Does your business have a supplier invoice policy in place?
Top tips for creating a policy PLUS a free template
When it comes to a business’s supplier invoice process, there are many people involved – not just the accounts payable (AP) team. In fact, one invoice involves on average 15 people according to research we conducted with Vanson Bourne.
There’s the person who ordered the goods or services; the people or team receiving the invoice (if not the requestor); the invoice approvers (that could be the requestor’s manager, and manager’s manager etc. depending on the approval levels set). And finally the people in the AP team responsible for capturing, processing and paying the invoice.
With all the people involved, it’s crucial to ensure all employees know what the process is and what’s expected of them along the way. Creating a policy for managing, storing and processing supplier invoices can ensure everyone is on the same page. That means your people spend less time on admin and churn, while your suppliers get paid on time.
But where do you start?
We’ve put together a list of nine handy tips in our latest whitepaper, including the following advice:
- Keep the policy clear and to the point for everyone to understand
- Get feedback from the necessary stakeholders who will help govern and enforce your policy
- Include other existing policies like approval limits and delegation of authority documents if you have them
…and much more. We’ve also included a policy sample template that provides a great starting point for companies looking to implement a policy from scratch or review and existing one.
When everyone knows the correct procedure a supplier invoice should follow, less pressure is put on the AP team to handle enquiries and crucially – suppliers are paid on time. A truly efficient invoice process has many of the steps built-in so that the stages are automated and less time is spent on human intervention, which is inevitably error-prone. Best of all, out-of-policy spend, duplicate invoices and fraudulent invoices are more easily flagged, so your business is better protected.
If you’d like to talk to Concur about how automating your invoice process can help you improve efficiency and compliance, talk to us on 01628 645 100 or visit www.concur.co.uk/invoice-management for more.
