* Below is an article from Neat News - Issue 1. Neat News is the official newsletter of NeatReceipts and it contains helpful articles, information about product updates and new product introductions, tips and special offers. To access the entire newsletter, click on the attached file above.
A Road Warrior’s Arsenal
I'm a road warrior. When you have an extensive travel schedule, including international, it is critically important to have various lightweight tools and gadgets that make life simpler and more efficient. I have a Blackberry, a PalmOne Lifedrive, a Siemens SX66, two Dell laptops and a NeatReceipts Scanalizer.
Planning Your Needs
It is crucial beforehand to ascertain what tools (e.g. Neat Receipts); software and/or PDA platforms make the most sense for your needs (personal or business). An often limiting factor for PDA’s is the available memory, both for resident programs and downloadable software in addition to client files and/or email attachments. Besides functionality, size and weight are critically important. This latter point, sold me immediately on the NeatReceipts Scanalizer. The road warrior’s worst enemy is paper and files. We gather paper like dust and files are the bane of our existence. With time availability at a premium, the ability to scan and digitize bills, receipts, and documents automatically with NeatReceipts (especially while we’re traveling) has enormous advantages.
The NeatReceipts Contribution To Efficiency
The functionality within NeatReceipts to be able to scan in tax-deductible business receipts and automatically export this information into QuickBooks Pro was a major selling point. NeatReceipts has many export options, including personal cash management programs, thereby differentiating between business and personal expenses. A great difficulty of many who travel extensively is how to maintain an up-to-date and current set of books and records that in and of itself is crucial to forward planning and decision-making; and don’t forget quarterly estimated tax-payment requirements.
Use Common Sense
As a final thought, NeatReceipts can save you a great deal of time and effort in staying organized, keeping up-to-date with record-keeping and minimizing the need to keep copious volumes of paper. However, use your time wisely and think carefully before you stop and scan in every receipt and document. Even a tool as useful as NeatReceipts requires time to scan in, edit the entry and back-up the file etc. Time management concepts equally apply here so consider the value of your activity and consider whether scanning a receipt for coffee, albeit a business expense true is really worth it. Over the course of a year, the sheer volume of these miniscule transactions may be more costly than the effort.
About Peter
Do your clients and prospects ever have operational projects (including international) they have a hard time completing based on internal resources? Could they use some assistance in the areas of information process flow and documenting efficiency? Are they in need of an interim CFO or require some temporary help on an executive level? Are they currently working towards Sarbanes-Oxley compliance or need training (IAS/IFRS or Sox404)? If you answered yes to any of these, www.ContractualCFO.com and www.SoxInternational.com (CCFOSox) 1-800-976-2236 might be the answer!
