Abstract
Organizations are always searching to reduce cost and improve efficiency within their companies and one good candidate for such improvement is the paper-based accounts payable (AP) invoice process. Paper-based invoice processing by its very nature is manually intensive because so many individuals have to “touch” the document before it can be paid. For example, the AP Department needs to extract any paper-based invoices from the mail envelope and then coordinate the end-to-end process for each invoice. The coordination includes: reviewing and routing the invoice for approval, validating the approval(s), entering the invoices for payment. Throughout the life cycle of the invoice, the AP Department also needs to know the real time status of the invoice.
In order to improve the efficiency, organizations have automated portions of the AP process by receiving invoices electronically and/or most storing invoices digitally; however, the most inefficient process such as entering the invoice, coordinating the approval(s) and knowing the real time status of the invoice still needs to be improved.
The purpose of this white paper is to explain how organizations can improve their AP invoice process.
Author: Tom Korbecki