Eliminate Manual Tasks with Automated Accounts Payable System

Leveraging latest tools and technologies to automate traditional procedures in your office is not something new. It has been observed that above 55% of employees spend more than 25% of their valuable time on laborious and arduous activities. If the AP methods aren’t automated, then it becomes ineffective and time-consuming.

Accounts payable automation can prevent manual labor in each step, thus cutting down expenses from the point of getting an invoice to making payment. Organizations are starting to understand that AP is where they can make critical enhancements in process management and cash flow.

The long-terms advantages that AP automation offers surpass up-front expenses and transformation to the status quo, and give extra intrinsic benefits to the company like development in career aspects and job satisfaction.

Invoice Processing and Approvals

Getting invoices from the suppliers and routing them for approvals can be ineffective without automation. One problem is these suppliers may send the invoices to several people in the business who mayn’t hustle to get it routed for the payment process. Also, invoices may appear in various formats like snail mail or email, and processing them can lead to cracks in the system.

AP automation can optimize invoice processing by allowing providers to send the invoices in any way they select and later processing them via an online gateway before they get routed to the AP teammates. Employees no longer need to touch invoices unless it is ready to be revised, approved/rejected. Moreover, there is no need for the team members to get invoices- each bill can be sent to a single email, online portal, or address.

Invoice coding and approvals are also cumbersome. When these invoices get shuffled from one desk to the other, it becomes easy for a bill to slip through the cracks. You may not have any idea on what had taken place to an invoice before it lands up on you, or who should be checking it next. It causes missed/lost invoices and generates several opportunities for fraudulent activities.

Robust AP platform helps to route the invoices to the correct people based on suppliers, due amount, and other business controls. When somebody approves invoices, it can move to the next person automatically on approval chain, thus eradicating email follow-ups and calls. Users can get notifications whenever they have an invoice to review.

Granular Insight

Automation offers a holistic approach into AP for the business. Managers/approvers can see a clear picture of the bills coming in and payments going out any time and team members can check payments and bill details when inquiries rise. Each invoice will have an audit trail from the point it’s received to the point it gets paid. This is critical for internal purposes and at the time of audit. Accurate accounting data gets synced with the accounting solution, offering a complete view into the company’s accounts payable.

Executing Payments

Signing and printing checks physically can become tedious, time-consuming, and checks can wait for signatures for multiple days/weeks when approvers are traveling. Cloud-based AP solution allows the payment managers to handle and schedule payments within a centralized location, from any place that has internet connection.

Once the payments gets schedules, processing electronic and paper payments are managed by the automation organization and you may prevent dealing with banking institutions/signing the paper checks.

After making the payments, accurate data like remittance details or check images are stored in the software for follow-ups.

Avoid Mistakes and Duplicate Payments

AP errors eat up your employee’s productive hours, hinder vendor relationships, and hence can result in duplicate payments. A payment mistake hit even harder on the AP teams and reflects poorly on your business. An automation system can classify the invoices/receipts automatically to the correct account, and then enter details into the account ledger which can be referred in the future. It automatically flags and rejects supplier statements with duplicate invoices. They instantly code the invoices into account-related files and ensure that the files are easily accessible to AP staff.

Save Time with Automation

Switching to robust AP software enables managers to automate the recurring and routine activities while using HR for skilled activities which provides the business a competitive benefit. Workers can shift their focus on more strategic approach, such as analysis, client service, process enhancement, and decision making.