How to Automatically Process Receipts

Receipts: small pieces of paper or digital records that represent a purchase. For businesses, they are much more. They’re essential for bookkeeping, compliance, and financial analysis. Yet, dealing with them can feel like an endless chore. Sounds familiar?

But what if there was a way to turn this discouraging task into a streamlined process? This is where automated receipt processing steps in, offering a way to save time, reduce costs, and improve accuracy, all while keeping your business ahead in a competitive market.

Ready to learn how to turn receipt chaos into clarity? Discover why automating receipt processing is essential for modern businesses.

Manual Receipt Processing vs. Automated Receipt Processing

As mentioned before, managing receipts is a crucial part of any business’s operations, but how you handle it can make all the difference in efficiency, accuracy, and scalability. Let’s compare manual receipt processing with automated receipt processing to see which one is the better choice.

Manual receipt processing

Manual receipt processing involves collecting physical or digital receipts and entering the data into systems by hand. While this method is familiar, it can be time-consuming, with employees spending hours sorting through receipts and typing in data. 

This not only takes valuable time away from more strategic tasks but also increases the likelihood of errors. Human mistakes, such as typing incorrect amounts or missing receipts, can lead to financial discrepancies that can be costly to fix. 

Additionally, as a business grows, manual processes struggle to keep up, making it an unsustainable choice for scaling operations.

Automated receipt processing

In contrast, automated receipt processing leverages advanced technologies like Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and AI to eliminate the need for manual data entry. With remarkable speed and precision, OCR scans receipts and extracts key details, including merchant names, transaction dates, amounts, and VAT. 

AI further enhances accuracy by validating the extracted data and ensuring compliance with financial regulations. This method is not only faster but also scalable, allowing businesses to handle large volumes of receipts effortlessly as they grow.

So, when it comes to processing large volumes of receipts, automation is the clear winner. It saves time, improves accuracy, and offers a scalable solution that grows with your business. With this in mind, let’s explore how Klippa’s innovative platforms, DocHorizon and SpendControl, can help you implement automated receipt processing with ease.

Solutions for Automating Receipt Processing

Automating receipt processing doesn’t have to be complicated. Klippa offers two powerful solutions tailored to different business needs: Klippa DocHorizon and SpendControl. Whether you’re looking for a straightforward way to extract and forward receipt data or an advanced expense management system, we have a solution for you.

DocHorizon Platform: Automated data extraction and forwarding

Who is it for?

The DocHorizon Platform is designed for businesses that need a simple, efficient way to extract data from receipts and send it where it’s needed. It’s ideal for organizations that already have established workflows but want to integrate automated receipt processing.

Key Features:

• Optical Character Recognition: Converts receipt text into machine-readable data with remarkable accuracy, even for complex layouts or multilingual receipts.
• AI-Powered accuracy: Advanced algorithms ensure data is validated, reducing errors and saving time for your team.
• Easy Integrations: It seamlessly integrates with your existing accounting software, ERP systems, or other tools, ensuring smooth data flow across your organization.
• Scalable and flexible: Handles varying volumes of receipts effortlessly, from small-scale operations to large enterprises.

SpendControl: Comprehensive expense management

Who is it for?

SpendControl is perfect for organizations that want a pre-accounting solution for expense management. It’s designed for businesses looking to automate the receipt process from start to finish, including submission, approval, and reporting.

Key features:

• Advanced spend management solution: From receipt scanning and data extraction to setting up approval workflows, SpendControl covers it all.
• Integration with accounting software: Automatically synchronize processed data with bookkeeping software like QuickBooks, Xero, or SAP, keeping your financial systems updated without manual effort.
• Comprehensive reporting: Gain actionable insights into expenses with detailed, customizable reports. Monitor spending patterns, identify trends, and ensure compliance with company policies.
• User-friendly interface: SpendControl’s intuitive design makes it easy for employees and finance teams to use, reducing the learning curve and boosting adoption rates.

With Klippa’s DocHorizon and SpendControl solutions, you can say goodbye to manual receipt processing and hello to efficiency, accuracy, and scalability.

How to Automatically Process Receipts with the DocHorizon Platform

Using the DocHorizon Platform to process receipts automatically is straightforward and efficient. Here’s a step-by-step guide to get you started:

Step 1: Sign up on the platform

To get started, sign up for free on the DocHorizon platform by entering your email address and password. After that, you’ll need to provide basic details such as your full name, company name, intended use case, and document volume. Once registered, you’ll receive €25 in free credits to explore the platform’s features and capabilities.

Step 2: Scan and upload your receipts

Before you start your workflow, it is necessary to digitize your receipts. You can do this by taking a picture of the receipt with a mobile device or using a scanner. With Klippa’s mobile scanning SDK, for example, you can benefit from enhanced image detection quality, thanks to the AI image processing features. These scanned images can then be saved to a folder or drive depending on the preferred application within your organization. In our example, we upload the receipts to a Google Drive folder. 

Step 3: Create an organization

After signing up and uploading your receipts, create an organization within the platform and set up your first project to access the available services. If your goal is to automate receipt processing, simply enable the Financial Model and the Flow Builder services. With this setup, you’re ready to begin your receipt processing journey!

