1. Do you manually approve invoices with a physical signature?
2. Is your hand falling off after signing a file of invoices?
3. Are your suppliers constantly chasing payment of invoices you approved?
4. Are you battling to find out if an invoice has been paid?
5. Are you paying invoices twice and would you ever know if you were?
6. Do you rely on excel spreadsheets for controls over invoices?

OK, enough questions!

As ICAEW registered accountants, we focus on the general control environment and identify operational risks and improvement opportunities for our clients.

Many clients continue to follow a manual process, which generally looks like this :

receipt of invoice             scan and enter on spreadsheet                  asset manager and director approval       scan and send to administrator                     payment by administrator            general ledger posting

The reason for this manual process is generally due to the fact that the accounting and administration has been outsourced and therefore out of direct control of the real estate investment management businesses. On analysis, we generally find that senior finance staff are spending a lot of time managing payments, which comes at an additional cost which needs to be added to the cost of outsourcing accounting services.

As a business partner and accountant, we manage the invoice process for you, within a controlled environment. Once supplier details are verified, one scan of the invoice triggers an efficient online invoice approval process based on a workflow.

The benefits of our processes include:

•                 One scan only
•                 Supplier and invoice details verified
•                 Duplicate invoice number controls
•                 CIS verification at set up
•                 CIS registration changes automatically updated
•                 Approval routes set per company, property or value
•                 Web-based invoice approval app allows you to approve invoices anywhere and provides email reminders
•                 Ability to place invoices on hold, request further information, assess against budget and credit note controls
•                 Audit trail of approvals
•                 Web-based access to all invoices
•                 Postings to general ledger immediate to facilitate efficiency in VAT claims
•                 Ability to view payment status of invoices online

Access to our recommended software is based on username and NOT company.  This is very important as one login covers invoices relating to multiple property SPVs.

Online approval means you can approve invoices from any location with access to the internet, no need to rush back to the office or have to send emailed approvals.

If you would like to discuss your current process and options to create an efficient lean web-based invoice management system, then please contact me at ryan.seligmann@selesgroup.com

CONTACT US
Email: ryan.seligmann@selesgroup.com Call: +44 (0) 207 659 6133

At Seles, we provide business-partnering services. See http://www.selesgroup.com/consulting/business-partnering/ we work closely with our clients, and can cover the purchase ledger role including invoice approval management.