Accounts Payable Hub

Great Plains Software vs QuickBooks

Your decision about choosing Great Plains software vs QuickBooks Online may change over time as your business requirements increase. Smaller companies with promising growth paths will likely outgrow QuickBooks Online and move up to an ERP system with more features, like Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Invoice-to-Pay

You want to integrate as seamlessly as possible with existing accounting and ERP systems. However there are many key steps along the supplier payment process that still require significant manual effort beyond sending out payment instructions to the transfer API for bank, ACH, and wire services.

Accounts Payable Invoice Approval Process

The accounts payable invoice approval process, which is part of the AP invoice processing and payment processing workflow, is an area that your business can streamline with BPI to yield significant cost-savings benefits.

Supplier Portal

A supplier portal, also known as a vendor portal, is an integrated online platform shared by businesses and their vendors. The supplier portal is used for entering supplier information, submitting documents, displaying status, and communicating. With a supplier portal, document submission includes contracts, electronic purchase orders, vendor invoices for payment, and electronic W-9 tax forms.

Self Billing

Self-billing is a financial agreement between a customer and a supplier. In most cases, it involves the customer preparing the invoice and sending it, along with the payment, to the supplier.

Intacct vs NetSuite

To decide whether Sage Intacct or NetSuite, owned by Oracle, is the better SaaS, cloud-based ERP system for your business, consider the expected growth rate and expansion path for your business. Will Sage Intacct provide enough, or will you need the added functionality of Oracle NetSuite?

Cash Flow Management

Cash management helps to predict how much money will be available in the future to cover things like debt, payroll, and vendor invoices. Net cash flow is a critical measure of financial health for any organization.

EDI Payments

Many types of EDI payment methods are available to businesses. If you are considering EDI for the first time or are expanding your existing EDI platform, there is at least one method to fit your budget, technology structure, and business transaction needs. Here are two of the top EDI payment methods and their descriptions.

Cash Flow Forecasting

Cash flow forecasting is a cash flow projection that includes beginning cash balance, cash inflows and cash outflows by type, and ending cash balance. A cash flow forecast shows if estimated future cash balances will be sufficient or if actions should be taken to add cash through optimal cash flow management or financing.

Accounting Cycle

The full accounting cycle is a step process for recording transactions, preparing financial statements, and making closing entries for the monthly or annual accounting period. At year-end, closing entries include transferring net income or loss to the retained earnings account and resetting income and expense accounts to zero for the next accounting period.

Payment Reconciliation

Payment reconciliation may be a time-consuming process for accounting teams that slows down the monthly financial close. As businesses grow, the time required to reconcile payments and perform bookkeeping expands unless your business automates the payment reconciliation process with a real-time software solution.

Accounts Payable Best Practices

Successful companies are always looking for ways to optimize internal processes, including accounts payable. No matter the size of your business, there will always be the need to pay bills.

Thus, it’s in your best interest to understand and update your accounts payable best practices on a regular basis. Here are a few tips and tricks to get you there:

EDMS

EDMS (electronic document management system) is a software platform for centralized records management, electronic document sending, storage, versioning, and retrieval for businesses and organizations. EDMS is used internally as an electronic document repository. Finance uses EDMS for electronic document exchange between the company and its vendors and document storage.

Ch. 9 Scaling – Everything You Need to Know About AP Automation

Automation is the key to quickly scaling any business. Especially when dealing with high growth. Since invoice management requires tedious data entry and robust communication, it’s a prime candidate for automation technology that can take over monotonous and repetitive tasks.

Ch. 8 Advanced Capabilities – Everything You Need to Know About AP Automation

In addition to automating the procurement process, a more advanced tool like Tipalti can offer features that far exceed simply paying bills. Here are a few examples of how accounts payable automation software can benefit a business in other ways:

Ch 7: The Best Accounts Payable Software Reviews Comparison – Everything You Need to Know About AP Automation

With AP automation software, businesses can reduce hiring and assign more significant roles to accounts payable staff. Advanced AP solutions include capabilities that range from tax forms to global payments and fraud detection.

Ch. 6: ERP Integration – Everything You Need to Know About AP Automation

Invoice data can be complex and expansive. Every step—from supplier data to invoice management and payment reconciliation—are synchronized with the ERP system. The sync facilitates timely and accurate decisions. The sync enables visibility in every step of the payables transaction cycle.

Ch. 5: All About Invoice Matching – Everything You Need to Know About AP Automation

Invoice matching compares supplier invoices with purchase orders for 2-way matching or purchase orders and receiving reports for 3-way matching.

Ch. 4: How to Select the Best AP Software – Everything You Need to Know About AP Automation

Automation can revolutionize the accounts payable process; a business simply needs to find the right tool. There are many solutions out there, so when it’s time to start looking, which platform fits best? Here are a few factors to consider during the search:

Ch. 3 Basic Capabilities – Everything You Need to Know About AP Automation

Ch. 2: Key Things CEOs, CFOs, & Controllers Should Know – Everything You Need to Know About AP Automation

Driving accounts payable change within a business is challenging—especially when AP is overwhelmed with everyday tasks. A major hurdle is making the business case for AP automation to C-suite executives. Particularly a CEO, CFO, and Controller.

Ch. 1: What is AP Automation & How is it Profitable for Finance Teams? – Everything You Need to Know About AP Automation

Accounts payable automation helps an organization gather business intelligence from manual workflows. AP technology streamlines accounting operations. The technology plays a significant role in the optimization of financial systems and the cross-collaboration of teams.

Accrual vs Deferral

So, what’s the difference between the accrual method and the deferral method in accounting? Let’s explore both methods, walk through some examples, and examine the key differences.

Variable Expense Ratio

Variable expense ratio — also called the variable cost ratio — is a means of understanding how variable costs impact a business’s net profits. The variable expense ratio expresses a company’s variable expenses as a percentage of its net sales. This is a useful metric that can help businesses in matters like pricing and production scheduling.