Article written by Stephanie Onofri
More and more AP departments are optimizing their business processes by integrating automated imaging capture solutions into their existing accounting systems. Regardless of your Accounts Payable software (Quickbooks, Microsoft Dynamics, etc), automated invoice processing serves to:
- Reduce processing time
- Cut processing costs
- Increase security and compliance
But picking a solution can be overwhelming. There are countless solutions for almost every part of Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable, each one tailored to the specific requirements of their existing process. Based on the company’s line of business, individual AP processes can vary a great deal. So in order to integrate the right solutions for PO, Invoice, Checks, Packing slips, receipts and all other document capture tailored to a company’s specific goals and enterprise, AP departments need to consider a few crucial questions:
- How much time does your data entry and/or indexing take up?
- What do you do when an item needs to be edited/changed in your current system?
- How long do these approvals take?
- And most importantly: What is the biggest challenge you currently face in your AP process?
These questions help determine the sort of data capture and workflow system that would be best suited to the process that an AP department already has in place.
One of the most common misconceptions regarding integration of a paperless invoice processing solution is the idea that AP departments will have to change their existing business practices in favor of a different process. In reality, imaging capture doesn’t replace accounting systems; it optimizes them. Optimization is the act of finding the factors in an existing system that can be tweaked to maximize productivity and profit while reducing wasted spending and time. And this is, of course, what every successful AP department regardless of Industry is constantly striving to do: improve efficiency to reduce processing time while remaining in compliance of regulatory standards.
The best part of software solutions for Accounts Payable is that they can be used for Accounts Receivable as well. For more information on invoice processing, download our Kansas City Board of Public Utilities case study below to find out how they implemented a more efficient invoice processing solution.
