Accounts payable
How to automate accounts payable workflow.

A robust system for a company's accounts payable foundation not only ensures timely payments to vendors and suppliers but also plays a crucial role in maintaining healthy cash flow and fostering strong supplier relationships. However, traditional manual processes often lead to inefficiencies, errors, and delays, hampering the overall workflow.

With this in mind, there are several reasons why investing in automating accounts payable workflow systems is essential. Data notes that around 86% of chief financial officers (CFOs) are eager for accounts payable digitization and even view it as integral to their organisations' success.

By automatically capturing invoice details from descriptions to unit costs and quantities, automation integration dramatically cuts manual data entry for AP teams by over 80%, relieving them from tedious tasks and helping minimise human error.

Accepting automation in accounts payable not only simplifies the procedure overall but also yields numerous advantages, such as shorter processing times, higher accuracy, more transparency, and lower costs. By automating accounts payable, organisations can transform their financial operations and free up critical time and resources to concentrate on strategic objectives and business growth. This is why software such as Klippa SpendControl, successfully implemented by respected companies, is not just a solution, but a catalyst for growth in the industry.

How an Accounts Payable Software Caters to Easing Business Financial Workflow

The most critical feature of an ideal accounts payable platform is that it must have sophisticated expense management and invoice processing software in one platform. This is integral to ensuring seamless integration between invoice encoding and enlisting how it adds up to accounts payable. Moreover, once this feature is coupled with built-in data extraction capabilities and proprietary OCR technology, businesses can have a customisable approval workflow with intelligent business rules.

Additionally, an ideal software for the accounts payable workflow system must include two modules for both expenses and invoices that can be used together or individually. This then allows users to seamlessly process their accounts payables in a few clicks, automatically extracting their accounts payable data with artificial intelligence and automating approval processes for a sophisticated workflow.

Compared to other accounts payable software in the market, most only cater to specific types of businesses, often categorised by company size or industry. Klippa SpendControl assures its users that its solutions are for all-size companies and organisations that are looking for growth by improving the efficiency of various accounts payable processes.

In terms of assuring an efficient workflow for payments and accounting liabilities in a business, the ideal software must have options for users to assign responsibilities and tasks to specific members for approval and payment processing. Such a feature allows for ease of approval within company departments regarding the inner workings of accounts payable.

In Klippa's case, its own software has multi-currency support, which means it can handle transactions in different currencies without the need for manual conversion. It also has a 2-way matching, which the company hopes to expand into a 3-way matching soon. It also has over 20 integration options with accounting and ERP software, such as Xero, NetSuite, SAP, and many other integrations.

For added security, an ideal account payable software must have a built-in document fraud detection analysis, as well as a dedicated cloud storage to access files for possible audits, and even corporate credit cards access. In that way, your next accounts payable software is not just reliable, but a fortress of security, with many perks to further ease your business finances and documentation.

Understanding The Inner Workings of An Ideal Accounts Payable Solution

To better understand the capabilities of the ideal account payable software, one must first understand how automation in accounts payable works and its benefits for the overall business workflow.

In automating accounts payable workflows, technological innovations like optical character recognition (OCR), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning are some examples being used to carry out this automation. These technologies then enable businesses to digitise and automate the entire accounts payable workflow, guaranteeing that invoices are accurately captured, processed, and paid on time.

Moreover, by examining the aspects of accounts payable automation, one could also see its benefits and draw attention to the shortcomings of human operations. When we talk about these difficulties, it becomes evident that implementing automation is a calculated step toward a more effective and error-free invoicing management system rather than merely updating technology.

Challenges Faced

It is also worth noting that these particular solutions solve many challenges in the workspace. Most notably, human mistakes can severely impact operational efficiency when APs are done manually. Such errors, which include typos, incorrect calculations, and inadvertently processing the same invoice twice, will take more time and money to correct.

