“The beginning is the most important part of the work.” 

That's what Plato said anyways....but, we tend to agree, however that most airline passengers are grateful for successful landings, so there’s that. Regardless of your position on whether the beginning or the end is the best, we want to get off to a good start with today’s post which is really about outlining what we believe is the optimal way to address AP automation for Netsuite users.

Now,  defining what AP automation actually means is necessary for a common understanding since it’s a broad topic and confusion over it can arise quickly. For the sake of today’s article AP automation as leveraging an advanced technology apparatus to address invoice presentment (how accounts payable invoices are received into a business) through their processing (approval process, 2 or 3 way matching, and GL coding) and ultimately ending in posting (entry into ERP or accounting system).  The payment process that comes after posting is also a prime candidate for AP automation but we like that idea that’s better couched as integrated payables. Here’s a deep dive on that, which will get you up to speed in a hurry.

Key points we need to address relating to AP automation for Netsuite.

Whichever approach you’re taking for automating invoice processing should follow a general course of action.  Invoices are received in numerous, different ways.  Some may be emailed, others hard copy via mail, still others via supplier portals, and for some legacy businesses, even fax.  Beyond that, there are file format considerations and we’ve seen them all...PDF, physical paper, Tiff, JPG, and XLS files are all part and parcel of the structures that AP departments have to deal with. 

Invoice Presentment - Optimal AP automation for Netsuite with respect to how invoices come in means being able to capably and swiftly address these multiple types of submissions in a cohesive, scalable, and powerful way that empowers the AP organization to capture all necessary data and leverage the data to good effect in advancing the invoice through the process.

This is best done through the use of advanced OCR (optical character recognition), whereby invoices can be categorized (Non-PO, PO 2 way, or even PO 3 way - with a receiver to match against).  Critical information can be parsed from each invoice depending on its type and that information can be used to drive the process forward automatically and without human intervention.

Invoice Capture - One way or the other you need to get the data off the invoices if you’re going to end up posting them within Netsuite.  For people who haven’t automated they have to assign this task to their AP staff and in many cases have to scale up the staff to accommodate higher invoice volumes since it’s all predicated on data entry and manual validation steps (Vendor and PO lookups, line item matching, etc.)  From our perspective, this is wasted effort given how strong capture tech is these days. With near 98% level accuracy with advanced OCR at a character level, what is the gain in pursuing data entry? At the same time, most businesses aren’t interested in investing in or managing outlier technology that is expensive and requires special IT skills to administer.  So, from our perspective, what most businesses would do well to consider is partnering with a service provider that helps them get the outcome they want. In other words, sign up with someone that can deliver the invoices captured and clean on an ongoing basis, so you don’t have to get entangled in yet another system you have to pay big dollars to bring in and then have the benefit of managing.  Why not just pay for the outcome, especially if it’s a nominal ongoing, pass through expense that gets you immediate impacts?

Invoice Presentment within APSmart from CloudX

Data Integration - This may be the unsung hero of the bunch of items necessary for optimal AP automation for Netsuite.  Honestly, we can’t overstress the need for solid integration. From our perspective, the best approach with a system like Netsuite is facilitated through its Suitecloud developer environment where, because of its service oriented architecture, third parties can develop and integrate their apps in a consistent and scalable approach.  As such, when you have a tight integration (ideally via a dynamic API), especially in the AP realm you can do all sorts of wonderful things that otherwise would require manual effort that is costly, time consuming, and error prone.

Here’s a few things that can be expedited through tight data integration from an AP automation perspective for Netsuite:

-Vendor Validation - As invoices get submitted into the AP automation system for processing, vendors can be validated against the Netsuite vendor master file information to determine their accuracy and legitimacy. When valid vendors are identified, the invoice can continue forward in processing and where vendors detected in the capture stage that don’t reconcile against available, valid vendors in the master file, the invoice can shift into an exception state to be triaged by the accounting staff.  This is huge from a data cleansing and fraud detection standpoint and would otherwise only be possible by an operator doing manual entry reconciliation and lookups, both of which are cumbersome and a total drag on efficiency.

