The invoice arrives at the company, the accountant registers it and sends it for approval. But this often stops for several days. The document is waiting with the center manager, the approver does not respond, finances have to be expedited and before the due date, the regular document becomes a priority.
The problem is not just that the invoice is waiting. In the meantime, the company does not see exactly what expenses have already been incurred, who is responsible for them, when they will be confirmed, and how they will affect liabilities, reporting, or the cash flow plan.
Invoice approval confirms the shipment, not just the receipt
Approval of received invoices is the point at which the company confirms justification of the load. The document must correspond to the delivery, service, order, cost center, project or internal rules.
If approvals rely on emails and individual people's memories, the finance team doesn't have a reliable overview of which commitments are already processed and which costs are still waiting to be confirmed. This complicates payment planning, cash flow management, and financial statement preparation.
Without workflow, costs are confirmed late and inconsistently
For a small volume of documents, an informal procedure may work for a while. However, in a company with multiple centers, suppliers, cost types, and responsible persons, inconsistencies quickly arise.
It is not clear who should approve the invoice. Documents above a certain amount do not go through the same procedure. Repeated invoices burden the approver unnecessarily. Before the closing date, finance must find out what is still pending, what has already been confirmed and what should be reflected in the costs of the given period.
The impact will be reflected in reporting, accounts payable management and auditing. If it is not possible to trace who approved the invoice, when and according to what rules, the company loses control over the responsibility for the expense.
Managed invoice approval workflow returns control over payables
When a company knows exactly where each invoice is, who is responsible for it, and when it will be approved, it gains a much better overview of its obligations and future expenses. Approvals thus become not an administrative obligation, but part of financial management.
Digitalized workflows, such as those in the iNVOiCE FLOW solution, allow you to track document status in real time, automatically route invoices to the right approvers, and have a complete history of decisions. This allows finance to more accurately plan cash flow, prepare closings, and work with up-to-date cost data.
If you want to find out how the entire process can be simplified and made clearer, contact us and we will be happy to show you the options for setting up an approval workflow in practice.
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