94% of Senior Finance Professionals Dissatisfied with Purchase Invoice Processing

Research by document management and imaging company, Version One (www.versionone.co.uk), has identified that an overwhelming 94% of senior finance professionals are dissatisfied with their organisation’s methods for processing purchase invoices (PIs). Version One surveyed 125 senior finance professionals (finance directors, financial controllers and finance managers) from a cross-section of UK organisations to determine whether their existing processes for handling purchase invoices could be improved.

The survey identified that only 6% of respondents are satisfied with their PI processes. 39% of respondents complained that PI processing (from receipt of invoice to making payment) is too slow and 28% stated that their current processes are too reliant on paper. A further 19% of respondents cited lost and mislaid invoices as being problematic during the processing of a purchase invoice with 10% identifying issues relating to human error including mis-keyed data and coding errors.

Tony Bray, Sales and Marketing Director of Version One, says, “It’s frightening that 94% of senior finance professionals have to deal with problematic purchase invoice processes on a daily basis. With protracted PI authorisation, chasing paper around the organisation, lost invoices, time-consuming invoice duplication and data entry errors being some of the main problems cited, it’s hardly surprising that many organisations still fail to achieve 30-day payment targets!”

Bray continues, “Inefficient and error-prone manual processing of PIs is not only frustrating, it can prove incredibly costly. For instance, organisations are often faced with late payment penalties, invoice duplication and postage costs as well as costs associated with staff manually entering data, chasing authorisation, locating documents and correcting errors. For PI processing to be efficient and cost effective, it’s essential for finance directors to move from antiquated manual procedures to automated processes. Without purchase invoice automation in place, finance directors will continue to be dissatisfied with how supplier payments are handled.”

www.versionone.co.uk