Many organizations, no matter what size, partner with vendors and suppliers to carry out their business. In doing so, invoices are accrued and must be processed. For companies with multiple vendors and invoices, automating accounts payable ensures all bills are paid on time and accurately.
Learn the Different Types of Cloud Storage
Automated Accounts Payable Explained
Automated accounts payable (AP) is a technology that uses a digital system to reduce manual and repetitive tasks such as data entry. Automated systems can submit invoices, manage approvals, and process payments—all electronically through a single platform. Companies use automated accounts to minimize or eliminate manual intervention and accelerate operations. Automating accounts payable is used to
- Eliminate data entry
- Enable online approvals
- Reduce errors (such as duplicate payments)
- Generate digital audit trails
To be clear, though, automating accounts payable doesn’t replace human accountants. This automation system is used to add more value by freeing teams from tedious tasks. Now, let’s get to the good part: what are the benefits?
The Benefits of Automating Accounts Payable
Improve Time Efficiency
Using automated accounts payable reduces the time needed to process an invoice. Your organization needs to pay invoices appropriately without violating the vendor’s invoice terms. However, deciding the appropriate time makes this difficult, if not impossible for a manual AP process. The payable is routed according to your configuration (such as holding invoices for payment until the ideal moment) automatically and instantaneously. It creates an overall reduction in the amount of time spent on each invoice that is pending in your account. This means no one in your company will ever need to spend another second searching for an invoice or spending time looking for the status of the approval process.
Lowering Costs
Cost per invoice process gets expensive over time. Automation helps save labor costs by reducing the time and money spent on data entry, payments, and invoices, as well as hard costs for document storage, postage, and more. It helps reduce the risk of making duplicates or late payments or overpaying invoices. The automated accounts payable software will alert you to duplicates and overpayments and will remind you of all pending due dates.
Cloud-Based Accounts Payable Workflow
The cloud gives you access to the AP software from anywhere. This means important information is centralized on a single platform for all legal entities. As mentioned, automated accounts payable reduce risks. It allows you to look into the approvals and payment workflow. This means false billings, duplicates, and fraudulent transactions can easily be tracked within the software. The system flags any of these issues and allows you to audit the control you need. With the cloud-based account, you can manage reports from anywhere.
Automate Your Processes With the Help of Kraft Business
To cut costs and automate tasks, Kraft offers software solutions that will facilitate accounts payable processes, particularly when it comes to handling invoices. These solutions will drive your AP team to process invoices faster, optimize costs, and reduce risk, which significantly increases efficiency and helps to make monthly cash flow more predictable.
