Challenge:
The business and accounting team was facing the following challenges
Lack of visibility: E-mail method for receiving invoices led to missing emails/invoices and slow processing times.
Manual process: Manual approvals required physical signature on invoices caused delays and hours of finance team’s time tracking down paper invoices.
Poor financial management: Lack of a central invoice tracking system resulted in reports with partial, missing or outdated information.
Solution
Achievan implemented a simple intake process using Smartsheet forms to streamline process for suppliers and 3rd vendors to submit invoices.
Forms ensured all required information is provided during invoice submission resulting in reduced follow-ups from finance team.
Once the invoice request is received, workflows and automations use business logic such as invoice amount, approver/department and vendor type amongst others to route the invoice through an approval flow.
The finance team reviews reports and dashboard to track progress of invoice approvals and follows-up with the approves as required.
Management team uses dashboard to track, plan and forecast accounts payable, cashflow and payment status.
Result/Impact
Improved visibility: Invoices are captured and aggregated in real time centrally in Smartsheet rather than in e-mails resulting in improved accuracy, transparency and improved processing times.
Better financial management: Team members can now focus their time on analyzing and managing financials rather than spending time in manually collecting, tracking and following up
Real-time collaboration: Each team member can view, update and action invoice status, accounts payable and cashflow in real-time using dashboards and reports resulting in improved collaboration.
For further information, reach out to us at curious@achievan.com