Five Reasons to automate your accounts receivable processes

Chasing late payments can cost your business a lot of money, and today, Australian small businesses spend an average of 12 days per year chasing late payments – many of which are still likely relying on out-dated and inefficient manual processes.

With the right technology, however, a business can easily automate their accounts receivable processes to ensure they get paid on time, and for the correct amount. And for those pesky accounts that continue to pay late, you’ll have automatic systems that remind your customer it’s time to pay, while giving them a range of payment options.

If you haven’t looked at automating your accounts receivable processes before, you may be unsure why you should go about so much technological change in your business. Keep reading for five reasons why you should automate your accounts receivable processes.

Reduce the time your business spends chasing late payments

With an automated accounts receivable system, you can set up a standard reminder email as soon as a payment is overdue. From there, your system can regularly remind the customer until the invoice is paid. Products such as Spenda’s payment platform make it easier for customers to manage late payments by offering payment options including instalments and scheduling. Further, integration between your accounting system and a technology suite reduces the time spent on manual data entry, and both systems are automatically updated in real time. Robust reporting and bill presentment features also make it easy to produce a customer statement in a few clicks.

Improve your cash flow

Automating your accounts receivable processes can help you get paid faster. With an accurate forecast of when you can expect payment from your customers, you’ll be able to better plan and manage your cash flow. Features such as buy now, pay later and intent to pay frameworks means that customers can plan when they pay and you’ll know exactly when to expect payment. Use these timelines to manage your payments and ensure there’s always capital for regular expenses and those larger investments to grow your business.

Proactively identify payment problems

With an automated accounts receivable system, businesses not only strengthen their cash flow, but as more data is gathered, payment trends can be more accurately forecasted for the business. These trends may include identifying problem accounts that repeatedly pay late, payment issues and delays between financial institutions, and the ability to quickly resolve disputes. With less time required for daily data entry and manual reporting processes, those responsible for accounts receivable in your business will enjoy the ability to spend more time on more strategic work.

Work from a single source of truth

Integrated systems which automatically update in real time ensure both your business and its customers are operating from a single source of truth. This reduces the risk of human error due to data entry mistakes and minimises disputes with customers as data discrepancies are no longer a problem.

Attract and retain better talent

Employees often leave organisations if they are bored in their role due to a high volume of operational and repetitive tasks such as manual data entry. You can attract and retain better talent by automating your accounts receivable processes as it will reduce the amount of time spent on data entry and chasing late payments. Employees who are enthused and fulfilled by their work are also more likely to be high performers and provide exceptional customer service. In short, happy employees means happy customers.

Take your accounts receivable digital with Spenda

Spenda’s products help customers get paid faster through improving how invoices are viewed and paid between businesses. And by improving payment processes across the supply chain, your customers will benefit from stronger cash flow too.

With Spenda’s suite of tools and products, you can not only automate your debt collection, but you’ll be able to provide a better payment experience for your customers. You’ll have access to everything you need in one place to help you quickly and automatically follow up late payments and provide the payment features customers need so you can get paid on time, every time.

Click here to book a demo and learn how you can automate your accounts receivable processes and get paid faster.