While it’s nice to focus on the big-picture issues in accounts payable, at the end of the day, many of the problems that occur do so because proper attention hasn’t been paid to the fine points. Alas, when it comes to accounts payable productivity, it’s all in the details. Without attention to these smaller issues, fraud, erroneous payments can duplicate payments creep in. Not only are there the financial losses associated with these hard dollar excess expenditures, there is the additional salaries for staff to clean up these messes and handle a less than productive process. In this session, Mary S. Schaeffer lookrf at a dozen less-than-efficient process in place in many organizations. She provided alternative approaches for each – and many don’t cost a red cent to implement. Think your accounts payable department is as productive as possible? Spend an hour with us to make sure. It will be 60 minutes well spent.

1. Accounts Payable Productivity:
It's All in the Details
Mary Schaeffer
Publisher & Editorial Director AP Now
Author The Controllers’ & CFOs’ Guide to
Accounts Payable + 15 other business books

2. Agenda
 Introduction
 The Big Twelve
 Closing Thoughts
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3. Introduction
 Accounts payable: not a big picture issue
 Productivity in the details
 Hidden costs – but all with a bottom line impact
 Get rid of some of these … and spend more time on value
add tasks!
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4. The Big Twelve
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5. #1 Don’t Double Down: Correct
Handling of Credit Memos
 The problem: processors don’t recognize credit memos
 The think they are an invoice
 “Pay” the credit memo
 Now the vendor owes you twice as much
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6. More on Credit Memos
 The Escheat Issue
 The Miscellaneous Income Issue
 The Disappearing Credit Issue
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7. The Credit Memo Solution
 Train – especially new processors
 Retrain - periodically
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8. Prospecting for Gold: Finding All
Your Open Credits
 Not as easy as you might think
 Sometimes used for other charges
 Sometimes companies supress open credits on statements
 Are they sending credit memos?
 If so, where?
 Regular statement reviews –
 Where are they sending them
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9. Finding All Your Credits
 Regularly request statements
 All activity
 All vendors
 Unknown credits – often due to volume purchases from
different locations
 Review and reclaim – quickly
 No time/resources – hire a third party to do it for you and
LEARN from what they find
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10. #3 Keeping Current: Vendor
Contact information
 What information do you have?
 The TIN Solicitation/Corporate Reporting debacle
 The new ACH fraud problem
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11. Vendor Contact Data Best
Practices
 Make it part of the vendor set up
 Update at least annually
 Do it yourself
 Outsource
 Automate as much as possible
 Vendor self service portals – and impact on ACH fraud
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12. #4 The Overzealous Vendor:
Duplicate Invoices
 New Problem: Make sure they got the invoice
 Email it
 Then mail it
 About 75% have
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13. Solutions to the Sending Invoices
Twice Problem
 Identify these
vendors
 Ask them to stop
 Create an ACT
(Always Check
Thoroughly) List
 Beef up duplicate
payment checking
routines
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14. #5 Unnecessary Expenses: The
Hidden Cost of Paper Checks
 Expensive – anywhere from $2 - $10 or more
 Prone to errors
 Manual work – non value add
 The Unclaimed Property Issue
 The check lost in the mail
headache
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15. Alternative to Paper Checks
 P-card
 ACH
 Pay from statements
 Limited controlled circumstances
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16. #6 The Payment Emergency: Get
the Backup for Rush Payments
 Documentation often scanty or non-existent
 Three way match often not used
 Looser controls
 Return to requisitioner issue
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17. Sweeping up after the Elephant: Make
Sure The Rush Doesn’t Create a Problem
 Ask for backup
 Follow up after the fact and get backup
 Identify the associated PO and receiver and cancel them
 Keep a file of rush payments and check 30 -60 days later to
make sure the original invoice didn’t show up and get paid
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18. #7 The Sales Tax Dilemma: When
They Don’t Charge
 Resist the urge to ignore the issue
 At the end of the day, the buyer is responsible for sales and
