Make 2019 Your Best Year Yet With Accounts Payable Automation
Your company’s prosperity depends in great part on your cash flow management. Some business owners assume that the only way to manage their accounting services is to hire a costly team of full-time accounting employees. Fortunately, accounts payable automation is a superb solution for companies seeking to improve their accounting protocol without incurring any major expenses. From long-term cash savings to an improved industry reputation, automating your accounts payable tasks can give your business the boost that it needs to prosper in a competitive marketplace. Below are five ways that accounts payable automation can help your business thrive in 2019.
1) Long-term cash savings
Improved cash flow is one of the key benefits of automating your accounts payable tasks. By eliminating bottlenecks that can occur between purchasing and accounting departments, automation saves valuable time and resources for multiple departments. This translates into significant long-term cost savings. Here are a few specific ways that accounts payable automation will help improve your cash flow:
- Electronic invoicing expedites the billing process and eliminates postage costs
- Automation improves the accuracy of your cash flow forecasting
- You will save time and money by improving payment accuracy
2) You may not need as much space
Automating your accounts payable tasks helps companies maximize their space in two key ways. First, the filing cabinets that house copies of paper invoices can be eliminated. Second, depending on the size of your business, you may be able to get by with a smaller accounts payable team. This means a reduction in total office space required. With the typical accounting employee occupying between 60 to 250 square feet of space, this can result in substantial savings if you are leasing space.
3) Training is simplified
The average employee spends over 47 hours in training. By automating accounts payable tasks, the amount of training time is reduces. Accounting employees no longer have to spend hours learning complicated invoicing procedures. Employees can hit the ground running faster and important tasks do not fall through the cracks while you are waiting for a new employee to be brought up to speed.
4) Your employees can devote their attention to top priorities
Companies that use accounts payable automation greatly reduce the amount of time spent on paperwork, sending mail, and signing checks. Employees are able to devote more time and resources to key priorities that will generate revenue. Specifically, outsourcing enables companies to zero in on the following:
- Designing a more comprehensive marketing plan
- New business development
- Establishing contacts with new vendors and contractors
- Improving customer satisfaction
5) Your industry reputation will improve
“When the customer abuses a contract by late paying of invoices or changing payment terms, trust is quickly broken. In reality, suppliers, especially SMEs, are rarely in a position to challenge their customers for fear of damaging the business relationship.”
– Philippa Foster Back, Director of The Institute of Business Ethics
Paying vendors late is more than just a bad business practice. It is ethical business issue. When your company adopts accounts payable automation to pay invoices swiftly and professionally, your vendors and contractors will notice. This will lead to better online reviews and a better industry reputation. Ultimately, these improvements will contribute to an increase in leads and an improved industry reputation.
The Bottom Line
Accounts payable automation is an excellent solution for companies seeking a means of streamlining their finance operations and improving relationships with vendors. To learn more about the specific ways your company can benefit from accounts payable automation please contact the experts with iPayables. Their team of professionals is ready to provide you with a flexible and affordable solution that will help your business thrive!