A good handoff starts long before month end. Put each business receipt or supplier invoice in one intake place, check what it actually says, and mark anything you still need to ask about. Then your bookkeeper gets a record they can question instead of a bag of unexplained files.
Start with a simple intake
Choose one place for new documents: a paper folder, a shared folder you control, or a receipt tool. Add a photo or supplier PDF while the purchase is still fresh. Keep the original document and make the filename or note easy to recognize: date, supplier and a short purpose are more useful than “IMG_4821.” If several people buy for the business, agree who adds each document and who reviews it.
For each purchase, check the date, supplier, what was bought, total, payment method and business purpose. Flag a mixed personal/business purchase instead of silently treating the full total as business. The CRA business-record guidance asks businesses to support expense records with receipts or other vouchers and describes purchase details to retain. Its business-expense guidance says expense claims need supporting invoices, receipts or other vouchers. Those pages explain record support; they do not decide how your particular purchase should be classified.
A fictitious owner buys $84.20 of fuel at North Star Taxi & Fuel on August 27 for a client visit and also buys a personal snack in the same transaction. They save the receipt, note the client trip, and flag the mixed purchase for the bookkeeper. They do not erase the personal line or guess a tax allocation.
A 15-minute weekly checklist
Pick one day each week. A short, regular pass is easier to repair than a month of unknown transactions.
- Gather: collect paper slips, email invoices, phone photos and supplier PDFs into the intake place.
- Match: compare the list with business card and bank activity. Mark a purchase with no document; do not create a fake receipt.
- Read: check the supplier, date, description and amount against the original. Add a short purpose or job note where the document does not explain it.
- Separate: flag refunds, duplicate photos, cash purchases and mixed personal/business items for review.
- Resolve: ask the supplier for a copy when a document is missing. Keep the transaction and your follow-up note visible until answered.
A month-end document checklist
Before handing off, make a final pass for the period your bookkeeper expects. Agree on the cutoff date and preferred file format with them.
- Business purchase receipts and supplier invoices, including email PDFs and cash slips.
- Business bank and card statements for the same period, plus a list of transactions still missing source documents.
- Refunds, credits and canceled purchases linked to the original purchase where possible.
- Notes on unclear business purpose, job or client, mixed purchases and unusual payments.
- A reviewed expense list with dates, suppliers, descriptions and amounts, with duplicate entries marked before export.
- A short open-questions list: missing supplier copies, unknown charges, items awaiting the bookkeeper’s classification.
A bank line helps find a missing transaction, but it may not explain what was bought. The CRA’s business-record guidance describes what to note when a supplier provides no receipt. Ask your bookkeeper how to document a particular gap; this guide does not promise that an unsupported cost qualifies for a deduction.
Prepare a handoff someone else can inspect
Send or share the reviewed list in the format your bookkeeper accepts, keep the original files in an accessible place, and include the open-questions list. Explain which entries are unreviewed or missing a document. If your bookkeeper changes an amount or category, keep the reason with the record so the next month begins from a clear state.
See Paflio’s Capture → Review → Ledger workflow if you want a place to add receipts and supplier invoices, compare extracted details with the original, and organize Ledger records. Authorized users can export finalized records as CSV. When required fields and originals are available, a separate ZIP download includes the CSV and checked originals; the CSV alone does not include source files. You can also review the Web pricing and access page before choosing a plan.
If you work across invited client Workspaces, see how the bookkeeper handoff and client-controlled access work.
This is an organizing workflow, not accounting, tax or legal advice. The CRA pages above were checked on September 15, 2026; requirements and your bookkeeper’s needs may change. Review the official guidance for your situation.