Is your ERP robust enough to automate your nuanced accounts payable processes? You might be surprised.
In a growing business, ERPs, like Acumatica, are critical for tracking finance and accounting and monitoring essential business data. But for accounts payable (AP), Acumatica is more of a map than a vehicle. ERPs are not designed for a complex and process-heavy operation like payables, and inevitably, AP processes get manually operated by staff.
The Importance of AP Integration
According to the Institute of Finance & Management (IOFM), companies should examine the AP solution that is recommended by their ERP to ensure that they achieve end-to-end automation. A modern AP solution should validate invoices against ERP supplier information, ensure that general ledger coding stays in sync with the ERP, and automate invoices and payments for a faster financial close.
In a recent eBook, Tipalti reported that the median cost to process an invoice is $5.83. However, for the bottom 25 percentile of mature finance teams, that cost is $10.00 per invoice. If you process a volume of invoices every month, you can see how these costs can add up very quickly.
Much of this increase in cost is attributed to the manual data entry aspects of invoice processing. It doesn't include the complete payables effort. The high processing costs are due to issues that can be alleviated with an Acumatica-integrated AP solution such as Tipalti and will improve:
- Disconnected point tools (OCR, invoice/PO-matching, workflow, tax, payments, etc.)
- Manually chasing down PO, invoice, and payment approvals
- Reconciliation of payment data
AP Transformation with Tipalti
As an organization grows, a primary goal of a strategic payables solution should be to include the payables function in the overall corporate strategy. This involves establishing longer payment terms without sacrificing the supplier relationship, ensuring corporate compliance across all entities, and taking a lean operational approach to support ongoing international expansion. This tactic requires a culture shift in finance, recognizing that payables are a crucial enabler of strategic finance.
Achieving a successful AP transformation is not impossible. Start by analyzing your financial operations. You might find that a modern payables solution will elevate the entire finance operation to help guide the business forward.
An Expert Partner
Tipalti extends existing Acumatica capabilities by providing full management and automated execution of accounts payable processes. Tipalti's comprehensive approach to automating AP streamlines the entire bill-to-pay-to-reconciliation cycle. The platform manages all interactions between the payer and the payee to provide end-to-end control and optimize the entire AP workflow—future-proofing operations for mass scale. Schedule a free assessment today.
