Roll Group achieves full control of expenditure with ‘straight-through processing’ of invoices

Executive overview

Profile

Sector
Logistics

No. of invoices received
10,000 p/a

Customer since
2014

Operates in
Worldwide

Objectives

  • Provide a way to monitor the status of invoices across all the international locations.
  • Replace the manual processing of large numbers of paper invoices.
  • Seamless integration with Twinfield accounting software.

How the solution helped

  • Provided a full audit trail.
  • Reduced paper-based invoicing.
  • Freed-up staff to concentrate on more value-add tasks.

Benefits

  • All invoices can be accessed electronically, virtually eliminating errors.
  • Invoices can be approved from anywhere in the world.
  • Automated workflow has increased both efficiency and compliance.
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Profile

Roll Group is a leading specialist in heavy lifting and transportation solutions. Within the Group, the RollDock division operates a fleet of ultra-modern vessels with unique loading and unloading capabilities and handles all kinds of heavy cargo worldwide. Roll-Lift provides innovative engineered heavy lifting, transportation and on-site installation solutions. The group operates internationally from offices in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, United States, Singapore and Australia.

Every year, Roll Group receives around 10,000 invoices in 30 different currencies, which are processed at the head office in the Netherlands. Rapid international growth made invoice processing increasingly complicated. Seeking to improve control, insight and efficiency, the Group wanted a secure and scalable invoice processing solution that its employees could access anywhere in the world, 24/7. Integration with Twinfield accounting software was an important requirement.

Objectives

Roll Group wanted to improve spend management throughout the organisation, so it decided to introduce a uniform invoice approval and processing system for its operating companies worldwide. The new system would replace the manual processing of large numbers of paper invoices that were passed from one person to another. The lack of a transparent audit trail made it difficult to see whether invoices had or had not been approved by the authorised manager. Invoices were also misplaced and sometimes overdue by the time they surfaced.

The Finance team did not have efficient ways to monitor the status of invoices across all the international locations or of getting the manager responsible to issue authorisation. Roll Group wanted greater control over its expenditure and a clearer overview of its financial commitments and hoped to achieve this by streamlining invoice approval and processing.

What the solution provided

With the new solution, Roll Group now has a single platform that enables straight-through processing of purchase invoices, including invoice approval. Incoming invoices are now digitised with invoice scan and capture functionality and entered in the system. Approval is cost-centre based and invoices are sent to the authorised manager as part of an automated workflow. Invoices that have been approved are automatically forwarded to the accounting system, thanks to seamless integration with the Purchase-to-Pay platform.

To gain a clearer overview of its financial commitments, Roll Group also uses contract management functionality to register and monitor long-term (lease) agreements. The fact that long-term agreements only have to be registered once for invoice processing reduces the administrative workload and increases efficiency.

Benefits

The new cloud-based solution makes invoice processing more transparent and gives the Finance team greater control. It is now possible to check the status of each invoice and who is responsible with just a few clicks. All invoices can be accessed electronically, virtually eliminating errors. Incorporating the approval process in an automated workflow increases both efficiency and compliance.

At month-end or year-end, the Finance team has a clear, complete and detailed overview of expenditure, invoices received and outstanding commitments. The administrative workload, and therefore the time needed to process invoices, have been reduced drastically. Invoices can now be scanned and submitted to the manager responsible for approval in just two days, although it doesn’t usually take that long. And since the platform can always be accessed online, invoices can be approved from anywhere in the world.