Process Improvement Blog

There's a big scary word in the accounting world, that usually results in allocating resources and lost time - audit.

Small businesses often get the short end of the stick compared to their big business counterparts. What they don’t have in bargaining power and influence they make up for in agility—but being better able to duck and dodge amidst shifting economies, new technologies and endless industry stop-and-go doesn’t pay the bills. And getting paid on invoices—quickly and reliably—is key to every small...

No one likes to scrounge around for spare change, but we’ve all been there. Another quarter to bump your order up to a venti.

Executive strategy meetings, boardroom presentations and quarterly investor calls aren’t always on the “looking forward to” list for top-level management. These front line execs bear an incredible burden for making the kinds of decisions that can greatly impact employee performance, revenue, financial markets and more.  That said, a green light for building an AP automation system isn’t given...

Controllers come in all shapes and sizes. One may be responsible for leading various accounting managers and their own reports in the direction set by the CFO. Other controllers may themselves be the accounting department and report to the president or owner above them. Regardless of the company they keep, controllers are a company’s financial front line and the responsibility to keep the...

When people hear the concept, “Accounts Payable Automation” they take it either one of two ways: they understand its depth and complexity completely, or the phrase vaguely references “that expensive thing the big companies just started doing” or “that option for businesses without a proven accounts payable process already nailed down.”

Mistakes happen. It’s a fact of life. We’ve even created language around our ability to own and wave off mistakes like “it happens to the best of us,” “it’s all good” and “no worries.” But it doesn’t work that way when banks make mistakes. Instead, you get PR disasters and dire news like the following recent headlines:

Regardless of the size of your company or how you structure your accounts payable department (a team, a bookkeeper, an individual company owner), the following two guiding principles for establishing successful accounts payable (AP) processes are universal:

Whether we like it or not, the accounting department, controller position, and even the CFO are aspects of the business environment that won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Revenue - it's one of the top-of-mind things for executives and decision makers in any industry. How much money can be made, and how much will it cost to make that money.

Accounting, and specifically accounts payable, is a critical part of any business. It exists from the moment the business is founded, and can very quickly become an overwhelmingly large part of the business's daily activities.

The best and worst part of any accounting department is that it can make or break an organization in an instant.

In the last decade, the concept of AP automation / accounts payable automation has become muddled as a variety of software providers have attempted to enter the game.

This post is an excerpt from our White Paper, "Accounting and AP Automation: Empowering Your Accounting Department"

Invoices (both payable and receiving) are an integral part of every accounting department in business today. They have created a standardized method of how money is collected and paid from one business to another. If we're so familiar with them, why are they so cumbersome?

There are plenty of methods and reasons for the overall strategy known as "process improvement" - is there an easy way of explaining the overall goal and when the term is not simply a buzzword to get thrown around at management meetings?

We've consulted with experts and scoured the web to find the top five accounting tips that every small business can benefit from. Many of these apply to middle or large size businesses as well.

One of the most redundant tasks in any accounting department is paying invoices. Obviously the business won't function very long without paying their bills, but there has got to be a better way to get the right amounts of money to the right people.

One of the most common ways that companies will get bogged down under their own weight is through poor accounting and financial mismanagement.