Digitizing administration: 7 tips to work more efficiently

Do you want to digitize your financial records because you want to spend less time on boring, repetitive tasks? With digital administration, you increase efficiency and reduce the risk of error. And when you process an incoming document – such as a purchase invoice – you’ll always know exactly where it is. This leaves you much more space to engage in challenging work that adds more value to the organization. The question is: where do you start? In this blog we share 7 tips to work more efficiently. If you are going to digitize your administration, you can use them to build a solid digital foundation for processing purchase invoices as well as other incoming documents!

1. Have invoices submitted digitally

A good start is half the battle. If you want to digitize your financial records, the first thing you have to do is improve your administrative processes. That starts with a complete switch to automation. For this, you need the cooperation of your suppliers. Therefore, ask them if they want to submit invoices only in one format (for example, as a PDF attachment to an e-mail). Create a special invoice mailbox to which they can send invoices. Optionally, you can leave the pre-sorting and editing of incoming invoices to a handy tool to save even more time.

2. Ask for smaller invoices

The “paper age” has come with a certain way of working. For example, companies that want as little paperwork as possible have traditionally asked for collective invoices. The problem is that these have to go past several approvers because there are several items on them. In short, you have less paperwork, but more delays in the process. If you are going to digitize your financial records, it is smart to have suppliers send smaller invoices instead. After all, if an invoice relates to one service provided, you can process and pay it much faster. Moreover, this benefits the relationship with your suppliers. This practice could even earn you nice payment discounts!

3. Always book invoices using the same process

If you want to have clean records, uniformity is crucial. When every employee in the financial administration has his or her own way of working, invoices are not easily found. It is also difficult to create reports. So sit down to improve your processes. For example, what steps are needed to book an invoice? Map out the process and don’t deviate from it. A good scan and recognize solution (see tip 4!) could help you considerably with this, by the way.

4. Work with smart OCR software

OCR software (also called “scan and recognize software“) reads and recognizes the data on a PDF document. The software then converts this document to a fully digital(XML or UBL) file. If it is a purchase invoice, this file is used in your ERP system to create an entry, which you just need to check. Good OCR software is reliable and smart. The latter means that the system is self-learning and that you benefit from the knowledge of the user community. As a result, the recognition rate is high – and it will only get better over time.

5. Ensure a streamlined approval process.

Who are responsible for a specific cost center or general ledger account? If you want to streamline the approval process for purchase invoices, it is advisable to designate certain people internally as approvers. If you want to digitize your financial administration, you can then implement good workflow software. This allows invoices to automatically pass through your approvers. Often it is also possible to automatically send reminders. If you work with an advanced solution, you can also automate the approval of invoices that recur monthly and fall within a certain margin. This way, your process really runs optimally!

6. Move away from a paper archive

Digitizing your financial records means getting rid of all the paperwork. You switch completely to digital invoice processing. This means that you have to be able to store digital invoices in your ERP system and that there has to be an automated link between the receipt, processing and archiving of invoices. Smart OCR software offers a solution here as well. It ensures that an invoice automatically enters the accounting system. Convenient, because this way you can always find an entry plus all related documents at the push of a button. (Want to know what factors to consider when switching to a digital archive?

7. Keep your accounts payable file current

You can avoid many problems by making sure that all the information in your records is current. That is why it is important to check invoices carefully for accounts payable data. You do this by comparing them with the data from your ERP system. If you start digitizing your records, you won’t have to perform this task manually. Good OCR software will point out any discrepancies and discrepancies. This will save you a lot of time. Moreover, you can be sure that accounts payable information is always up-to-date!