A voucher is the documentation of a transaction (or posting) in the accounting. Usually, a voucher is a receipt or an invoice.
All transactions recorded in the accounting must be linked to a voucher, and vice versa. Vouchers should be traceable back to transactions, and modern accounting systems usually have methods for scanning and storing the vouchers to ensure this.
What are the requirements for vouchers?
There are several requirements for what vouchers must contain in order to be valid. First of all, they must be stored securely against theft and fire for five years, and they must be in a readable format. And they must contain
- name, address, and organization number of the purchaser
- name and organization number of the seller
- invoice number
- date the invoice was issued
- description of the goods or services and the quantity
- cost of the goods or services
- where and when the goods or services were delivered
- GST rate and amount if the seller is GST registered
- due date
It is possible and legal to store vouchers physically, but the safest and most practical way nowadays is to keep the vouchers electronically. If it is not clear on, for example, a receipt why the voucher is related to the company’s operations, you must write a brief explanation together with the voucher and sign it, with the date, before scanning or storing the receipt in another way.
Furthermore, each voucher must have a unique number.
Voucher journal
A voucher journal is a complete overview, or list, of all vouchers that have been posted in the accounting.
The law requires that each voucher in the accounting can be traced to a specific transaction using unique numbering. Modern accounting programs allow you to upload vouchers so that they are automatically numbered, but it is also possible to manually write the number and store the vouchers in a binder.
This is shown in the voucher journal
In the voucher journal, you should be able to see how the vouchers are posted, on which date, and on which accounts in the accounting.
The most important thing is that the number sequence is unbroken (without gaps) and that the number matches the number of the transaction recorded in the accounting.