In the previous article, I mentioned Receipt Bank, an online tool that has revolutionised the bookkeeping/accounting industry. Now, I will take this opportunity to go into detail about its full features which can help you to reduce your bookkeeping costs and achieve a paperless office.
Traditionally, a bookkeeper was considered as one who performed monotonous tasks such as data entry (e.g., manually transferring information in receipts/paperwork to the accounting system), filing, and record-keeping. With technological advancement, a bookkeeper became one who stood in front of the computer for long hours and made sure the accounts were in order. When I was first introduced to bookkeeping, I was simply thrilled. It was precisely because there was such a huge room for improvement, which subsequently motivated me to look for ways to improve existing bookkeeping standards, procedures, and the profession per se.
I fondly recall my first bookkeeping job in which I had to sort out boxes of receipts. I spent an entire week entering each invoice to MYOB, performing reconciliation, reporting, and lodging BAS payments. Unsatisfied with how ineffective and menial the task was, I decided to find ways to decrease the processing time for each invoice.
This led me to Receipt Bank, which I implemented in Tailored Accounts 1.5 years after I migrated my accounting system from MYOB to Xero. In addition to being compatible with Xero, Receipt Bank has proven to be a fast, hassle-free, and cost-effective tool for many of our clients who have similarly adopted this software. Receipt Bank functions using Optical Character Recognition (OCR), which essentially reads and extracts information from receipts and transfers them to the accounting system. Receipt Bank can also be downloaded to a smartphone, which makes the tool highly desirable for many business owners. For instance, after meeting a client, you can take a photo of the invoice that was being issued and the essential information is then automatically transferred to your accounting system. Receipt Bank converts annoying paperwork – receipts and invoices into data you and your company can use!
In my opinion, it will not be long before Receipt Bank replaces many other traditional methods of data entry and information transfer. Automation means elimination – the more effectively you make use of technology to automate your bookkeeping/accounting processes, the more you get rid of time, effort, and resource wastage. The key is to find the right technology for your business.
Should you like to find out more about the latest tools to improve your bookkeeping/accounting system, talk to one of our experts at Tailored Accounts who can help you.
