Accounts Payable Audit Software – from Fiscal Technologies

David Business, Finance, Software

In the past, it was possible (and even expected), for most organisations to process accounts in-house. The number of payments to be processed were relatively small and possible for one person to keep track of without much difficulty. However, nowadays working between companies and across countries and even continents is much more normal, and therefore most businesses find themselves dealing with lots of different suppliers, providers and customers. There is, these days, a much greater risk of duplicate payments, missed discounts and even outright fraud.

There is nothing worse, in the 21st century, than attempting to use archaic software to process payments. Such software includes a dependence on accounts payable remembering the details of payments as the databasing and processing programs set up to keep records have to be manually updated and recorded. This old-fashioned way of working can be avoided, however, by using accounts payable audit.

An accounts payable audit can effectively eradicate the losses of thousands or even millions of dollars that come from missed invoices, over or under, or even duplicate payments, and forgotten rebates or VAT adjustments. Using an expert auditing service relieves the headache of worrying about these issues, allowing the accounts staff to get on with their day to day jobs without headache.

However, accounts payable audit can only go so far, and whilst they are an incredibly vital tool for keeping aware of past mistakes, they still require action to be taken, credit notes to be requested etc, in order for the blunders to be rectified. For more sizable companies, there is a method to minimise any losses being generated in the first place.

This can be achieved using recovery audit software. This software enables bosses of larger companies to keep up a continuous scrutiny of outgoing payments, by alerting accounts payable specialists to issues, as and when they are discovered.

These days, a company of any real size will be trading on a day-to-day basis with tens, hundreds, and for larger interests, thousands of suppliers of supplies and services. These range from electricity, phone and heating suppliers, to contract caterers, handymen, courier services and plumbers – not to mention the specific suppliers a business utilises, from machinery for factories to food goods for shops and supermarkets, even including outfitting suppliers for cleaning services, train companies etc. Recovery audit software can keep on top of all of these numerous payments, ruling out the risk of duplicate payments, undetected fraud and other error.

Please visit https://www.fiscaltec.com

Accounts Payable Audit: Is it worth the time?

Mary Accounting, Advice, Business, Finance, Software, Technology

Accounts payable is the outstanding sums of money owed to and by your firm. In the course of doing business you will provide products and services to a range of parties, who will pay you for them. However, payment is not immediate; usually an accepted period of time will elapse before the invoices are fulfilled. This may be 30 days, though in some instances it can be two months or more. In other cases just 14 days is considered acceptable. An accounts payable audit explores what money is due to your company. Recovery audit software can be used to investigate the different invoices that are outstanding and work out whether they should be paid (by you), or should already have been paid by clients. One of the most important categories of overpayment for businesses is duplicate payments, which can arise either accidentally or intentionally through fraud (a company that receives a large number of invoices may not realise if a duplicate comes in, and will pay it without thinking). Whichever one, you will want to avoid these and other forms of unnecessary overpayment, whilst ensuring that those who owe you money pay it promptly.

Most businesses underestimate the financial impact that accounting problems cause. If your accounts are in order, you will be paying suppliers on time. However, others may not be treating you with equal courtesy. There will be those who pay late – perhaps consistently late, or perhaps some have never paid you for certain jobs. Then there are suppliers who have incorrectly invoiced you, or instances where human error has resulted in inaccuracies on an invoice or a copy; invoices typically have twelve fields of data on them, so this can be a common occurrence.

Researchers suggest that roughly one in a thousand transactions is an overpayment, with duplicate payments being one of the most common errors. If your business entails a big volume of transactions, you could be losing large sums of money in this way. An accounts payable audit will tell you exactly how much account errors are costing you every year. Recovery audit software will enable you to claw this back, but this is something you should pursue quickly: the more time passes, the lower the chance of reclaiming the money. Additionally, where the errors are a result of fraud, you may need to take legal action – and, at the very least, put in place measures that stop it occurring again.

Please visit https://www.fiscaltec.com/

Bacs are unbeatable where efficient payments are concerned

Paul Software

Whether you have a small business, a multinational or a not-for-profit operation, accounts will be a consistent concern. The successful commercial outfit and the independent start-up may have different things to think about: the one perhaps looking to increase its profit margin and buy into new territories while the other assesses whether it can afford to pay more staff. Certain principles will be relevant to both ends of the business scale, however, such as the positive benefits of bacs. Bacs payments, originally Bankers’ Automated Clearing Services, are the most efficient payment solution yet to be found. Transfers can be cleared instantly meaning that companies can be in the know about the real state of their balance instead of wondering what has been processed and what remains to be paid. Of course, there will be times where your cash-flow is not sufficient for payments to be made as soon as invoices are received. In these instances, bacs software will help you make a schedule for your future payments and keep a record of all previous transactions.

