How can AP process automation solve the invoice dilemma?

01

Every day, enterprises pay dozens or even hundreds of bills, but rarely consider how to improve the process. Accountants or bookkeepers simply complete these actions: reviewing bills, verifying them according to purchase orders and receiving documents, entering them into the accounting system, sending them out for the required approval, and then submitting payments. This work is not only time-consuming but also repetitive and tedious. Accounts Payable (AP) is something every organization has to face - after all, payments need to be made to suppliers.

However, technology has opened up a new world for a more efficient and easier AP process. Automation fundamentally improves your AP process, helping organizations save time, reduce costs, increase revenue, and minimize errors. For accounting teams and financial leaders, this is a game-changing approach, especially in an era when many are pursuing cost-cutting and creating greater value for the organization, making automation even more important.

02

NetSuite helps you conquer the invoice dilemma by automating the entire accounts payable process. NetSuite AP Automation eliminates many opportunities for human error and alleviates other challenges of manual handling of accounts payable. This tool makes paying bills very simple and efficient, significantly reducing the workload of the accounting team. The solution includes four key components:

First

After receiving supplier invoices, they are scanned using a combination of machine learning-based object detection and optical character recognition to convert details such as the supplier's name, payable amount, unit price, and quantity into digital text. Artificial Intelligence (AI) compares the invoice details with previous entries and automatically fills in the relevant fields with the appropriate text. The use of AI means that as more and more bills are reviewed and the bill capture is carried out, it will become more intelligent.

Bill capture eliminates most of the manual data entry required to add supplier invoices to NetSuite, saving time, reducing errors, and allowing accountants to have more time to analyze bill data and investigate exceptions. It can also prevent delays that lead to late fees and help maintain good relationships with suppliers.

Second

The automatic three-way matching compares the supplier's bill with the relevant purchase order and receiving document to ensure that the pricing, quantity, and total cost are correct. Standard workflows automatically send bills via email for management approval. When using NetSuite SuiteApprovals, financial leaders can customize approval workflows to support complex internal rules and approval hierarchies.

Invoice matching can prevent overpaying suppliers who send you incorrect or fraudulent bills. SuiteApprovals strengthens financial control and reduces the risk of fraud by ensuring that supplier payments are signed by the right people. All of this will bring significant savings to the enterprise.

Third

Payment and Reconciliation NetSuite AP Automation centralizes supplier payments with the help of HSBC. With AP Automation, you can make payments through virtual cards, ACH transfers, or by printing checks with a single click. HSBC's virtual card allows you to pay suppliers with a one-time number instead of providing a credit card for them to save, saving time and improving security. The card can even earn a 1% cashback on most payments, which can be applied to future bills. HSBC services also support payments through ACH transfers and third-party check printing and mailing. Payment history is automatically downloaded into NetSuite and matched with existing transactions, or flagged if the system cannot find a match.

All of this helps to make payments quickly and accurately, improve relationships with suppliers, and minimize the chances of late fees or missing discounts for early payments. Centralizing all this information in one system can also make reconciliation and payment tracking easier. In addition, automatic payments and reconciliation can save your employees' time, help them become more strategic contributors, and improve job satisfaction and engagement.

Fourth

SuiteBanking Dashboard Use the SuiteBanking dashboard to monitor all accounts payable information in one place. The dashboard highlights the total amount of unpaid accounts payable, payments pending, virtual credit card balance, and bank account balance, and it also has reminders for payments waiting for approval, pending, or canceled. The ability to view the status of payments ensures settlement and helps you keep suppliers informed to avoid surprises, which helps build strong relationships that are beneficial to the organization's business development. In addition, a centralized source of payment and financial information can achieve better cash management as you can optimize payment timing based on the latest information.

Third-party accounts payable services require you to log in to a separate system and then integrate it with your accounting system or manually transfer payment data, which is not ideal. The total cost of ownership of NetSuite AP Automation is lower than similar solutions, thanks to lower transaction fees and standard features, while other solutions require additional charges. Most importantly, NetSuite AP Automation eliminates the need to work outside of NetSuite, managing the entire AP process in the system you operate your business in.

03

Innovative Reform, Moving Towards Success As for the financial functions that have emerged recently, AP has not received the attention it deserves. Paper ledgers have become digital ledgers, but the process has remained essentially the same. Now is the best time for NetSuite customers to completely reform their AP process, and NetSuite AP Automation makes every step easier, and the value is obvious: save money and allow your finance department to make full use of their expertise.

About Hitpoint Cloud ERP is headquartered in Shanghai, with branches in Shenzhen, Beijing, and Nanjing. Since 2009, the Hitpoint Cloud team has been focusing on Oracle NetSuite products and is a star partner of Oracle NetSuite for many years, providing cloud computing solutions for various modules including finance, distribution, project management, and e-commerce. It has rich experience in the implementation, localization, secondary development, and training of Oracle NetSuite. With a support team of more than 100 people for implementation and development to support customer business operations, it is committed to enabling every customer in the cloud era to unleash their potential, achieve greater success, and help enterprises "win" the future with intelligence.