A recent OpenEnvoy study found that nearly 10% of all vendor invoices are duplicates. The study examined vendor billing over 12 months across a sample of $500M in invoices. OpenEnvoy’s duplicate detection product pinpointed $42,124,360 in duplicate billings, with the worst offenders being contract manufacturers and logistics providers, specifically shipping lines.
These findings emphasize the importance of preventative finance technology for conserving cash flow, especially as many finance functions combat external pressures like inflation. Poor supplier billing performance is a frequently overlooked issue. It is common for suppliers to overbill, send duplicate invoices, and mismatch purchase orders with goods received.
Over time invoice discrepancies quickly escalate into serious issues for businesses and accounting teams. Properly managing disputes with vendors can exhaust a company's resources and slow cash flow.
AP automation solutions are excellent for catching invoice discrepancies before issuing payment and tracking supplier billing overtime. This technology provides teams with comprehensive insights to determine which providers are the most valuable to their organization and which are harmful.
Verifying invoices in real-time allows finance teams to notify their vendors of issues and improves collaboration. Ultimately, the responsibility for preventing overpayment lies with customers as service providers lack an incentive to change.
Competitive finance leaders understand the urgency to stop overpayments and plug cash flow leaks. Most companies are unable to reconcile invoices at scale and lack the right technology to prevent wasted spend. While this is the case for many, it does not have to be. Finance leaders and decision-makers can empower their teams to uncover and eliminate wasted spending by auditing invoices at the line item level with speed and accuracy.
Learn how OpenEnvoy can transform your AP team from reactive to proactive by scheduling a demo with an OpenEnvoy expert today.
