Paperless

Article Dean Dorton

Have you found yourself or your employees scrambling to cash in checks? Are you running to the office just to manage paper invoices and process ACH payments? During these challenging times of performing work at home and keeping up with the economic turndown, it’s critical that you have the right technology tools in place to properly manage your organization’s cash flow.

Join Dean Dorton for a high-level presentation on how automation and the right tools can make your cash processing quicker and more insightful- all while letting you successfully “shelter in place” and keep it all paperless.

Anyone who plays a financial management role in their organization including (but not limited to):

  • AR/AP Specialists
  • CFOs/COOs/Controllers
  • VPs and Directors of Finance
  • Accountants, Bookkeepers, Office Managers
  • Presidents, Executive Directors

Resources:

Article Dean Dorton

This blog was reposted from our partner, AvidXchange.

We all know that the accounts payable process isn’t a straight and narrow path. Several small steps can make a big difference when it comes to paying vendors on time—invoice entry, approvals, and handling different payment methods. These steps aren’t all that simple, especially with paper.

Paper is the reason for most problems plaguing finance departments. Common obstacles that stem from paper include hours of manual labor, errors, and fraud risks that could cost your business thousands of dollars. The time and money spent solving these problems are one of the many reasons why finance decision-makers are considering a paperless accounts payable process—AP automation solutions.

Currently, there’s a lot of buzz around finance departments transforming from paper to paperless accounts payable processes. They want to reduce the time spent on manual tasks and streamline the process without missing critical steps. Businesses want flexibility, visibility, and security when paying vendors, which just isn’t possible with paper.

If your finance staff is facing any of the typical payment problems, we have four simple solutions to ease the pain:

4 accounts payable problems and reasons to seek a paperless AC process

1) Your paper-based accounts payable process makes it impossible to improve long-term strategies and visibility.

Even though paper-based accounts payable processes and strategies may be working just fine for your finance department, they’re not the best. Storing invoices, receipts, and vendor information in a file cabinet makes it nearly impossible to predict financial problems or opportunities accurately. Chances are if you’re analyzing payment data with piles of paper and Excel files, there’s a high chance of errors and limited visibility into ineffective spend or vendor costs over time. Not to mention the amount of time spent analyzing information, rummaging through file cabinets, and looking for lost printed invoices and vendor records.

With a paperless accounts payable process, finance leaders have easy access to historical payment information and customized reports to make well-informed decisions without paper or manual labor. The AP staff has all information needed for audits, tax season, and month-end closing, all in one cloud-based SaaS. AP automation’s increased level of visibility helps finance leaders stay ahead of potential overspend based on payment history.

2) You’ve established poor vendor relationships thanks to problems with paper.

Let’s face it: vendors dread calling your accounts payable department to checking on invoices or payment statuses. The reality is, that they just want their payments on time. AP specialists waste hours combing through piles of paper to answer these emails and phone calls from vendors.

Paper-based accounts payable processes often lead to late payments. Late payments and lack of communication often lead to poor vendor relationships. From a supplier’s point of view, they’re counting on your business’ payments from their sales to avoid debt and effectively manage their budgets just like your business. With paper-based accounts payable processes, it’s nearly impossible to provide vendors with real-time updates and visibility into your finance department’s accounts payable process.

The best solution to keep the supplier happy is a paperless AP process. AP automation solutions allow companies to log in to the supplier portal to get real-time updates on each invoice and view payment history without phone calls and emails. Many AP automation solutions also have the option to pay vendors in batches when using electronic payments. There’s also less worry about managing different payment types. For example, the AvidPay Network handles the heavy lifting of contacting vendors to verify payment types to save your finance department time and money.

3) You’re stuck in the Stone Age of paying with paper checks.

Why are businesses still clinging to the Stone Age with paper checks? For most finance departments, it’s convenience and cost savings. However, organizations that use paper processes often have to rely on internal processes to double check for fraud, but that’s not enough. Finance departments that stick to paper run the risk of duplicate invoices which can lead to duplicate payments. Or even worse, they may mail a paper check to a scammer who sent a fake invoice.

