So, I'm in the process of taking my small practice into the cloud by way of an online bookkeeping portal built into my site.
I'm a heavy SkyDrive user for exchanging various items so the one final big hurdle I have is trying to rid myself of paper as much as physically possible.
I already use AutoRec for bank statements (don't need it much anymore but it's bloody fab!) so it's receipts that need my attention next.
I want to take the onus off the client having to do too much work so want some kind of automated process.
I'm thinking something like Receipt Bank could work well if it means the client can literally bung all receipts into an envelope every month, have them scanned/saved into the cloud somewhere then I can have access to an excel output file - if that's how it works? Pretty much the same as happens now actually but without me being on the receiving end of the envelope!!!
Or perhaps someone has another OCR type experience they'd like to share?
Replies (24)
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Receipt Bank is Good
I like Receipt Bank. Especially the indestructible pre-paid, pre-addressed bags they give you to send the receipts in. Better than Keebo, who give you nothing.
Receipt Bank
Yes. Or you can click a button to import them into Xero or ClearBooks. You can also upload them or email them in to Receipt Bank if you prefer.
Receipt Bank Turnaround Time
I must admit I don't really monitor turnaround time, partly because I don't know when they clients send in the receipts. I think they guarantee 36 hours, but I'm not certain.
You still have to look at them
Sounds good in practice but I've had a couple of clients use them for auto data entry into FAC for director's expenses and in both cases it's turned into a bit of a nightmare. It still relies on the client putting the right documents in the envelope.
In these cases, the client has literally just thrown all the contents of his wallet, jeans, jacket pockets, into their envelopes and sent them off. Needless to say, the end result was loads of private stuff which took ages to sort through and delete from FAC. Another issue was were there were two documents for the same transaction - typically where there was a receipt and also a separate credit card slip (mostly fuel purchases) which ended up being duplicated, or where he'd had a meal and put through the "bill" and then another credit card bill for a slightly higher amount due to the tip.
Also ended up duplicating items that had been paid directly by the company bank account, i.e. paid by the debit card, which also ended up in the director's expense claims as out of pocket costs.
Another issue is that "old" receipts found down the back of the sofa or whatever ended up in the current envelope and posted into FAC on the old, original date, so they fouled up the prior year and opening balances etc which again takes an age to find and correct.
As far as Receipt Bank themselves do, their end of the service is fine, speedy turnaround and accurate, but it falls down because of the client not sorting things properly before they send the receipts. So, if you're thinking of doing it, you have to read the riot act to the client and make it clear that it takes time to sort out the private, duplicated, etc receipts at their extra cost of your time if they can't be bothered to sort it themselves beforehand.
Happy to answer any questions
Hi,
I'm one of the founders of Receipt Bank and happy to answer any questions.
Our process does work very well but Ken is right that if left unchecked or unsupervised then problems can occur. However Receipt Bank has been built for firms of accountants and bookkeepers and therefore there are ways to set up RB so that you (or the client) can supervise or review the data before it goes into the books.
Please do contact us at [email protected] and we can give you an online demo to show you how this is done in a time effective way.
Regards,
Michael
I prefer Receipt Bank to Keebo
I trialled Keebo but they lost some invoices that were sent in, and they do not provide the indestructible pre-paid, pre-addressed plastic envelope/bag for sending invoices in that Receipt Bank does. For some of my clients, that envelope/bag makes the difference between them sending in the invoices and not sending them. It just makes it so easy.
I found their web site harder to get around too.
Software Satisfaction Awards 2013
I'm delighted to be able to add this forum that Receipt Bank has been nominated for the 2013 Software Satisfaction Awards!
(continued disclosure - I'm one of the Founders of RB)
I use Keebo
I find Keebo very good, but I don't use the post facility. I'm paranoid about Royal Mail losing client invoices which are irreplaceable. So the no bag thing doesn't affect me.
I scan them in and e-mail them, or for small receipts take a picture with my iphone and send with their app. Works very well, even for scrunched up tatty bits of paper.
No problems using the service. Never had anything scanned incorrectly from my recollection.
Typical turn around time is less than 12 hours for me.
Hope this helps.
