How To Optimize Accounting Processes For Greater Control And Profitability

Stress levels are high and there’s not enough time in the day.

Inside accounts receivable, there’s pressure from upper management to increase the collection period to bring more money into the business, while inside accounts payable, questions arise as to whether or not the department is optimizing discounts with suppliers and cutting costs where possible.

The problem?

Your accounting staff is overburdened by paper.

So, how do you save them, and, in turn, strengthen your business?

Accounting Workflows In Your Organization

Every task related to your accounting department is subject to a particular workflow. This workflow starts at the point in which a document is gathered from outside or inside your organization, and continues through processing, storage and delivery.

With hundreds or thousands of these physical documents being generated every day, the need for efficient document management is crucial if you’re looking for ways to cut accounting-related costs while gaining greater control over accounts payable and receivable.

Diagnosing Accounts Receivable And Payable Pain

Inefficient paper-based processes prevent timely invoice processing and taking advantage of available supplier discounts. Without visibility and control over your documents, you remain exposed to the following risks: 

Accounts Receivable:

• A failure to follow up with customers when payments are past due
• Inaccuracies related to invoices, bills and credit terms
• A failure to correctly allocate cash payments
• An inability to see which payments are outstanding

Accounts Payable:

• A failure to issue purchase orders on time
• A loss of early payment discounts
• A failure to prevent payments that are late, overpaid, missed or duplicated
• Manual data entry errors resulting in incorrect supplier or contract information

Beyond the above, keeping up with IRS rules and ensuring you keep documents only as long as you need them are just added stresses for your staff and upper management.

Eliminating The Paper Burden And Focusing On Electronic Management

Centralizing accounting-related documents through a document management system benefits accounting in a number of ways:

• Reduces the amount of time and energy managing paper
• Establishes an open and transparent audit trail
• Creates the ability to set retention schedules by accounting document type
• Implements electronic forms which may be reused for various functions
• Manages and controls increasingly complex compliance requirements
• Eases preparation of management and tax reports
• Eliminates misplaced or misfiled invoices and reduces cost of invoice processing
• Enables your team to plan ahead and optimize business efficiency

Implementing Efficient Document Management Inside Accounting

In terms of implementing document management in your accounting department, accounts payable and receivable are where the most impactful improvements are seen.

Cutting nearly 2% of your overall accounting overhead can have a huge benefit for the overall business. Being able to collect faster on invoices and cutting down the need to extend credit lines optimizes your bottom line.

Plus, implementing document management software relates directly to improving employees’ job satisfaction. Now, they’re able to spend less time on shuffling paper and more time on what they love – their core responsibilities that make them happy and make your business more money.

Learn more tips to improve the efficiency of paper-based accounting processes by downloading our guide.