In many companies, checking and approval processes for incoming invoices take up unnecessary working time. What does invoice receipt look like in detail? What advantages does digitization and automation of the processing process bring?
Often, the actual situation looks like this: Incoming documents reach several people involved in the review and approval of invoices via different routes. For example, by e-mail or by letter post. Two decisive factors cause the time span from invoice receipt to payment to drag on. First, the approval process is so cumbersome that clerks have to wait for too many "okays" before they can initiate payments. For another, vacation and downtime mean that deputies have to search for documents from their colleagues to check incoming invoices.
Auditing - a cumbersome process
Let's take a look at a few examples:
- The assistant orders office supplies. Whoever orders also checks the receipt of goods. Invoices are received by mail. However, payment approval is the responsibility of the supervisor.
- The IT administration orders new, more powerful laptops. This quickly adds up to large sums. Amounts up to 8,000 euros are approved by the division management. Anything over 8,000 euros must be signed off by management.
- The HR department books further training offers for different employees. The department management of the respective participant is responsible for releasing the payments in each case.
These examples clearly illustrate the complexity of such Invoicing processes can entail. The potpourri of review and approval procedures slows down the speed of a company's internal process flows enormously and demands a great deal of manual effort from those involved. Also with regard to the Remote workwhich has become more prevalent since spring 2020 at the latest, the jumble of information sources is unfavorable. Careless mistakes are inevitable.
Automated invoice verification and approval workflows
SAP solutions for electronic invoice processing bring various advantages:
- By setting up an OCR preliminary route, all incoming documents enter the SAP system. Intelligent recognition processes automatically assign the documents to the responsible persons. This eliminates media discontinuities and promotes transparent work.
- The processing department sees at a glance in the CSK Invoice Monitor which invoices still need to be processed.
- Automatic mechanisms directly release correctly issued invoices. You decide up to which amount this is possible.
- With the help of an optimized authorization structure, documents are no longer stuck with one employee.
- Through the use of SAP Fiori invoice approval is possible web-based - perfect for mobile working.
No matter how diverse your invoice receipt is, we can build the right workflow. The application of the software is very easy for the users and if there are any questions, all information is available in our online self-study portal, the CSK Academy.
Any questions? You can reach us at +49 571 783435 10 or under stephan.kaup@consult-sk.de.
