Missing receipts
Missing receipts in Otto Capture puts the payments you have questions about on one page, where the client answers each one with a receipt, a note, or both. A note stays with the receipt it relates to, so it’s there when you review the document. You import the bank transactions the client’s accounting platform hasn’t reconciled yet, choose which ones to ask about, and share the link.
It’s available for clients connected to Xero or FreeAgent. Capture doesn’t import bank transactions for QuickBooks Online clients.
How it works
Section titled “How it works”-
An admin turns on the client’s missing receipts page, which adds a Missing receipts tab to that client.
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You import the client’s unreconciled bank transactions into Capture: from a file you export from Xero, or straight from FreeAgent.
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You prepare the client’s list: exclude anything the client doesn’t need to explain, and create the list from the rest.
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You share the client’s link. The client opens it, sends a file or writes a note against each payment, and you see their answers as they arrive.
Files the client sends go through the same processing pipeline as any other document, and appear in the client’s review queue alongside everything else.
Turning it on for a client
Section titled “Turning it on for a client”Open the client’s settings and go to Client Submission. In the Client missing receipts page area, click Turn on client missing receipts page. Only admins can do this, and only for a client connected to Xero or FreeAgent.
Turning the page on creates the client’s link and adds the Missing receipts tab next to Documents on the client’s page. The two go together: while the page is off, there’s no tab, and nobody can import transactions or prepare a list for that client. See Client missing receipts page for the link itself, and for rotating it or turning the page off.
Importing bank transactions
Section titled “Importing bank transactions”How the transactions reach Capture depends on the client’s accounting platform:
| Platform | How transactions arrive |
|---|---|
| Xero | You export Xero’s Uncoded statement lines report as a CSV and upload it. Capture checks the file before storing anything. See Importing from Xero |
| FreeAgent | You choose a date range and click Fetch transactions, and Capture reads the unexplained transactions straight from FreeAgent. See Importing from FreeAgent |
Either way, the transactions are stored against the client and the client isn’t asked about any of them yet. They see only what you put on their list.
Importing again
Section titled “Importing again”Import again whenever you want to bring the list up to date. Each import replaces the transactions you prepare the list from: only those in the newest import are offered. A transaction that has dropped out since the last import has usually been reconciled in the accounting platform, so the client isn’t asked about it once you update their list. It may instead fall outside the dates the newest import covers, so when you update the list, Capture lists the dates of anything about to come off for you to check.
A transaction that was also in an earlier import keeps what’s already been decided about it. Anything you’ve excluded stays excluded, and anything the client has answered keeps its answer.
Preparing the client’s list
Section titled “Preparing the client’s list”Click Prepare list to choose what the client is asked about. Every transaction in the newest import is included unless you exclude it, so the job here is taking out what the client doesn’t need to explain, such as salaries, transfers between their own accounts, or payments you already have paperwork for.
- Filters: search the description, and narrow by direction, amount, or bank account. Show switches between To ask about, Excluded, and All.
- Excluding: tick transactions and click Exclude, or Select all N matching to act on everything the filters match. To put an excluded transaction back, show Excluded, tick it, and click Ask about.
- Creating the list: click Create client’s list, or Update client’s list if the client already has one. Capture shows how many transactions will be on it, and warns you if transactions on the current list aren’t in the newest import, with their dates, so you can check you covered the date range you meant to. Confirm with Create list or Update list.
Creating or updating the list puts those transactions on the client’s page straight away. Capture doesn’t notify the client, so let them know yourself when there’s something new to answer.
A client has one current list. Updating it replaces the previous one, and a transaction the client answered keeps its answer if it’s still on the new list.
Seeing the client’s answers
Section titled “Seeing the client’s answers”The Missing receipts tab shows how many transactions are on the client’s current list and how many aren’t answered yet. Click See answers to open The client’s answers:
- Each transaction on the list, split into Money out and Money in, with the note the client wrote and the files they sent. Each file shows its status and links to its review screen.
- Which transactions aren’t answered yet. A transaction counts as answered once it has a note or a file.
- Not linked to a payment: files the client has sent that aren’t on any payment they’re being asked about. A file leaves this list once it’s published, discarded, or detected as a duplicate.
- The client’s link, with Copy link, so anyone in your organisation can share it.
A note the client writes against a payment appears on the document’s review screen as Note from sender, so whoever reviews it can check the coding against what the client said. If the client writes the note before Otto reads the document, he reads the note too. A note written or changed after Otto has read the document doesn’t reach him. The review screen says so, and if the note was changed, it shows what the note said before. If the document is processed again, he reads the note as it stands then.
Correcting an answer
Section titled “Correcting an answer”Two actions let you put a payment back in front of the client. Anyone in your organisation can use them.
- Remove from this payment takes one file off a payment, for example when the client sent the wrong receipt. The file stays in Capture.
- Ask again clears the client’s note and takes every file off the payment, so it’s unanswered again. Click Confirm? to go ahead.
Neither action deletes anything. The files stay in Capture, keep going through processing, and move to Not linked to a payment on the client’s page, where the client can put them back on a payment. Capture keeps the note’s old wording as history. The client isn’t told that you asked again, so let them know.
If the client changes their answer after you open the page, Capture refuses Ask again rather than clear an answer you haven’t seen.
Billing
Section titled “Billing”Files sent from the client’s page are documents like any other, and count towards the client’s tier only when you publish them. Importing transactions and preparing lists are not charged. See Billing.
What Missing receipts does not do
Section titled “What Missing receipts does not do”- It doesn’t import bank transactions for QuickBooks Online clients.
- It doesn’t read a Xero client’s bank transactions through the connection. The file you export is the only way they reach Capture.
- It doesn’t import a FreeAgent client’s transactions on a schedule. Capture reads them only when you click Fetch transactions.
- It doesn’t reconcile anything or change anything in the client’s accounting platform. A receipt the client sends is published like any other document once you’ve reviewed it.
- It doesn’t contact the client. You share the link and tell them when there’s something to answer.