In these days, when traditionally there is less work to be done or entrepreneurs take a break from work, many of them are using the quieter time to reflect on the year and make new plans. You should definitely include invoice management.
Dealing with invoices, receipts, etc. contributes to a large extent to the success or failure of a company. This became clear this year when many companies sent their employees to work from home without much preparation. Those who had already digitized their processes and tested the procedures regularly had a clear advantage: employees were used to accessing, editing and sharing documents outside the office. Other companies have created digital processes “from the ground up” so that the work worked. According to the current DATEV digitalization index, digitalization in tax consulting firms has “picked up significantly,” with small firms in particular having caught up. 69 percent of law firms invested in digitalization in 2020, and more than half increased their investment volume compared to the previous year. In addition to hardware and software, the focus was primarily on setting up home office workstations. According to the digitalization index, 94 percent of large, 86 percent of medium-sized and 65 percent of small law firms can now access their data via mobile devices.
Automation opens up more potential
Apart from the fact that this is still far from the case for everyone, mobile access to documents is only “part of the rent” – digitization has only been partially implemented. According to the digitalization index, the proportion of law firms that offer their clients remote support or the provision of evaluations on a common digital platform has also increased. However, this proportion is only 51 percent and 53 percent respectively. The current KPMG study “Digitization in Accounting” confirms this need to catch up. According to the study, companies are reluctant to use new technologies such as AI. In most areas of accounting, the use of AI is still a thing of the future. This is exactly the key to exploiting the advantages of digitalization. Because AI enables automation – the further processing of documents without manual effort. In terms of invoice management, not only can documents from various sources, such as emails, online portals and invoice creation tools, be automatically collected in a cloud so that authorized users can access them from anywhere in the world. Relevant invoice information such as invoice number, supplier and invoice amount can also be read out without manual effort and compared with data, including from bank statements. In addition, the required information can be automatically transferred to other applications, for example to the accounting software or to the tax advisor. They are available where they are needed - and by avoiding media disruptions, they are not only more error-free than with manual processes, but also in almost real time.
Even more automation
Advanced invoice management solutions include intelligent algorithms that automatically match account and credit card transactions with associated invoices or receipts. Among other things, the amounts, the supplier name and the intended use are compared. Users are thus freed from another time-consuming manual task in preparatory accounting, which is accompanied by additional time savings.
Support in the digitalization of invoice management
Fully digital invoice management speeds up the processing of invoices without requiring additional human resources. Efficient cash flow management becomes possible and advantages such as discounts can be easily used. In addition, those responsible always have an up-to-date overview of the financial situation - a good basis for decisions.
It would therefore be a promising good resolution for the new year to push digitalization projects in invoice management or to adjust procedures that have already been started. This not only eliminates problems in accounting and with the tax advisor, for example due to missing receipts or long processing times, but also creates the basis for putting actual business plans into practice.
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