With St. Patrick’s Day and spring arriving, March is a great month to have “green” on the mind. There are green shamrocks, green beer, the green of new vegetation, and there’s even green accounting too. Here are five ways to make your accounting a little more green.

Business Receipts

When you spend money on your business, ask for an emailed receipt rather than a paper one if you have an option. More and more vendors are providing this option. Then when the receipt comes in your email, you can forward it to your bookkeeper and/or upload it to your accounting system.

Smile for the Camera

If the vendor does not offer an emailed receipt, do the next best thing: take a picture of the receipt with your cell phone. Some accounting systems allow you to upload the receipt right from your phone, and if you don’t have that feature, you can always email it or upload it to your PC.

PDF Invoices

If you invoice customers, send a PDF invoice via email. More and more businesses are abandoning the snail mail and getting it to customers faster via email. They’re getting paid faster, and speeding up your green is usually a good thing.

Online Banking

Many people adopted online banking about a decade ago. If you’re still getting paper statements, you can get those stopped and download your statements once a month from your online account. It’s better not to get your statement in the mail anymore; it reduces your risk of identity theft from stolen mail.

Software and Supplies

When possible, purchase your software online and download it rather than making a gas-guzzling trip to the store and purchasing a box. You can also order your office supplies online and have them delivered. As long as you buy local, it should be a green purchase, and it will save you tons of time too.

These five ideas will help your accounting become a little more green.