Cut the Cost and Time of Invoice Processing with Automation

If asked what finance function eats the most time, labor, and paper, you might echo the answer many industry peers gave¹ in a recent survey: accounts payable.

Here are some examples of why AP comes up often and is a target for automation:

• AP departments lacking automation and consistent processes spend four times as much to handle each invoice – $6.30 vs. $1.45 – as 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 FTE.

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.

The downsides of handling invoices and payments with outdated processes and tools extend beyond lost productivity. Work is more tedious, making jobs less attractive. Your company has less visibility into where dollars went or are going, hindering decision-making and agility. Control and compliance are harder, raising the chance of fraud and penalties

How Automation Reduces the Cost of Invoice Processing and Disbursements

Get the white paper to learn more about the role of automation in lowering costs and achieving visibility.

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All those bad keystrokes, data trapped on paper and PDF, 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 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 from a timely and better capture of spending, your business can make better-informed decisions about where and when allot its dollars. 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 and match 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 paper ones. Controls allow a business to limit access by role, prevent alterations and deletions that allow fraud, and meet regulatory requirements from tax authorities or other government entities. With real-time reconciliation, you can identify problems quickly. And by paying electronically instead of paper check, you’re reducing the risk of fraud.

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

Delivers more accurate and timely spending data

Have an employee who regularly overspends or a budget out of whack? Automation allows you to drill down into spending quickly and 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 outmoded processes

Read the white paper for a broader look at what finance leaders say about automation and the benefits they seek from better processes and technology.