How to improve your accounts payable process and protect your business against fraud

Published: November, 3^rd 2022

Traditional payment processes are resource-heavy and time-consuming to manage. Today, it takes businesses approximately 15 days to process invoices manually, with companies spending on average, 520 hours every year on manual accounting and administrative tasks. Not only do traditional processes require greater human resources for steps such as manual data input and approvals, but the risk of errors and fraud increases when manual legacy systems continue to be used.

A recent global study found that while fraud methods can vary within accounting departments, the three most common schemes include billing fraud, payment information and check tampering, and corruption. It was also noted that during the pandemic, accounting fraud soared by 47 per cent.

Digitising your Accounts Payable process will help secure your payments and save you time and money. In fact, by introducing an automated payment solution, businesses can reduce their invoice processing time by 74 per cent. This means your team can focus their time on more strategic and meaningful work, and your business will also benefit from less data-entry errors and enhanced fraud protection.

Interesting read: 5 Reasons to Automate your Accounts Payable Process

Effortlessly manage your supplier payments and drive stronger cash flow with Spenda

Spenda’s Accounts Payable software is useful for any business that has invoices to pay. Key benefits include:

Protect your business against fraudulent transactions: By limiting the ability to tamper with ABA files, account and payment information and assigning specific approval responsibility to employees, you will ensure that each invoice has gone through the appropriate checks before payment is released. This reduces the likelihood that a fraudulent invoice is paid along with multiple opportunities to check all invoice data is correct before payment.
Increased accuracy: Digitising your accounts payable process means fewer hours (and costs) wasted on human resources needed for manual invoice processing. Reduce the likelihood of data-entry errors and remove duplicated payments. Enjoy improved visibility of your cash flow by knowing exactly when payments will be made. By prioritising or scheduling your payments, you can ensure your suppliers are always paid on time.
The ability to pay multiple suppliers in one place: Conveniently view and pay connected suppliers from one easy-to-use dashboard. Track, group, and batch-pay outstanding invoices with an ABA file and gain visibility on your outgoing payments. Pay on time and take advantage of early settlement discounts from suppliers.
Access more payment options: Have more flexibility in how and when you make payments with access to a variety of payment options, including split payments and the ability to pay via card, even if your supplier does not accept card payments. Take advantage of extended payment terms and credit card reward point programs. (Subject to the terms offered by your credit card provider.)
Quick integration: All transactions are fully integrated with your small business accounting software or larger ERP management systems. Use real-time data to make informed decisions, say goodbye to manual data entry errors and stay on top of your cash flow.

How we are addressing common accounts payable business pain points

Common accounts payable problems

How Spenda solves these

Fraudulent transactions

Internal fraud is a surprisingly common occurrence with accounts payable being one of the more common targets. By using more traditional manual systems and processes, it can be extremely easy to tamper with ABA files, bank account or payment information without it going un-noticed, until it is too late.

Spenda’s Accounts Payable software offers real-time payment protection with in-built security measures that help detect and prevent internal accounts payable fraud. You can also assign specific user permissions to check the accuracy and legitimacy of payments, including approvals, and ensure no payment information is tampered with.

Limited supplier payment methods

With Spenda, users can access a wide range of flexible payment options and can choose how and when you pay.

Options include making payment via credit card even when suppliers do not accept card payments, effectively extending their payment terms (depending on the terms offered by their credit card provider), and accessing on-demand business finance solutions, which enable suppliers to get paid faster and allows buyers to tap into early settlement discounts.

Lack of transaction visibility

Many businesses continue to operate across multiple systems that require manual efforts to connect data – which of course, is prone to errors. This opens businesses up to a lot of risk, including lost or misplaced customer data, fraud and security breaches and violations of privacy laws.

Spenda offers one connected solution that enables accounts payable teams to seamlessly process invoices and better manage cash outflows against cash inflows. All past and upcoming payments and transaction information is clearly visible which improves transparency across the business. And by scheduling these payments in advance to align with your future cash inflows, you can ensure your suppliers are always paid on time without sacrificing your cash flow.

Manual invoice processing and reconciliation

Accounts payable teams can simplify the way they process and pay invoices. With Spenda, business processes can be automated which removes the need for manual efforts, lowering the risk of errors, and saving your business time and money.

Users can easily pay one or many invoices across multiple suppliers as a batch in a few easy clicks, all from one convenient dashboard. Spenda also offers robust features including automated reconciliation and reporting which improves reporting speed and accuracy. Businesses need this accuracy to meet their regular financial commitments, plan larger investments and be prepared to shift gears quickly if required.

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