Step 4: Create a preset

The next step in automating receipt processing is to create a document-capturing preset. Open the Financial Model service within the DocHorizon platform, create a new preset, and let’s name it “Receipt Automation.” This preset will serve as the foundation for extracting receipt data.

Select the components you need, for this example choose the “financial” component for key fields like merchant name, transaction date, total amount, and VAT details. Enable the “line items” component if you need detailed data like purchased products and quantities. DocHorizon allows you to customize exactly what data to capture, tailoring the process to your needs.

Once configured, click “Save” to finalize your preset. With this setup, DocHorizon is ready to extract all relevant information from your receipts with precision. You’re now ready to build an automated flow for seamless processing!

Step 5: Building your flow in the Flow Builder

Now that your preset is ready, it’s time to create a flow in the Flow Builder to automate the data capture process. A flow is a sequence of steps defining how your receipts are processed.

Start by navigating to the Dashboard and clicking on Flow Builder and then New Flow. Choose the From Scratch option to build your flow from the ground up. The first step is to select a trigger, a condition that initiates the process. This could be a new file uploaded to Google Drive, an email attachment, or an event in your database. 

For this example, let’s use Google Drive as the trigger. Select New File, connect your Google account, and choose the parent folder where your receipts are stored. Make sure to check the box for Include File Content, which ensures the system processes the file’s data. 

Test this step by clicking on Load Sample Data: remember to have at least one sample document in your input folder while setting up your flow.

Next, it’s time to extract data from your receipts. Add another step, search for Klippa DocHorizon, and select the Financial Document Capture model, since we’re processing receipts. This step involves choosing the document type you’re working with. Connect it to DocHorizon, and choose the preset you created in Step 4.

Next, configure the File or URL field by selecting New File and adding the content to be processed. Use the data selector to specify exactly what information should be included. For this example, we want to include the content from the newly added file. We select the option “New File content” in the data selector and after setting this up, we run a test to ensure everything works as expected. If the test is successful, you’re ready to move on to the next step: setting up where the processed data will be sent.

With your flow almost complete, the final step is to configure where the processed receipt data will be sent. DocHorizon allows you to store data in cloud storage, integrate it with an ERP system, or forward it to accounting software like QuickBooks or Xero. For this example, we’ll use Google Drive as the output destination.

Search for Google Drive in the platform and click “Create New File.” Connect your Google account and give the file a descriptive name using the Data Selector. For example, you could use the “Name” followed by “/processed” to indicate that the document has been processed.

Next, decide what content the file will include. In the Data Selector, navigate to Document Capture → Components to specify the information to be included. This ensures the file contains all the components extracted from your receipt, perfectly organized and ready for use.

Finally, choose the format for the new file. You can save it as text, CSV, or XML, depending on your specific needs.

With this setup, your new file will be named “receipt123/processed,” and its content will include all the relevant data from the original receipt. Test the flow to ensure everything works seamlessly, and you’re ready to automate your receipt processing.

In this section, we covered how DocHorizon automates receipt processing with precision. Now, let’s focus on SpendControl, Klippa’s complete expense management solution.

How SpendControl Modernizes Expense Management

SpendControl is designed to be incredibly easy to use, with a user-friendly interface that simplifies every step in managing business expenses. Here’s a quick guide to show just how effortless it is:

1. Get your receipt: Grab your physical or digital receipt, SpendControl handles both formats seamlessly.
2. Take a picture: In case of physical receipts, open the SpendControl app and snap a photo of the receipt using the built-in camera.
3. Scan the receipt: The app’s OCR technology scans the receipt and extracts key details like merchant name, transaction date, total amount, and VAT information.
4. Review and submit: Double-check the extracted data for accuracy and submit it for approval or further processing.
5. Let SpendControl do the rest: The platform categorizes the data, forwards it to the appropriate reviewer, or integrates it with accounting tools like QuickBooks or SAP.

This guide provides a general overview of SpendControl’s capabilities, however, it’s important to note that Klippa’s dedicated onboarding team ensures every client is set up for success. From initial configuration to advanced feature implementation, the team is there to guide you through the process and tailor the platform to your specific needs.

With SpendControl, you transform your receipt management into a streamlined, error-free process that saves time, enhances accuracy, and empowers your team to focus on strategic priorities.

To see how SpendControl works in action, watch the SpendControl expense management video for a comprehensive visual demonstration.

Why Klippa is your partner in processing receipts

Automating administrative work with Klippa’s solutions, DocHorizon and SpendControl, offers a transformative experience for your business.

Klippa’s journey began with processing receipts and invoices, and while our expertise has expanded to handle a wide range of document types, receipt and invoice processing remain our core specialty. These tools are designed to save valuable time for employees and finance teams, reduce manual errors, and ensure compliance with company policies and regulations.

Our scalable solutions adapt effortlessly to businesses of any size, making them ideal for organizations looking to optimize workflows, enhance accuracy, and prepare for growth. Its user-friendly interfaces make the platform easy to navigate, while seamless integrations with popular accounting software streamline workflows and reduce manual effort.

Ready to take the struggles out of receipt processing? Contact us or schedule a demo today and discover how Klippa can help your business save time, improve accuracy, and stay ahead of the curve!

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