Use of OCR in accounting

[Wiktoria Pełka]

Good morning! I'm studying finance at Kozminski University in Warsaw and currently, I am writing a paper about technologies in accounting. I want to compare two countries: Great Britain and Poland. That is why I want to ask = are you familiar with OCR platforms to scan invoices and documents? Do you use them daily, and what do you think about this solution? Also, do you use platforms/apps/programs accelerating communication with your clients?

 

[Mattymoomoo]

OCR ive used before with some benefits...The problem ive encountered is the cost to implement this properly I.E with consulting and licensing fees wiping out the savings of using them for at least 1.5 years. Some solutions look great, but then when the company changes process or software, you need the consultants back to make changes, or it is a more simple solution which can be done in house, but has enough manual exceptions to not add a huge amount of value. I suspect this is really only a good solution if you are churning through 2k+ invoices a month or have a very simple business, not multiple companies etc. Also it seems that each different accounting system may or may not have an add-on that may be by a 3rd party and may be supported down the line...Lots of maybes, so who will committ time and money? However if you are a large company using SAP im sure there is a great solution that is super pricey, but effective...Just dont change the process!

 

[Strontium Dog]

Wiktoria
I would have a look at autoentry.com. They provide OCR services to the SME sector and accountancy firms serving that sector. They are based in the REpublic of Ireland (for tax purposes I think haha), but most of their clients are based in the UK I believe.

You might even be able to geyt a month free trial so you can play around with it. Also have a look at Receiptbank, which is based in London.

 

[GLAbusiness]

I use receipt bank. Very pleased with it

 

[PugwashEQ]

I consulted to a manufcaturing business over a decade ago that used 3 way matching and an ERP system. We implemented OCR and worklflows to manage purchase orders and invoicing. I'm not sure the cost savings were proven, but the reduced hassle was. At the time you still have to keep all the bits of paper!

nowadays we use HubDoc as part of Xero and it captures, scans and reads all our bits of invoicing- very very efficient.

My wife has a much smaller business that used QuickBooks and it does much the same thing.

i started my first business 23 years ago at the age of 17- the advances in automation and tech to help business owners is incredible- my first business we used to use big bits of paper to calculate staff wages and taxes- it took hours and hours. now its all automated and takes about half an hour each month.

 

[123 Financials]

Hubdoc is good and recently acquired by the Xero.