Accounts payable workflow – How the finance department can pay physical invoices despite working from home?
Home office requirement due to COVID-19, 2021 is already presenting some challenges for companies. redIT also faces some challenges. One of these arose in our finance department: The employees are in the home office and yet the financial accounting department still needs the visa or approval for physically received invoices. Our solution to ensure time and location independence was the introduction of the accounts payable workflow. Below you will find out exactly what this means, what the mechanism is and how the solution was ultimately implemented at redIT.
Why automation?
Digital process automation is becoming an increasingly important must-have for companies. By automating processes, employees can be spared manual effort. This speeds up work processes and allows employees to concentrate on their core tasks. Basically, recurring tasks should be automated. This can minimize errors and speed up service creation.
How does an accounts payable workflow work?
With workflows, you can digitally and automatically map procedures, operations, operational processes and approvals of your company processes. The processing steps are transparent and tailored to the needs of the company. Your everyday work will become easier and easier. A workflow is triggered by a trigger, for example by scanning an invoice. The individual tasks within the workflow can therefore run in parallel or sequentially as specified.
At redIT, incoming invoices are scanned by the finance department, recognized automatically and finally accounted for by the accounting department. They are then approved via a web-based approval process by the purchaser, cost center or BU managers or the managing director. The various approval processes are configured in advance. After the last approval, the invoices are forwarded directly to the ERP and automatically posted. At the same time, the invoice receipt is archived in the document system in a legally secure manner in accordance with GeBüV.
With the introduction of the accounts payable workflow, entire process chains such as approvals or follow-ups can be automated. All people involved can check and approve invoices regardless of time and location. The accounting department itself knows the status of an invoice at all times. There is no need to search for invoices that have been left behind and therefore not paid on time. You can always benefit from discounts on invoices thanks to the efficient processing time.
What are the advantages of an accounts payable workflow:
- Process transparency (history)
- Reduction in susceptibility to errors
- Reduction of throughput times
- Uniform & person-independent task processing
- Control instrument for superiors (monitoring status)
- Space savings by reducing physical documents
- Independence of location and time
We would be happy to advise you on any questions you may have about automating your processes. The aim is not for all processes to be directly digitally mapped, but rather for them to be analyzed, questioned and optimized first. In a second step, the digital solution is identified and implemented.
Find out more here Vendor workflow on our website
«The accounts payable workflow is an important one for Pistor AG and an indispensable step towards the digitalization of lawmentation system.”
Jean Pierre Arnold
Head of Finance + Controlling, Pistor AG