For an organization to function efficiently, receiving, reconciling, and remitting payments is critical for operational continuity. But there is a common experience among finance teams across industries; many are inundated with vendor invoices that require manual reconciliation.
Aside from being error-prone and requiring frequent fixes for incorrect entries or payments—manual processes are highly inefficient. Manual reconciliation exposes organizations to limited cash flow, inaccurate financial reporting, painful monthly and quarterly close processes, and poor vendor relationships.
Usually, when a finance leader starts looking at vendors to automate their finance tasks, they have at least one, if not more, pretty serious pain points. Additionally, organizations are losing money hand over first due to paying duplicate invoices — sometimes amounting to millions of dollars.
Turnover within the finance function is another major problem. Finance professionals with solid digital skills are less than excited about jobs that require sifting through stacks of paper and staring at spreadsheets.
Shifting from ‘Can we execute on this?’ to ‘How quickly can we execute these tasks?’
In a recent interview, Matthew Tillman, CEO of OpenEnvoy, explains how CFOs and finance leaders can use out-of-the-box solutions to improve the speed of their AP processes and better control costs. Here are some key takeaways from the conversation:
Stop paying for duplicate invoicing!
Companies were once relying on inefficient processes to be able to redirect their resources to other activities that would drive hyper-growth. However, the market has since changed, and net revenue is now a primary metric for valuation. As a result, firms must quickly boost margins–but how is that possible when hyperinflation is a serious concern of many finance leaders?
Eliminating the payment of duplicate billings is a significant area for waste reduction. The right AP automation tool will identify exact invoice discrepancies and duplication in real time and flag the finance team before payments are issued.
“...you would think that you’re able to catch the duplicate invoices because you spent so much money on whatever reconciliation package, and it turns out it’s just not working. That’s because duplications aren’t just when the invoices are identical — It’s really about processing each line item”, says Tillman.
AP speed and cash management are top priorities.
In today’s volatile market, companies are feeling the push to quicken the pace of their payables function. While it has been for large outsourcing firms to handle auditing and reconciliation of line items against contracts, we know that in today’s AP environment, organizations can rely on their slow, inefficient processes. Automation makes accounts payable tasks more accurate and faster.
Tillman says automation gives companies better cash control to optimize liquidity and manage flows. In addition, inherently preventative solutions will offer a better return on investment than those based on claw-backs and legacy operational procedures.
Are you ready to boost cash flow and pay your vendor invoices faster? Schedule a demo with an OpenEnvoy expert today, visit https://openenvoy.com/contact-us/.