-General Ledger Coding - By exposing the various GL table data that exists within a Netsuite deployment and bringing that into your AP automation system of choice, you can do some interesting things.  For starters, you can overlay the approval process with a tighter set of controls so that relevant stakeholders (approvers) only see the GL codes that they need to access. This is helpful as it contributes to cleaner books and can eliminate fraud, while providing nice audit trails along the way as coding selections are evidenced by actor based data.  This obviously presumes some electronic workflow that drives the process, which is pretty much a standard feature for any end to end AP automation system.

-Purchase Order Matching - While Netsuite has latent capabilities to execute multi-way matching (the matching between purchase order data and invoice data, whether 2 way ie. PO vs Invoice, or 3 way ie. PO vs. Invoice vs. Receiver Document), if you don’t have an automation component driving the match, then Netsuite can only tap into the matching capability after the invoice or receiver data is brought in manually.  This is a bummer. However, optimal AP automation for Netsuite would include the PO matching because the data parsed through the Presentment and Capture steps above make the data available and usable in an automated way. Therefore, you can eliminate the need for manual matching in a high percentage of invoices. You can even overlay variance thresholds between these documents to tighten payment controls over your AP process.  Again, none of this is possible if you are stuck in an environment where you manually cranking away against data entry. But, with some advanced logic inside of an AP automation system for Netsuite you can easily pass along the ones that reconcile well and isolate the ones that have quantity and line item mismatches or that exceed permissible variances.  

Invoice Population within Netsuite of above referenced  invoice.

One key take-away as a higher order thought to transforming accounts payable is essentially this; beyond making AP efficient and empowering your staff to do more work in a faster fashion because of machine automation, there should be a fundamental elevation in the strategic nature and role of the accounts payable function, because the time savings and visibility associated with this AP automation initiative means your people will be freed up to pursue higher order tasks.  

This is why many corporate finance leaders who drive these kinds of projects forward will find themselves being able to pursue things like enhanced cost accounting or specialty projects, optimized vendor management initiatives, or pursuit of a more sophisticated payments strategy.  Obviously, if you’re mired by data entry and manual process, you’ll never get the upside of experiencing any of the meaningful uplifts in the nature of the work, because you’ll be perennially stuck in the weeds so to speak.

A few other things to think about with respect to AP Automation for Netsuite:

Beyond the obvious invoice processing elements we’ve already laid out, there are some more nuanced impacts of data visibility within AP that should never be overlooked.

For starters, the impacts of visibility and speed within the framework of optimal AP automation for Netsuite users (and really anyone implementing accounts payable transformation) should net out to actionability.  Realistically, if it’s not advancing your business and translating into concrete value, what’s it doing for you?

From our perspective here is what it could look like:

-Insight into pending payables - dashboards are really helpful this way, and more specifically having visibility into impact dates with respect to when invoices are paid.  The two predominant ways this flushes out is the invoice due date and dates for early payment discount deadlines. In the former, you can use the visibility and speed of the optimal AP automation for Netsuite to eliminate late payment issues and fees and in the latter you can use it to increase your early payment discount capture rates.  One is a defensive mechanism, the other enables your business to go on offense and to increase the strategic value of AP to the business in a tangible, monetary way.

-Reporting & retrieval - Being able to produce relevant AP documents, be they invoices, statements, credit memos, voucher / check request forms, and the audit trails for invoice and payment actions for every stakeholder in the process is crucial to ensuring the payables process has been structured in a way that is compliant with best practices and controls that are sound and justifiable to those responsible for corporate governance.  Additionally, being able to produce rich reporting that empowers your business to manage to key performance indicators is another factor for enhancing the performance of your AP department. Additionally, being able to have insight into vendor, workflow, and payment data will afford you the ability to get insights you may not have if the AP function is exclusively done in a manual way.

