This practical guide walks you through how to set up a receipt management system that's simple, stress-free, and tax-time ready. Whether you're going fully digital, prefer a paper trail, or need something your whole team can use, we've got you covered.
Digital vs Physical Receipt Management: What's Best for Your Business?
Physical Receipts:
Still love a printed receipt? That's okay—as long as you've got a reliable filing system. Physical systems require:
- Clearly labelled folders or envelopes by month or category (e.g. fuel, meals, tools)
- A consistent drop-off location in the office or vehicle
- Regular sorting and reconciliation (ideally weekly or monthly)
- Climate-safe storage for at least five years for audit purposes (in Australia). As in what happens to your petrol receipt when you leave it on the dash?
Digital Receipts:
Going paperless is faster, easier to search, and reduces the risk of faded or lost receipts. And mostly makes your Bookkeeper happy. Digital management looks like:
- Taking photos of paper receipts immediately
- Emailing PDF receipts directly to an expense account or bookkeeping system
- Using apps that automatically extract and categorise data
➡️ Best Practice: Even if you prefer physical, always keep a digital backup. Paper degrades—pixels don't. Paper takes up space also let's not make your local storage facility richer.
Top Receipt Management Apps (That Actually Work)
Here's a quick comparison of popular tools that take the pain out of receipt wrangling:
Hot Tip: Check if your accountant or bookkeeper has a partner account—they may be able to add you at no cost.
Linking Receipts to Your Accounting Software
An efficient system doesn't stop with snapping receipts. Integration is the magic ingredient.
- Xero + Hubdoc/Dext: Automatically imports receipts and matches them with bank transactions.
- MYOB + Dext: Seamless upload and categorisation.
- QuickBooks + Expensify: Perfect for handling reimbursements and business travel. See above if you have QBO and a large team (more than 5 QBO users), because remember QBO somes with "snap receipt" built into the app so you may not need expensify.
Why this matters:
- HAPPY BOOKKEEPER (Bookkeepers have serious standards to maintainn their registrations so play nice).
- Faster bank recs
- Real-time cash flow reporting
- Fewer data entry errors
- Easier audits and BAS/IAS reviews
- Did I mention HAPPY BOOKKEEPERS (this means you are buying less gifts or at least less coffees).
Pro Move: Set rules in your accounting software (e.g. "all Uber receipts go to travel expenses") to automate coding.
Team Training & Compliance
Even the best systems fall apart without buy-in. If your employees aren't trained, receipts will still go missing.
- Create a policy: Include instructions on how and when to submit receipts.
- Use one system only: Avoid chaos from multiple apps or methods.
- Set deadlines: Require receipts to be uploaded weekly or fortnightly.
- Monitor compliance: Use reporting features in apps to track who's following the process.
Golden Rule: Make it ridiculously easy for your team to comply. If it takes more than 30 seconds, they probably won't do it.
Backup & Disaster Recovery for Receipts
You don't want to lose everything to a lost phone, fried laptop, or rogue coffee spill.
Must-haves for peace of mind:
- Cloud backups (Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive)
- Regular exports from your receipt app
- Shared access with your bookkeeper/accountant
- Keep a second copy of key documents in a secure offline location
ATO Requirements (Australia): Keep records for 5 years after the tax return is lodged, or longer if under audit.
Chaos is Optional
Getting your receipts under control isn't just about ticking boxes for tax time. It's about reducing stress, saving hours, and feeling confident your finances are in order. And keeping your Bookkeeper happy..
With the right tools, good habits, and a clear process, receipt management can go from your most hated task to something that basically runs itself.
Ready to go from chaos to clarity?Start by picking one tool and committing to one week of consistent use. Your future self—and your bookkeeper—will thank you. And require less coffee/ chocolate / wine / flowers / time off.
