3 Tools for a Completely Hands-Off Bookkeeping System for Your Business
The Sunday Night Bookkeeping Struggle
It's Sunday evening. You're sitting at your kitchen table with a coffee that's gone cold, a pile of crumpled receipts you've been avoiding for three weeks, and that spreadsheet you swore you'd stop using about a year ago. Your kids want to watch a movie, your spouse is in the kitchen doing dishes alone again, and you haven’t even gotten to the quote you were supposed to send out on Friday.
All you can think is: "There has to be a better way to do this."
There is.
You didn't start your business to become a part-time bookkeeper. You started it to do work you love, serve clients who need you, and build something meaningful. But somewhere along the way, you got stuck in the weeds of manual data entry, lost receipts, and that nagging feeling that you're probably missing something important. It’s not just costing you time; it’s also costing you business growth. After all, how can you grow the business when you’re spending all your time on transaction records?
If there’s one thing we know, it’s this: The entrepreneurs who thrive in Alberta aren't necessarily the ones who make the most money. They're the ones who keep the most money. And keeping more money starts with having systems that actually work without eating up your entire weekend. Or any time, for that matter.
Let's talk about some simple tools you can use to automate your bookkeeping so you can get back to running your business and enjoying life.
What Does "Automated Bookkeeping" Actually Mean?
Before we dive into the how, let's clear up what we're talking about. Automated bookkeeping doesn't mean your finances magically handle themselves with zero human involvement. (We're not quite there yet, and honestly, you wouldn't want that anyway.)
What it does mean is this: using smart technology and the right people to eliminate 90% of the manual, tedious work that's currently stealing your time and sanity.
Automated bookkeeping means your bank transactions sync automatically with your accounting software, your receipts get captured and categorised without you touching them, and your financial reports are ready when you need them (not three months late).
This is step one of a system that eliminates 90% of your bookkeeping work. Step two is a professional bookkeeper who reviews everything in the background and catches errors before they become problems. They check in with you once a month, not to get directions and ask a ton of questions, but just to clear up any potential issues and let you know where things stand.
Maybe best of all, everything is 100% up to date. No more year-end rush where you’re not sure until the year is over how things are coming along financially.
Can you imagine? If not, read on and see how it works.
The Three Pillars of Bookkeeping Automation
If you want bookkeeping that runs smoothly without consuming your life, you need three things working together. Miss one, and you'll still be stuck doing manual work. Get all three right, and you'll wonder why you didn't do this years ago (honestly, our clients say that all the time).
1. Cloud-Based Accounting Software (Hello, QuickBooks Online)
First things first: if you're still using desktop software (or, heaven forbid, spreadsheets) as your primary accounting system, we need to talk.
Cloud-based accounting software like QuickBooks Online is the foundation of any automated bookkeeping system. It connects seamlessly to everything else in your financial life. No manual entry. At all. No need to print paper statements or pull out your pile of receipts. No, “did I enter that already?”
QuickBooks Online syncs directly with your bank accounts and credit cards, pulling in transactions automatically. It's all there, updating in real time.
But here's what makes it really powerful: QuickBooks isn't just a digital filing cabinet. It's designed to help you actually understand your numbers. The reports it can create are incredible. Want to know which customers are bringing in 90% of your revenue? Done. Want to find out what your cash flow projections look like? Absolutely. You can see at a glance what you're spending, where your money's coming from, and whether you're on track for the month.
If you're already using QuickBooks Online, great. If you're not, it's worth making the switch. And if the setup and catch-up feels overwhelming, that's exactly why the third pillar (spoiler: a professional bookkeeper) exists.
2. Receipt Management Tools (Like Dext) That Do the Work For You
Let's address the shoebox situation. Or the envelope. Or the side compartment of your car door. Wherever it is that receipts are storing up endlessly, waiting for something—anything—to happen.
Receipts can become unmanageable fast. This is where tools like Dext come in, and honestly, it’s magical once you’ve done it. You won’t be able to go back.
Dext (formerly Receipt Bank) is a receipt management tool that connects directly to QuickBooks Online. Here's how it works: you take a photo of a receipt with your phone or upload it from your computer, and the Dext app automatically extracts all the important information (date, amount, vendor, category), verifies it, and pushes it into QuickBooks. No data entry. No manual filing. No more "where did I put that receipt from February? I swear I kept it!"
But it's not just paper receipts. Dext handles invoices too. If you get supplier invoices by email, you can forward them to your unique Dext email address, and they'll be processed automatically. It even pulls information from connected accounts like Amazon Business, so those online purchases are captured without you lifting a finger.