-Audit & vendor relations - By having a flexible, open platform that is collaborative in nature and that is integrated with your Netsuite instance, you’ll be able to empower third parties like your auditors or your vendors to have insight to the status of invoices and related AP documents, as well as provide the images as well.  This is important from establishing foundational understanding, especially when trying to troubleshoot or reconcile issues that may occur from a billing discrepancy or authorization perspective.

So we hope this was a helpful overview of some of the components that make up what we believe to be optimal AP automation for Netsuite.  We know implementing these can be tricky, but we encourage you to pursue it because of the huge value you’ll get once your process is optimized and automated.  If you’re looking for more intel on the best way to go about automating, check out this link below.

They say that "music moves the soul". 

This is true, and when it comes to music, and specifically orchestral type performances, the goal is for every part of the group to contribute its unique sound in harmony.  To trained ears, it’s evident when there is a gap or a lack at any one position. In extreme cases it’s evident to untrained ears. If you’ve never had a child take up an instrument you’ll become acutely aware of this when they do as you sit through their first concert.  With that said, in a similar way every component matters when you are assessing what the key components are of a robust invoice management system. Now, we know that’s a bit of a leap going from music to invoice automation, but it is nonetheless true.

In this article we want to unpack the seven integral components of a powerful invoice management system.  With that said, it presumes the notion that any business, especially those that are growing, are going to have to contend with this at some point as accounts payable is a bit of a sore spot for most companies who haven’t diligently embraced invoice automation.  We know that this is an issue regardless of company size, whether revenue or employee headcount, because the fundamentals of how b2b invoicing occurs hasn’t shifted in the USA in many years, unlike regional mandates around the world that have forced change upon businesses to things like EFT and e-invoicing.

So, what are the seven integral components of a robust invoice management system?

Let’s take a look together!

1.  The Onramp - No, this is not a technical term.  What it essentially represents is the outset of the invoice management system as characterized by a means to pull all accounts payable invoices into the processing flow.  Now, we understand that invoices present themselves in multiple ways to each business in different ways, but you need a strategy to embrace them all. The prevalent way invoices are distributed between companies today is via email, and typically in PDF format, though sometimes in .xls format.  PDFs can be standalone or have batches of invoices (which are doable, but trickier to process). Other companies receive invoices through vendor portals, or hard copy via mail. Whatever the case, the point is the invoices need to get digitized into an electronic format so the next phase of the process can unfold, which really holds the key to making the rest of the system hum.

2. Capture & Categorization - The ensuing component of a solid invoice management system is the capture and categorization step.  Essentially, any document coming through the process must be interfaced with, and one thing of note is that accounts payable deals with numerous disparate doc types on a day to day basis.  One may think it’s just invoices they are handling, and there is a degree of truth in that. but it is not entirely true. Other docs that AP handles on a routine basis are credit memos, statements, check request forms, tax documents, and other types of vouchers.  

To make matters more complex, not all invoices are processed in an equal fashion.  They might be in theory, but in practice there are nuances to how invoices need to be classified and have their data parsed.  For instance, invoices have three general categories, Non-PO, PO with an invoice match (2 way), and PO with an invoice and receiver match (3 way).  Each of these subsets has a slight nuance of additional data sets that have to be captured. Universal field data for all invoice types would include Vendor Name, Invoice Date, Due Date, Invoice Number Total, Tax, & Freight.  For PO type invoices, the PO number is a requisite and then the line level detail including quantity, unit of measure, price, description, not to mention other data fields. All of this must be digitized so that the data can be surfaced, validated, and ultimately, harnessed to advance the process.  The optimal way to facilitate capture is through a blend of advanced optical character recognition with machine learning built in (non-template (aka zonal) based OCR) that is overlaid with human quality control. This approach offers the leverage of machine intelligence for raw processing power and the acuity and clarity of human intelligence to assess any data outliers the machine is unaware of.  With clean data, you have the raw material that is able to be used for advanced processing, which comes a little later.

