{"id":28956,"date":"2020-07-08T14:03:16","date_gmt":"2020-07-08T13:03:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/?p=28956"},"modified":"2022-02-21T13:48:37","modified_gmt":"2022-02-21T13:48:37","slug":"how-to-track-business-expenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-track-business-expenses\/","title":{"rendered":"How to track business expenses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cDo I really have to type everything in?\u201d<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hey! I\u2019m Callie, Clear Books\u2019 in-house bookkeeper and trainer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the questions I get asked most is \u2018do I really have to type every receipt and bill I receive into Clear Books?\u2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From an accounting perspective, you must keep track of every purchase<\/a> your small business makes<\/strong>. This includes keeping a copy of the bill or receipt in case you get audited by HMRC. But that process doesn\u2019t have to be time consuming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a quicker way to keep track of your small business purchases without the time-burden of manual data-entry:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 1: Connect a bank feed<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Clear Books accounting software has a great free feature called \u2018bank feeds<\/a>\u2019. Bank feeds allow you to connect Clear Books to your online banking account (e.g. Metro Bank, Lloyds or Revolut – there are plenty to choose from). You won\u2019t need to log-in to your online banking to see your bank transactions – instead they\u2019ll automatically appear in Clear Books – and they update up to four times a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Step 2: Create purchase records<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You can view all the imported bank transactions by clicking on \u2018Explain\u2019 at the bottom of the Clear Books \u2018money\u2019 > \u2018bank account\u2019 screen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s say your first imported transaction is \u00a333.54 spent at The Rose and Crown taking a new client to lunch. This is what you will see:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Underneath the transaction, Clear Books will pop-up an \u2018explain screen\u2019. This is the screen where you can tell Clear Books to create a bill from the imported transaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Clear Books will pre-populate some fields for you. All you have to do is complete the remaining fields to create a bill. Here\u2019s the required information:<\/p>\n\n\n\n