How NetSuite AP Automation Optimizes Back-end Financial Systems?

As businesses across the world are preparing for the challenges posed by 2024, a trend that will be noticed is the transition to Accounts Payable (AP) Automation. This software revolutionizes back-end financial processes by eliminating manual data entry, coding invoices, printing and mailing checks and going behind internal approvals with electronic invoices.  By improving relationships with suppliers and partners, businesses can save time and money apart from reducing days sales outstanding (DSO) thereby enhancing cash flow.  

The Role of NetSuite 

AP Automation solutions will be joining hands with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems in 2024. Anticipating such a scenario, companies should seriously spare a thought about automating Accounts Payable using NetSuite. Doing so ensures that businesses save time, increase control and enhance productivity.  

NetSuite also promises real-time tracking of the accounts payable process. You can be assured of cutting operations costs up to 40% through integration. By doing so, you can also decide when and how to pay vendors thereby ensuring maximum control over outgoing cash flow. You can also keep track of the status of each transaction right from the time it is created in this software and until it clears the vendor’s bank account.

How Does AP Automation Work?  

The software transforms invoices from your suppliers into a common digital format. It then moves them through a digital workflow that ends with paying your suppliers. Optical character recognition (OCR) is used to extract data from invoices at the beginning of this procedure. Machine learning is used by some systems to identify patterns over time and increase accuracy. For instance, they might recommend particular general ledger codes or approval routes based on prior usage. You might be able to do away with manual intervention when it comes to most invoices by creating criteria specific to your company. Automation also comes with dashboards and analytical tools to help you control the process and sort out issues. It also makes it simpler to search for and audit the data as all accounts payable information gets converted to digital format and it is kept in a single system.   

Here are Some of the Key NetSuite AP Automated Tasks

• Input data 

It transforms data entry and minimizes errors, doing away with manual entry.

• Invoice matching 

Ensures the automation of invoice matching making it quicker and more precise. 

• Coding bills

By creating rules, you can do away with time-consuming and inconsistent coding that comes with manual coding. It also helps you to automatically assign the appropriate general ledger code to each invoice. 

• Approval route

In addition to being quicker than manually distributing papers to each required approver, electronic routing allows for improved workflow tracking.

How to Implement Automation and What are its Added Benefits?

Businesses can either opt for on-premises automation or pursue a software-as-a-service model. In the first case, companies can host and administer their own systems. In the latter, the application is hosted in the cloud. You also need to take time to set up rules so that as many processes as possible can be automated. Even though AP Automation is quite common, some firms may have particular needs. So, you have to make sure the system can support such workflows. 

• Paper storage, postage and delivery fees are out of the picture.

• Less time to handle supplier complaints and conduct investigations when there are fewer manual errors. 

• Auditing and compliance initiatives are simpler. Integral security and accountability tools can signal questionable behavior and help in the fraud detection process.

• Timely payment and consistency improve your reputation and benefit you in future supplier negotiations.

• Employees can be reassigned to jobs having a higher economic value as manual data entry is eliminated.

Points to Remember While Implementing Automated Accounts Payable Process   

• Planning

Create a cross-functional team that can outline the objectives for AP automation.

• Gather requirements  

Your accounts payable department compiles a list of criteria for an AP automation system and documents how your present system operates. After this phase, you produce a request for proposals (RFP) and distribute it to qualified vendors. 

• Vendor assessment

You assess the responses to your RFP from suppliers, looking at the features, price, and implementation strategy of their suggested solutions. 

• Select a vendor  

You investigate further to ascertain the precise degree to which the most promising providers satisfy your needs; this may entail creating a thorough discovery documentation and seeking demos. 

Get in touch with Jobin & Jismi to find out more about NetSuite Consulting and the advantages it offers to companies.