Statement Matching

Informations

• Publié par: seorumer
• Publié le: 29 septembre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 3
• Langue: English

Extrait

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Daniel Kimpton Statement- Matching.com

Statement- SM Matching.com

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Reconciling supplier accounts ensures that an organisation’s supplier balances “ ensuring no credit are accurate for financial reporting and profits are maximised by notes are missing ” or invoices duplicated.

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A straight forward process

The process for reconciling supplier accounts is, in principle, very straight forward. The supplier’s credit control department sends a statement of account, which lists the invoices on their sales ledger, to the buyer’s accounts payable department. The accounts payable team at the buying organisaon compare the statement to their accounts payable ledger(s) to idenfy any differences.

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Prioritising due to time challenges

However, accounts payable teams already have a full schedule managing the day-to-day acvies of processing invoices through to payment. Reconciling key vendor accounts can take hours – or even days – because the statement can contain hundreds of even thousands of invoices, which need to be manually checked against the accounng system.

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Prioritising due to time challenges

However, accounts payable teams already have a full schedule managing the day-to-day acvies of processing invoices through to payment. Reconciling key vendor accounts can take hours – or even days – because the statement can contain hundreds of even thousands of invoices, which need to be manually checked against the accounng system. Organisaons therefore usually focus their me only on their largest suppliers to ensure that they are paid on me to avoid any supply chain disrupt on and ensure their liabilies are accurate for cash flow forecasng and financial reporng. It is not praccal to reconcile every supplier, but this means that errors on statements are not idenfied, thereby reducing an organisaon’s profits. See moreh@p://www.statementmatching.com

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Technology already used in accounts payable Technology of some kind has been used for some me by many accounts payable departments to automate invoice processing. Inially scanning and work flow were deployed to remove paper from the process, followed by OCR (Opcal Character Recognion) to remove keying. Supplier portals and e-invoicing networks then started to drive further adopon of electronic methods of communicaon between buyer and supplier, although this is sll not common pracce.

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The additional checkpoint

But even with the best controls and technology in place, invoice errors can sll slip through the net. Supplier statement reconciliaon provides an addional checkpoint; an opportunity for accounts payable to spot invoice discrepancies before they are paid and to make sure the invoice process is complete. Reconciling the supplier’s account idenfies any invoices or credit notes on the supplier statement that are not on the accounts payable ledger or vice versa. It also flags invoices with data discrepancies such as incorrect invoice numbers, amounts, and currency, as well as un-paid invoices on the ledger that are not quoted on the statement despite pre-dang it.

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Adding value

This process ensures supplier liabilies are accurate for financial reporng and profits are maximised. Potenally more significant is that it enables the periodic clearing of accruals on the balance sheet from goods being booked in, but no invoice having been received. By reconciling supplier statements to a point in me, more of these liabilies can be cleared and returned to profit. Statement reconciliaon clearly adds value to the business, but it usually needs to be achieved with no increase in headcount. As a result, accounts pay-able are looking for automaon technology to do the ‘heavy liing’. Removing the manual element of acvies essenal to the process enables the accounts payable team to focus on resolving the excepons, such as missing invoices/credits, miss- posngs, potenal duplicates and incorrect values. Further benefit can be gained by sharing the results of reconciliaons with suppliers thereby reducing the volume of phone calls about account status handled by accounts payable. Going one step further, giving suppliers web access to their account with the facility to upload their own statements encourages them to reconcile their own account.

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Cloud benefits

A cloud-based applicaon can resolve this issue for the CFO because it enables automated statement reconciliaon without the need for investment in the so ware and infrastructure associated with on-premise applicaons. It also provides the opportunity to assess whether other ancillary processes can be moved to the cloud to further evaluate whether it is a viable op on for other core financial applicaons.

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Automation rewards

Automated statement reconciliaon gives accounts payable another chance to idenfy and resolve any invoice issues, so that they are available to pay on me or early to take advantage of early payment discount schemes. It also frees up the me of accounts payable, which enables it to focus on tasks that add value to the organisaon. This raises the department’s pro le due to the vital, and now visible, role it plays in ensuring that supplier liabilies are accurate and profits maximised, which keeps both the CFO and auditors happy. See moreh@p://www.statementmatching.com