Searching for an AP Specialist? Try AP Automation Instead!

If you are searching for an AP clerk or AP specialist – whether to replace a departing employee or to grow your AP department – be sure to take a look at AP automation first.

Hiring an accounts payable specialist or accounts payable clerk is an arduous process. And no one wants to add permanent overhead to their business unless absolutely necessary.

So before you go down the path of starting a search for additional AP staff carefully consider implementing AP automation instead.

AP automation allows your AP staff to do more with less.

And best of all, AP automation allows your AP team to work from home, a critical feature for your business continuity or disaster recovery plan in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

So read on!

How Much is an Accounts Payable Specialist Salary?

According to Glassdoor, the national average salary for a Accounts Payable Specialist is $40,456 in United States.

And that’s just base pay. Benefits, taxes and bonuses can drive that cost much higher.

But even if you can find an accounts payable specialist or AP clerk for less, you will be adding permanent overhead costs to your company or organization.

So it makes sense to consider AP automation before you start spending money on an Accounts Payable Specialist salary.

AP Automation Makes Your Existing AP Team So Efficient You May Not Need Additional AP Staff

Believe it or not, AP automation can make your existing AP clerks and AP specialists up to 500 times more efficient.

Seem too good to be true? It’s not.

Manually entering invoice data is one of the most time-consuming tasks required when processing invoices for accounts payable. And it inevitably leads to ‘fat finger’ mistakes that require double and triple checking.

Even then errors slip through. Correcting them takes a massive amount of wasted time.

How Does AP Automation Make AP Specialists and AP Clerks So Much More Efficient?

CoreIntegrator solutions include CoreIntegrator Verified AP Data Capture Service.

CoreIntegrator Data Capture Service combines technology with human review to achieve 99.9% accuracy on AP invoice data capture.

Using CoreIntegrator Data Capture Service, no expensive OCR software or hardware is required. Instead, your AP staff or your vendors simply upload or email invoices to our system. Invoice data then appears in your AP clerk’s work queue within 1 business day with important data automatically entered in your system ready to be processed.

And best of all, at least two humans verify the accuracy of that invoice data by the time it is loaded to your company’s AP work queue. And if there are any discrepancies then up to four humans will check, re-check and verify that your AP invoice data is accurate.

So CoreIntegrator Data Capture Service not only automates the data capture, it automates data verification!

This video explains how AP automation makes AP specialists and AP clerks so much more efficient.

CoreIntegrator AP Automation Solutions

A/P One AP automation from CoreIntegrator is a cloud-based SaaS AP automation solution for small and medium sized businesses. Using A/P One, your AP staff or your vendors simply upload or email invoices to our system. Invoice data then appears in your AP clerk’s work queue within 1 business day with important data automatically entered in your system ready to be processed. A/P One has low up-front costs and a per-invoice subscription pricing structure .

CoreIntegrator Enterprise is designed for larger organizations and will automate not only your company’s AP but all of your workflows including HR, expenses and any other business flow. CoreIntegrator Enterprise can be integrated with OCR technology or the same data capture technology used by A/P One to provide 99.9% accurate data automation.

With either of these solutions, CoreIntegrator’s Smart AP robotic process automation eliminates virtually all the time-consuming peripheral data entry by your employees, including GL Coding – even if the invoice is split across several GL codes!

Instead of performing time consuming data entry, our solutions allow your AP clerks or AP specialists to simply confirm the data, select the GL expense code (or confirm it if Smart A/P has automatically done so) and electronically send the invoice to the internal invoice approver(s) as defined by you.

And no matter how complex your invoice approval process is, we make it simple and intuitive to automate. In fact, our workflow tool is so easy that your AP manager be able to create and edit your electronic automated approval flows him or herself in no time!

For more details, take a look at our article on how accounts payable automation saves your AP department time and money.

This short video demos how Smart AP makes data entry more efficient.

AP Automation Also Frees Up Existing AP Staff to Add Value to Your Company

Beyond mitigating the need for additional AP staff, AP automation is a staff force multiplier for your AP department .

When your AP specialists and AP clerks are no longer spending a bulk of their time manually entering invoice data they are freed to take on new duties and responsibilities. They can add value to your organization without adding any expense.

Automation graduates your AP staff from spending all their time on humdrum data entry to valuable activities like data analysis, vendor relations and other strategic initiatives. With AP automation your AP department becomes part of a broader procure-to-pay strategy.

For example, your AP staff can spend time identifying trends in AP. They can examine vendor pricing trends to see where cost savings might be available. And they can look for anomalies in pricing across different divisions or locations of your organization from the same vendor.

At the same time, your AP staff will be freed to spend time on vendor relations. Since your AP department will be so efficient you’ll be able to pay invoices incredibly quickly. So why not have your AP staff spend the time they used to waste on data entry contacting vendors to inquire about the possibility of early payment discounts? Or shopping for less expensive vendors?

The possibilities are endless.

AP Automation Includes Accounting Best Practices

Saving time and money is great. Freeing your AP specialists and AP clerks to focus on more strategic tasks than data entry is too. But those aren’t the only benefits of implementing AP automation.

We’ve laid out 9 reasons to automate your accounts payable process.

They are:

1. Save Time and Money – and even reduce the need for additional AP staff.
2. Make Invoice Approvals Easy for Managers and Department Leaders – invoice approvers love the ability to approve invoices from anywhere in the world on any device with a single click.
3. Increase Accuracy – A/P One customers report 99.9% data entry accuracy.
4. Earn Early Payment Discounts and Avoid Late Payment Penalties – your AP processing will allow you to qualify for 2/10 net 30 or other early payment discounts.
5. Improve Cash Flow Management Through AP Automation – take advantage of money-saving opportunities through invoice payment prioritization.
6. Simplify Legal and Audit Compliance – with AP automation software your audits will be far easier and less time-consuming.
7. Improve Security and Protect Against Fraud – our solutions include extensive verification protocols to ensure that all invoices are correct and proper.
8. Automating AP Processes Saves the Environment – accounts payable automation gives your organization the opportunity to go paperless.
9. Enable Continuous Workflow Improvement – AP automation allows you to analyze your processes, identify bottlenecks (either in the process or with individuals) and take corrective action.

And beyond those reasons, implementing AP automation like A/P One allows all of your AP staff to work from home as part of your business continuity and/or disaster recovery plan.

Bottom Line – AP Automation Is Cheaper than Hiring an AP Clerk or AP Specialist. And Includes Many Other Benefits!

Implementing AP automation like A/P One or CoreIntegrator Enterprise can eliminate the need to expand your AP staff with an additional accounts payable clerk or accounts payable specialist.

And it can make your existing staff so efficient that they can spend their time on strategic procure to pay activities like data analysis and vendor relations.

It also provides a wide array of benefits and has accounting best practices built in.

So whether you are thinking about expanding your AP staff or not, take a look at AP automation first!