AP Automation
A truly optimized AP process results in quick access to invoices, clear visibility into payment dates to leverage discounts and avoid penalties, and the ability to route invoices to the right individuals for review and approval of payments as required. By optimizing the process, AP groups can reduce the time it takes to process a single invoice by more than fivefold and the cost of processing an invoice by just under fivefold versus the industry average (The Accounts Payable Network on Disbursements Study, 2008). The impact that optimization can make to an organization's AP department is obvious and dramatic.
Key Benefits
- Reduce processing time
- Quick access to invoices and other information
- Leverage early payment discounts
- Avoid late payment penalties
- Easily rout invoices for approval
How does it work?
Invoices and their associated documents, whether they arrive as E-Invoices, EDI, Email, PDF attachments or traditional paper, are converted or rendered to an image for processing. Next , J&B's solution is able to identify the correct fields, down to the line item level, contained in structured, semi-structured and unstructured formats. In the case of scanned images, using advanced optical character recognition (OCR), J&B's AP Automation solution converts the captured invoice fields into usable data using ERP information, sophisticated algorithms and an extensive knowledge base.
Following capture, the invoices and data are passed along to the appropriate individuals for review and approval or modification and rejection as required. The automated distribution of discrepancy items for review is based on a sophisticated business rules engine that is configured according to individual company requirements. This speeds approval workflows while providing proper documentation and audit trails. The system's dashboard controls also provide management with the tools necessary to adjust priorities, exception handling and bottlenecks as they see fit. Once all invoices have been verified and completed for payment, they are exported to the backend ERP or accounting system for posting and easy access.