Followings are just some suggestions. If you haven’t decided how to manage your receipts, this article should give you some ideas.

FOUR ONLINE TOOLS FOR FAST AND EASY BOOKKEEPING

Organize and securely store your records and automate bookkeeping with these user friendly and affordable online tools:

• Shoeboxed: Mail your receipts and important records to Shoeboxed for scanning, data entry, and secure online organization and storage. From your online account, download Excel and CSV spreadsheets, PDF reports, and QuickBooks and Quicken files, and seamlessly export data to other web applications. Shoeboxed is an IRS-accepted electronic storage system, which means that you don’t have to keep the hard copies after processing, and even offers a free shred-and-recycle option.  
• Outright.com: Sync your Outright.com account with Shoeboxed, FreshBooks, PayPal, your bank account, and other sources to automate your bookkeeping. At tax time, Outright calculates quarterly estimated taxes, automatically populates your Schedule C, and even requests Form W-9 from contractors and freelancers and files Form 1099-MISC on their behalf.
• FreshBooks: Use FreshBooks for fast, simple and professional-quality invoicing. Snag receipts directly from Shoeboxed to bill clients for expenses, keep track of overdue invoices, and automatically export paid invoices to Outright.com where income is tracked. Harvest is another excellent invoicing tool for small business owners.
• Bill.com: Simplify your bill workflow with easy and affordable online bill management and payment tools from Bill.com.

Secure your receipts at Shoeboxed.com

Technorati Tags: keep records for tax, receipt

The most time consuming part of keeping books is data entry. Once you have a stack of receipts, bills, invoices, or even business cards you need to input them into an accounting software. (Simply Accounting, Quick Books, BasicBooks for Linux, or good old simple spread sheet).

To keep the papers organised you can get one of these simple and practical file folder holders. They can be easily moved around and won’t hide away deep in the giant filing cabinet. A modern way of organizing documents and even business cards will be explained after the video clips.

Steps to organizing your papers:

1. On each receipt circle, date and method of payment, as well as a small note explaining what it is. A month from now you may not remeber the purchase but the note will be a life saver.
2. Separate them into how you paid for them. Example: debit card, visa card or check.
3. Take each stack and organize them based on date.
4. Now the papers are ready to be entered into your accounting package.

There is a short YouTube clip that you can watch here:

Modern Document Organization:

To satisfy my curiosity I tried to scan and store my documents online. I chose Shoeboxed.com as they provides tools to take a photo of receipts and store online. I realized that I can also scan and organize business cards. They offer a 30 day, 50 receipts or biz cards free trial. Once you apply to take it for a test drive you would be given a username and a password. Their system is extremely user friendly.  If you have an iPhone, I understand that they have an app for it. I have a Samsung Android Smart Phone which I am going to use. It has a 5 mega pixel camera which is well suited for this task. I am going to summarize the steps on how to scan / photo document so later on you can consider getting rid of the paper receipts! You can also mail in the documents in a prepaid envelop and they will scan it for you.

1. Sign up for a free account at their website.
2. Use your Smart phone or your camera to take a picture of one of your receipts. A bright surrounding and stable camera provides a sharp image. You can view these images online once uploaded. You can also use your scanner if you want to.
3.  Start your Gmail program (Any other email clients will work as well) on your mobile phone and attach the picture you took and send it away to their email address. Include a subject line and it would help you remember the details. The whole process is fast and convenient.  
4. You would receive a confirmation email that they did receive your email and would get processed within one business day.
5. Repeat the same steps for other invoices, bills, and business cards.
6. Upon logging into your account, you can view the receipts and edit the fields if you want to. Here is how it looks like (Click on it to see a larger version):

Once I took a picture of an invoice from almost a 45 degree angle (I mean my Smart Phone camera not exactly on top of the document, but 45 degree tilted). Shoeboxed was still able to recognize its data which is impressive. (To speed up loading this webpage I have placed a mini version of the image, click on it to see it in full size)

You can add to the categories and link your invoices to it. This allows for more flexibility and customize it to the way your business operates. The image below gives you an idea:

I like to try it further more to get a better understanding of its features and keep you updated. Meanwhile go to their site and sign up for a free trial. Nothing is better than  hands on experience. You will find it extremely simple to use. Give Shoeboxed.com a try, get modernized now!

December 7, 2010

Technorati Tags: Organizing Documents, organizing receipts, organizing receipts and documents, simple organization

Let’s discuss a little more about the value of a receipt scanner software as well as how it influences your task and entire productivity.

One of the best developments of all time is the optical character recognition or OCR which is included and a very essential part of a receipt scanning software. With this system, printed information on the receipt often comes in handwritten, typewritten, or computerized forms is being translated into an electronic text. Once the modification happens, the data that first emerged as a worthless info now becomes significant and rational. Editing and carrying out necessary alterations is now achievable and since the text is now electronic, searching for key phrases and keywords can be achieved in much minimal time. So consider finding a needle in a haystack a distant memory.

More often than not, receipt scanners are partnered with their matching receipt scanning software. Ideal examples are Neatco’s NeatReceipts Scanner and Digital Filing System and NeatReceipts Professional Mobile Receipt and Document Scanner and Software Combination. Finding the right receipt scanner software must always and should be according to your personal needs, much like searching for the ideal dress or suit on a wedding – it should be perfectly fit and comfortable. Meaning to say, you should determine the things that you desire for your scanner to do, because I tell you, one scanner can be so varied from the others as each of them has different range of abilities.

Other essential things the receipt scanner software packages are capable of do include the following:

Easy categorization – the software can immediately sort out and classify your bll information according to the store name, products purchased, total amount paid, date or purchase, and the method of payment. Talk about getting information right at your fingertips!

Compact storage – get rid of your cabinet filing system for this exceptional software feature enables you to safely store your expense records in a means that is so convenient and space-saving.

Easy distribution of information – because the information can be exported through PDF or .jpeg formats, sharing them as an attachment to an email to your business partners or to the IRS has never been faster. It also goes along well with accepted billing sites such as Quicken and TurboTax, to mention some.

Seriously, are you not convinced yet?

Kidding aside, remember always that in buying the right receipt scanner software, choose the one that fits your needs perfectly – just so the purchase will be remorse-free in the future.

Karen Godsaint has penned helpful tips and additional info regarding receipt scanners and receipt scanning softwares. For free info and updates, go to her online receipt scanner site today.

Technorati Tags: digitized receipts, Receipt Scanner, receipt scanner software, receipt scanning, receipt scanning software, receipts, scanner software, scanning software