Automated Invoice Processing

Invoice processing is a crucial function of any business’ accounts payable team. Being a highly labor-intensive process, there arise the following issues:

• Turnaround time to process an invoice, especially if a business generates thousands of invoices in a day.
• Manual labor is prone to error, which can turn into a huge issue for any business.
• The overhead cost of stationery, in the form of papers, printer inks, folders, filing space etc.

Since it is such a key back-office operation with little room for error, automating this process comes with the following benefits:

• The man-hours wasted on such low-value, high-intensity processes can be brought down by over 85%.
• The margin for error is significantly reduced.
• You save on employee time and miscellaneous costs related to the accounts payable process.

Invoice processing starts with receiving an invoice and ends when the payment is completed and recorded. Invoices can be in any format: paper receipt, PDF, image, or any email. Usually, the invoice is scanned or manually entered into the accounting solution. From there, the invoice should be entered for the correct accounts and cost centers on projects. Then the invoice must be sent to be approved. This is a tedious process, and data needs to be copied manually from PDF to the client’s accounting solution, which also leaves the room for human error.

As the business landscape continuously evolves, businesses should look to adapt their operations to better utilize their employee hours and automate the repetitive, mundane processes.