Time is one of the most valuable commodities in business. Yet, for many companies, a significant portion of their time vanishes into the black hole of back-office operations. Manually processing invoices, tracking payments, and reconciling errors can drain resources, frustrate employees, and pull you away from what really matters – your customers.
The Problem with Manual Accounts Payable
Processing accounts payable by hand might feel familiar, but it comes with a host of drawbacks:
- Time-Consuming Tasks
Manual entry of invoices requires hours of data entry, approval routing, and filing. Multiply this by hundreds or thousands of invoices per month, and you’ll see why staying on top of invoice processing becomes a full-time job. - Prone to Human Errors
Typos, duplicate payments, and missing invoices can create costly headaches. A single mistake in this area can disrupt cash flow and delay accurate monthly profit and loss statements. - Lack of Transparency
Keeping track of payment due dates, outstanding invoices, and budget forecasts can be challenging when everything is buried in spreadsheets or paper files.
The bottom line is that manual processes are inefficient, and they consume valuable time and energy that could be devoted to other critical areas of your business.
Why Automate Your Accounts Payable?
Automating your accounts payable process turns a traditionally inefficient system into a powerful engine of productivity. With the right technology, you can greatly simplify the way invoices are processed, approved, paid, and stored.
1. Save Time and Get Back to What Matters
Automating AP processes drastically reduces manual steps and interventions. It can not only expedite invoice data entry, ensure timely payment, and simplify invoice records, but it can also standardize all invoice data, automatically GL code products, and effortlessly push clean data into your back-office or accounting system. This keeps your back-office operations running smoothly while you turn your attention to customer service.
For example, Fintech can process both your alcohol and non-alcohol invoice data in seconds and send it directly into your back-office system. All invoices are standardized and digitally housed in an invoice vault to improve bookkeeping and ease reconciliation.
2. Reduce Errors and Improve Accuracy
Automation minimizes the risk of human error by eliminating the need for manual data entry. Fintech allows you to upload your non-alcohol invoices in three ways, through optical character recognition (OCR) technology with a picture and upload, a back-office integration, or through our proprietary Invoice Builder, where your vendors without e-invoicing capabilities can create an electronic invoice quickly and easily. Vendor disputes are eradicated faster with data accessibility, and payment delays become a thing of the past with automated invoice processing, leaving your vendors happy and your business running smoothly.
3. Improve Cash Flow Management
An AP automation tool gives you better visibility into your company’s financial position. Dashboards and reports allow you to track payment due dates, identify cost-saving opportunities through cost variance detection, and plan for future expenses with confidence. Fintech provides personalized insights based on your spending with invoice data to help empower better financial control and stability.
The Biggest Advantage of All? More Customer Time
The greatest benefit of automation is that it opens the door to more meaningful engagement with your customers. Instead of burying yourself in paperwork and tracking down causes of margin erosion, you can prioritize customer service, customer feedback, and relationship-building.
For example, our customers tell us that our AP automation reduces their invoice processing time by 75%.
Take Back Control of Your Time
Automating your AP process isn’t just about reducing paperwork – it’s about reclaiming your time and reshaping how you run your business. By cutting inefficiencies and minimizing errors, automation gives you the freedom to focus on what really matters. You can finally trade late nights in the back office for meaningful time spent growing your customer relationships and driving your business forward.
Click here to learn more about how PaymentSource® Premium can help automate your AP process with all your invoices or fill out the form below to speak with a Fintech expert.
