Tracking starts from the bank, not the receipts
It is natural to think of receipt tracking as counting the receipts you have. That count says little. Fifty receipts in a month could be complete or could be half of what is needed. The only reliable reference is the list of money that actually left the account.
ReceiptQBO turns that around. It starts from bank and card transactions already in the client's QuickBooks Online company, and from statements you import as CSV, OFX, QFX or QBO Web Connect files. Then it asks, for each line, whether a receipt exists for it.
Each incoming receipt is matched by amount within a short date window. When a match is found, the receipt is attached to that existing transaction instead of creating a new expense, so the bank line now carries its proof. When no match is found for a bank line, that line goes on the missing list. You can read the details of the matching step on the page about how we match receipts to bank transactions.
The missing list, per client and per month
For every client company, ReceiptQBO keeps a list of charges with no receipt. Each line shows the date, the description from the bank and the amount. The list is current, so as soon as a receipt arrives and matches, the line drops off.
The list is grouped by month, which mirrors how you close books. You can look at September for one client and see exactly which seven card charges are still open, without scrolling through August or October.
Not every charge needs a receipt. Bank fees, loan payments and transfers between the client's own accounts can be marked as no receipt needed, so the list shows only real gaps. The audit trail records who made that call.
For a single business on the Company plan, the owner sees this list directly and can work through it alone. For practices, the list feeds the client dashboard and the weekly reminders described below.
Fwd: Your Lowe's receipt
Forwarded email, 2 min ago
IMG_4471.HEIC
Client link, 9 min ago
Invoice #88213 from Sunbelt Rentals
Gmail filter, 22 min ago
38 files from October folder
Batch upload, 1 hr ago
A dashboard that shows every client at a glance
On the Bookkeeper and Firm plans, the client dashboard puts the tracking numbers side by side. For each client you see how many documents were processed this month, how many wait for review, and how many charges are still missing a receipt.
That view changes how a practice plans its week. Instead of opening each company to find out where it stands, you can see that one client is fully matched, another has three open items, and a third has forty because the owner has been traveling. You know who to call and who can wait.
Because receipts are tracked against real transactions, the numbers do not depend on clients telling you they have sent everything. If the dashboard says twelve charges are missing, twelve charges are missing.
The page on our receipt scanner for bookkeepers shows how the dashboard fits with the review queue and team roles.
Turning the list into receipts
A missing list is only useful if something happens to it. ReceiptQBO connects the list to the client in two ways.
First, missing receipt reminders send a weekly email to the client contact on the weekday you choose. The email lists the open charges and includes a no-login upload link. The client taps it, takes a photo with the phone camera or picks a PDF, and the receipt comes straight in to be read and matched.
Second, there is a Send now button for the moments when you need receipts today, such as the last few days before a deadline.
Clients can also keep using their usual channel. Receipts forwarded to their address, uploaded in a batch, or sent from a Gmail filter are matched against the same list. Whatever way the receipt arrives, the tracking updates itself.
Expense, ready to post
96%- Vendor
- Sunbelt Rentals
- Account
- 6600 Equipment Rental
- Class
- Field Ops
- Location
- Round Rock
- Project
- Lakeview Deck Project
- Billable
- Yes, to customer
A close checklist built on the same data
Month-end close asks a simple question for each client: is everything in? Receipt tracking is one of the biggest parts of the answer.
On the Firm plan, the monthly close checklist uses the missing list and the review queue for each client, so you can see which companies are ready to close and which still have open items. A monthly reconciliation report and audit log export give partners and reviewers a record of what was matched, what was marked as not needing a receipt, and who approved each step.
For smaller practices on the Bookkeeper plan, the dashboard and the missing list give the same signal with fewer formal steps. One simple approach is to start the last week of the month with the clients that show the most missing charges and work down from there. Our article on a monthly missing receipts workflow describes one routine that works well.
What tracking does not do
Being clear about limits helps you set expectations with clients. Receipt tracking in ReceiptQBO works from transactions that exist in QuickBooks Online or in statements you import. A cash purchase that never touched a bank or card will not appear on the missing list, because there is no line to compare against. Those receipts still come in through the usual channels and are posted as expenses.
Matching relies on amount and date, so a receipt with a very different amount, such as a tip added after the slip was printed, may need a quick manual match in review. The tip field is read separately, which helps in those cases.
Tracking is also only as current as the transactions behind it. If a bank feed in QuickBooks Online is a few days behind, the missing list is too. Importing a fresh statement file closes that gap when you need an up-to-date picture before a deadline.
Pricing for all plans, including which ones include the client dashboard and reminders, is on the pricing page.