Articles

Where There's AP, there's Paper

When a never ending flurry of paperwork continues to fall on a supposedly “paper-free” Accounts Payable department and someone mentions making better use of performance metrics, AP professionals would be forgiven for dismissing them as something they simply don’t have the time for. However, with the inception of automated software, their implementation can save time, add value, increase efficiency and,  if used with outcomes in mind from the start, can raise the game of the Accounts Payable function.

Start the Clean-Up

As a busy Accounts Payable professional, setting up and maintaining something which could truly be considered a comprehensive master supplier file is likely to be one of those things you know should be done and yet....

Often Accounts Payable departments are relatively small compared to the company size and tend to process a large volume of transactions.  In this environment it’s easy to overlook processes or to simply not have the time to adhere to them.

Overview of Duplicate Payments

Duplicate payments are an overpayment error occurring within the accounts payable department. The Institute of Internal Auditors suggests duplicate payments make up between 0.5% and 0.1% of annual invoice payments (www.theiia.org), which means one in a 1000 payments could be a duplicate. If your organisation makes £50 million in annual invoice payments you are likely paying out £50,000 or more in duplicate payments per year.