This is provided for when you utilize an electronic document management system and will typically involve all of these components plus varying degrees of on screen controls.  The point is you need a way to interface and retrieve the documents in a systematic fashion. For businesses that rely solely on hard copy archival, whether onsite or via an off-site archival service, you understand the pain that entails when it comes time to produce copies for audit or review.  Therefore, getting this into an electronic format that is compliant with your retention period is key. All of this is indispensable for someone trying to assemble a meaningful invoice management system.

The answer lies in the integration of the data between systems, which, from our perspective must be bi-directional.  Certain data elements must be obtainable and usable from whatever accounting system or ERP is being connected to.  As an example, the vendor master file, chart of accounts, general ledger tables, and purchase order table data is all in play depending on what you are trying to automate. With access to this data, you can combine the captured data off the invoices to attempt numerous matches and validation steps to ensure the following and more: that a vendor is official (or needs to be registered within the chart of accounts), that an invoice is not a duplicate, that line item, quantity, and price information nets out to purchase order data and falls within defined parameters for acceptable costing variances.  

Additionally, the other component of integration presumes that the accounting system is capable of ingesting structured data to mitigate the need to enter data manually.  In other words by a structured data release and ingestion into the accounting system you can stop entering invoices and instead push invoices into the system through a more advanced approach.  Furthermore, you can use PO data from invoices to close out PO’s in the system as the data gets reconciled from invoices in the process. The key here is that the integration must be capable of both sending and receiving data.

5.  Workflow and Business Rules - One of the items we looked at above presumes the utilization of sophisticated business rules in matching to acceptable pricing variances.  This is an example of how business intelligence can be used to enhance your process and why it’s a core tenet of a next level invoice management system. Business rules can also be used from a timing (AP aging in days), approval threshold (dollar value based controls), and routing perspective.  

Much of this can be harmonized through an electronic approval workflow and also provide the conduit by which approvers can provide digital sign off.  This should be standard in a web-based system but is increasingly valuable in a system that synthesizes both web apps and integrated mobile apps seamlessly.  If you don’t have electronic workflow functioning, you’ll have limited ability to meaningfully impact manual processes, limited audit trails, and a lack of visibility to actually manage the process actionably, which leads to our next point.

From a reporting standpoint, visibility is essential as the easier data is to access on the back end of the process, the better from a search and audit perspective.  A prime example of this that occurs each month for many businesses is the accrual function. Typically finance leadership is responsible for presenting a report on pending spend by department for the ensuing month.  This helps provide executive clarity to the ebbs and flows from a cash management standpoint. It also is something that can be easily facilitated by a standardized report that is accessing invoices in the approval process but that are unpaid.  This can be very difficult to impossible as a manual exercise outside of an invoice management system, but is a task that can be conquered in minutes with the digital elements we’ve put forth so far.

This may not seem possible, but most people in the personal finance space understand it well enough through myriad mileage, points, and rewards systems that are offered by credit card companies.  Similarly this approach is increasingly embraced by businesses and can actually transform accounts payable from a cost center into a profit center. Further, this function can actually flow dynamically and automatically as an integrated function of the approval or matching process that occurs with the full set of financial controls governing it, making it a seamless and powerful extension and culmination of the process.

In summary, there are several key components to establishing an invoice management system that is bar none.  One key perspective is that Rome wasn’t built in a day. In other words, it’s important to maintain a perspective on process transformation that allows for evolution over time.  Granted some of these items do need to shift simultaneously but other can be folded in over time so as to not create so much transformation that it is counter productive to forming a healthy business culture or process.If you want to learn more about how to do this, we welcome you to check out this ebook and if you want to see what’s possible from a system that is high functioning in a quick overview, we invite you to connect here!

Businesses look for value where they can find it and rightly so.

This drives internal improvements and causes organizations to reinvent and stay healthy.  Those who don’t innovate, change, and adapt, ultimately die. Today, we want to unpack an area of high value that many companies have yet to fully exploit in their financial back office.  The concept is integrated payables and is a relatively new one that exists in the back end of the accounts payable process, specifically payments. It’s also an area that hasn’t seen disruption for many years.  In the US, payments have plodded along, still dominated by antiquated approaches like physical check. Some estimate as late as 2016 still ascribe nearly 51% of commercial payments to checks.  

