Audit-Proof your business
Moving your business onto a cloud based system has many benefits; one that often people do not think about, is document retention and safe guarding.
Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) requires businesses to keep records for up to 6 years. Far too often, expenses are denied because receipts cannot be provided. This can be from many things:
- Credit and debit card receipts become unreadable and illegible overtime
- Risk of damage to files because of flooding or fires
- Invoices simply cannot be located because of improper filing procedures
This can become a very costly problem for business owners. There is also document storage costs and space requirements.
Implementing a cloud based system can help eliminate all these risks. Hubdoc is a cloud based application that I have worked exclusively with. We refer to it as the business's 'virtual filing cabinet'. (https://www.hubdoc.com/).
Every receipt, invoice and expense gets uploaded onto this platform. Options to upload:
- take a picture with a phone
- scan the document
- email the document
The documents are retained in their original form (so no fading) and available anytime. anywhere. If CRA asks to see certain documents, they are easy to find, and can be quickly compiled and sent. This also helps at the end of the year when you need to provide information to your accountant.
All the documents are sorted by vendor and date. Hubdoc utilizes Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to automatically pull information from the document. The vendor, date, amount and HST are picked up. This has been a huge time saver for companies, manual data entry of expenses has been almost eliminated. The information is then pushed to Quickbooks online (your cloud based accounting platform). A copy of the document also gets added to the accounting transaction, ensuring there is support for every expense claimed.
All the documents are sorted by vendor and date. Hubdoc utilizes Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to automatically pull information from the document. The vendor, date, amount and HST are picked up. This has been a huge time saver for companies, manual data entry of expenses has been almost eliminated. The information is then pushed to Quickbooks online (your cloud based accounting platform). A copy of the document also gets added to the accounting transaction, ensuring there is support for every expense claimed.
Another great feature of this application is automatic document fetching. Almost any vendor that has an online portal can be linked to hubdoc. For instance, online banking. Once the connection is made from Hubdoc, to your bank (by entering your login information) hubdoc will auto-fetch those statements. Bank records and credit card statements are therefore organised and easily available.
Vendors like Rogers, Telus, Enbridge, Powerstream, Hydro1, ect. can also all be connected. Whenever there is a statement issued from these vendors, hubdoc will automatically bring it into your filing cabinet. As most of these vendors are the same expense type, I set these to auto-publish. This means every time a rogers statement is issued, the amount gets posted into QBO to the account I have designated (internet). The HST gets recorded and the bill date is used.
Hubdoc is just one of many applications that I recommend to companies when moving to the cloud. Applications like these create efficiencies and improve operations. Ensuring you chose the right applications, to work in conjunction with Quickbooks online is the first step, and an important one. These applications can supercharge your accounting and business needs!
Hubdoc is just one of many applications that I recommend to companies when moving to the cloud. Applications like these create efficiencies and improve operations. Ensuring you chose the right applications, to work in conjunction with Quickbooks online is the first step, and an important one. These applications can supercharge your accounting and business needs!
#TheFutureofBusiness
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