Do you need to organize your business trip receipts for an expense report?

Are you looking for some quick tips to help you assemble and process receipts in a timely manner?

It’s a scenario that’s all too familiar…

You’ve just come back from a business trip.

You need to submit an expense report, but unfortunately that means you have to deal with all those receipts.

Where should you start?

How should you organize things?

In this post, you’ll find several tips to help you organize all those business trip expense receipts with ease.

Clear off your desk or workstation.

A clean workspace makes it easier to do your work.

You don’t want to spend your valuable time wrestling your keyboard, file folders, office supplies, and anything else you may have on your desk.

Take a moment to tidy up your desk or workstation.

If you don’t have sufficient time to clear things off, then you can make use of a clear or empty desk or table in an unoccupied office or conference room.

Round up Receipts.

Next, you’ll want to collect any and all receipts that need to be processed.

While you’re at it, you’ll also want to round up some helpful office supplies. You’ll use these items to compile your business receipts in one place.

Gather several blank sheets of paper (8 1/2” x 11” size), a pen, clear tape, a stapler, a pair of scissors (in case you need to do some trimming), and a large binder or paper clip.

It’s also a good idea to have your business trip itinerary, schedule, or calendar handy.

Sort receipts by date.

Start the expense report process with an easy task: sort your receipts by date.

This is by far the easiest way to sort receipts. It’s also a helpful way to jog your memory from your recent business trip.

Carefully review your trip itinerary. You can then check if have a corresponding receipt for that task or meeting.

For example, let’s say on the first day of your business trip you took a taxi to the airport, a plane flight, and a taxi to your hotel. It’s clear you’ll need a separate receipt for each of these items.

What if you need to sort receipts by general categories, such as lodging, travel, meals, entertainment, supplies, internet, etc.? You can go ahead and do so at this point in time as needed.

Otherwise, go ahead and place the stack of receipts on your left hand side. Pick up one receipt and place it in front of you on the table. Continue with each receipt, creating a little receipt timeline of your trip.

When you’re finished, you should have a stack of receipts for each day of your trip.

Once you’ve assembled receipts by date, you can then…

Sort receipts by time.

Pick up the furthest most pile of receipts on your left. Ideally, this should be the first stack of receipts and the first day of your trip. Go ahead and sort that pile into chronologic order.

When you’re finished with that pile, continue on to the next until finished with all days of your business trip.

Assemble and affix receipts.

Next, pick up the stack of receipts from the first day of your trip. Assemble these receipts on a sheet of paper, as if you were reading a book, left to right, and then down vertically.

Once you’ve covered the sheet of paper, use the tape to affix each of the receipts to the paper. Label the sheet of paper “1” and continue the process. Make sure to label every single sheet of paper thereafter.

Finally, assemble all the sheets of paper together with a binder or paper clip.

Complete your expense report.

Now, all that’s left to do is for you to fill out your expense report.

You may have to itemize each item by hand on a form or type up/fill out an expense report on the computer.

Fortunately, the process will be that much quicker, now that you’ve carefully organized your receipts.

Looking for more tips? Here are a few more tips to help you keep receipts neat and organized:

Take a receipt envelope with you.

An envelope is a convenient way to store receipts when traveling. Pack a clear or transparent poly envelope with your business belongings whenever you’re heading out on a trip.

These sturdy folders have enough weight to them so you’ll be less likely to throw them away by accident. Plus, they’ll prevent receipts from getting wet, sticky, or dirty.

Presort receipts during your trip.

Organize paper receipts by time at the end of every day on your business trip. Fold the lot into neat packet, and place the packet into your receipt envelope.

Repeat as necessary for every day of your trip. This will make the receipt process go a lot smoother when you’re back in the office.

Understand your company’s expense report policy.

Do keep in mind, the above tips are just a guideline. Your company or organization may have specific rules or regulations as to how receipts should be prepared or filed.

When in doubt, check with your company’s finance or accounting department.

How about you? Which of the above tips did you find to be the most helpful? Join the conversation and leave a comment below!