4) Your finance department is spending more than expected on payment processing.

Most finance leaders don’t invest in AP automation solutions because they’re afraid that they won’t see a return on the investment. There’s the common misperception that AP automation solutions are for larger businesses that have high payment volume. So, naturally, these companies stick to paper-based accounts payable processes that don’t seem to cost as much money, but in fact, paper processes cost more. On average, companies are paying $22 to process a single paper invoice. According to Due.com, some companies are spending as much as $40. If your company handles at least 500 invoices per month, you may be spending as much as $11,000 to process your payables.

Paper checks also have high costs. According to PYMNTS.com, processing one check can cost your business almost $10. That doesn’t include manual labor costs and hours spent. Multiplying these costs by the number of payments received each month can add up quickly. On the other hand, AP automation solutions cut accounts payable costs by as much as 60 percent for many businesses.

Article Dean Dorton

3 hours, 180 minutes, 10,800 seconds…no, it’s not a song from Rent, but the average amount of time I lost completing an expense report. Or it was until I started working at Massey Consulting and was introduced to Nexonia.

After returning from a conference with several expenses and receipts, I embarked upon using Nexonia for the first time. I literally exclaimed, “Why didn’t I have this 10 years ago????”

I can’t tell you the countless hours I have spent on expense reports in the past. As someone with an average expense report each month of $10K, I was calling for hotel receipts, digging through emails, calling vendors for invoices, and keeping up with every paper receipt. My expense report was a major task and time-consuming. I truly was amazed at how easy Nexonia is to use and the time it saved me…so amazed that I want to share with you 6 reasons why you should try Nexonia:

1-There’s an app! Let’s face it – we all want an app. It’s in our hand, it’s with us everywhere, and it’s convenient. We really want the app! Nexonia has mobile applications for iPhone™, Android™, and Blackberry®. Yes, Blackberries are still out there! No Wi-Fi? No problem! With the Nexonia app simply enter your expenses and wait for the sync.

2-Nexonia’s Cloud-based web application No downloads, no checking the “About” section for the version you are on, the application is always available if you have access to a browser. The web application is an alternative to the mobile app and allows for easy reporting and approvals at the administrative level. So whether you are on the go or sitting at your desk, Nexonia has you covered.

3-No More Paper Receipts! No more cleaning out the bottom of your computer bag to find receipts. No more calling that restaurant to get a copy of a receipt that got washed in your pocket. Simply snap a picture with your phone while at the restaurant, download the Uber receipt from your email, use GPS mapping to calculate your mileage – it’s simple, quick and PAPERLESS.

4-Quick Approval We all want to get paid sooner rather than later. With Nexonia, reimbursement is a few clicks away. Click for approval and in a couple of days or less, there’s money in the bank. No more floating money to pay the bill before interest hits. Approval is quick and reimbursement is fast.

5-Reporting No more spreadsheets to type and code, then export, then import. With Nexonia, reports are shared and accessed through the mobile or web application and can be exported on an as-needed basis. With integration into most ERP and accounting systems, Nexonia makes reporting seamless and effortless.

6-Nexonia saves time With Nexonia, it’s literally minutes to enter, record, and submit your expenses, not 3 hours, 180 minutes, 10,800 seconds. I completed my expense report in a few minutes while standing at my kitchen counter the other night. No more taping receipts and highlighting the dates and amounts. No more writing down mileage. No more chasing your manager down for a signature of approval. And, most importantly, no more waiting until the next pay period to get reimbursed. Through the whole process from entry to reimbursement, Nexonia saves you time. And if you’re like me, time is something you don’t want to waste on an expense report.

So those are my top reasons for using Nexonia. Oh yes, there are others like top-notch customer support, exchange rate calculations, and DCAA compliance, but for me, it’s about quick, simple, easy, and the time savings. Nexonia makes expense reports easier and that works for me!

Email kdenton@masseyconsulting.net if you’d like a demo of the Nexonia Expense solution.