile Expense Reporting Tools
Take advantage of the efficiency and convenience of mobile expense reporting tools or paperless receipt management. Today, it is even easier to create high-quality digital real receipt files due to the widespread use of smartphones. With just a few clicks, you can create your document management system for storing receipts with filters for invoice status, time, and customer. For quick and easy paperless receipts, select Invoices in UK bookkeeping.
How Does It Work?
Invoice offers you a user-friendly mobile app to scan invoices and track receipts on the go. The paperless receipt management will then be automatically published directly into your accounting software in UK bookkeeping making expense tracking easier.
In addition, employees can create and submit their expense reports, managers can easily approve them, and accountants can check and record if everything is correct.
4. Save Files To Google Drive
If you haven’t invested in information-sharing technology or expense-reporting tools yet but want to reduce paper waste, we recommend using folders to organize your files by date, location, or list. Decide what works best for you, and keep your folder names as short as possible. You could try naming your folders by year, such as “2022 Business,” or keep a consistent naming pattern for all your files.
Using Google Drive to organize your paperless receipts management or back up stored digital files can also be an effective way to do this in UK bookkeeping. At least you won’t have to search your entire office or house just to find those tax receipts. It is extremely simple and easy to use in expense tracking.
5. Complete Your Receipts With Pictures
Another way to store receipts from a paperless business is to complete them with a photo of the product or the receipt itself and store them under the same filename.
Keeping digital versions of receipts or items doesn’t just make life easier. It will also reduce your business costs. Less paper and ink need to be purchased, which is especially beneficial for small business owners. In addition, it reduces instances of fraud, whether intentional or not.
6. Get Rid Of The Printer
Immediate access to copiers and printers will encourage your employees to go to paperless receipt management. They may find it inconvenient at first, but the benefits far outweigh the long-term.
As employees spend less time printing documents, they can focus more on important tasks, and they’ll have the ability to access only the documents they need through the cloud or management software. Some companies have even created a policy about what they can print and what they cannot print. For example, you can allow contracts to be printed if a customer requests a hard copy, but not if it’s just for your own records.
7. Using Paperless Signatures/Digital Signatures For Contracts And Transactions
Say goodbye to your filing cabinet and bring faster turnaround times for administrative tasks by using digital or digital signatures. There are many programs or services you can use to digitally sign documents or simply use PDF documents. With it, you can overlay your signature or add a custom digital marker.
Not only will these services help your business reduce paper consumption, but they can also help you keep track of the contracts you’ve signed. Therefore, it will be easy for you to organize the documents to which you have attached your signature.
Benefits of storing paperless invoices
- Faster cashback
- Eco-modern office
- Small footprint
- Store and find receipts easier
- Tax season will be less complicated
- Quickly share documents with your team
- Marketing opportunities
- Improved revenue
Save money, save trees. go paperless
Why waste your money (and precious natural resources) on paper receipts if you can opt for a digital solution? With a small investment, you can easily set up a business receipt expense manager that will cost you a fraction of the traditional costs of paper and printing tools.
By going paperless, you’ll have an eco-friendly modern office, get refunds faster, and you’ll spend less time searching through mountains of paper just to find the right document.
Q&A about how to arrange e-invoices
How do small businesses keep track of receipts?
Most small business operators will use accounting software or some receipt scanning app, uploading computerized receipts, as well as photographs and looks of paper receipts, so all financial information and The relevant key they need are available. FreshBooks accounting software has receipt-reading technology and other organizational tools to help keep your small business organized and ready for tax season.
Is the scanned receipt substantial?
Yes, checked receipts are substantial as verification of buy as long as they resemble the original paper receipts and contain all receipt information. This means that you cannot scan a torn receipt or that a cropped scan does not show all the information contained in the original.
What is the best app to store receipts?
FreshBooks accounting software offers handy receipt capture technology that can extract information directly from a snapshot of your receipts, including the seller, total amount, and taxes. This “digital receipt and invoice scanner” will help you stay organized without wasting time filling out information manually.
How long should I keep copies of my e-invoices?
You should keep your paperless receipts for 3-7 years, especially if you use them to verify your tax return information. That way, if an audit takes place, you’ll have evidence to back up any claims you’ve made.
Can I use e-invoices for charge purposes?
Yes, in most cases, you can utilize paperless receipts to pay charges. The IRS will acknowledge them as long as they are neat and reliably accessible in the event of an audit.
Conclusion
Paperlessly organizing all your receipts can help you stay proactive and productive. And when you stay organized, you’ll save time, push, and even money in the long run. You’ll know precisely how much you spend, where, and when.
Additionally, switching to a digital record for receipt files can reduce paperwork clutter. Everything is easily accessible through your mobile phone or computer with just one click. So when you need to file a tax return or need to find a receipt quickly, you’ll know exactly where everything is.
