The Six Advantages of AP Automation

Every organization’s Accounts Payable department seems to have one: the AP guru who knows every code, every vendor, and every account. Your AP professionals may understand the process inside and out, yet they can fall behind at the job without the technology resources they need to deliver excellence. 

Accounts Payable automation untangles the process by capturing and coding invoices, checking data like amounts and P.O. numbers, and executing and recording payments. Automation validates and routes invoices through approvals while flagging exceptions for human review. It frees AP experts to focus on higher-level tasks like vendor management, financial analysis, budgeting, and reporting. 

In the manual AP process, professionals spend 50-80% of their week organizing and entering documents received by mail, email, and fax. They spend tedious hours matching invoices to purchase orders. Errors must be resolved. Deliverables must be confirmed. Payments must be authorized. The cycle moves slowly to the frustration of internal stakeholders and external partners alike. 

Traditional AP isn’t just time-intensive – it’s also expensive. On average, it takes 8 – 14 days to process and pay an invoice, each costing between $9 and $23. 

An effective Accounts Payable solution:

• Speeds the invoice/pay/reconciliation cycle by automatically uploading, validating, and routing invoices for approvals. Invoices are processed within hours – not weeks. 
• Delivers better efficiency and accuracy by ingesting and coding data directly from invoices while eliminating the risks of keystroke errors and double payments. 
• Reduces costs and increases savings by applying contract terms and vendor credits and enabling organizations to meet deadlines for early payment discounts. 
• Facilitates compliance and transparency by following business rules tailored to satisfy financial regulations and audit requirements. 
• Improves accessibility and collaboration by allowing remote access to critical financial information. A modern AP solution facilitates effective online collaboration within and between departments. 
• Supports budgeting and analysis by providing real-time visibility into any invoice at any point in the AP cycle and overview information about all transactions in progress or completed.

Accounts Payable process innovation gives your organization the power to capture and process invoices immediately. It saves money and eliminates the risk of error while improving partner relationships with faster payment cycles. Best of all, it frees AP professionals to apply their expertise to the work that benefits your organization most. 

• ILINX platform
• accounts payable
• process innovation
• AP automation