use tax
 Accrue use tax if appropriate – but before you do
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19. The Best Practice Solution: When
They Didn’t Charge Sales Tax
 Ask why
 Maybe tax wasn’t applicable
 Maybe the forgot and they’ll adjust
 Maybe they don’t have nexus
 If it was included, ask for a revised invoice showing the tax
separated out
 If they forgot, ask for a new invoice showing separate amount
 Don’t accept an invoice for the tax
 You’ll forget when the auditors show up
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20. Worst Practice: The Sales Tax Issue
Just add the tax to the invoice
 It will get treated like a credit
 You’ll have issues when you are audited as you
weren’t paying use tax
 The one place it won’t end up: at the state
Don’t Do It
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21. #8 The Internal Control Issue:
Returning Checks to Requisitioners
 Inefficient for AP
 Checks sometimes lost
 Occasionally fraud
 Can lead to duplicate payments
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22. Handling Requests for Returned
Checks
 Ask what the business reason is
 Don’t make it easy
 Create a form, requiring executive approval
 Require electronic payments for rush items
 Get your auditors involved
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23. #9 The Receipt Conundrum: What
to Do with All Those T&E Receipts
 Some employees play games with
receipts
 Now almost 60% require all
receipts for expense
reimbursement
 Over one-quarter are considering
now asking for detailed meal
receipts
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24. T&E Receipts Best Practice:
Require All Receipts be Submitted
 Routinely question
Spot check
 5-10% randomly
 All known envelope pushers
 All C-level execs (assuming management
dictates this)
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25. #10 The Silent Zappers:
Productivity Killers
 Not having invoices go to AP first
 Petty cash boxes
 Not returning invoices addressed inappropriately
 Not having strong coding standards for invoices
and master vendor file
 Invoices addressed to no one
 Not using direct deposit for T&E reimbursement
for everyone
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26. #11 Keeping Score: Tracking and
Resolving Discrepant Invoices
 Discrepancies – Yuk
 Tend to drag on
 Without monitoring
 Can go on for 30 days or longer
 Second invoice sent
 Sometimes paid
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27. Discrepant Invoices: Avoiding
the Endless Life Problem
 Track so no one forgets
 Regular follow up
 Make it a policy to resolve before the due date
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28. #12 Where’s the Invoice: The
Visibility Factor
 The he said-she said problem with
purchasing
 The floating invoice problem
 The “Where’s My Money” Calls
 The “Did You Get My Invoice” Calls
 The “When Are You Going to Pay Me” Calls
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29. Practices to Ensure Complete
Invoice Visibility
 Centralized receipt of invoices
 Ideally in AP
 The polite return of invoices addressed to no one
E-invoicing
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30. How You Can Get Started
 Talk to peers
 Vendor demos
 Ask Anybill
 Email: info@anybill.com
 Call: 877-426-9245
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31. Thank you/Questions
Questions always welcome.
To share your thoughts and insights
Mary Schaeffer
 marys@ap-now.com
 302 836 0540
 Sign up for our free weekly ezine at
www.ap-now.com/ezinesignup.html
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32. About Mary Schaeffer
 Mary Schaeffer is a nationally recognized accounts payable expert. Following a career
in finance she turned to writing and consulting. For the last 15 years she has been
researching and writing newsletters for the accounts payable profession. Currently she
is the Editorial Director & Publisher of Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow, (www.ap-
now.com) a fee-based newsletter published by CRYSTALLUS, Inc.
 She also handles most of the firms consulting assignments (focused primarily on AP
issues) often working with other well-regarded professionals. Her blog, at http://ap-
now.com/blog/ is read by over 15,000 professionals each month.
 Ms. Schaeffer is the author of over 15 business books including The CFO and
Controllers’ Guide to Accounts Payable and the recently published Fraud in Accounts
Payable: How to Prevent It. John Wiley & Sons is the publisher of most of her books.
 She also is a regular contributor to the AICPA’s Corporate Finance Insider.
 Ms. Schaeffer has a BS in Math from York College (CUNY) and a MBA in Finance from
New York University.
 She can be reached at marys@ap-now.com
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