automating accounts

[markw]

Come the end of the quarter I am always faced with a pile of paperwork. Had I entered them into my accounts software when I received them. Doing my VAT would be a simple matter of generating the correct report on my software - filing the VAT report electronically and paying etc. Nowadays we are also confronted with entering all that stuff that arrives as attachments - so the pile of paperwork is even bigger - just hidden.

I have for a while been automatically filing attachments using a Chrome extension called Attachmentsme(AM). That worked brilliantly - create rules for each supplier and the attachment ends up filed away on the pc. so email from Ashworth and Thompson would have the rule : email from x@ashworthandthonpson with attachment - file attachment in Dropbox A&T/invoices. This worked really well - until AM decided to cease trading. Ive tried a couple since and whilst not as reliable as AM they do the job.
So we have an answer to attachments and making sure I know where they are. My aim was to try and find some way of getting the invoices into my accounting software without all the boring typing.

Receipt Bank (RB) seemed to offer what I was looking for. RB will automatically scan a Dropbox account and upload any invoices etc - it scans the Dropbox every 24 hours. The attachments automatically filed from emails are now uploaded and scanned by RB then integrated into Kashflow. success on the attachments front. But I still have the pile of paperwork. It just happens that RB can also handle receipts in other ways - email - upload and from an app on your smartphone. A quick snap of your receipt and whoosh - it off for processing and integration in your accounts. Ive tried this method with till receipts and hand written receipts from my window cleaner with great success.

So now all I have to sort out is integration from sales details generated by Estlite and I am close to that goal - doing as little bookwork as possible.

You can get a free trial of both Kashflow and Receipt Bank - it would be good to have feedback from others.

[An Old Master]

I pay a man to do all that.

[markw]

useful contribution - thank you.

[JohnMcafee]

Thanks for sharing this useful information, Mark.
(I'd be happy to explore any ideas you might have for EstLite mods that would be of benefit to your system.)

[IFGL]

I like the sound of that, I no longer keep paper accounts of any sort, this would help.

[Not your average framer]

Thankfully my wife does all the filing and sometime later helps me put it all onto a spreadsheet.

I honestly don't like doing accounts. I had my heart attack shortly after doing my accounts one year!

[kev@frames]

Interesting post Markw, thanks for the info.
I'd never thought about further automating things from the dropbox sharing.

(we also have a "man" (woman) that does all that, but any automation on our end brings down the book keeping costs, worth looking into)

but fair usage of just 75 items a month on the £20 multi-user plan?
which plan do you use, the free with manual entry and unlimited items?

[misterdiy]

It is interesting. Although I use an excel spreadsheet for my accounts (well one sheet per month) which uses the inputs to generate loads of reports (including VAT), the idea of generating electronic receipts is interesting. However, what is the HMRC response to pdf'd files? I know that some companies (like BT) are "approved", but would a scanned receipt from the window cleaner be accepted by HMRC? - Just thinking aloud, I suppose it is no difference to printing a scanned receipt for submission to the accountant really?

[markw]

Kev. I am stil on the trial so not sure what I will go for. Misterdiy - would think you would still need to keep hard copy somewhere, but we presently get only .pdf from some suppliers so suspect hmrcs choice will soon have been made for it.

[IFGL]

you haven't had to keep paper copies for some years now, there are rules about how your records are kept such as back ups and file types, check out hmrc's website.

All ours are scanned to pdf dropped into the appropriate folder, auto back up, really easy to find and send to accountant.
paper copy is binned, takes up no space.

[markw]

My ten day trial of Receipt bank has finished so decision time reached. I decided that automating inputs was saving me quite a lot of time. I ended up having to look at the way attachments were automatically sent to drob box and ended up using a free service called MetisMe that so far, is working well. As I use Estlite as my POS software this generates .csv files that can be used to put in sales figures. Receipt bank is therefore only handling purchase invoices and the 75 input allowance should suffice - if it doesnt then I will just have to up the fair usage. If anyone decides to use Receipt bank please PM me - I Think we both get a discount that way.