What to do with all these paper invoices?

Many AP professionals are swimming in a sea of paper with invoices coming from vendors directly to the AP Department and other invoices being routed directly to accounts payable approvers. These invoices coming from the accounts payable approvers are the ones that we in AP are always blamed for losing even when they never get to the accounts payable department. Many of us AP professionals still process paper based invoices and then store the paper invoices either internally or at an offsite records center for up to seven years. Some AP Departments have started scanning invoices on the back-end after invoices have been entered into our ERP or AP system. Others are scanning invoices somewhere in the middle of the invoice approval process and then emailing invoices around the company for approval. While scanning invoices even on the back-end is a plus over not scanning invoices at all, the real AP automation return on investment comes as you move the invoice scanning further towards the front end of your AP approval process and use accounts payable workflow technology. If you are going to incur the cost for scanning invoices, you might as well get the benefit of being paper free from the beginning of the AP approval process rather than in the middle or end of the AP approval process. The question is how to do this?

Well a first impulse might be to buy scanners or use multi-function devices that may already exist in your AP department. Then have one of your AP processors focus part of their accounts payable job on scanning invoices because the perception is that scanning invoices is relatively easy. The reality though is high production invoice scanning is not that easy especially when it comes to invoices. Vendors send invoices in all different formats with all different fonts. Some are even still printed on three-part paper using dot matrix printers while others may even be hand written. If you choose to do your own invoice scanning you need to ensure that the invoice scanning aspect is not the bottleneck in the accounts payable approval process with delays in invoice scanning and also poor invoice image quality. The optimal AP automation solution is to evaluate a third party invoice conversion center to do the invoice scanning and additionally the invoice data capture for your invoices. If you want to move your invoice scanning to the front end of your accounts payable workflow, an invoice conversion center will allow for your suppliers to send invoices directly to a managed PO Box where the invoice conversion center will open the mail, scan invoices and even do the invoice data capture. If you prefer to scan invoice still on the back end which is not our recommendation, you can still use an invoice conversion center to scan invoices, potentially store the invoices in their web based solution and capture key invoice fields that will allow you to link from your ERP or AP system back to the invoice image without needing to manage or store the invoice images yourself.
If you take into account the expenses you may already be incurring for offsite paper storage, lost paper invoices, audit requests where you need to make photocopies, pay for shipping cost for invoices from multiple locations to the AP department, and their accounts payable processor’s time wasted on lost invoices, you can actually save money with the added benefits you gain by moving invoice scanning to the front end of your accounts payable workflow process using an invoice conversion center.