Financial Tools: Automating Accounting

From: Industry Week
By: Doug Bartholomew

Except for making products that keep customers happy, there are few processes in manufacturing that are more important than accounts receivable and accounts payable.

Making sure customers pay on time and, in turn, making sure vendors and suppliers get paid, are among the most critical functions of any company. Surprisingly, while accounting management software has been around for a couple of decades, many companies are still working to more fully automate, as well as fine-tune, these processes.

Payables can be especially time-consuming. There are as many different formats for invoices out there as there are models and colors of automobiles. What's more, some vendors submit invoices electronically, while some do so via facsimile machine, and others use the Postal Service.

Document capture and imaging systems can help.

Automating Accounting