In companies with multiple branches, there may not be a weak point in the invoice accounting itself. The accounting team can often process the document correctly if it is received on time, in its complete form and with all the data needed for approval. The problem arises earlier - when the invoice from the branch reaches the headquarters only after a few days, just before the due date or even at the closing.
From a financial management perspective, the headquarters does not work with the current picture of costs. They only see documents that have already been entered into accounting, but some of the liabilities remain outside the main overview. The cost has already been incurred in the company, the goods or services have been delivered, the responsible person at the branch knows about it, but the headquarters cannot yet work with it in reporting, cash flow or payment planning.
Invoices from branches determine how accurately a company sees its liabilities.
The finance team needs to know that an invoice has arrived at the company, even if it has not yet been approved or posted. They need to know its value, due date, responsible person, and whether everything is ready for posting.
If this information is sought through emails, phone calls or spreadsheets, unnecessary delays occur. Accountants then check before closing for unregistered invoices, the CFO does not see the complete volume of liabilities, and management evaluates results based on incomplete costs.
As branches grow, so does document flow inconsistency
At one branch, many things can be resolved through personal agreements. However, as the company grows, differences begin to appear in who receives invoices, who approves them, and how quickly they reach accounting.
Instead of checking the correctness of accounting, the accountant then deals with :
- urging approvers ,
- tracing missing documents
- or corrections of incorrectly assigned centers and orders.
Additionally, during an audit or internal control, it is often difficult to prove when the invoice arrived or who approved it and why.
Digitizing invoices is not enough if the company does not unify the entire process
A PDF in an email or a scanned document alone does not solve the problem. If each branch works differently, the accounting department still has to search for documents, check them, and manually fill in the information.
A system for digitizing and managing the circulation of invoices, such as iNVOiCE FLOW , allows you to set up a uniform process for processing received invoices across the headquarters and branches. Each document has a clear record of the moment of receipt, approval status, responsible person and link to the branch, center or order. This way, finance has an ongoing overview of liabilities even before posting and does not have to complicatedly find out where each invoice is located.
If invoices from branches regularly complicate closings, make cash flow planning difficult, or distort the results of individual branches , it is worth going through the entire process from receipt of the document to its posting and finding out where delays, missing information, or unclear responsibilities arise.
Want to find out where invoice processing is stalling in your company? Contact GRiT and we'll walk you through the current document flow across branches.
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