How does receipt checking work?
This article explains how receipts are checked within ExpensePlus.
Submitting a purchase
Most receipts are uploaded into ExpensePlus directly by the user when they submit their purchase.
They will either:
- submit the receipt by uploading a picture or pdf of the receipt through their file browser,
- email in a copy of the receipt, or
- take a photo of the receipt directly when entering the purchase via their phone or tablet.
Such receipts appear automatically in the 'Manage Receipts' screen via the 'Check Uploaded' option. This button will show the number of receipts needing to be checked in brackets.
For example, 'Check Uploaded (4)' means there are 4 purchases with uploaded receipts that need to be checked.
Checking receipts
The receipt checking built into ExpensePlus is an administrative step.
This is usually done by a member of the finance team or an administrator, whether in an employed or volunteer role, often on a weekly basis.
For uploaded/photographed/emailed receipts, it takes around 5 seconds per receipt to simply check that the correct receipt/invoice has been attached for each purchase. Find out more in the Receipts Module Overview.
Accepting a receipt
Checking receipts is easy - if the supplier, amount, and description are correct, simply click 'Accept' and the next receipt will automatically appear to be checked.
The purchase for which you just accepted the receipt will then move to the approvals screen, or straight to the payments screen if it does not need to be approved (this depends on your approval settings).
If the purchase has been submitted with a Purchase Note from the submitter, this will be displayed on the Receipt Check screen, as in the example above.
The purpose of checking receipts
Checking receipts is an administrative task. The purpose is to make sure the receipt file matches the details entered for the purchase and will help your organisation create compliant financial records.
Checking receipts is not about approving the purchase for payment. Th is usually done at the approval stage by the budget approver for that category (if you have approvals turned on).
You can learn more about this in this helpguide article: Why do we need receipt checking?
Rejecting a receipt
If the receipt provided is either unreadable, incorrect, or doesn't match the expense it has been uploaded against, you can click the 'Reject' option.
A list will appear with possible reasons for why you rejected the receipt and there is a box where you can write a note.
Select a reason from the list as to why you rejected the receipt was and click 'Confirm'. An email will be automatically sent to the person who submitted the purchase, letting them know the receipt for that purchase has been rejected, and what to do next. This email includes the receipt as an attachment, so if receipts are rejected by mistake, the original receipt file is not lost.
Once all receipts are uploaded and have been checked, receipt reminder emails can be sent by simply clicking the 'Send Reminders' button at the top of the screen. This will send an automatic email to the users you select from the pop out that have receipts outstanding for more than 7 days.
You can also authorise lost receipts via the adjacent button on this page.
Customise your receipt settings
There are four settings you can change in the Receipt Settings. Click the pencil icon to the right and you will see a pop-up appear.
Direct Debit Receipts
There are two options:
Required: All direct debit purchases must have a receipt, or they need to be marked as lost and authorised accordingly.
Optional: Receipts are not mandatory for direct debits but can still be added if desired.
Learn more in this article: Direct debit receipts
Supplier Refund Receipts
There are two options:
Required: All supplier refunds must have a receipt, or they need to be marked as lost and authorised accordingly.
Optional: Receipts are not mandatory for supplier refunds but can still be added if desired.
Learn more in this article: Supplier Refund Receipts
Batch Upload Receipts
There are two options:
Disabled: There is no option shown on the Receipts screen to batch upload receipts from a file for multiple purchases. This is the most common setting for organisations, especially after their first financial year using ExpensePlus.
Enabled: There will be the option shown on the Receipts screen to batch upload receipts from a file for multiple purchases is available. Some organisations use this when uploading receipts for multiple purchases when they are transferring data across to ExpensePlus.
Learn more in this article: Mid-Year Migration - Uploading Receipts
Receipt Check Purchase Details
Basic: Shows the type, supplier, and amount of the purchase when checking receipts. This is usually sufficient if you don't want to check that the receipt has been allocated to the correct category at this point.
Detailed: Includes the basic details listed above, along with the date, description, and budget information (fund and category). This may also be useful if you would like to check at this point that the transaction is allocated to the correct category. As finance team users are often the ones performing receipt checks, they are usually in a good position to assess whether the transaction has been allocated to the correct category.
Although the category details will be checked by the budget holder at the approvals stage, if there are any errors, they won't be able to update it and will need to contact a finance team user to make any changes. This is why it may be helpful for the category to be checked before that.
Additionally, if the purchase will not require approval, then it will likely be helpful for the person checking receipts to check that the category details are correct too.
To help you better understand the Receipts module as a whole, please visit the module overview page here.