Accounts Payable Workflow & Accounts Payable Automation
  • HOME
  • WEBINARS
  • ACCOUNTS PAYABLE (AP) INVOICE AUTOMATION
    • WHAT IS ACCOUNTS PAYABLE AUTOMATION
    • 100 REASONS WHY YOU NEED ACCOUNTS PAYABLE AUTOMATION
    • GETTING YOUR CFO TO SAY YES TO AP AUTOMATION
    • THE NEW ACCOUNTS PAYABLE DEPARTMENT
    • VIRTUAL DEMO: AP AUTOMATION
    • AP INVOICE SCANNING
    • AP AUTOMATION SOFTWARE
    • REMOTE AP AUTOMATION
    • ELECTRONIC PAYMENT PROCESSING
  • CUSTOMER SUCCESS
    • INDUSTRIES >
      • AGRICULTURE
      • CONSTRUCTION
      • FOOD & BEVERAGE
      • HEALTHCARE
      • HIGHER EDUCATION
      • HOSPITALITY
      • LIFE SCIENCES
      • MANUFACTURING
      • RETAIL
      • TECHNOLOGY
      • TRANSPORTATION
  • ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS
    • AS400 INTEGRATION
    • EPICOR INTEGRATION
    • INFOR INTEGRATION
    • JD EDWARDS INTEGRATION
    • LAWSON INTEGRATION
    • MEDITECH INTEGRATION
    • MS DYNAMICS 365 AP AUTOMATION
    • MS DYNAMICS GP AP AUTOMATION
    • MS DYNAMICS NAV AP AUTOMATION
    • MS DYNAMICS INTEGRATION
    • ORACLE INTEGRATION
    • PEOPLESOFT INTEGRATION
    • QAD INTEGRATION
    • QUICKBOOKS INTEGRATION
    • SAGE INTEGRATION
    • SAP INTEGRATION
  • BLOG
  • RESOURCES
    • PRICING
    • GLOBAL SOLUTIONS
    • SOC AUDITED CONTROLS
    • FAQ's
    • PARTNERS
    • WHITE PAPERS
  • CONTACT
    • SUBMIT RFP
    • SUPPORT
    • ABOUT
    • CAREERS

A Controller’s Guide to AP Automation

1/6/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Accounts Payable departments have a huge potential to drive change in financial operations. By introducing automation, they can remove repetitive tasks from the AP process, and substantially contribute to better overall financial performance. In a recent study Paystream Advisors concludes that 'the quest to go digital [in accounts payable] has never been more appealing”.

AP automation brings increased internal visibility and control which corporate controllers can take advantage of. They are able to uncover opportunities to generate savings and optimize cash management. With the visibility that automation brings into invoice and payment data, controllers can analyze and understand expenditure, perform budget variance analysis, and spot possible fraudulent behavior.

As Controller’s wonder, “What’s in it for me? Here are five ways controllers benefit from accounts payable automation which aligns with the five main needs that Controllers have for accounts payable efficiencies:

1. Internal controls & transparency:
It is critical that the accounts payable system support internal control. The needed controls should be built in to the workflow of the AP system. This way, the system acts as an “automated” internal control.

2. Flexible & multi-dimensional coding:
Ideally, the accounts payable automation software should perform automatic coding based on purchase order or contract matching. However, the coding needs to be flexible and multidimensional. In situations where coding is not automated, details need to be available with historical information about past coding for a given supplier.

3. Access to different levels of invoice data:
As accounts payable becomes automated, people who deal with a particular cost center, category or supplier need to have many views available to them. They should be able to drill down all the way to the individual invoice level. Within different views of the invoice data, controllers need to be able to easily categorize, group, and perform aggregate calculations. Also, they need to access conversations and attachments related to individual invoices in order to improve supplier relationships.

