In case you are an accountant working inside accounts payable, likelihood is you’ve bought an curiosity in automation. From eliminating handbook processes to creating well timed funds to sustaining robust vendor relationships, a streamlined accounts payable course of is essential to the general monetary well being of a enterprise.  

However what do you have to search for in an accounts payable automation answer? From understanding the why and the how, to realizing what to search for, allow us to be your information to accounts payable automation. 

The fundamentals of accounts payable

The time period accounts payable (AP) refers to all enterprise bills besides payroll. It’s basically a listing of all quantities an organization owes to its distributors and suppliers for services offered to the enterprise—earlier than they’re paid.  

The accounts payable course of is primarily made up of 4 actions.  

1. Buying the order. 
2. Receiving the order. 
3. Paying the bill. 
4. Resolving the accounting information. 

How can I enhance my accounts payable?

Automation is vital to enhance the accounts payable course of. With it, companies can improve monetary visibility, unlock insights, and strengthen relationships with distributors and suppliers.  

Enhancing your accounts payable course of with automation additionally improves the accuracy of your money circulation forecasts. In the end, this could enhance liquidity, mitigate threat, and assist your enterprise notice greater earnings. An integration automation answer may also streamline the accounts receivable course of.   

What’s accounts payable automation? 

Accounts payable automation is using expertise to streamline the accounts payable course of. With automation, companies can robotically discover and confirm monetary data and combine it with different purposes. This implies much less time trying to find and getting into knowledge. With automation, monitoring and retrieving accounts payable particulars is quick and simple.  

With the flexibility to filter accounts payable by fields like bill quantity, difficulty date, and extra, you possibly can acquire full visibility into your monetary knowledge and forestall fraud. Plus, cloud-based accounts payable automation software program permits you to work securely in actual time and collaborate from anyplace.  

If you happen to’re an accountant, search for skilled accounting software program that pulls knowledge immediately out of your shoppers’ spreadsheets or QuickBooks® and integrates transactions with their monetary establishment. You’ll be able to even work with completely different entity varieties, reporting intervals, and locational and departmental shoppers. Generate customized stories primarily based in your shoppers’ wants, whereas additionally sustaining standardized reporting and monetary assertion formatting.  

How does accounts payable automation work?

By automating the accounts payable course of, companies can remove tedious knowledge entry and paper-based processes, streamline operations, enhance accuracy, and unlock perception into crucial monetary processes. Accounts payable automation additionally generates an audit path that may save vital time within the occasion of an audit. 

From an accountant’s perspective, accounts payable automation permits your agency to: 

• Pull knowledge immediately out of your shoppers’ spreadsheets or QuickBooks® and combine transactions with their monetary establishment. 
• Work with completely different entity varieties, reporting intervals, and locational and departmental shoppers. 
• Course of a number of shoppers directly and have a number of customers inside your agency working inside a single shopper venture on the similar time. 
• Arrange controls so that you select how a lot data your shoppers can see. Plus, monitor exercise by date, time, and workers member. 
• Customise stories primarily based on shopper wants, whereas additionally sustaining standardized reporting and monetary assertion formatting. 
• Collaborate together with your shoppers in actual time, utilizing this shared on-line portal to deal with their bookkeeping and payroll duties. 

Why automate accounts payable?

Software program that automates the accounts payable course of makes it simple for companies to submit invoices and course of funds by means of a single platform—all of which saves money and time. 

By eliminating the necessity for handbook, paper-based workflows, companies can improve the pace and accuracy of low-level, high-volume duties. It additionally permits automated three-way matching, expense coding, and adherence to Usually Accepted Accounting Ideas (GAAP).  

With smarter approval workflows and simplified vendor onboarding, you possibly can solidify vendor and provider relationships and optimize knowledge for enhanced monetary evaluation and reporting. 

Find out how to automate accounts payable

Begin by documenting your present accounts payable workflow. Embody choice factors and pathways to approval.  

Subsequent, check out the reasoning at every choice level and assign the period of time wanted. Additionally, attempt to quantify the quantity of invoices. Make sure you doc any ache factors alongside the best way.  

Widespread accounts payable ache factors: 

• Guide processes 
• Lack of information visibility 
• Potential for fraud 
• Delayed or inaccurate funds to distributors 

From there, it’s time to search for an accounts payable automation answer. Ask a number of expertise suppliers to demo the instrument utilizing your invoices. The end result needs to be elevated accuracy, vital time financial savings, automated 3-way matching capabilities, fraud prevention, audit path, in addition to enhanced monetary visibility utilizing reporting and dashboard capabilities.  

Work along with the chosen expertise supplier to automate your accounts payable course of and customise it to satisfy your enterprise wants.  

Accounts payable bill automation

What occurs whenever you miss a fee to an necessary vendor or provider? The outcomes might be damaging. That’s why automating accounts payable invoices is one other technique to preserve wholesome provider and vendor relationships.  

Bill automation extracts knowledge from buying paperwork and shops it in an simply accessible, organized method. When arrange correctly, bill automation permits your enterprise to course of funds rapidly and with nearly no handbook knowledge entry. 

Bill automation helps robust vendor and provider relationships as a result of it facilitates communication and unlocks perception that improves decision-making. 

Find out how to choose an accounts payable automation answer 

When you’ve documented your accounts payable workflow and recognized the ache factors you’d prefer to treatment, it’s time to pick out an accounts payable automation instrument.  

Begin by on the lookout for a expertise supplier that gives an accounts payable automation answer. Higher but, discover one that gives an clever interface that robotically finds and verifies monetary data and integrates with different purposes. Probably the most forward-thinking expertise suppliers additionally provide cloud-based accounting that allows you to work securely with others in actual time from anyplace.  

If you happen to’re an accountant, Accounting CS delivers all of this and way more. By combining write-up, trial steadiness, payroll, monetary assertion evaluation, and extra, it’s designed for skilled accountants who serve a number of shoppers with the pliability to deal with all sorts of trade and entity varieties. 

To be taught extra, learn our weblog on ceaselessly requested questions on accounts payable.