The flow of invoices in and out of a company has to be dealt with in an effective manner in order to ensure cashflow isn’t affected, as well as the credit rating of your company and your reputation as a brand that can be trusted to pay on time.
There are a few stages to the accounts payable process, from an invoice being received, the reconciliation with your system, through to the inputting of correct data into your accounting system and the invoice being paid. These processes can become time consuming and expensive should they be kept as a manual one, especially as a company grows and there are vaster quantities of invoices and information to track, collate and manage.
Putting in place an automated system for accounts payable is a proactive approach to streamlining the operations of your company and making it more effective and productive as a result. Let’s take a look at a few of the benefits of an automated Accounts Payable system.
Focus on Your Core Functions
A manual, paper-base system of accounts payable can only be time consuming to all involved. Why not free up your accounts team to focus on their core functions instead of having to find paper invoices and then manually input relevant data for each individual transaction.
Speed Up the Payment Process
An automated system will help you as a company to have a smoother system of making payments. Compared with manual invoice processing, a company that utilises an automated system will see a significant reduction in their invoice cycle time. This ensures you are always making payment within the payment terms your suppliers have agreed with you.
Accurate Accounts System
The worst thing that can happen for an accounts team is when mistakes are made. It can lead to inaccurate payments being made, double payments on single invoices and other problems. An automated system can take care of any inaccuracies, alerting the team to any duplicates in the system and preventing over or underpayment of terms. You can also schedule alerts for payment dates that are due soon.
Real Time Collaboration on Projects
An automated system of Accounts Payable can offer real-time tracking of invoices and a way for the wider team to share work on a single invoice at any given time. There might be multiple people with an interest in a particular invoice, and they can now share the workload even from different locations to one another.
Scalable Process for Company Growth
As a company grows it is only natural that the amount of paperwork, including that of the invoicing system, will increase. Putting in place an automated Accounts Payable system ensures your company will be able to easily cope with this increased demand without seeing a drop in quality, or adding stress levels to your accounts team.
Stringent Monitoring of Finances
Having an accurate collection of financial data helps you to plan long-term and keep an eye on any fluctuations that you weren’t expecting in terms of cash flow and expenditure. You’ll be able to extract the right type of data to monitor your finances through a quick and easy system to implement and use.
