iPhone/iPad Scanner Apps

Recently I've noticed that several companies have put out iPhone/iPad apps for easy receipt scanning.  Although I absolutely LOVE my high-speed Fujitsu scanner, I have thought at times that it would be nice to be able to use my phone's camera to scan business receipts, especially when I'm on the go.  So I decided to download a sampling of the apps (well, three, anyway), try them out and report back here to all of you on my findings.

One of my requirements for each of the apps was that they sync to DropBox.  All three of these apps do that.  They also sync to other cloud services but DropBox is my favorite and is the one I use with all my clients.

Now... should I start with the app I've decided I like best and will be using on a regular basis or should I leave that one to the last and make all of you suffer through the first two?


So, yes, being the evil one that I am, I will start with my least favorite of the three:

Scanner Pro by Readdle
$6.99 (interestingly, this is the most expensive of the three apps that I tried)

Disclaimer:  This app is also programmed for the iPad (no second purchase required) but I did not try it on my iPad yet.  It is possible that my main complaint about the app (image quality with longer receipts) could be improved via the iPad app.  Even though I have an iPad, I was really looking for a scanner app for my iPhone since I always have my iPhone with me and do not always have my iPad with me.

App Setup:  very easy and self-explanatory.
DropBox:  very easy to connect the app to my DropBox account

Scanning:  Receipt scanning is as easy as taking a picture.  You can then edit the exact borders of the receipt via the app and save it.  It was easy to rename it (I have a certain way I like to name my scanned docs) prior to uploading it to DropBox.

The first scan I did was a short restaurant receipt and the quality was fine.  But the second receipt was a much longer postage receipt and I did not like the image quality as the receipt looked squished and distorted.  Up until this point, I was loving this app.  So many of the receipts we get these days are extra long due to the advertising and survey stuff that businesses just seem to *love* including whenever they can (seriously people, I'm trying to reduce the amount of paper in my life, not take mindless surveys that I have no time for!).

With the long receipt and the poor image quality, this app went to the bottom of the list.

Receipts by Tidal Pool Software
Free or $4.99 for the Pro version; $9.99 for the HD Pro iPad version

The only difference between the free and paid versions is that under the free version, you are limited to 10 receipts so it's basically a trial version.  Since I did not intend to test more than 2 or 3 receipts with the app, I went with the free version for the purposes of testing.

This app does have a separate HD app for the iPad and it is an additional purchase.  So to get the Pro version for both your iPhone and iPad, you would be looking at $14.98 ($4.99 + $9.99).

OK - this app is waaayyyy more than just a receipt scanner.  It is a full expense report and receipt program.  For someone who needs to submit expense reports, this app would be the total bomb and they would love it.  I have a few clients with outside sales people for whom I plan to recommend this app to.  I'm also going to show this to some of the staff at my church since most of them have iPhones and expense reports and receipt copies are a constant challenge for us.  But for me, my business and my needs, it is way overkill. 

Although this app is very detailed and has a ton of functionality with a lot of optional settings, I found the set up, connection to DropBox and personalization of the settings quite easy.  It took me a little bit of time to explore all the menus and go through all the settings but once everything is set, I would imagine that I would rarely, if ever, need to change them.

Unlike the app above, this app keeps the pictures of your receipts as jpg files.  I prefer the pdf format for my digital files but jpg is not a deal-breaker.

You can set up multiple accounts in the app (customers, jobs, months, etc... however you want to define it) and then it comes with the basic categories set up (dining, travel, supplies, etc).  But it is very easy to add your own categories or edit the ones that were included.  This will work great for a company such as my church where we have a custom set of expense account numbers that employees are to code to.

After you have "scanned" (ie taken a picture of) all of the receipts in your expense report and saved them to the appropriate categories, the app will create an expense report for you, either in Excel, PDF or CSV.  You can then email the whole thing to someone or upload it to a designated folder on DropBox directly from the app.  Other cloud services are supported but I only tested it with DropBox.  If you prefer, the app will zip up the expense report and all the receipt "scans" (ie pics) in to one file.  This is an optional setting and one that I preferred for simplicity.

Overall, GREAT app.  But it was quite overkill for what I needed.

And now for my favorite app of the three.... drumroll please.....

