How to Post More Invoices Directly to your ERP

Accounts payable professionals have a lot on their shoulders.

Their days are full of manual, repetitive tasks such as keying invoice data, shuffling paper, chasing down information, and responding to phone calls and e-mails from suppliers about the status of invoices and payments. All the while, they must manage dozens of policies, procedures, best practices, industry standards, and auditor guidelines on how to approve invoices and pay suppliers. The operational disruption caused by the sudden shift to remote working is complicating things for accounts payable leaders. Nineteen percent of accounts payable leaders say they are “concerned” about the way their department is operating these days, the Institute of Finance and Management (IOFM) reports. Seven percent of payables leaders admit that they are “overwhelmed” by it all.

The curse of manual invoice processing Slower cycle times is undoubtedly on the minds of weary accounts payable leaders.

Fifty-nine percent of accounts payable departments missed an invoice due date during the past year because of operational issues caused by the shift to remote working, IOFM’s research finds.

Manual invoice handling is the biggest impediment to fast invoice approvals. Most accounts payable departments must handle most of the invoices they receive from suppliers, IOFM reports. Even accounts payables departments with some types of automation are handling lots of invoices.

The root of the problem is that in most accounts payable departments, key information is not captured, data is inaccurately, information is poorly organized, data is not timely, and systems are poorly organized. As a result, posting approved invoices to an ERP is a largely manual affair.

Sixty-two percent of accounts payable departments say that reducing the percentage of invoices that require manual intervention is their top priority, the Ardent 2019 State of ePayables Report found. Sounds far-fetched? Not with the right automated accounts payable solution.

Achieving the vision of straight-through posting

Here’s how modern accounts payable solutions increase straight-through posting of invoices:

• The technology ingests invoices from any electronic source, including e-mail, FTP landing site, or a supplier portal. This eliminates data silos and the need for paper handling.
• Data is extracted electronically and validated automatically to ensure accuracy.
• General ledger data is automatically coded, and invoices are matched against any purchase orders (POs) or proof-of-delivery receipts in the ERP (two-way and three-way matching).
• ERP records and transactions are updated touch-free, providing 360-degree visibility.

By posting more invoices directly to an ERP, without human operator intervention, accounts payable departments can significantly reduce their all-inclusive cost to process an invoice, decrease the time required to process an invoice, and free up staff time to focus more time on higher-value activities. If you want to post more of your invoices straight-through, HighIQ wants to speak with you.

Let’s chat about your needs.