This is improved from years past where checks and wire were really the only ways to pay, but with the advent of ACH and credit card based payments, checks have been on a steady decline, yet they still exist and with substantial usage.

Why?

Because in short, it’s easy to continue to use something that still, despite its flaws, works.

Checks get the job done for many businesses, though they do present some downsides.

The primary reason to segue away from check usage in the b2b payments landscape is because they cost a fair amount to produce (per The Accounts Payable Network, $5.14 / check on average) to process, cut, and mail.  That adds up, especially if you’re cranking out a high volume of them.

The second reason checks are a nightmare is because of the time it takes to mail and then cash them.  If you were to boil it down it all comes back to a lack of efficiency

Now, because of the inefficiencies of the check and the advent of alternative types of payment you have many companies across the world that are paying with multiple payment methodologies, which means one word...complexity.

This is essentially where integrated payables comes into play.

The concept is simple. Take a single payment output file and have it seamlessly execute the various, disparate payment methodologies in one fell stroke.  At a high level the advantages are obvious...not having to manage multiple different payment files or runs and the time associated with preparing and executing those payments.  From that point you have the cost considerations that arise from inefficient payments. Wires and checks are the leading culprits here, and if you can convert that spend into more favorable methods like ACH or even virtual credit card, then you have a recipe for significant enhancement of controls, payment speed, and corporate profitability, which are all great things.

So, if you’re still unsure of the claims of integrated payables, let’s take a quick dive into the five primary ways they will maximize the value of your Accounts Payable process!

In short order they are:

Payment Options - As stated above integrated payables means one singular payment file can incorporate any of the following payment types - check, wire, ACH (EFT), and virtual credit cards.  (If you’re not sure about what virtual cards and the hype on them, check this out).  The takeaway  is that you can manage a host of options with simplicity and ease.  That’s always a good thing.

It’s Bank Agnostic - In other words, you can execute an integrated payables approach regardless of whom you’re banking with today.  We understand that banking needs change from business to business based on a variety of fluctuating criteria. As such, because of the agile approach solid integrated payables partners take, the bank you use is a moot point as the payment network and platform exists above the banking layer, meaning you can plug and play any bank into the solution.  This is great so that you can make the changes you need as your business grows and never skip a beat.

Easy Integration - One of the ways integrated payables is made super simple is through a straightforward file based integration methodology.  Rather than relying upon old school approaches and legacy tech, you can have confidence that this approach is repeatable, scalable, and dependable.  It’s the primary reason you can bank agnostically too, because accurately communicating the payment requests and disbursements is facilitated through standardized file connectivity.

Time & Cost Savings - Making payments strategically (with an eye towards electronic means) means that you waste far less time executing check runs, printing, posting, and mailing.  Getting better insight and visibility into payments also cuts down time wasted in administering the process and keeps you focused on the task at hand, not keeping plates spinning.  All of this translates to cost savings as you ditch expensive methods for affordable and more efficient payment types.

Monetization – Perhaps one of the most appealing features of an integrated payables approach is the notion that your money (corporate payables) can actually be leveraged to make you money (earned rebates).  This concept is widely understood at a personal finance level and has growing adoption in the B2B arena. The takeaway here is that a growing cadre of businesses accept virtual credit cards as a legitimate form of payments for commercial transactions.  Although this type of spend assumes the accepting merchant incurs a transaction fee, the reason they do this is to ameliorate their supplier base by providing multiple, flexible options for payment. Also, many businesses leverage corporate credit cards in their travel and expense, P-card requisitioning, and other areas and find themselves in a bit of a moral conundrum when they are willing to leverage the purchase flexibility of card without necessarily being willing to accept cards for payment.  This trend is changing however, with more businesses being willing to both pay and receive payment via card.

