More and more companies are implementing invoice automation software that reduces the required amount of manual input from employees. However, it’s still important that all of the data and the process involved in collecting and reporting them are as accurate as possible. This is why it’s important to do an accounts payable audit regularly.
One of the most daunting tasks that involves finances is doing an audit. This could be due to various reasons: mistakes, fraud, and even software error. Using incompatible systems can cause errors on the entered data, but human error and fraud are two things that should not be taken so lightly when doing an audit.
Planning
The planning stage is important for both auditors and the business. This will give both parties a timeframe to work with in order to prepare what needs to be looked over. For the business, this is the time to make sure that key members of the staff team have reported any errors that they think may have been occured in the last several months.
Records
If you have both paper and electronic records, it’s important that you correlate the data that you have on them. Make sure that everything is as accurate as possible. The usage of an invoice automation software makes it incredibly easy to produce accurate electric reports. This is why modernization is something that should be done as soon as possible.
When a company still uses paper records, it’s much easier to make mistakes and not notice them. With an electronic record, you’re able to search for data and make sure that they’re correct within a second. You may even automate the process of auditing everything and get reports from your own software.
Errors
Finding an error with the accounts payable is not something that you should be terrified with. At the end of the day, there will be errors especially if you have to input things manually. This may be a duplicate payment or the assignment of the wrong vendor to a specific product. Just make sure that the errors are reduced the next time that you have to do an audit.
As soon as you find an error from your own audit, you should make sure that you address them and get all possible solutions in a report as soon as possible. When you address errors before they’re noticed by the auditors, it’s much easier to explain what went wrong and what you’re going to do to fix and prevent them from happening in the future.
With errors, there’s always a doubt in the back of your mind that it may be something that was done on purpose. If you suspect that there’s been fraudulent records on manual entries, it’s time to use invoice automation software to ensure that all fraudulent data is detected beforehand. Theft with the use of company credit cards and inflating invoices are common fraud attempts.
Forget spreadsheets and don’t fall behind competition. An invoice automation software by Nexus Systems can help you up your game.