Another business challenge of automated accounts payable software is the expenses wasted by only doing manual data entry. The estimated cost of processing an invoice manually ranges from $15 to $40, and this cost increases when human error is involved. It is worth noting that mistakes in invoice processing can result in unhappy customers, postponed vendor payments, fines, and more manual labour for staff members who have to fix the mistakes. Ultimately, these errors might result in considerable financial losses and a significant rise in processing expenses.

Lastly, working without a centralised tracking system–including a reliable accounts payable system–may cause further disruptions to your operation. If the accountable employee is not accessible, the remaining team members may not be alerted, which could lead to late payments, strained relationships with suppliers, and late payment penalties.

Understanding The Reliability of Your Expense Management Solution

A reliable expense management solution must excel in multiple accounts payable facets, most notably in the aspect of solving expense reimbursements, approval management, and having a comprehensive expense dashboard for easy checking of the user. For the dashboard, it must provide a detailed overview of all expenses, allowing users to track spending patterns, identify cost-saving opportunities, and make informed financial decisions.

For starters, the expense reimbursement for an accounts payable software has always been challenging. To solve this, third-party app integrations like with Google Maps, for example, allows for the simplification of claiming travel expenses, while its automated categorisation ensures precise allocation and tracking. Whether you're on the go or at your desk, effortlessly upload expenses remotely via our app or online platform. Users can also stay informed with real-time notifications on their claim status, saving up a large chunk of essential business time through automation.

Moreover, integrating OCR technology in the software also ensures businesses that accurate data is extracted from receipts, eliminating the need for manual entry. By automating reimbursement processes, operational costs are reduced, while user-friendly submission and tracking interfaces enhance efficiency. You can also say goodbye to administrative burdens and welcome employee trust in the reimbursement process, empowering them to focus on core business objectives.

An ideal accounts payable software must also include an approval management feature by offering a seamless financial process powered by AI. Such AI-powered systems can quickly analyse expense reports, identify potential issues or discrepancies, and make recommendations for approval or rejection. First off, the software allows businesses to create swift compensations to ensure employee satisfaction whilst implementing stringent policy compliance safeguards against fraudulent expenses. Moreover, business users can also approve business expenses effortlessly via the software's intuitive app or web interface, accessible 24/7 in the cloud.

Users can also customise their approval workflows with intelligent business rules and multi-level authorisation hierarchies. For security purposes, the software also allows businesses to prevent invoice fraud with simplified approval procedures, complete with automatic reminders and mandatory submission fields.

Moreover, the ideal software must provide the user's approval management with automatic actions, including approving fixed-value expenses and invoices, delegating tasks through authorisation flows, and assigning business rules with predefined execution orders.

Suppose you want a very detailed overview of the accounts payable workflow. In that case, this software also has your back. It ensures that you fully get a comprehensive look at your expenses while at the same time making it easy for users to understand. Users can visualise their financial data effortlessly through a user-friendly interface, consolidating all insights into one centralised hub. They can also save valuable business time by accessing comprehensive financial overviews in a single glance and tracking expenses, statuses, and trends with ease.

In addition to this, businesses can customise their expense dashboard to display only relevant data, ensuring streamlined navigation and focused analysis. With real-time updates, you can make informed decisions backed by up-to-the-minute financial information, while historical performance analysis empowers strategic planning. Lastly, a comprehensive accounts payable dashboard offers tailored analytics tailored to your unique needs, accessible via both the app and web platform. Say goodbye to administrative burdens and manual tasks—welcome a new era of simplified expense management.

The ideal accounts payable software also must have business expense card integration, allowing users to enjoy the flexibility to make payments anywhere, whether in-store or online, catering to their diverse business needs. Rest assured, your financial data is safeguarded with top-notch security measures, offering peace of mind in every transaction.

Users can also control their expenses and promote responsible spending with these business expense cards, which are effortlessly managed through their personalised dashboard. With tailored spending limits and user-level connectivity, streamline expense control and foster collaboration across your organisation. From registration to reporting, the business expense cards must simplify every aspect of expense management, empowering you to focus on what matters most—growing your business.