Haven’t moved over to electronic files? What are you waiting for!
Why do small and mid-sized associations use automated systems for purchasing and accounts payable? Surveys show that organizations make the switch from paper-based systems because of the need to improve internal controls and process efficiency. Paper creates bottlenecks in a number of procedures that computerized systems can easily eliminate.
An online session presented by Derrick Hicks and Michelle Dohm of Interactive Document Solutions last week walked association CFOs and accounting specialists through the electronic procedures that can make their lives – and their organizations’ reporting – faster, easier, and more organized.
The top objectives for most participants were to improve the tracking of pending liabilities and to help their organizations stay within the policies and boundaries of approved budgets.
Hicks said that for some staff members, change is challenging, and sticking to cumbersome paper files can be tempting - “We have always done it this way.” An electronic procedure that is user friendly and guarantees adherence to polices is a change worth making, Hicks said.
Automated approval routing and custom reports can be built into the system, along with additional capability to issue and track purchase orders and receipts.
According to a study by the Aberdeen Group, processing a paper transaction such as an invoice costs $10.54. To electronically process and store the same invoice costs only about $2. “Depending on the number of invoices,” Hicks stressed, “savings in time and labor can be appreciable.”
There are a number of programs available targeted to the association market, some priced monthly and some with full purchase plans.
Details: Michelle Dohm, 240-778-5101 or mdohm@idsdocs.com.