"My iPhone"
Why do iPhone users always say "my iPhone" where everyone else says "my phone"?
iphone
I mention iphone, as at the time when I was looking for a phone that worked with Keebo, only the iphone app worked, so I purchased an iphone (never had one previously) to work specifically with Keebo.
The Keebo website now says the Android App works on some Samsung Android phones (it lists them).
Therefore, the phone you have is important, as the Apps only work on some phones. The type of phone you have dictates what operating system it uses. This is similar to people who mention their PC or their Mac, rather just always a generic "computer".
Best regards
Peter
Keebo App-only
So does Keebo not accept normal scans, only ones from a special app? That would be a big disadvantage in my book.
Yes, but...
The app will take you probably 1/4 of the time than just taking a picture with your phone and trying to e-mail it and the image will be much higher quality. For example, some receipts you get these days are no where near the same dimensions as the camera image size, so you'd end up with a tiny receipt and massive black areas, making the receipt quite low resolution, as the receipt part is quite small.
With the Keebo app, you can take 2 or more pictures of different parts of the receipt (if necessary), that can be easily merged together in a few seconds to make one receipt, then hit the send button.
iPhones
so you'd end up with a tiny receipt and massive black areas, making the receipt quite low resolution, as the receipt part is quite small.
Blimey, those iPhones sound awful.
Try Kagazz
Hi, We have a product called Kagazz and it is also something which does this and have an excellent OCR facility. No paper postage is needed, you just scan and upload. It integrates with major cloud accounting software and can even integrate with you in-house. It is currently available for android and iphone.
OCRex & DocuRec
Thanks Platform PM for the positive comments about AutoRec.
OCRex is now in the process of launching DocuRec onto the market.
DocuRec provides an automated data extraction solution that can extract all required data from documents so you don't have to retype it from documents into your accounts software. It basically does what you are looking for which to easily extracts data automatically from documents such as invoices, receipts, packing slips, credit notes, purchase orders, etc.
DocuRec allows you to easily extract data automatically from documents such as invoices, receipts, packing slips, credit notes, purchase orders, etc.
DocuRec does also use OCR technology and artificial intelligence which means that the software has a self learning feature so that when you process a document, it will remember the information you require from each document type. Therefore, it can then extract just the information you want from given supplier invoices/receipts etc automatically going forward.
Whether it is the hard copy that you scan and save or the electronic/digital file of the document that your client sends you, upload to DocuRec then export to excel or csv.
DocuRec is already fully compatible with Xero such that it will automatically send the data straight into your accounts software via the Xero API. Additional API integrations to come.
We are currently in Beta phase at the moment with a number of our AutoRec customer’s trialling it for us. We hope to launch it onto the market very soon.
For more info have a look at our website www.ocrex.com
Datamolmolino as an alternative to other online solutions
Hi,
I am one of the co-founders at Datamolino, our company specialises in data extraction from invoices.
Receipt-bank and Shoeboxed, both are very good at what they do. In same cases the turnaround time can take a while, but usually the next day, your documents are ready. They use a combination of technology and human operators to retype your data and export it to your cloud accounting. That is why there is some turnaround time.This is best suited for situations where you have receipts that would not be easily readable by a machine and a human is necessary to double check the data.
Our company Datamolino is a new entrant on this market. We approach this problem a little differently: after our user uploads invoices that he needs to process - Datamolino sets-up templates that will recognise the invoice layouts in the future. This means that Datamolino gets better and faster the more you use it. The documents that you process most are prepared for export within moments. To get the most out of this kind of accounts payable automation: Electronic PDFs from suppliers or good quality scans (any normal office scanner does well)
If you use Xero or Sage One, go ahead, connect to Datamolino and try it out at https://www.datamolino.com/integrations/
What kind of data does Datamolino extract?
1. Supplier name (you match it with your Xero data when exporting)
2. Invoice number
3. Invoice description
4. Invoice currency
5. Date
6. Due Date
7. Tax summary (i.e. if the invoice contains multiple tax rates, you can specify different accounts for each tax rate)
8. Invoice country
Datamolino is able to do automatic line item extraction. This means that Datamolino basically copies the whole invoice to your accounting, line by line. We are now preparing the integration of this feature into Sage One and Xero. If you are interested in this feature, please reach out to me.
Give it a try. If you have any questions, drop me a line at [email protected] for any feedback.