One final point on the power and scope of card payments is that they can truly be a source of transformation for AP as a whole and can actually have the net effect of converting AP from a cost center to a profit center, which even a couple years back was a non-reality.

Additional thoughts when it comes to integrated payables:

•     For starters, if this an approach you’re interested in pursuing, it’s going to necessitate the selection of a vendor partner that can actually deliver on the promise of simplifying your payment stream across multiple payment modalities.  For example, if you are presently running 10% of your payments as check spend (regardless of the quantity, though certainly a compounding issue as the transactional counts rise) and this is not a metric you can shift into any other dynamic, automated, electronic category, then they’re going to need to have the wherewithal to handle cutting checks and the postage in an outsourced fashion as a means to fulfilling the overarching goal of responsibly addressing the disparate payment needs and methods contained within the integrated payment file you’re processing. In short, if they can’t execute all the payment types required by your unique vendor preferences then you’re not really talking about integrated payables.

•     Another consideration on the integrated payables front is whether the process can be integrated into your front end invoice processing.  For companies that have not pursued a broader based accounts payable automation initiative (see more on that here), you will basically invoke the launch the payment file when you batch your invoices that have been posted to your accounting system.  Then when the posted transactions get batched you create the standardized output file that invokes the integrated payables execution.  

However, an alternative that may represent a higher degree of value, sophistication, and automation would be to  connect the up front components of invoice processing to incorporate the launch of payments via integrated payables.  In other words, if you’re leveraging things like automated electronic workflow, with a set of business rules governing invoice escalation through your business’ approval matrix, then upon having the invoice formally approved by the final process stakeholder, you can automatically set the system to invoke the integrated payables trigger without having to wait for it to generate as a result of the accounting system batching process.  In other words, the two, inter-related functions of approving the invoice and actually triggering the payment can be dynamically linked between two disparate systems, which is cool. It speeds up the process and begins to leverage efficiencies through the seamless connection of data across platforms. These things actually matter of course in environments that are burdened or where you have a high transactional volume of invoices that you’re dealing with.

•     Understand that when you pursue an integrated payables approach there are numerous upsides.  Certainly the cost factors, processing times, visibility, enhancement of controls, and monetization are key.  With that said, even if you had every possible advantage in the world to the latest and greatest of payment options, you may still have intransigent vendors that will not accommodate your latest new whirligig.  In other words, some people / companies won’t change and couldn’t care less about your strategy. Therefore, it’s important to maintain some common sense when you launch out with this initiative. From our perspective you want to keep one eye on the strategic goal…make as many payments as possible streamlined, electronic, and efficient.  Convert the vendors that you can to these means and default the hold outs to whatever negotiated payment terms you have in place. Some things won’t change, and that’s ok. Simply focus on the ones that will where you can generate real value for your loyalty and business and shift and monetize those opportunities. Don’t get bogged down on the ones that got away…instead take the wins where you can and move on!

•     This may be a bit of a particular, but from our perspective it is something we do hear repeatedly when discussing changing how payments are done.  One advantage of checks, though whether it’s a significant advantage is a prescient question. Some finance leaders like the additional time period afforded to them by the delay it normally takes to process check payments.  We think this is more of an inbuilt comfort level of knowing that the corporate coffers have a bit of a buffer before funds necessary to underwrite checks clear, but to each his own. The bottom line is that pay early or pay late, either way you’re going to pay.  Unless you’ve got some kind of structured money market instrument with your banking or credit institutions chances are the returns you’re going to be getting on your check float are at best going to be nominal. Granted, cash rebates earned on relevant virtual credit card spend aren’t going to be something you get rich on, but the point is they will be newfound monies you didn’t have access to before, and that is always a win for the books.

In closing this out, we know this was a bit more of a walk through of the value points of integrated payables, but if it’s an idea you’re hearing more about of late, that’s because it’s gaining in popularity.  The question is if you’re pursuing it how can you align your corporate payables to most benefit from the approach, because there is typically something for everyone in terms of the gains afforded by it.