Have you ever thought about AP automation? Now that we are approaching March, it’s time to look back at our New Year’s Resolutions and see how we are doing. Are you still sticking with it or have you completely forgotten and went back to your old routine and habits? Today, over 40% of Americans resolve to better themselves in some way every January, but how will they succeed?
One answer is to implement AP and payment automation within your organization! In today’s blog, we’ll look at some New Year’s resolutions you may have forgotten about and how implementing integrated AP automation can help you stick to them.1) Increase Security / Have More Control
Automation gives you full visibility into your processes by digitizing all invoices and payments. You know when invoices come in, which balances are outstanding, when payments are due, and which approvers haven’t signed off yet. You can add additional approvals to the process with ease and create fraud monitoring reports that check for duplicate invoices. You can track who enters the invoice, who approves it, and who batches it to the accounting system – and it can’t be the same person for each task.
2) Increase Efficiency / Streamline Workflows
With automation, you can easily eliminate repetitive and time-consuming tasks like opening and sorting invoices, manual data entry, and waiting for interoffice mail or overnight courier for approvals. Think of all the things you could accomplish if you weren’t busy copying and scanning files to archives, searching for lost or misplaced invoices, and fielding inquiry calls!
With the time savings achieved with automation, many AP departments turn their attention to higher-level tasks like early vendor discounts and rebate procurement. By partnering with an automation solution provider that offers electronic payment methods, companies can pay their vendors faster, reduce processing costs, and generate revenue. Which brings us to the final resolution…
3) Save Money!
Companies can reduce their AP and payment processing costs up to 60% with automation, eliminating all of the manual tasks associated with paper invoices and checks in the process. Research by PayStream Advisors shows that the average cost to process a transaction is 44 percent higher when conducted manually rather than through an automated system.
According to the Aberdeen Research Payables Report, companies are paying – on average – more than $22 to process and pay one invoice.
According to the Aberdeen Research Payables Report, companies are paying – on average – more than $22 to process and pay one invoice. The same report states that many companies are cutting their processing costs in half by automating their accounts payable processes. Late payment fees are also avoided thanks to reduced routing and approval times. The industry average for routing and approval is 28 days. With AP automation, many companies are seeing a turnaround of 2-3 days.
The impact of AP automation can be felt throughout the entire AP department – from the AP Specialist to the CFO.
Whether you are the AP Specialist responsible for routing, coding, and entering the invoice data into your Intacct or Sage system, or the CFO responsible for providing accurate cash flow to the CEO, automation will positively impact your day-to-day operations.