The real beauty of Dext is what it does for your time. Instead of spending two hours every weekend sorting through receipts and entering data (or doing this ALL at the end of the year when you haven’t touched it), you spend about 20 seconds taking a photo or forwarding an email. That's it. The rest happens in the background.
For business owners in trades, retail, or service industries where you're constantly making purchases, this tool alone can save you hours each month. That's time you can spend actually making money. Or better yet, taking an actual day off!
3. A Professional Bookkeeper Working Behind the Scenes
Okay. We’re two thirds of the way there. And believe us, if you get these two pieces started alone, you will be miles ahead of where you usually are. But the last piece is what brings it all together. Because technology is great, but like we said earlier, there’s that tiny portion of the work that needs (and deserves) a human touch.
Having a professional bookkeeper who handles the ongoing maintenance and catches any issues before they really become issues—that’s where the magic happens.
A professional bookkeeper with experience in automated systems does more than just make sure your books are clean. They review all your transactions to make sure they're categorized correctly, catch duplicate entries or errors before they mess up your reports, reconcile your accounts monthly so you always know your numbers are accurate, handle items like GST filing, make sure you're claiming everything you're entitled to, prepare your year-end information so tax time isn't a panic-inducing disaster, and actually explain your numbers to you in plain English.
Wow, that’s a lot, right?
When you combine a skilled bookkeeper with tools like QuickBooks Online and Dext, something beautiful happens. The technology captures and organises everything automatically, and the bookkeeper reviews it all with a trained eye. Some of our clients have honestly gone from 20+ hours per month to 1. Often to 0, in fact.
This is especially valuable for Alberta entrepreneurs who are focused on growth for three reasons:
When you're not buried in bookkeeping, you have the mental space to think strategically about your business.
You can make decisions based on real numbers instead of your best guess.
And if you're using the Profit First system, automated bookkeeping makes it infinitely easier to see your allocations, track your progress, and actually pay yourself first every time.
What Automation Looks Like in Real Life
Let's walk through what a typical month looks like when you've got bookkeeping automation working properly.
Day 1: You're out doing the work that actually makes you money. When you grab coffee with a client, you snap a photo of the receipt on your phone and upload it to Dext, which takes five seconds. When you get back to your vehicle, you realise you need to invoice that client, so you create the invoice in QuickBooks from your phone. Another two minutes.
Day 2: You buy supplies for a project. Pay with your business credit card, take a photo of the receipt, done. Meanwhile, in the background, your bookkeeper is reviewing last week's transactions in QuickBooks, making sure everything's categorised properly and reconciling your accounts.
Day 3: You receive payments from a few clients. They hit your bank account and show up automatically in QuickBooks. Your bookkeeper matches them to the outstanding invoices. You don't touch anything.
Day 4: Your bookkeeper sends you a quick message: "Everything's looking good for the month. Here are your tax allocations and here's your updated cash flow summary."
Total time you spent on bookkeeping that month: maybe 15 minutes, and most of that was taking photos of receipts while you were already out doing something else.
That's what proper automation looks like. Not zero human involvement, but zero wasted time on manual busywork.
"But Isn't This Expensive?"
Let's talk about the money question, because it's usually what stops people from automating their bookkeeping.
Yes, there are costs involved. QuickBooks Online has a monthly or annual subscription (and you can often get a discount as a new user). Dext has a monthly or annual fee. Bookkeepers also charge by the month or year.
But here's what you need to consider: what's your time worth?
If you're currently spending 10 hours a month on bookkeeping (and most DIY business owners spend more), that's 120 hours a year. If your time is worth $50 an hour doing the work you actually love, that's easily $6,000 a year you're losing by doing your own books.
This also doesn't account for the mistakes you might be making (missed deductions, incorrect GST filings, categorisation errors) that can cost you serious money, the mental energy drain of having "do the books" hanging over your head every weekend, the opportunity cost of not spending that time on income-generating activities, or the stress of wondering if everything's done right.
When you look at it that way, professional bookkeeping with automated systems doesn't cost you money. It makes you money by freeing you up to focus on what you do best.
Ready to Automate Your Bookkeeping and Get Your Life Back?
If you're tired of doing bookkeeping the hard way, we can help. At Altitude Accounting, we specialise in setting up automated bookkeeping systems for Alberta entrepreneurs who'd rather focus on their business than their data entry.
We handle everything: QuickBooks setup, Dext integration, ongoing bookkeeping, tax filing, and year-end prep. Plus, we explain everything in language you'll actually understand, because you shouldn't need an accounting degree to know where your business stands financially.
Book a Profit Clarity Call with Jessica and her team. We’d love to talk about creating a bookkeeping system that actually works for your life and business.