Small businesses accounting is trickier than it looks. That’s why nearly 40% of small business owners say that they aren’t satisfied with the services provided by their accountants.

If you want your books in order, one of the best pieces of advice you can ever receive is to keep the receipts of any business expenses. It’s also one of the most ignored bits of accounting wisdom, especially by new business owners.

Managing your receipts is essential to keeping track of your expenses and ensuring that you have the documentation you need when the time comes to file your taxes.

In the past, it was common to have folders and file cabinets full of receipts. Today, we can also keep them online, where organising them is much easier. However, easy does not mean simple, and managing receipts is a notoriously tedious process.

Fortunately, there’s a plethora of receipt management apps and software that can help you manage your receipts by automating much of the process for you.

Benefits of using a receipt management app

Here are four reasons why investing in receipt management is a good idea…

  • Receipt scanning: Gone are the days of having to keep all of your receipts in envelopes or shoeboxes that can easily get misplaced. Most receipt management apps come included with a scanner, which means you can snap a picture of your receipt with your phone and store it on the app in one go.
  • Automatic classification: A good receipt management app will automatically classify your expenses by type (i.e., travel, office supplies, etc.), making it easy to see where your expenses are going each month.
  • Export to accounting software: Many apps will allow you to export your data into accounting software like QuickBooks or Xero, letting you integrate your financial data with just a few clicks.
  • Cloud storage: Nearly all receipt management apps store your data in the cloud, allowing you to quickly access your receipts from anywhere, at any time.

Receipt management plays but one part of the whole bookkeeping process, and if you’re looking for a solution that can cover it from start to finish, BINERY might be what you’re looking for.

Let BINERY manage your bookkeeping

BINERY makes short work of financial books with their team of automation-enabled accountants.

Upload photos of your receipts quickly onto BINERY’s platform, which integrates directly to your accounting software. Then view a summary of your receipts from BINERY’s user-friendly platform. No more sorting or manual data entry!

On top of that, BINERY’s accountants will manage and review your books for you to ensure accuracy, and you’ll get monthly P&L reports and balance sheets within weeks of the month’s end instead of months after.

Got questions or concerns keeping you up at night? Reach BINERY’s accountants via your medium of choice like Slack, Whatsapp or email any time of day with a quick response time.

The best receipt management apps and software

Now that we’ve defined what a receipt management app is and some of the benefits of using one, let’s look at some of the best options currently available.

1. Expensify

expensify mobile screenshots

If you’re looking for a comprehensive receipt management solution, Expensify is difficult to beat.

In addition to tracking receipts, it also allows you to track mileage and expenses, create reports, and even submit expense reports online.

One of the coolest features of Expensify is its SmartScan technology.

With SmartScan, you can take a picture of your receipt, and the app will automatically extract all of the relevant information like date, amount, and vendor.

Expensify’s stand-out features include:

  • Allowing you to track your mileage via GPS
  • Importing credit card transactions
  • Ability to integrate with NetSuite and QuickBooks

2. Smart Receipts

smart receipts mobile screenshots

Smart Receipts is another receipt-focused financial app that makes entering and organizing receipts easy, no matter your experience.

Smart Receipt’s interface is simple to use and intuitive, letting you turn your mobile device into a receipt scanner you can carry around easily.

What’s more, the app allows you to create expense reports in a matter of minutes and even lets you track traveling mileage.

Smart Receipts stand-out features include:

  • Customizing PDF or CSV formats for report exports
  • Free open-sourced software
  • Ability to tag receipts you’ve captured with metadata
  • Syncing reports and receipts with Google Drive

3. Receipts by Wave

receipts by wave mobile screenshots

Receipts by Wave is a free receipt management app that’s ideal for small businesses and freelancers.

It allows you to track your expenses, create invoices, and sync with your Wave account, thereby saving all your receipt data on the cloud.

Of course, by using the Receipts by Wave app, you can manage your finances on the go.

Another great thing about this cloud-based app is that even if you lose your phone, you’ll have access to your records via the web.

Receipts by Wave stand-out features include:

  • Highly accurate OCR text recognition
  • Ability to incorporate receipts into credit reports
  • Allows you to scan up to 10 receipts at the same time
  • Edit notes to go with the receipts you’ve scanned

4.  Genius Scan

genius scan screenshot

If the above options appear overly complicated, don’t worry; we’ve got you covered.

Genius Scan is a great receipt management app for the tech-illiterate who want something simple and easy to use. It’s perfect for scanning receipts and organising them into folders.

The app also offers several features that make it ideal for business owners.

These include the ability to export files into formats like PDF and JPEG, compress files to save storage space, and even add notes to your scans. It integrates with Dropbox, Evernote, and Box, among other apps.

Genius Scan stand-out features include:

  • Perspective fixing and document detection
  • High-quality image scanning features
  • Ability to tag receipts and make them easily-discoverable
  • High levels of security and protection 

Closing thoughts

There you have it: four excellent receipt management apps to help you take control of your finances.

Whichever one you choose, be sure to take advantage of all the benefits they offer so you can stay organized and in control during tax season.

If you’re looking for a more comprehensive solution to handle your finances, checkout BINERY.

BINERY deals with every client personally. To determine the right service for you, our professional accountants will familiarise themselves with your unique challenges and current accounting setup. Afterwards we’ll clean up your books for you and handle bookkeeping from there.