Many organizations incorporate poor practices into their accounts payable function without knowing it. Check out Mary Schaeffer's seven ‘Do This, Not That’ suggestions to eliminate these common problems.
- DO: Centralize the receipt of invoices.
DON’T: Allow the vendor to decide where to send invoices.
- DO: Return unidentified invoices to the sender.
DON’T: Try and determine who placed the order.
- DO: Establish and mandate the use of a rigid coding standard.
DON’T: Allow each processor to enter data as they wish.
- DO: Review statements for open vendor credits on a regular basis.
DON’T: Ignore the issue.
- DO: Mail all checks.
DON’T: Return checks to the requisitioner.
- DO: Address the personal device issue.
DON’T: Allow employees to do as they see fit.
- DO: Learn as much as possible about invoice automation.
DON’T: Hope the issue will go away.
To learn more best practices and how you can avoid an internal control breakdown, download the full whitepaper here.