For an accounts payable department, efficiency, effectiveness, and accuracy are key to its function and responsibilities within the enterprise. An AP department that lacks these attributes may result in suppliers not getting paid on time, errors within invoices and payments and overall delays in the procure-to-pay process. Establishing and measuring relevant metrics is an important part of any business function since it allows for continuous improvement and provides the opportunity to set goals and objectives.
For example, a standard metric measured by AP departments is the number of invoices processed per staff member. In a manual environment this number is fairly low due to the hands-on tasks that need to be completed (e.g., data entry, approvals, supplier inquiries, etc). However, in an automated environment, most, if not all, of these tasks are automated, enabling fewer staff members to process the same volume of invoices.
During our research we together the list below, it includes many of the key metrics that AP groups should track in order to improve overall performance.
Of course, it goes without saying that having some level of automation within AP is the best way to gather the data necessary to establish and continue to improve these metrics. Whether using a scan and capture solution from Kofax or BancTec, or using an eInvoicing solution from Ariba, ADP or Bottomline, make sure that the solutions provide the capability to monitor at least some of these metrics.
Also, if you’ve recently invested in an AP solution, monitoring such key metrics and showing improvements are a good way to prove the value of the investment.
