According to the 2018 State of Accounts Payable Report, 26% of surveyed organizations claimed they processed too many paper documents. 25% complained their organization was facing too much manual data entry. But with electronic invoicing, these numbers can be improved.
CFO magazine looked at 1,485 different organizations to see what their real cost per paper invoice was. The results were pretty astounding. The bottom 25% were spending more than $10 per paper invoice. Read that again if you need to and let it sink in: $10 per paper invoice. Though the average price per paper invoice came in around $5.83, why wouldn’t you want to aim for even lower?
e-Invoicing software can drastically reduce the cost of processing an invoice as the invoice itself doesn’t have to pass through so many hands and accumulate postage fees. Going electronic with your invoices means you’ll also save on time, so your staff can put their time and energy towards more strategic tasks. How does an invoice processing cost of less than $1 sound? Because it’s achievable when you adopt an e-invoicing process. You’ll decrease administrative costs, processing times, and printing and postage costs.
When you are not spending time printing, posting, and processing paper invoices, payments are received faster. The reason is simple—e-invoices are delivered instantly and flow directly into your customers’ e-invoicing accounts payable solution, enabling streamlined e-invoice processing. This leads to faster turnaround times and a greater likelihood of earlier payment.
E-invoicing also helps strengthen customer relationships, as invoices are easier to process than paper, making on-time payments more likely and increasing efficiency across the entire order-to-cash cycle. Shortening this cycle benefits both buyers and suppliers by creating opportunities for early payment discounts. Buyers save through discounted pricing, while suppliers improve cash flow by reducing days sales outstanding (DSO).
E-invoicing accounts payable automation also decreases the likelihood of time-consuming disputes, since automated data extraction reduces the risk of manual entry errors. And if a dispute does arise, all e-invoice processing data is stored in a central location, making it easy to retrieve supporting documents and communications to resolve issues quickly.
When your organization adopts e-invoicing, you’ll contribute to a decreased carbon footprint and make our planet a better place.
Surely, you’ve seen other electronic initiatives around your office, considering that it’s estimated an average office worker can consume between 10,000 and 20,000 sheets of paper a year. And for those working in Finance or Accounting, these numbers can creep even higher. All this paper usage means one thing—less trees. And long story short, with less trees and higher amounts of paper waste, companies are leaving behind detrimental amounts of waste, emitting excess carbon in our atmosphere.
Through e-invoicing, the paper that would normally be handled manually is transferred through the system electronically, cutting back drastically (and in some cases totally eliminating) paper from the invoice process.
Processing invoices manually is extremely inefficient. But with an electronic invoicing solution (or e-invoicing solution), as soon as an e-invoice is received, the system notifies relevant managers. This ensures they know an invoice is ready to be reviewed and approved without going through additional, time-consuming steps. In addition, e-invoices contain the correct documentation needed for quick approval.
Data entry errors are common in manual invoice processing. These time-consuming mistakes are significantly reduced with the e-invoicing process, as automation minimizes the risk of human error. When it comes to exception handling, manual intervention is further reduced as machine learning technologies assist with resolving exceptions.
E-invoicing also prepares your organization for growth by equipping you with the capacity to manage increasing business transactions. As invoice volumes rise, your AP department can efficiently handle the load with the help of e-invoicing accounts payable automation. This ensures payments are delivered on time and supports stable cash flow.
If you’ve been keeping up with buzzwords and hashtags recently, you may have noticed that there is quite a lot going on in the tax compliance world. Tax administrations around the world are changing the game of indirect taxes such as VAT, GST, and customs and excise duties. And if you’re a global company doing business in multiple countries, the varying regulations pile up quickly. It’s important to understand relevant tax obligations and ensure your accounting system is prepared to handle them in the most compliant way.
Adopting an e-invoicing solution that is equipped to handle complex global compliance requirements prepares your organization with a streamlined, centralized accounting process. In addition, every invoice processed electronically is automatically stored and ready to be retrieved during audits.
If you were to have an audit request pop up tomorrow, would you quickly be able to locate and pull all relevant documents? With an electronic archive, you definitely could. When all your invoices are processed electronically through an automated solution, the data automatically gets stored in your electronic archive for the appropriate time required by various regions.
With a cloud-based e-archive in place, your company can:
Save money and storage space
Be less vulnerable to fraud or a surprise audit
Consolidate all your invoice information into one location
Remain safe and secure, as each document is digitally signed and timestamped
Quickly search and retrieve archived documents, making you ever-ready for audits.
If you’re ready to learn more about what e-invoicing is, we’re here to answer your questions and assist in any transitions. Contact us to plan your next steps.