How to Organize and Streamline an Accounts Payable Department

Keeping track of the accounts payable department can be crucial in helping a business save money and time. There are various ways to benefit by monitoring accounts payable, improving the department with invoice automation and creating a fluid invoicing process.

Creating an infrastructure 

If invoices, bills and payments are stressful topics, it might be time to see if there is any way to straighten out the process. Electronic workflow can be an option for making invoice payments sleek and effortless.

If invoice automation isn’t being used, it’s available for businesses that are looking to improve organization. For the businesses currently using this technology, Image & Data Manager recommended measuring the level of automation already in place. If a company is using a simple automation procedure, it might be time to ramp it up. If a business has yet to look into the available options regarding invoice automation, realizing the cost of paper invoices by recording the numbers can be enough initiative to switch over.

Reviewing organization

If someone is used to a routine, mistakes can be overlooked, such as due dates for payments. Inc. magazine noted that incoming bills should be recorded into the system with the arrival dates, the dates they are due and any relevant information that can help anyone looking into the records later on.

Employees involved with the accounting process should be trained properly in recording this information and be comfortable using invoice automation software. The source stressed that pay dates for bills are also necessary for organization – paying bills en masse, promptly and at the same time every week can ensure that no payments are left behind.

Understanding the finances and being prepared

When an accounts payable system is organized and employees become accustomed to it, certain trends become more obvious, according to Inc. For example, inequity during the holidays for the department may increase. Awareness about this reoccurring factor can make it easier to avoid stress by preparing ahead of time.

Getting to know the basics of finances in a business can assure success, but if a company is ever having trouble with it, Inc. recommended it hire an advisor. A financial advisor can look at the overall picture and see what the business owner may have overlooked.

“That person can also help craft a plan for going forward, say, a two-year plan,” Kathryn Amenta, a San-Francisco-based financial advisor, told Inc. “It’s really important to look at: What is this business paying too much for? Is this business venture supporting itself?”

Using electronic documentation and invoice automation streamlines the accounts payable department of any business. Organizing invoices and bills can save a business money it didn’t know it was losing in the first place.