Coping with the invoices – is there a digital solution?
Managing the invoices and expenses side of any business can be a significant burden on its finance team but with some professional advice, modern technology can be used to help streamline this area of a business. Fresh from his presentation at the Digital Accountancy Show on the topic, SB Director Ryan Pearcy looks at the many recent developments in this space and how a tech- focused business can optimise their operations by selecting the right software to use.
The issues Expense management can be a horribly manual and time- consuming task. Traditionally it involves collecting paper invoices and expenses from multiple areas of the business, getting approval from various individuals, manually re-typing the information on these documents into a finance system and then selecting some of these for payment which often means using a separate manual process. If there are queries these tend to be put to one side and not processed until resolved. In some businesses the information does not end up in the finance system until payment has been made, which can significantly impact the time frame for internal reporting. The time all this takes results in finance systems never being up-to-date and a heavy reliance on the finance team to process payables with accuracy and consistency. Multi-site operations make the process even more difficult as where goods are received may differ from where the order is held and paper documents, collected by non- finance individuals, have to make their way to the central finance team before verification and processing can commence. Add multiple entities of a group into the mix and documents will inevitably get misplaced or put on the wrong system. Data collection Invoices and expenses can be paper (via post or hand delivery), email (which tends to now be the most common) or via a portal that you must access and download yourself. These will generally be received by multiple different people in the business, based on
their role and department. After that, if you have a well organised system these may come into a centralised email address or physical tray but for many businesses the finance team are responsible for collecting this information. Once collected they then need to re-type this data into the finance system. In the hospitality sector, this is particularly laborious and is exacerbated by invoices with large numbers of lines that need separating to different nominals or cost centres for reporting purposes. The repetitive and (let’s be honest) manual nature of this work can lead to errors and so a robust review process is also required to check the data inputted. Multi-site and multi-entity Leisure and hospitality is known for having either multiple sites per organisation, or a number of separate entities or buildings on one site within a group structure. Both of these setups usually have a central finance team and their separate structures create unique challenges for the accounts payable process, but it is the central finance structure that creates the initial challenge. A centralised, and usually remote, team means that operational individuals generally receive delivery notes and invoices. To make use of a digital system they will need to engage in a new data capture process, but they will not see any tangible benefit to themselves as the efficiencies are felt most by the finance team. This tends to cause push back by those on the shop floor and it is up to the business owners and managers to stand firm to ensure the new processes are observed.
In a multi-site operation reporting is done by location and so purchases need to be split by location. This is not always straight forward as the simpler data-capture tools do not extract invoice address and so cannot automate the allocation to the location. This can then become a manual process which removes a major time saver for the team. A multi-entity organisation has a different challenge. When invoices come into central finance they need to enter into a data capture tool but as each entity will need a separate nominal ledger you will need a separate expense capture system to link to it. With suppliers that operate across multiple locations, and therefore multiple entities, invoices end up in the wrong system and moving them across can be painful. Orders and Deliveries To maintain control and save money via ordering in bulk, Purchase Orders can be used to authorise a purchase before it is made and to hold a supplier to account. In the fast-flowing hospitality sector growing businesses tend to avoid these as getting the paperwork to site or approved is time-consuming and can affect operations. When operated effectively, Purchase Orders ensure best prices are agreed upfront and suppliers are held to these before payment is made. When used manually the admin burden of purchase orders can often outweigh the benefits.
Delivery notes are always delivered to site, but without an available order there is no
6 | SCRUTTON BLAND | LEISURE AND HOSPITALITY
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