No matter how automated your AP processes are, there will always be some errors or sources of dispute.  In fact, in a survey by Credit Today, 13% of the typical credit department staff’s time is spent on error resolution.  

So how do you reconcile and quickly resolve these issues which consumer time with minimum gain to cash flow?  This article by consultancy, Paystream Advisors, suggests three methods for remedying disputes. 

Perhaps the most important of these is the simplest:  setting up error thresholds.  Some deductions are simply too small to be worth addressing, so that issuing automatic adjustments within these pre-set thresholds makes more sense.  Having the level of visibility, automation and control that’s possible with Palette solutions is key to being able to make these adjustments.

We’ve blogged before about the European Commission’s recommendations and priorities for encouraging wider uptake of e-invoicing across EU members.  Scandinavian countries are leading the way in the drive towards the e-invoicing goal, as this article from the UK Financial Times points out. 

The Finnish Government has already told companies that only electronic invoicing is acceptable, according to the country’s communications minister.  And in Sweden and Norway, public organisations impose higher fees for the use of paper invoices in transactions. 

As Bo Harald, the chair of the European Commission expert group on e-invoicing points out:  “Electronic invoicing would be good for productivity, good for the environment and good for the quality of services.”

What will the future hold for AP departments in larger organisations?  This article from the IAPP’s publication, Financial Operations Matter, looks into the crystal ball and predicts a steady uptake.

As the article points out, only about 5% of the world’s invoices are processed in a truly automated end-to-end fashion, which makes the potential for AP automation high.  According to the latest Invoice Automation Benchmarking Report 2010 by PayStream, 77% of all business invoicing is still done on paper. Add e-mail invoices, which are typically printed out and handled as paper, and old-school invoicing still accounts for 86% of the big picture. 

So while the uptake of automation continues to advance slowly, it is advancing – and delivering hard and fast benefits to those companies deploying it