The accounts payable department has historically been viewed as a cost center, but the reporting available through automated AP solutions is changing that perception. Automation provides increased visibility into invoice data, enabling decision-makers to analyze and understand spending, identify budget variances and maverick spend, and spot potential fraud.
With automation, businesses can see their current cash position at-a-glance and monitor team productivity with metrics covering cost, cash, cycle times, payment terms and early-payment discount opportunities. For instance, staff that deal with a particular cost center, business unit or supplier, can quickly access different views of information, easily perform aggregate calculations, drill down to the invoice level and access actions and attachments related to invoices in order to improve supplier relationships. Invoices can be sorted by business unit, supplier, account or cost center, invoice field or location.
Automated solutions also enable decision-makers to access data such as average purchase per vendor and number of overdue invoices, and perform budget variance analysis and expense analysis by vendor on an ongoing basis, enabling buyers to have more informed negotiations with suppliers. Automation also helps businesses better manage accruals. Accounts payable solutions can monitor and extract data about invoices that are still in circulation, and include these invoices in accruals.
Together, the insights provided by automated accounts payable solutions empower businesses to lower their cost of goods, better manage their working capital, and mitigate potential fraud. All of this leads to increased profit margins.
Learn how Nexus can help transform your accounts payable department into a profit center by contacting us today!
