An Accounts Payable (AP) process is our means of paying suppliers and vendors for purchasing goods and services from the company. AP department generates bills and invoices that keep track of these purchases. Although it seems simple, the process is complicated, requiring our AP team to spend a range of resources, specifically paper to create physical AP records. Not to mention, it’s time-consuming and prone to man-made mistakes. Making the process of account payable paperless can help. Let’s have a look at its benefits and other aspects.
Digitalization of Accounts Payable Process
At a time when everything is online, so can our AP processes. Why? Is this not a risky change? Well, not with the numerous benefits that can be gained. Going digital with the AP process implies increased efficiency and bandwidth. Both time and money are saved, and our AP department does not have to face the hassle of dealing with paper invoices, purchase orders, checks, approvals, and other relevant documents. Thanks to the technology that allows batch document scanning and Accounts Payable automation software, the tedious paper-based AP processes get a boost in terms of speed and accuracy. It is something that all AP departments could use.
Benefits of a Paperless Accounts Payable System
Lower Processing Costs and Faster Processing
Both effort and money are spent on financing human labor in the AP process, such as with manual data entry and mailing suppliers. Not to mention, human labor is time-consuming and prone to error. AP automation software can expedite the time spent on these processes while ensuring precision and accuracy. Technology involving data indexing and Optical Character Recognition (OCR) will allow the AP team to swiftly draft a database of all AP records, by avoiding any inaccuracies.
Fraud Prevention
Fraud is on the rise. Hence, we must have a tight AP security system. Fortunately, a central feature of AP automation software is fraud prevention. The system enables increased visibility into payment flows, automatically flagging duplicate payments, false bills, and other suspicious activity. Going digital also means that we can easily switch to accounts payable outsourcing services, which can lead to less expenditure. Unlike technology, the human eye cannot recognize fraud immediately, risking the company’s data. Don’t wait to enhance the AP protection as it can impact the reputation of the company in the long term.
Lower Storage Costs
Storage in an industry where data is profusely generated can get expensive, confusing, and difficult to maintain. Documents rack up fast and off-site storage isn’t economical, nor is getting a new space to get extra storage. Additionally, keeping stacks and files of documents together can lead to data mix-ups or even loss of data. We can avoid all this just by shifting our AP processes online. Documents in digital form are a lot easier to organize, remove, and back up, unlike physical documents.
Easily Accessible Data
One of the best features of an AP process is a database that is accessible from anywhere, anytime. If our invoice processing system relies on digital cloud-based storage, the data and transactions can be viewed by anyone with permission. This enables convenient collaboration across multiple regions and teams and a flexible work schedule, which our AP team would appreciate. Also, all information is shared in real-time, so we don’t have to worry about missing out on anything.
Reduced Carbon Footprint
The world is becoming more eco-friendly. So, why shouldn’t the AP process? If our company tends to overproduce paper-based invoices and bills, we must be wary of the environmental impact. Companies all over the world are set out to reduce their carbon footprint and we can join them. Doing so is also beneficial for our business. An environment-friendly company may attract more customers who would be happy with our ecological ethics and consciousness. We can also reduce the efforts at our end by taking the help of outsourced accounting services.
Customized AP Controls
We can customize our AP workflow processes tailored to our business needs. Everything can happen at a set time with our authorization, from routing invoices to receiving reports. Online accounting services and custom mobile apps can also filter, organize, and validate critical AP data at our request. AP automation software is adaptable, making it a great way to satisfy our specific accounting concerns.
The Conclusion
AP automation software is the new way of storing, filtering, and categorizing AP data. Financially, it comes with reduced storage and processing costs. Collaboratively, it promotes communication, a flexible working schedule, and an opportunity to internationalize the AP team. Security-wise, it guarantees us fraud prevention and increased transparency. Environmentally, it lowers our wastage of finite resources, branding us as an eco-friendly company. Personally, it is customizable to meet our team’s needs and goals. These obvious benefits make paperless accounts payable processes and workflows quite the catch, so be careful not to miss out.
