Workflow Tool: 5 Reasons Why Your Financial Administration Can’t Do Without It

A workflow consists of the various steps you need to take to process an incoming document within your organization. This document could be a purchase invoice, but it could also be a packing slip, delivery receipt, order confirmation, signed contract, or evaluation form. Various colleagues must approve it.

But things can sometimes go wrong during the process. If you don’t use a workflow tool, it’s not always clear where a document is or who needs to take the next step. Moreover, it’s often difficult to answer questions after the fact, because you can’t manually keep track of who did what and when. The result: confusion, a lack of clarity, and a lot of legwork for the financial department.

The solution: a workflow tool

If you want to process incoming documents in a streamlined manner, you’ll need to combine the image with the data. Examples of data include a project or order number, general ledger data, and the person to whom the document relates.

Reliable workflow tools provide the solution. They allow you to quickly and efficiently circulate incoming documents digitally and have them approved within your organization.

These days, no financial administration department can really do without a good workflow tool. Why? Here are five reasons!

1. More time and efficiency

The power of workflow tools lies in their ability to help you automate existing work processes. A good workflow system displays the document alongside its data, adds attachments, and provides users with a simple, user-friendly environment. This allows approvers to review an incoming document—including all relevant data—in a smooth and reliable manner.

With a workflow tool, you can automate many repetitive tasks, including approving, forwarding, and removing payment holds. This allows you to work more efficiently and frees up more of your time. You can use the time you save to focus on challenging tasks that create more value for the organization.

2. Approve documents anytime, anywhere using the workflow

More and more people are performing their jobs (at least partially) from a location other than the office. Working from home has become an important part of working life, especially due to the pandemic. A workflow solution supports this way of working. It allows you to view, comment on, and approve documents anytime, anywhere. How?

A workflow system allows you to circulate documents within your organization in a smooth, reliable, and simple way. The entire process is digital. This means you no longer have to print out documents to pass them around to approvers’ desks. And the days of having to chase down colleagues to get a signature are usually over, too. With good workflow software, you can send pre-set reminders to ensure that documents are processed on time.

3. Work Together More Effectively

Sometimes you need to discuss a document with colleagues. With a workflow solution, you can do this in a snap by adding comments or asking questions within the system.

A good workflow tool ensures that all this communication is logged. This allows you to see where an invoice is at any given time. And if you want to look up later who did what and when (for example, in the event of a question, dispute, or audit), you can easily find this information. You no longer have to search through file folders—you’re using a digital archive!

4. Optimizing Administrative Processes

If you digitize the document approval process using a workflow tool, you can formalize your process. This makes it possible to follow a standard procedure for paying a received invoice. You register, archive, and post the document in a uniform manner and then circulate it for approval. Once all the required signatures have been obtained, you proceed with payment. A standardized process like this ensures that you work more efficiently and consistently.

A workflow solution also provides greater insight into the backlog, lead times, and bottlenecks. This allows you to better monitor the overall situation.

5. Preventing Phishing and Invoice Fraud

If you properly digitize the approval process for purchase invoices, recurring tasks will be carried out consistently. You only need to set up such a system once. After that, you’ll have plenty of time to focus on exceptions and discrepancies.

This means you can be much more vigilant against phishing and fraudulent invoices. For example, if a phishing email arrives, the system automatically sends an alert. This makes it more likely that you’ll intercept such a dangerous message and filter it out in time!

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