Why Every Manager Loves Invoice Approval Software

Invoice approval management software (aka ‘invoice approval automation’ or ‘accounts payable approval software’) transforms the annoyingly arduous chore of manual invoice approval into a quick and easy task.

AP staff like invoice approval software because it makes their job easier. But managers LOVE invoice approval software because it reduces one of the most annoying tasks they do – approving invoice payments – to a single click on any device from anywhere in the world.

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The Annoyance of Manual Invoice Approvals

Is your AP and invoice approval process paper-based? Then you know how challenging it can be to work through multiple levels of approvals to process a single invoice and payment. Let alone hundreds or even thousands of invoice approvals each month.

An average company takes more than a week to process a single invoice.

Why?

Certainly invoice data capture takes time and effort – but that can be automated.

The real challenge in speeding up invoice processing is turning invoice approvals around more efficiently.

Manual Approvals are Annoying for Accounting and AP Managers

Paper-based approval systems often have AP staff manually stapling approval slips to invoices. Then they have to physically deliver a stack of invoices to approvers, who initial or sign the slip. Then that invoice is physically delivered to any other approvers that need to see and approve the invoice. Eventually – hopefully! – the approved invoice makes its way back to AP for approved payment.

Other companies attempt to use email to get invoice approvals. They email the invoice to all the necessary approvers and wait for a reply saying ‘ok to pay.’

But both of these processes are incredibly inefficient. AP staff and approvers mis-route, lose, and/or bury paper invoices at the bottom of their in-box. Emails are ignored and/or accidentally deleted.

Worst of all, accounting and AP staff have absolutely no insight into where an invoice is in the approval process. They can’t tell which approver in the approval matrix is sitting on an invoice. This leads to late fees and upset vendors. So AP staff waste time chasing after invoices approvals – calling or emailing approvers to find out where the invoice stands.

And paper/email invoice processes are incredibly vulnerable to fraud. Which is why AP automation helps tick items off a company’s AP internal controls checklist.

Accounting and AP departments don’t like manual/email invoice approval processes because they waste a lot of their time, leave them in the dark, and leave them open to invoice fraud.

Manual Invoice Approvals are Annoying for Managers and Executive Invoice Approvers

Now let’s look at manual invoice approvals from the perspective of the approvers.

Managers and executives are responsible for hitting P&L goals. And this means making sure expenses are in line with budget. Invoice approval exists to ensure that no executive or manager is ever surprised by a paid expense.

But at the same time, no manager or executive wants to spend a lot of time reviewing complicated invoices to make sure they are in line with expectations. So invoice approvals take bottom priority in an approvers daily tasks. This is why paper invoices end up at the bottom of their in-boxes. And why invoice emails fall off the first page of their email screen.

And the only thing executives hate more than approving invoices is doing their own GL coding. On the one hand, this task gives managers control of their spend buckets. On the other, it requires every manager to be an expert on the company’s GL coding system – a learning curve that many executives have neither the time nor the patience to go through.

And when they finally do get around to looking at invoices and approving them, the busy executive needs to pass the signed or initialed invoice either back to accounting or on to the next approver. And who knows how long that approver will sit on the invoice!

Invoice approval managers and executives don’t like manual invoice approval processes because they are annoying and time consuming.

How Invoice Approval Software Makes Everyone Happy

AP automation solutions that include invoice approval automation bring customizable workflows, rules, and restrictions that eliminate the hassle of reaching out to an approver and manually routing invoices to the next step in the process.

Make Accounting and AP Managers Happy

Invoice approval software automates invoice data capture. AP staff love that. No more mind-numbing and soul-sucking constant data entry.

But accounts payable approval software also digitizes and automates the invoice processing and approval process. No more attaching paper slips to invoices and walking them around the office or emailing them into a black hole.

Instead, top of the line AP automation solutions like A/P One allow you to use a visual editor to build invoice approval matrixes based on location, office, dollar amount, or any other variable. And it’s so simple you can build them yourself – or, as personnel changes, swap out approvers with a couple clicks.

Best of all, accounts payable approval software gives AP managers total insight into the status of every single invoice.

In real time, they can see how long an invoices is taking to process, where that invoice sits in the approval process, and even ping an approver to remind them that an invoice needs to be approved or rejected before a late fee is incurred.

So, instead of spending time chasing down approvers, manually routing invoices or printing checks and stuffing envelopes, AP staff can focus a ton of new-found time on more strategic work.

And invoice approval automation nearly eliminates the possibility of invoice fraud.

For AP managers, knowledge is power. And invoice approval automation software gives AP managers total insight into and control over the invoice approval process.

Make Invoice Approvers Happy

AP automation solutions that include invoice approval automation benefits approvers because it streamlines the necessary – but annoying – invoice approval process.

Invoice approval software allows invoice approval managers and executives to view and approve invoices with a single click on any device from anywhere in the world.

And smart AP automation also automates GL coding. Meaning that managers and executives do not need to rummage through budgets and GL codes to assign codes to approve invoices.

Accounts payable approval software also provides insight into invoice payment status for mangers and executives for those awkward times when a vendor or business partner calls the executive wondering if/when they will get paid.

For invoice approvers, invoice automation software takes a chore that managers and executives loathe and makes it simple and quick. And that makes them happy.

Bottom Line – Why Every Manager Loves Invoice Approval Software

The biggest benefit of AP automation is that it saves your company or organization time and money.

But a close second is that automated invoice approval makes your managers and executives happy.

All while accelerating invoice approvals and payments by 70-80 percent. Which qualifies your company for early payment discounts – which is sure to make your CEO happy, too!

Why not request a free, no obligation, and no pressure demo of our invoice approval automation solutions today and make all your organization’s managers happy!?