Accounts Payable

[mimi758]

Hi everyone!  I've been reading the boards on this site for awhile now, but never posted.  Now I have a task that I need suggestions on how to handle.

Does anyone have any suggestions for completing accounts payable? 

They are the worst part of my week, with having to verify what we've been paid, verifying with the different supervisors that the vendor can be paid, sending releases to be signed and returned and then submitting pay requests to the powers that be!  Not to mention the calls from the vendors asking when they'll be paid (I have no idea since we can't pay them until we're paid and I don't do the billing).

I've tried working on them as they come in, putting them aside and then working on them once a week but I haven't been able to come up with a system that works for me.

[emwright]

It sounds like it has several steps.  Have you tried mapping the process on a piece of paper and then thinking about what area you are having the most trouble in.  I am sure receiving them and entering the information is easy, the rest sounds more difficult.   Maybe just mapping it out will give you an idea and evaluating each step can help map out a better system.   Sorry I couldn't give you a system.   

[Cathy S]

First of all hello and  welcome to the forum.  Hopefully reading the posts has already been helpful to you and I am sure you will get some excellent suggestions in direct answer to your question.

As emwright has already suggested my approach would be to map the whole process (I would use mindmapping but you might prefer a straightforward list) including the bits you don't control.

Having identified all the steps you should find it easier to start to establish a system that works for you.  For example - do you already know who is responsible for the bits you don't control? and if so do you take the initiative and ask those people for their input so you can meet your deadlines?

Is the whole process hard copy paper based or is some of it online? could all of it be online with tracking of where each item is upto?

Initially I have probably raised more questions than provided solutions but sometimes thinking about a task this way makes it easier to pigeonhole the separate tasks.

If you can give us more specific details about the process I am sure others will have had similar experiences and can offer solutions

Cathy

[mlm668]

You don’t say what kind of industry you work in and that can play a factor in how AP is processed.   Also, how solvent your company is also plays a role.  Some companies are solvent enough to do a check run weekly and pay whatever is due in the next 10 days and/or what ever may be billed at x%-10/net 30.

I used to do AP/AR/GL for a bridge and highway company.  Vendors and subs were paid as we were paid on each project and only for items we were paid for.  This was part of the terms of their PO/Subcontract Agreement.  If your accounting system is not set up to track by job, then that could be a large part of your confusion.  I’ll give you a rundown of how I handled things and maybe you can tailor it to fit your needs.  We paid by invoice and verified receipt of invoices by checking statements against our AP system. Subs were required to submit billings broken down according to the scope of work in the Subcontract.

1. Invoices received in mail, sorted by project, matched with back up (packing slips, delivery tickets, etc.) and given to project manager or other responsible party for verification and coding. {vendor has to be required to note project number, name and PO # if one is issued on all invoices}
2. Received coded invoices back from PM and entered into system.
3. When payment received on a project, ran an AP list for all invoices outstanding on that project.  Noted which I had promised payment to that period and/or those that were priority and gave to our President to review and mark up.  (Note: at the time I did this for this company, they were going through a rough stretch; in good times, we could run an AP list weekly regardless of project and pay anything with due dates in the selected time frame)
4. When the AP list was returned by President, I then ran checks, obtained signatures, pulled invoices being paid and stapled to file copy of the check and sent out payments.

For AP not project specific, we worked that in as they became due or with project AP runs.

My preferred routine was to do AP entry of invoices each morning and then a check run on Fridays.  Any expense reports not received by Wednesday morning, didn’t get paid that week.  Of course, there was always someone who was late and was allowed to get their expense check at the last minute. 

Hope this helps you some.

[peaches2160]

Try mapping the process in Visio in a gannt chart.  Determine what areas you do not have the information for and do not control.  Then, present this to the "powers that be" recommending the process be broken out to the controlling areas of the process.  After you have obtained their approval, conduct a meeting with the other parties in the departments involved, with your boss or power that be present, provided they have buy in on the new process recommendation.  Had it off.