During the month
- Capture on the day. Ask people to send each receipt when they make the purchase, not at month-end. This single habit does more than anything else on this list.
- Match weekly. Pair receipts with transactions every week, using the method in our matching guide. A week-old purchase is easy to remember.
- Chase while it is fresh. A reminder three days after a charge gets a better answer than one three weeks later.
Five working days before close
- Export the transactions for every card and bank account in scope.
- Run a full matching pass and produce the list of transactions with no receipt.
- Send the list to each cardholder with a deadline, and say what happens if it is missed.
- Check the other direction. Look for receipts that matched no transaction. They may be on a card that hasn’t posted yet, a personal card, or a reimbursement.
Two days before close
- Escalate what is still missing to the cardholder’s manager, with amounts.
- Ask merchants for duplicates of lost receipts. Many can resend by email.
- Check coding on matched items. Confirm each one is on the right account, class or department, and that tax is treated properly.
- Make sure the people with the biggest or oldest gaps have answered.
Close day
- Reconcile each account to its statement.
- Write up exceptions. For every receipt you can’t recover, record the date, amount, merchant, business purpose and who approved it.
- Post the entries and sync them to your accounting system.
- Note what went wrong. Which cards or people accounted for most of the gaps? That is what to fix before next month.
How long to keep receipts
According to the IRS, you should keep records for 3 years from the date you file your return in most cases. The period is longer in specific situations: 4 years for employment tax records, 6 years if you omitted income exceeding 25% of the gross income on your return, and 7 years if you claim a loss from worthless securities or a bad debt deduction. If you never filed a return or filed a fraudulent one, there is no limit. See the IRS page How long should I keep records? and ask your accountant what applies to you, because this guide is not tax advice.
Where software helps
Most of this checklist is chasing and pairing. Barespend takes receipts by email, text or upload, matches them to your card and bank transactions, and flags the ones it can’t, so the “missing” list is ready whenever you want it rather than at the end of the month. Unmatched transactions stand out the day they happen, and expenses are coded to your chart of accounts before they reach your bookkeeper.
You can try it free for 7 days. The expense policy template is a good companion, because it sets the deadlines this checklist depends on.
Curious what chasing receipts costs your team? Try the receipt savings calculator with your own numbers.