4. Tools for in-depth analytics and reporting:
Access is key. Controllers need to be able to sort invoices by vendor, by account or by cost center, and search all invoice fields. They should be able to perform budget variance analysis and detailed expense analysis at row-level by vendor on an ongoing basis. If necessary, this analysis should drill down to the invoice image. Analysis is done to study e.g. average purchase per vendor, or number of overdue invoices.

5. Accruals:
When you do not have visibility into individual invoices, accruals can be “a black hole”. The accounts payable automation system should monitor and extract information about the invoices that are still in circulation, and allow controllers to work with accountants to include reported invoices into the accruals. Once the accruals are done, controllers should get the lists for reviewing and checking. 

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Vision360 Enterprise  Accounts Payable Automation Solution by BlueCreek Software reduces time wasted chasing down paper invoices by automating invoice approvals, eliminating manual data entry, eliminating paper invoices and reducing processing costs.

    Categories

    All
    Accounts Payable Automation
    Accounts Payable Automation Quote
    Accounts Payable Automation Systems
    Accounts Payable Best Practices
    Accounts Payable Fraud
    Accounts Payable OCR
    Accounts Payable Processing
    Accounts Payable Quote
    Accounts Payable ROI
    Accounts Payable Workflow
    Accounts Payable Workflow Quote
    AP Automation
    AP Fraud
    Eliminate Data Entry
    Fraud Prevention
    Great Plains
    Happy Vendors
    Important Accounts Payable Metrics
    Invoice Automation
    Invoice Ocr
    Month End Accounts Payable
    MS Dynamics
    Prevent Fraud
    Preventing Fraud
    Stop Ransomeware
    Vision360 Enterprise

    Archives

    November 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    July 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    September 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    January 2019
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    March 2014

    RSS Feed

    See AP Automation Live!
All Rights Reserved 2023 Vision360 Enterprise® is a registered trademark of BlueCreek Software.   
​
Privacy.

Use of Cookies.

  • HOME
  • WEBINARS
  • ACCOUNTS PAYABLE (AP) INVOICE AUTOMATION
    • WHAT IS ACCOUNTS PAYABLE AUTOMATION
    • 100 REASONS WHY YOU NEED ACCOUNTS PAYABLE AUTOMATION
    • GETTING YOUR CFO TO SAY YES TO AP AUTOMATION
    • THE NEW ACCOUNTS PAYABLE DEPARTMENT
    • VIRTUAL DEMO: AP AUTOMATION
    • AP INVOICE SCANNING
    • AP AUTOMATION SOFTWARE
    • REMOTE AP AUTOMATION
    • ELECTRONIC PAYMENT PROCESSING
  • CUSTOMER SUCCESS
    • INDUSTRIES >
      • AGRICULTURE
      • CONSTRUCTION
      • FOOD & BEVERAGE
      • HEALTHCARE
      • HIGHER EDUCATION
      • HOSPITALITY
      • LIFE SCIENCES
      • MANUFACTURING
      • RETAIL
      • TECHNOLOGY
      • TRANSPORTATION
  • ACCOUNTING SYSTEMS
    • AS400 INTEGRATION
    • EPICOR INTEGRATION
    • INFOR INTEGRATION
    • JD EDWARDS INTEGRATION
    • LAWSON INTEGRATION
    • MEDITECH INTEGRATION
    • MS DYNAMICS 365 AP AUTOMATION
    • MS DYNAMICS GP AP AUTOMATION
    • MS DYNAMICS NAV AP AUTOMATION
    • MS DYNAMICS INTEGRATION
    • ORACLE INTEGRATION
    • PEOPLESOFT INTEGRATION
    • QAD INTEGRATION
    • QUICKBOOKS INTEGRATION
    • SAGE INTEGRATION
    • SAP INTEGRATION
  • BLOG
  • RESOURCES
    • PRICING
    • GLOBAL SOLUTIONS
    • SOC AUDITED CONTROLS
    • FAQ's
    • PARTNERS
    • WHITE PAPERS
  • CONTACT
    • SUBMIT RFP
    • SUPPORT
    • ABOUT
    • CAREERS