When you are short of time, prepare the records for one company
When documents pile up, start with what your accountant needs now. Prepare the available documents for one business and list what is missing. Tidying the entire archive can wait until you have sent that part.
In an example busy month, all email PDFs may be ready while two travel receipts are missing. Send the finished part with a clear list of the remainder. Give additions their own label so every newly found invoice does not require resending the whole package.
After the rush, identify the recurring problem. If the same service's invoice is missing monthly, change its delivery. If colleagues send documents everywhere, simplify the shared location. A routine works when it reduces everyday work, not merely when its plan looks good.
Handle immediately what you would not remember later
A PDF from a familiar supplier can wait in your inbox. A travel receipt can get lost, and a few weeks later you may forget why you bought something. Photograph the whole receipt and add a short note about the purchase while it is fresh.
Imagine paying for parking after visiting a client, ordering a licence for a colleague, then buying household items that evening. Three weeks later the bank shows three amounts, but you must reconstruct the reasons. A trip note helps with parking; service name and company help with the licence. You need not force a personal purchase into a company folder just because it appeared in the same mailbox.
The aim is not to write a paragraph about every coffee. Capture the minimum you or the accountant would later miss. If a quick note becomes a five-minute form, the process is probably unnecessarily complex.
Keep an eye on exceptions
Occasionally check what has not worked normally since the last review. A new supplier? Changed billing address? A colleague sent only payment confirmation? These are easier to resolve while the purchase is fresh. You do not need to reopen every correctly classified invoice just to feel you performed a check.
Choose one usual destination for recurring documents: an agreed folder, an app overview, or a configured handover process. If they end up somewhere different each time, you will have to find them again at the next review.
With several companies, pay special attention to a new buyer. A similar supplier name does not establish document ownership. A quick decision at purchase time may prevent several attachments moving between two accountants at month-end.
Agree with your accountant what handed over means
Everyone works slightly differently. Some want emailed PDFs, others use a shared folder or their own system. The simplest routine therefore starts with an agreement: what you send, to whom, how often and how you label missing or additional documents. One clear agreement is more useful than ten new coloured labels.
Name the company and period or package scope when handing over. Identify anything missing. “Here are all the invoices” sounds easy but does not reveal that you await a phone correction and hotel document. “I will add phone and hotel later; the rest is attached” gives a more realistic picture and lets work continue.
Distinguish sending from receipt too. For a newly configured route, check that the accountant can actually open the attachments or folder. Once established, every individual attachment need not be confirmed each month, but exceptions must remain traceable.
How long do 50 invoices take, and how can you measure the saving?
Next time you prepare documents for your accountant, time your own work from the first search to the finished set. Include opening attachments, checking the company, sorting and resolving unclear cases. Typing an email search is only part of the job.
In an example month, 50 invoices at 2 minutes of manual work each take 100 minutes. Allowing 12 seconds of review per invoice in HeyRup plus 5 minutes to start, download and prepare the documents gives 15 minutes of your time. The difference is 85 minutes. These are calculation assumptions, not measured customer results.
Count the initial mailbox connection and rule confirmation separately. Also separate time spent working from time waiting for a search to finish. Paper receipts, supplier portals and documents outside the connected mailbox remain extra work in both cases.
Compare similar periods and the same document scope. Note new suppliers, invoices assigned to the wrong company and other unclear cases. Then replace the calculator estimates with your own timings. If your invoices are already well organised, or you receive only a few, the difference may be small.