High-Touch Invoicing Poses a Serious Threat to Finance, PROACTIS Survey Finds
PROACTIS, the Spend Control and eProcurement software specialist, today released results of a survey demonstrating that Finance departments are being compromised by high-touch invoice processes and sub-standard performance in Accounts Payable. The problem stems from errors and mistakes in manual, paper-based processes and invoicing tasks mired in inefficiency; causing lengthy cycle times and a lack of control and visibility of transactions. Consequences are late-payment penalties, lost discounts and weak controls - a serious and growing threat to a company's cash flow.
PROACTIS set out to determine the impact of invoice automation on the financial performance of an organisation by surveying more than 100 medium-sized European enterprises (MSEs). It found that inefficiency is widespread, costly and a common source of cash flow problems. Whilst many have implemented discrete technology tools to streamline the inbound receipt of invoices, few have addressed 'total' invoice automation to drive out costs and optimise Accounts Payable from the bottom-up - centralising and streamlining data entry; automating validation, coding and matching; minimising exception handling workflow; and reducing supplier enquiries etc.
Among the key findings:
- Accounts Payable spends in excess of 70 percent of their time trying to reconcile invoices.
- 41 percent of organisations report invoicing delays as a common source of cash flow problems.
- 32 percent estimated their company has at least £10,000 a month delayed due to invoicing errors.
- 43 percent reported less than 10 percent of invoices are handled using automated exception workflow.
- 62 percent highlight inaccuracies of data for Accounts Payable as well as ERP systems.
- Over 30 percent of respondents do not know the cost and cycle time for processing an invoice; or even the precise invoice volume.
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"The Accounts Payable function has clearly taken a back seat role in enterprise automation projects over the last few years," said Simon Dadswell, Director of Marketing, PROACTIS. "The results of this study show that given the lack of innovation and the challenges it faces, there are huge opportunities for organisations to bring their Accounts Payable function into the 21st Century and improve financial controls. We hope this survey prompts organisations to have those internal discussions and find an effective solution that works for them. Organisations that continue to take a piecemeal approach to discrete problems will haemorrhage cost."
PROACTIS has recently launched its next generation invoicing software for Accounts Payable automation designed to help organisations improve financial controls, workflow efficiency and accuracy, and streamline complex authorisation processes. Built using the latest web technology, PROACTIS Intelligent Invoicing offers:
- An intuitive user interface and flexible user archives for increased productivity.
- The ability to connect to any choice of supplier channels (OCR, XML, Self Billing, Payment Cards, PO Flip etc.) to create a single interface to your business.
- A next generation 'Learning Engine' capable of building up knowledge of finance codes and procurement classifications etc. from the outset and applying them against future consolidated bills ready for approval.
- Highly intelligent invoice processing that enables companies to receive, reformat, apply rules and match invoices and offers seamless approval and exception workflow.
- Sophistication in processing complex invoices such as utility bills.
"PROACTIS Intelligent Invoicing makes invoice process automation a spend control reality for organisations and can significantly reduce the administration burden on Accounts Payable. It offers out-of-the-box integration to external ERP and Accounts Payable systems - including PROACTIS' suite of Procure-to-Pay solutions - and enables you to turn high-touch invoice processes into low-touch; while improve financial management controls," added Simon.
Find out more about PROACTIS Intelligent Invoicing »
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