While large businesses might have further complications calling for an accountant to oversee the software, smaller operations will often allow an efficient computerised system to do the bulk of the work. When the time comes to submit an accounts summary to the tax man, you will simply be able to press print and all your incomings and outgoings will be made crystal clear. Thus the end of the tax year will no longer be a time to hold in fear: hopefully it will mark a date where you can rate your progress and beginning making plans anew.

Errors are rarely made when bacs payments are processed with dedicated bacs software. Therefore, in the first year after changing to efficient bacs methods, you might even see your profits rise. This is because duplicate payments and loss of data can be eliminated with bacs. If you thought you couldn’t afford another employee, your savings might offer a pleasant surprise: perhaps you will be able to grow your business after all. Meanwhile, your existing workforce will be happy that their invoices or salaries are being paid on time. And because happy staff are glad to be at work, bacs might indirectly help to increase your company’s productivity. Increased visibility, transparency, security and control cannot be valued highly enough in the currently difficult economic climate. When budgets are strict, bacs will really perform.

Please visit http://www.bottomline.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

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Bacs software has many upsides for a business

Paul Software

bacs software has been around for some time, but lots of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) still don’t have it. After all, they may have been ok with cheques and cash before that for years, and not had any difficulties. Depending on the nature of business, there may be costs involved, such as buying or upgrading computers to deal with the software that takes care of bacs payments. But bacs (short for bankers’ automated clearing system) has a number of advantages and goes far beyond being able to make a direct transfer of cash from one bank account to another, as you would with regular online banking. Even for a small business, the benefits can be significant, since one of the things it can do is reduce error and improve time-keeping, meaning that everyone is paid on-time – including you.

There are a range of advantages, with bacs software making lots of processes easier. Bacs transfers are quick, efficient and safe (especially compared to writing out reams of cheques or having a huge bag of money sitting around to pay staff, as it used to be done). If you need a faster option – bacs usually takes three working days, though it can be nearly instant – then there are faster variants. It can streamline cross-border transfers with a similar function for international payments. Integrated with specialist software, it can ensure that you don’t make a mistake in payments by validating the account number and sort codes that you enter – thereby reducing the trouble of reclaiming (or writing off) money that you send to the wrong person. When it comes to other parties paying you, there are direct debit collection arrangements. These are set up once and then left to run. The advantages of this are plain: instead of invoicing someone every month and waiting for them to process the request – perhaps with numerous reminders – the money is taken straight from their bank account on the agreed day, meaning that you never have to consider late payment again.

All in all, bacs software offers so many advantages that it’s tough to see why any organisation would pass over the benefits that bacs payments systems can bring. Bacs is increasingly being used across all sizes of business for good reason. It’s fast, efficient and safe, and it reduces error and delays. In uncertain times, those are all welcome reassurances to have since they will inevitably improve your bottom line.

Please visit http://www.bottomline.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

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Duplicate payments can be a distant memory if you embrace recovery audit technology

Paul Software

An Accounts Payable audit is a very important part of most workplaces.  However expert and careful accounts teams might be, duplicate payments often happen, and these can incur major costs. Lots of companies call in the services of professional recovery auditors, but this can be an very expensive way of doing things.  If you can teach your own in-house Accounts Payable teams to deal with the recovery auditing, this can be a great way to save money and improve internal processes.  Performing an in-house audit is now a fairly relaxed affair thanks to the development of recovery audit software.

With this software, you can pre-process your upcoming payments, which means that you should never have to pay a duplicate invoice again.  It is possible to audit all your past payment data in one easy step, and regain any money that you have gained back, which often substantially increases your surplus.  Crucially, the software tells you the reason for each duplicate, which means that the audit becomes a way of improving processes rather than just finding individual errors, so that they are unlikely to happen another time.  Taking control of your accounts payable audit process if often a positive thing.  It can be nice to see an outside team of experts come in and handle the entire task, but the knowledge and overview that can be gained from  this process in-house is often worthwhile.

This program finds duplicate payments, invoicing errors, compliance issues and supplier fraud.  As it can be used by Accounts Payable teams, it not only increases control but also improves processes, thus preventing future errors from happening.  Using a combination of search algorithms and pattern matching technology, the software generates a detailed report of potential duplicate payments and errors that may have been made.  The benefits of using this technology are surely clear.

