Orders in, items out, send a bill, count the revenue, and (hopefully) rejoice. It sounds like a simple process and perhaps it was… A very long time ago. Today’s economy is much more complicated and so is the financial process. While this sounds like a negative it is in fact a window of opportunity for companies both large and small with the key being automation. And companies are taking up the challenge. When we surveyed more than 1,000 finance leaders, two-thirds told us they’ve already started making their business digital with a special focus on AP automation. Why?
Automated Invoice Matching Is a Strategic Asset
Automated financial systems and specifically accounts payable automation are revolutionizing the AP process and in fact the role of the entire department. It does this simply by replacing manual tasks throughout the invoice and payment process with intelligent software. The same work that used to take hours and days is now done almost instantly and overcomes many of the obstacles previously faced by organizations. This includes processing cost, lack of visibility, late payments, and cycle times. At the same time an organization benefits from increased and easily accessed visibility.
Specifically, automated systems can provide a treasure trove of data that can be used across an entire business. The key is ensuring that the information is complete, accurate, and of course accessible. The foundation of this is in the accounts payable workflow and to be even more exact, lies in the invoice intake process. The more exact the process, the better the level of information.
The Benefits of 3-Way Matching
Three-way matching is a payment verification technique used in the accounts payable process to ensure that an invoice is valid. It matches a Purchase Order (PO), Goods Received Note (GRN), and the invoice, helping to avoid fraudulent or unauthorized payments including overpaying or duplications. Discrepancies can be immediately flagged for review.
Automated three-way matching supercharges the accounting process, allowing organizations to automatically match a large number of invoices in almost real-time. In the automated three-way process, the supplier invoice comes in and is immediately captured. Relevant information is extracted with the help of machine-learning algorithms and key data points are compared.
Do goods and services delivered match up in terms of quantity, price, amounts due and supplier information? Did the order actually exist or was it duplicated? Line by line is checked with any discrepancies are automatically flagged and in minutes escalated to the right team member. Only when the three-way matches pan out are invoices routed to the designated people for approval.
Not only does automated three-way matching help prevent errors and fraudulent invoices (which in turn save time, money, and even possibly business relationships) but it creates a clear audit trail for compliance.
100 Million Invoices and Counting: Yooz and the AP Process
As a cloud-based platform used by more than 4,000 organizations, the Yooz intelligent OCR technology has read and indexed more than 100 million invoices from a million vendors. In fact, this feature continues to learn and get smarter with each use. It’s this kind of experience and laser focus on the AP automation process that gives the system an unmatched edge in capturing, processing, and paying invoices quickly and securely.
With Yooz, your three-way match doesn’t just happen at the beginning of the process. Before payments go out, they undergo three additional checks to minimize errors and fraud. From beginning to end there is a fully compliant audit trail that makes losing documents – or information – a thing of the past. And once payment has been made, the information is automatically exported, reconciling the invoice with the matching purchase order and marking it as paid.
Why Yooz is the Best AP Automation Solution for Oracle NetSuite Users
Just as no two companies are alike, so too should your AP process reflect your unique needs and be able to seamlessly integrate with your business management platform and systems. Yooz accounts payable automation is not just scalable but fully integrated with Oracle NetSuite. This means that everything that you do in one platform is seamlessly, automatically, and accurately synched with NetSuite. In other words, the invoice data is automatically extracted and recorded in the NetSuite system such that the Yooz 3-way match is in fact the Oracle 3-way match..
In addition to this seamless integration, Yooz has ‘Built for NetSuite’ status, meaning that the platform meets the strict standards and best practices of the Oracle NetSuite SuiteCloud Platform.
Custom Dashboards to Gain Maximum Insights from Invoice Matching
Oracle NetSuite and Yooz also gives you the ability to create a customized dashboard that’s seamlessly integrated into our already user-friendly and intuitive interface. All relevant information is now at your fingertips and configured as you need it, including the status of all invoices in a central shared location. In fact, Yooz reporting features are so strong that PayStream rated them as one of the most robust reporting platforms currently offered in the AP Automation space.
Working with Yooz means developing a unique workflow that meets your specific needs. Real-time AP automation empowers your team to focus on true value-added tasks such as improving relationships with key vendors, a must-have during times of strained supply chains.
