Suppliers seem to be rallying behind recent value-added services, such as supplier networks, dynamic discounting, purchase order to invoice flips, and low to no-fee supplier transaction costs. Suppliers who have adopted electronic invoicing have reaped a number of tangible benefits: Quicker approval of invoices Increased employee productivity Improved visibility over liabilities Lower processing costs Reduction in late payment penalties and interest better compliance with regulatory requirements (SOX, FASB).
Significant time is saved when employees do not have to print paper invoices and mail them to their customers, freeing up accounts receivable staff to focus on more value-added activities like collections and customer relations.
Reduction in labor, material and postage costs are common with all eInvoicing solutions. Our research reveals that suppliers who adopt electronic invoicing can slash their invoice management costs by more than 50 percent.
Validation rules configured into eInvoicing solutions flag errors at the time of submission itself and prompt suppliers to correct them, reducing the number of exception invoices downstream.
Electronic invoicing shortens the invoice processing and approval cycle on the buyer side. Combined with electronic payments, this ensures that suppliers are paid on time, or in some cases, early.
Suppliers have real-time access to invoice and payment status from a standard Web browser, providing for quicker handling of reconciliation questions and fewer help desk calls.
Automating invoice processing and payments reduces uncertainties. Consistency around payment timing means suppliers can better perform cash flow forecasting.
Electronic invoicing solutions drastically reduce the number of lost and missing invoices, which means reprint requests from buyers will virtually be zero.
Suppliers now can view disputed invoices at any time and provide supporting/backup documentation as needed, making dispute resolution a collaborative process as well as accelerating resolution.
Dynamic discounting and supply chain finance capabilities available as part of eInvoicing solutions allow suppliers to decrease days sales outstanding (DSO) without adversely affecting customer relations.
Dynamic discounting delivers financing at more attractive rates to suppliers than factoring or asset based lending.
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