What are attachments in an accounting system?
Published
Attachments are the supporting documents linked to an entry or invoice inside the system: the supplier's invoice image, the PO, the receiving note, the contract, the receipt. The entry says what was recorded; the attachment proves why - without it, the number is a claim without evidence.
The governing test
Could someone who wasn't there understand and defend this entry a year later from its attachments alone? If not, the attachment is incomplete. That is literally the posture of a tax audit and an external review: people who weren't there, later, reading what you left.
What supports what
| Document | Usual attachments |
|---|---|
| Supplier bill | The original tax invoice, the PO, the receiving note |
| Petty expense | The receipt, plus approval where applicable |
| Manual / adjusting entry | A memo stating the basis and calculation (bank statement, count sheet, estimation basis) |
| Payment voucher | Whatever proves the obligation: invoice, contract, or payroll sheet |
| Credit note | The return request, receiving record, or settlement agreement |
| Fixed asset | Purchase invoice, warranty, installation documents |
Frequently asked questions
How long do I keep attachments?
Statutory record-retention periods extend to the documents supporting the records - and electronic storage inside the system turns the period into a storage question rather than a paper archive. See the record keeping page.
Is a phone photo of a receipt enough?
For internal documentation and most petty expenses, yes, if fully legible. The VAT deduction document remains the valid tax invoice itself.
Attach everything, or just what matters?
The working rule: any entry whose origin isn't self-evident needs an attachment. A system-generated sales invoice documents itself; a manual entry is an orphan without its memo.