The finance department of any organization works with a wide range of parties. Some of these are internal to the company and some are external. Different departments have different requests and these requests must reach the correct desk for approval, then be ordered, and the purchase paid for.
It doesn’t seem like this process should take a great deal of time, but when it is done by hand, using paper and pencil, there is a lot of room for unnecessary delay and confusion.
For most companies, invoices are approved as they come in. At the end of the month, the finance department should inventory all their invoices and process them at the same time, if possible. This is where invoice approval workflow software, such as we offer at Comindware, can really come in handy.
Benefits of Approval Workflow Software
This software provides you a single place where all elements of the approval process are managed. Many of these software suites make it easy to automate the importation of invoices. This saves a ton of time and makes the processing of multiple invoices at the same time far easier.
These systems allow you to create unique processes that fit the needs of your business. Not only does using this type of software save time, but it also creates a more transparent and solid process for approving invoices. The software allows you automatically import a wide range of data, which saves data entry time and reduces the likelihood of human error. This creates a more transparent and efficient means of managing invoices.
This software can also make the process safer and more transparent. These suites of software allow you to create permissions and approval steps that must be completed in order for the invoice to move to the next link in the proverbial chain. This helps to ensure that all invoices are managed quickly and efficiently and that all relevant parties have access to the information they need to approve an invoice and send it on.
This will help to ensure the timely payment of invoices, which will be greatly appreciated by your vendors. It also makes it easier for you to track business expenses and to ensure the efficient use of business funds.
How to Create a Solid Invoice Approval Workflow Process
The first thing you need to do is create a template for your invoices. This is where you will document all information and data about a given vendor. This will require a great deal of data collection, but once a good template is in place, creating a new invoice for approval is incredibly simple.
Not all invoices have the same approval process. Small items like office supplies may have fewer people in the approval chain than those purchases that are more significant. You will want to create a detailed process for the approval of different invoices.
You can create a workflow process that takes the conditions required for approval for a given process into account. It can also provide relevant parties with information as to where the invoice needs to go after they’ve done their part.
Since you can set different conditions and terms, you can ensure a quality chain of approval that is more transparent and efficient than when done manually. For example, some areas of the invoice may be read-only. This means that only a certain party is able to actually change or alter portions of the form.
This reduces problems and provides an additional layer of security to your invoice approval process. Since this is where money is flowing out of a company, we want to ensure that it is as accurate and secure as possible.
In Closing
Electronic invoice approval processes are vital to ensure the timely payment of vendors and the ability to audit and manage the funds that go out of your business. Manual process not only take a lot longer than something electronic and largely automated, but it also leaves a lot of room for human error, which can cost the business. It is time to move away from manual invoice management.
High-quality invoice approval workflow systems make it easy to create a unique process for the completion of the workflow approval process. It gives all relevant parties access to the information they need to approve the process and provides a trail that shows each and every step taken. With automatic notifications and the ability to collect large amounts of relevant data easily, the invoice approval process will become more simple and efficient than ever before.
