Hello all,
First post here. Just wanted to share with you folks a new way I implemented an expense manager on my Blackberry 9700, as I was tired of having a ton of receipts at the end of the week and having to key them all into Quicken.
First of all, I downloaded Money for Blackberry version 1.6.06.8 by ChanguitoSoft. From this program I can monitor spending on multiple accounts, including credit card, expenses, checking, etc. It is like a mini-version of Quicken. From there I setup an expense account.
I instantly register an expense when the receipt is handed to me. Then I use my camera. I take the receipt and lay it on a table, take a picture of it, rename it and save it in a folder marked XX-EXP, where XX is the month, year, whatever.
Total time to register and take picture of receipt is about 60 seconds.
At the end of the month when I need to submit my expenses I email an exported version to myself from my phone (exports into QIF1, QIF2, and text), then I import it into Quicken where I can print out the archive and submit for reimbursement.
I made it so that the BB, when plugged into my PC, acts as a secondary disk drive. I plug in my BB and then drag the file of XX-EXP to my hard drive where I can archive the receipts, email them, or do whatever.
Exporting, Importing, and dragging a copy of receipts takes less than 3 mins.
This saves on space (as I am no longer stapling receipts together) and saves about 20-30 mins during my weekly review, not having to gather receipts, enter them one by one and figure out what happened (category, etc.). Also, now I know that nothing has slipped through the cracks, in other words, if I dropped a receipt or something, I may not get reimbursed unless I check that against my credit card statement.
The other nice thing about this is, I can email a copy of the receipt instantly from my BB when I am on the road, as I no longer take a computer with me, so if CPA or accounting needs a copy there it is.
When I typed this out, it seems like it is very cumbersome and difficult but once you get it, it is very easy and saves me a ton of time.
When I come across anything else that might be useful, I will let you folks know.
Good luck.
First post here. Just wanted to share with you folks a new way I implemented an expense manager on my Blackberry 9700, as I was tired of having a ton of receipts at the end of the week and having to key them all into Quicken.
First of all, I downloaded Money for Blackberry version 1.6.06.8 by ChanguitoSoft. From this program I can monitor spending on multiple accounts, including credit card, expenses, checking, etc. It is like a mini-version of Quicken. From there I setup an expense account.
I instantly register an expense when the receipt is handed to me. Then I use my camera. I take the receipt and lay it on a table, take a picture of it, rename it and save it in a folder marked XX-EXP, where XX is the month, year, whatever.
Total time to register and take picture of receipt is about 60 seconds.
At the end of the month when I need to submit my expenses I email an exported version to myself from my phone (exports into QIF1, QIF2, and text), then I import it into Quicken where I can print out the archive and submit for reimbursement.
I made it so that the BB, when plugged into my PC, acts as a secondary disk drive. I plug in my BB and then drag the file of XX-EXP to my hard drive where I can archive the receipts, email them, or do whatever.
Exporting, Importing, and dragging a copy of receipts takes less than 3 mins.
This saves on space (as I am no longer stapling receipts together) and saves about 20-30 mins during my weekly review, not having to gather receipts, enter them one by one and figure out what happened (category, etc.). Also, now I know that nothing has slipped through the cracks, in other words, if I dropped a receipt or something, I may not get reimbursed unless I check that against my credit card statement.
The other nice thing about this is, I can email a copy of the receipt instantly from my BB when I am on the road, as I no longer take a computer with me, so if CPA or accounting needs a copy there it is.
When I typed this out, it seems like it is very cumbersome and difficult but once you get it, it is very easy and saves me a ton of time.
When I come across anything else that might be useful, I will let you folks know.
Good luck.