Paperwork digitisation

Following the ever changing guidelines from the government, we had to change the way we work in the office environment. From video calls for meetings to instant messaging replacing asking a question face to face. One of the things that has changed most in our Finance department has been the way we process invoices. Being a paper based activity, we rely heavily on Royal Mail and the printer! When lockdown first came into effect we had to change the way we process these, and quickly.

Firstly, we created a basic spreadsheet to record incoming invoices. Next, we asked our regular suppliers to provide electronic invoices, where possible. It was surprising how many had the option in place, we had just never asked before. Finally, we stored these invoices in a secure folder and linked them to the spreadsheet.

This change, though pretty basic, needed a lot of ground work initially but, now means the information is at our fingertips, wherever we are. How do you process your financial documents? Have you found a way to manage documents electronically that you would recommend? Please feel free to share.

Written by Sarah Chandler, Business Services Officer