In addition, fairly little training is needed to use the software.  Usually everybody in an Accounts Payable team can use it, without need for any auditing or accounting qualifications.  This is another cost-saving factor, as it means there are no expenses involved in training staff. The installation of this software also tends to incur fairly little by way of cost.  It is a particularly swift process, and designed to work immediately.  Free online training is provided annually, which keeps running costs at a fairly low level.

For many businesses, recovery audit software makes a major difference to the accounts payable audit process. Much can be learnt from the process of looking for duplicate payments, particularly in terms of how the accounts payable department works and any weaknesses it might have, so using your existing team to find these errors is often a wise business decision.

Please visit http://www.fiscaltechnologies.com/ for further information about this topic.

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Bacs has a series of important regulations: make sure you are compliant

Mary Business, Finance, Software

bacs, or Bankers’ Automated Clearing Services, is a payment scheme that governs transactions in a multitude of transactions in industries all across the United Kingdom. Bacs payments are processed every day between companies and individuals, and the scheme accounts for a huge proportion of wage transactions for employees. Consequently, most business payments need to be processed through bacs on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. This can result in clunky and ineffective procedures, which can slow companies up. Part of this is due to the fact that bacs takes three working days to be processed, which can lead to problems in accounts payable. Often a top level bacs software solution is in order.

Bacs software providers can tailor solutions to the needs of individual businesses. The potential benefits are manifold, and they begin with the saving of expenditure on payment processing. It is usually integrated with your company’s accounts system, which helps to improve the efficiency of your payment processes. Accounts payable teams have enough on their plate, without having to chase down duplicate payments or rectify other mistakes in the payment system. That is why a reliable bacs solution is absolutely key if your business is going to stay competitive. The leading high street banks will be able to inform you about this, and will probably also be able to provide recommendations.

Further to these basic benefits – that is, making life easier for accounts payable teams and saving on payment processes – there are several others. For instance, a good software solution will give you a tight control over your payments, the upshot of which is that you will be able to comply with the legislation that governs bacs payments. The same factor – your optimised level of payment control – can prove to be a factor in reducing your exposure to the risk of fraud. Whatever solution you go for in the end, it is absolutely imperative that it is completely approved by bacs. Otherwise, you might run into all kinds of problems.

Whether your company is small or large, it could perhaps benefit from the use of bacs software. The best solutions from top bacs specialists are likely to remove a number of obstacles to the efficiency, and thereby the success, of your company. bacs payments are a reality you have to deal with on a regular basis, and it would be a mistake to process them in anything but the most effective way possible.

Please visit http://www.bottomline.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

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Recovery audit software will save your accounts money

David Business, Finance, Software

Every substantial firm with significant numbers of clients and workers will know that accounts can be difficult and problematic. That’s why an accounts payable audit is helpful at least once a year. Such an audit will enable you to find any errors in your accounting processes, one of the most common – and dear – of which will be duplicate payments. These can be easy to make, usually through simple human error. However, they can also be hard to detect and address, and the longer the situation has been left, the harder it can be to rectify. recovery audit software can make the process faster by automating it, leaving your staff to do what they do best.

One piece of research found that the impact of duplicate payments alone accounted for between 0.1 and 0.5 percent of company spending – not profit, spending, because these figures are about what is going out of your accounts. A company spending £50 million could easily expect to be losing £50,000, and entirely probably much more. And that’s just one kind of overpayment. It’s likely that one in every thousand payments for your company is a duplicate. That all builds up, and yet you may not notice it until a supplier lets you know – assuming they find it themselves, or want to tell you. And, of course, once a supplier goes out of business – not a rare event in this economic climate – any likelihood of retrieving that overpayment goes out of the window.

Some firms hire recovery auditors to do similar work for them. Whilst useful in tracking down problems, these individuals charge substantial fees. It also places control for your accounts auditing outside your own company, instead of within your accounts department – surely a poorer solution. Acquiring the right software can empower your own staff to find errors before they happen, and while there is still a good chance of fixing them.

These tend to be perennial and often costly problems. recovery audit software can almost entirely eliminate the problems of duplicate payments, other overpayments and further accounting errors, from the simple human error side of things to the more subtle and sinister side of supplier fraud. It makes the yearly (if that) accounts payable audit process painless and easy, giving the initiative back to your own company rather than outside agencies.

Please visit http://www.fiscaltechnologies.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.fiscaltechnologies.com/

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