Approving invoices through a workflow: the process from a to z

Workflow software: benefits for financial administration

When you physically circulate an incoming invoice around the organization, you have to do a lot of manual work. With workflow software, you eliminate these types of manual tasks because you automatically approve the invoice. This also gives you insight into the status and turnaround time of each invoice at all times. You can see at a glance who the document belongs to and how many more steps are needed before the process of approving is complete. Because you create a watertight system, you significantly reduce the risk of error. Moreover, digital documents never get lost. And the days of accidentally paying unapproved invoices are over. In your workflow software you can set rules that prevent this. Think of an obligation to have every invoice approved by two people. When you implement such rules, easy approval is a fact immediately. Because when you automatically assign approvers in the workflow, you no longer have to think about the process. You can rest assured that it will be flawless!

Approve invoices via a workflow: what route does an incoming invoice go through?

First, you read an incoming purchase invoice using OCR software. After the system has recognized the invoice data and created an entry proposal, you perform a check and book the invoice into your ERP system. At that point, the approval workflow kicks in. Before the invoice is approved (or receives “approved” status), of course, it must go past several people. Approvers have several options: approve or reject invoices, add a comment (e.g. to clarify a certain element for the next approver) or ask a colleague for advice (think of a project manager asking the buyer a question about the content of a delivery). You can largely automate the entire process based on approvers. For example, it is possible to automatically forward an invoice based on recognized values (such as a project number) to the appropriate approver (for example, a particular project leader). Once the approval process is complete, the invoice’s payment block goes off, allowing you to include the invoice in payment. All approved invoices end up in the digital archive. Good software also archives all annotations on an invoice, so you can always see who has approved an invoice and when exactly this happened. You can retrieve such logging information at the touch of a button. Handy when you need to do reference work!

Digital approval: what things can you set up?

Threshold amounts or an authorization matrix

If an invoice above a certain amount must always pass the manager or director, you can easily set this up. If you want to set different threshold amounts, you can work with an authorization matrix. Here the invoice goes to one or more managers depending on the amount.  

Standard rolls

The system can always send certain invoices to certain people. For example, a project invoice automatically goes to a project manager, and an expense invoice by default goes to the person responsible for the general ledger account.  

Multiple workflows

Do you have multiple companies or limited liability companies? If so, you probably also work with more than one administration. With good software, you can set up a separate workflow for each administration. And if you receive different types of invoices (such as project, cost and purchase order invoices), you can set up a workflow for each invoice type. For each workflow you set up approvers. You can also determine which invoice aspects are highlighted for the different approvers. This way, every administrative process runs automatically from start to finish!  

Determine Route

Approving purchase invoices usually covers a process consisting of several steps. You can include each of these in the workflow. For example, it is possible to set where an invoice should go when someone rejects it: to the previous approver (one step back) or to the administration (the “starting point”).  

Automatic approval

Want to minimize your time spent on approving purchase invoices? Then you can ensure that invoices up to a certain amount during a specific period are automatically approved. This is useful, for example, for monthly lease invoices on which there is basically a fixed amount. In January, you can indicate that the system may immediately approve these for the coming year, unless the invoice amount differs. This will save you even more time!  

Automatic reminders

Is an invoice not being approved on time? Then you can have the system automatically send reminders to approvers. That way you don’t have to chase after colleagues every time to collect the necessary signatures.  

Approve purchase invoices anytime, anywhere: workflow software with app version

Some workflow programs make a web AND app version available. This means you can approve invoices not only via your computer, but also on your Android or iPhone device. The advantage? You can view invoices anytime and anywhere via your smartphone. And you can approve them simply by swiping!