Why SMEs should stop using paper receipts
A recent study found that nine out of 10 SMEs in Australia still use paper receipts to manage their expenses.
Whilst a paper receipt can appear to be a simple, tactile way of managing expenses, they can actually cause many headaches for business owners when they go to claim expenses or lodge their tax returns. Apart from the obvious fact that paper receipts take time to lodge, there is no automated system involved, which increases the likelihood of duplicating claims or losing receipts.
According to Concur’s 2016 Omnibus Study, a staggering 91% of working Australians are still submitting paper receipts to claim their expenses and only 23% of working Australians are using online tools to submit their expenses.
Apart from saving paper and avoiding archaic filing systems to store receipts, there is another big reason why Australian SMEs should upgrade to an online expense management system. Concur recently discovered that on average, a considerable $44,000 could be saved per year, just by reducing the number of duplicate claims made by manual data entry.
Our bookkeepers know that from experience, online expense management systems are a reliable way to keep your employee’s expenses on track. A single interface that is used by all employees can also increase productivity and provide the employer with a single source of truth for reporting.
Some online tools can also integrate with a customer relationship management (CRM) system and provide a real-time view of a project budgets and associated travel expenses.
If you need another reason on why Australian SMEs should use online expense management systems and be rid of paper receipts for good, please contact us.