LazerScanner by Tektrify Inc.
Free or $3.99 (on sale for $1.99 at the time of writing this)

The title is linked to the paid version of the app.  I honestly cannot find what the difference is between the free app and the paid app.  But whenever I find an app that I like that does not contain advertising, I will go ahead and purchase the paid version if there is one so as to help reward the app developer for the time and effort they put in to creating and maintaining the app.  It's just the right thing to do.

 So far I LOVE this app!

Set up and connecting to DropBox was super easy.  This app will also connect to other cloud services but I only tested it with DropBox.

This app is just a scanner.  You can scan a receipt, a pic or a whole document.  You can edit the scan to improve the image quality if necessary and save it with a name of your choosing.  Uploading to DropBox is super fast.

So, this one is the winner.  Overall, it's just a better, more simple app and accomplishes exactly what I wanted in a receipt scanning app.

One final note in regards to scanning receipts regardless of whatever method you choose... Make any needed notes on the receipts with a pen prior to scanning.  If it is a deductible meal receipt, notate who you met with and the purpose of the meeting.  If it is a Costco (or similar receipt), notate anything that isn't obvious (ie equipment, unusual supplies etc) on the receipt as well as notate any personal items on the receipt that need to be excluded for tax purposes.

I hope this entry has helped you if you were considering a receipt scanner app for your iPhone.  The less paper you get out of your life and the more organization you have, the better! Your accountant or bookkeeper will love you for it!  (clients of mine... are you listening?)

~Cathi

Simplify credit card entries for travel

I have a lot of clients. Pretty much all of those clients have a credit card or two (or three, or four...) that they use for business purchases. Clients take business trips. And on such business trips, they use their business credit card(s). A lot.

All these entries to record the purchases made while traveling can take a lot of time to enter, especially if the client patronized a lot of independent business.... "mom & pop" type places.

In the Vendor List in QuickBooks, you cannot delete a vendor once they have been used in a transaction. They can be made inactive and therefore hidden from view, but they cannot be deleted.

Many of the places my clients patronize when they travel, I do not expect them to return to in the future. To save myself entry time (and bookkeeping fees for my clients) as well as keep their Vendor Lists as lean as possible, I enter a lot of their travel expenses to generic vendors that I set up.

I generally set up four generic vendors in my clients' QB files for use when entering their travel expenses:

• Travel Meals
• Travel Entertainment
• Travel Misc
• Taxi/Shuttle

Let's say I'm working on the bookkeeping for a client who is based in Oregon. I'm entering transactions from their credit card statement and I see some entries from restaurants that are located in Las Vegas. If I see charges to Starbucks, I'll enter that under a vendor called Starbucks and coded to Meals as there are Starbucks located all over and chances are, the client will visit another Starbucks in the future if it's not already in their QB file from previous entries. The same goes for places like Burger King, The Cheesecake Factory, Red Robin, Taco Bell, etc.

But if I see a purchase from "Rosemary's Restaurant" and see from the statement that the restaurant is located in Las Vegas, I will enter it to the vendor Travel Meals, code it to meals, and enter Rosemary's Restaurant - Vegas in the memo area.



If there are purchases on the credit card for entertainment during the trip to Vegas such as a tour of some kind, tickets to a show, etc I will book those to Travel Entertainment, code them to Entertainment Expenses and notate in the memo who the charge was actually to.

Taxi and shuttle fares I will code to a vendor simply called Taxi/Shuttle and entered to the Travel Expense account. Clients who travel for business will use a lot of different cab and shuttle companies and it's not necessary to have all of them entered as separate vendors.

When it comes to the lodging expenses, it depends on what company the clients stayed with as to how I will code it. If they stayed at a major-name hotel such as Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, etc then I will code it to vendors named as such. I will not create separate vendors for the same hotel chain in different cities such as "Marriott - San Francisco" and "Marriott - Seattle." I will just name the vendor "Marriott."

But if they stay at an independent place such as "Little Blue Moon Inn," then I will code to to the Travel Misc vendor and enter it to the Travel expense account, again notating in the memo area the actual name that appears on the CC statement.

Other odd expenses incurred when traveling such as gift stores, souvenirs, etc I will code to the vendor Travel Misc and then to an appropriate expense account depending upon what was purchased. If it was a personal purchase and non-deductible for their business, I will enter it to their Draw or Distribution account, depending upon the individual client.

I hope this helps give you guidance as to how to make credit card entries a bit more simple!

~Cathi