Shortcomings of manual accounts payable processes
The financial department may feel overburdened when entering new markets and developing its client base.
The manual administration of financial procedures is a time-consuming, unproductive task that might result in human error and economic disasters.
Today, bookkeeping is much more complicated than keeping track of how much your company makes and spends.
Automating the process will help reduce errors and better understand your financial processes, primarily if you use accrual-based accounting to manage a large volume of invoices and log many bookkeeping entries.
Using an automated system, managing and tracking invoices is a simple process with a clear picture of the entire financial operation of the business.
Benefits of automating accounts payable process
Of course, there are many more advantages to automating this process and the finance department as a whole, in addition to decreasing errors when moving from a manual to an automated system.
For instance, payroll processing is a terrific reason a business can automate payroll management, ensure employee data security, and maintain compliance with payroll regulations.
The following justify automating accounts payable procedures:
Increased effectiveness. Automation improves accuracy and saves time by streamlining processes and eliminating manual data entry.
Cost reductions. Reduce the expenses for paper, printing, and mailing associated with manual processing. Reduce the requirement for labour-intensive work to provide employees with more time for higher-value tasks.
Better control and visibility into the accounts payable processes, including tracking invoices, approvals, and payments, is made possible by automation.
Enhanced relationships with suppliers by ensuring payments are made on time, minimising mistakes and conflicts, and offering improved communication and transparency.
Expanding organisations can rapidly scale automated systems without adding personnel or resources to suit their needs.
A robust automation system can handle net payment terms, 60-day bills, or invoices that change monthly.
What you want from your accounts payable automation system
After learning about the advantages of AP automation, let’s look at some of the functions your accounts payable automation system should have.
• Automated processing of invoices. Indexing invoice data intelligently, using AI technology from any source, such as printed, email, and online invoices.
• Automation of the process. To ensure prompt processing, automate approval workflows, send bills to the proper approvers, and get alerts and notifications.
• Processing of payments. Process electronic payments, including ACH, wire transfers, expense accounts and credit card reconciliation.
• Supplier onboarding and administration, improving relationships, including communication and dispute resolution, and storing supplier data.
• Analytics and reporting. Receive real-time insight into the processing of invoices and payments, along with reports and analytics that can help you pinpoint problem areas and streamline financial procedures.
• Integrations. To simplify data sharing and enhance financial control, integrate your accounting software, accounts receivable automation, and enterprise resource planning (ERP) software.
Let’s look at how effectively we can incorporate the system into your company and prepare your employees for this digital transformation.
Implementing accounts payable automation
With DocuWare, the AP automation requires little effort other than purchasing the system and informing your staff of the change. Implement an onboarding procedure to go as smoothly as possible and immediately get the most return on your investment.
With DocuWare, we even have a preconfigured AP process to UIstralian financial standards ready to go out-of-the-box, complete with integrations to accounting software such as Xero and MYOB, that only requires a few hours to onboard and train the staff for the new system.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that accounts payable automation is a critical component of long-term success for any business, particularly if you want to get the most out of every investment dollar.
To streamline your finance and accounting departments in 2023 and future-proof your business, think about automating your accounts payable procedures with DocuWare.