It’s good news and bad news for A/P folks: First, finance execs have thrown down the gauntlet. They’ve proclaimed they need more — expect more — out of Accounts Payable. But the flip side of the coin works to your benefit: With increased responsibilities comes increased visibility, and the chance to move A/P a couple of notches up the corporate totem pole.

A study done by CFO Research Services, which involved 186 senior finance execs, showed that improvement was a reasonable expectation for all A/P departments, not just ones considered to be struggling.

One big problem, according to respondents, was that A/P supplied “inefficient” data to support decision-making at higher levels. Other findings:

• poor transaction paperwork — 43%
• misdirected payments — 39%
• paying too much, compared with contracts –37%

It’s not as grim as it sounds. The finance execs also cited the importance of A/P in moving ahead and improving processing efficiency. In fact, improving A/P operations is a high priority for many finance execs, in order to remain competitive.

Some of the developments that are slated to come in the future, to give performance a big boost, include automation of functions such as:

• invoice scanning
• electronic invoicing
• electronic payment
• generating purchase orders
• electronic approvals

That doesn’t mean sacking half the work force, finance execs are careful to point out. Instead, the focus will be developing skilled staffers from among the current workforce.

Tags: A/P, automation, purchase order, transaction