Cut the Cost and Time of Invoice Processing with Automation

If asked, “what finance function takes up the most time, labour, and paper?”, you might echo the answer given by many industry peers in a recent survey: accounts payable.

Here are some examples of why AP is often the answer, and a target for automation:

• AP departments lacking automation and consistent processes, spend four times as much to handle each invoice – £5.12 vs. £1.18 – in comparison to those using full automation and consistent processes.
• Departments using end-to-end automation and consistent processes can handle more than double the number of invoices per finance employee.

Those are just a few insights from a recent Institute of Finance and Management (IOFM) white paper sponsored by SAP Concur that draws on extensive research to discuss the costs of manual and semi-automated processes and ways full automation can reduce inefficiency and risk.

 

How Automation Reduces the Cost of Invoice Processing and Disbursements

Read this white paper to learn the cost of processing invoices and disbursing in a manual or semi-automated environment, and how automating AP reduces the overhead of invoice processing and disbursements. 

Download now 

All those bad keystrokes, data trapped on paper and PDFs, time spent chasing approvals, and other error-inducing and efficiency-sapping factors add up. That’s lost opportunity at any time, but especially when budgets are tight, hiring difficult, and work increasingly remote or hybrid.

Let’s look at some important ways automation can turn moments of spending uncertainty into moments of confidence.

Streamlines Processes to Improve Efficiency

With automation, employees access a single platform that manages invoices, payments, and overall spend. All sizes of business can process invoices from email, supplier portal, or other sources, with data pulled automatically and then consolidated. Because the process is mobile-enabled, managers and the AP team can perform their roles from anywhere. Your business can readily see links between purchase orders, invoices, and payments – and gain a better audit trail, too.

Vital statistic: Just 7% of transactions need correction in AP departments with full automation and consistent processes.

Improves Cash Flow Visibility

With a clearer picture of cash flow and better capture of spending, your business can make better informed decisions about where and when to allocate your spending. The finance team will be able to provide leadership the data and insights they’re asking for – because manual work is no longer clogging their days. And with the whole process moving faster, you can take advantage of early payment discounts.

Vital statistic: 59% of AP departments plan to automate data capture.

Improves Back-Office Productivity

Automation certainly cuts the amount of keying – and related errors – that employees perform. It also can accurately extract data from emails, PDFs, and other sources, matching it to receipts and purchase orders. Businesses can integrate data from multiple processes and systems, including ERPs, and consolidate information on cash flow, spending, and operations. With better information and less back and forth for numbers and answers, you can improve both collaboration and productivity.

Vital statistic: 57% of AP departments plan to automate purchase order to invoice matching.

Strengthens Controls and Compliance

Automated processes can provide greater clarity and accountability than those on paper. Controls allow a business to limit access by role, prevent alterations and deletions that promote fraud, and meet regulatory requirements from tax authorities or other government entities. With real-time reconciliation, you can identify problems quickly and time payments in a way that best suits the business.

Vital statistic: 40% of AP departments had multiple cases of attempted or actual fraud in 2022.

Delivers more Accurate and Timely Spending Data

Do you have employees who regularly overspend or do budgets often get blown? Automation allows you to drill down into spending quickly, accurately, and stop or adjust it before serious damage is done. You also can see patterns that give the company leverage in supplier negotiations. With one platform integrating AP and travel expense, you gain a view of employee and company spending that lets you manage and learn from it with consistency.

Vital statistic: 97% of AP departments that plan to replace current invoice processing and disbursement systems cite inconsistent process as the primary driver.

Better Understand the Costs of Outdated Processes

If some of these challenges sound familiar, automation could hold the answer for your business and it’s not as difficult as it may seem. Hear how Ardonagh Speciality adopted Concur Invoice to streamline its invoice and expense process together or find out more about Concur Invoice.