How to make accounts payable more efficient for a business?

It is crucial to centralize payments when processing supplier or vendor invoices. It is a lot easier to get a clear overview of every dollar leaving the company if all company payments come from a single, common account.

You should especially strive to avoid ad hoc basis invoice payments, or paying with multiple different credit cards or accounts.

When you split bill payments it not only opens your finances up to the risk of expense fraud but also makes it much harder to get control over the amount of money your company is having to pay every month.

The best approach you can take to address this issue is to use a centralized invoice payment and database system, like Volopay.

You can use Volopay’s comprehensive spend management system to make a host of business payments, like travel spending, office expenses, and vendor payments, all from one uniform platform.

The best part is that you can even automate these payments to happen without any manual intervention required.



When it comes to accounts payable process improvement you must put special emphasis on accuracy.

When your accounts payable department processes bills and invoices using manual systems there can be countless invoice errors and problems related to the accuracy of data entry.

Manual data entry errors, duplicate invoices, or mismatching invoices with POs are common for companies that are still using spreadsheets or excel to do their accounts payables.

Use accounts payable automation systems like Volopay to radically reduce the number of errors in accounts payable.

With an automated system, you can delegate functions like invoice processing, expense reporting, and accounting reconciliation to software.

This software is designed to perform all these functions with zero errors and at a fraction of the time, it would otherwise require.

By using systems like Volopay you can not only reduce the frequency of errors but also the amount of time and money you have to invest in accounts payable process improvement.



Transparency and collaboration in the process can be a considerable pain point in the accounts payable system. Getting all stakeholders to get on the same page to approve and process invoices can be a difficult task to do.

Companies often have to deal with and run around multiple levels of approvers to get invoices processed. This can severely slow down the process and reduce the degree of transparency you have over the process.

Communication and collaboration are also required with vendors and suppliers in case invoices have incorrect details attached. All this can make your accounts payable process inefficient, especially when done manually.

However, this does not mean that the level of collaboration between stakeholders cannot be improved. All you need to do is use accounts payable platform that comes equipped with an effective communications system.

Volopay, for instance, instantly notifies approvers when the need for approvals arises. On Volopay’s platform approvers, employees, and vendors all come together in the same place. This allows increased collaboration and therefore transparency in the process.

Artificial intelligence is one the best things to have happened to accounts payable in recent years. AI can be a powerful tool that can significantly boost your accounts payable department’s efforts.

It’s a well-known fact that managing processes manually can be the cause of great concern for the accounts payable department.

Related read: Machine learning and AI in finance - Overview & benefits

Time is valuable and a lot of it can be wasted on processing invoices, decoding and locating the required information, and making the actual payment.

Instead of following this inefficient process, you can simply upgrade to an AI-supported accounts payable system. Artificial intelligence-powered platforms like Volopay can automatically process invoices with minimum fuss.

With Volopay all you need to do is sit back and let the platform take care of invoice processing. As soon as an invoice is received the system automatically extracts the required information.

The platform also reaches out to required approvers and gets approvals done automatically.

With multiple, highly customizable controls in place, you can let Volopay’s AI take care of vendor payments. Additionally, all this is done with zero errors and at lightening fast speed.