Boost Your Efficiency: Must-Have Features in Accounts Payable Automation Software

Payment processing and accounts payable tasks are essential to any organisation's financial and operational processes. However, manual completion of financial tasks can be time-consuming and prone to error, making it a difficult-to-manage process that could lead to incorrect reporting and failure to comply with Australian standards.  

With the many tasks that come along with accounts payable and payment processing, it can take a lot of work for staff and finance teams to keep up with the increased workloads as businesses continue to grow, especially when using manual processes. Fortunately, it doesn't need to be a difficult task to keep up with financial processes. This is where automation comes in. We'll cover the top features of financial automation that can benefit finance teams in businesses of all sizes.  

Automated Data Entry

At the heart of any payment processing process is the task of data entry. It is also among the most time-consuming methods in accounts payable. Fortunately, with the use of the correct automation software for your business, data entry can be fully automated. The fully automated data entry would look like automatic finance and supplier data syncing and automatically extracting invoice details from PDF invoices.  

This can save time and reduce the risk of errors associated with manual data entry by removing the aspect of manual conversion from pdf to PO. Some automation software also offers the ability for automatic data syncs to occur every 15 minutes to keep up to date with all actions made within the financing.  

Integrity Checking

In any business, maintaining the integrity of financial data is essential to prevent the occurrence of errors and fraud attempts. When implementing software to automate your financial procedures, consider one that can perform integrity checking. Integrity checking features involve the automation of tasks such as duplicate invoice checking, preventing the occurrence of double-ups and over payments. ABN/BSB/ACC checks, and ASIC (Australian Securities & Investments Comission) register checks, these checks help to ensure that payments are being sent to correct and legitimate suppliers, preventing payment redirection fraud.  

Overall, these checks are able to ensure that business financial data is accurate and that payments are being made with compliance in mind. Keeping businesses safe from fraud and compliant with financial standards.  

Supplier Onboarding

In many businesses, the onboarding process for new suppliers can be a cumbersome process that, unfortunately, requires significant time and effort for all parties involved. The use of automation can solve the issue of time-consuming supplier onboarding by automating the ensure registration process.  

With features such as automatic ABN and ASIC checks that can be performed during the onboarding process, businesses can ensure that they are adding the correct supplier data to their systems as well as ensuring that their suppliers are legitimate and registered in Australia.  

Invoice & Purchase Order Visibility

Visibility is one of the key benefits of automating financial processes. With many forms of automation software, businesses can gain invoice and purchase order visibility, which is essential for keeping track of financial obligations and due dates and ensuring timely payments. With an easy-to-view pipeline of active invoices and customisable colour-coded stages to identify roadblocks, invoices can be automatically filtered to the correct pipeline stage and have that reflected visually for finance staff to view.  

With a visual timeline of invoices and purchase orders, staff can have an easier time identifying upcoming and overdue invoices, leading to an organised and easy-to-manage accounts payable process catered to individual business needs.  

By implementing automation software, businesses can experience the numerous benefits of accounts payable and payment processing operations being streamlined. By leveraging automation for data entry, integrity checking, supplier onboarding and visibility, businesses can save time, reduce errors and streamline their financial operations.  

Additionally, specific platforms are able to ensure compliance and prevent fraudulent activity within the finance sector. As businesses continue to adapt to a rapidly evolving business landscape, adopting automation can offer a competitive advantage by enabling greater efficiency and freeing up recourses to focus on core business activities and driving growth.