Invoice processing handled by accounts payable department in a company is one of the most time-consuming business functions, which also needs to be performed with high accuracy. Since invoice processing consists of consecutive steps such as; data entry, approvals, transferring to financial system, recording & archiving, payment etc. many companies prefer to automate invoice processing in order to save time and streamline their workflows.
Transforming Invoice Processing
Let’s think about steps of traditional/manual invoice processing and see how to transform these time consuming, repeating steps into a digitalized business process.
- The first step of invoice processing is the reception of invoices, which come in a variety of formats. Accounts payable (AP) team needs to handle data entry for all of these different invoice types. In contrary, automated invoice processing is able to extract every type of invoice data in a blink of an eye.
- Following data entry, invoices are supposed to be distributed for review and approval. If you use paper documents or even Excel sheets or PDFs throughout this step, it is very likely to come up with delays and errors. Automated invoice processing prevents these undesired outcomes by submitting invoice data automatically to your ERP or accounting software.
- Payment and audition as final stages are also performed effortlessly in automated invoice processing. AP team can anytime reach invoice data easily and quickly, and it is possible to integrate invoice automation with almost every enterprise software solution.
Benefits Of Automated Invoice Processing
- When you use invoice automation tools, you add more control to and speed up your accounts payable operations. Starting from data entry, human errors will diminish drastically and you will save up to 90% of the time spending for traditional invoice processing.
- Another significant benefit of invoice automation is increased level of transparency and auditability.
- One of the most overlooked benefit of invoice automation is increasing data quality and the enhanced ability of acquiring insights.
- Last but not least, employer productivity and satisfaction will get on top by invoice automation.
