When was the last time your accounts payable department requested and checked vendor statements? Most readers know they should periodically request statements from vendors, insisting that the statements show all activity, including open credits. But how many actually get around to this task. Once you’ve identified open credits, either request a check for those items or use them against open invoices. Vendor credits often go unused simply because the customer (that’s you) doesn’t know about them and the supplier “forgets” to inform the customer.

Some organizations simply don’t have the staff to perform this task. If yours is one of them, consider hiring an audit firm to do this for you. If you limit the scope of the audit to this one task, you can usually negotiate a lower rate. In fact, there are some firms that specialize in vendors’ statements reviews. Since this work is often done on a contingency basis, management should not object. Given the fact that many organizations are actively searching for ways to increase the bottom line, this suggestion may very well be welcome by management. This is true even at organizations that had in the past, refused to consider this type of activity.

Do you find that many of the employees in your organization ask the same accounts payable questions over and over again? Does your staff waste a lot of time answering phone calls that really never should have been made? How many Rush checks could have been avoided if the submitters would just remember your cut-off time is noon and not three p.m.? You get the idea. If there were some way you could convey this standard information to employees you might be able to improve the productivity of your department while still maintaining that high level of customer service you strive to offer.

There are several strategies you can use to disseminate information. Start by preparing a FAQ (frequently asked questions) sheet and posting it on your Intranet site and departmental bulletin boards. Try to keep it short, as you will lose people if it is too long. You might also design a quarterly accounts payable newsletter for internal use. It can be one page (front and back) or longer. Use it to provide new information, news about personal or procedural changes, and to reiterate information that seems to have gotten lost. The last piece refers to those annoying questions that keep popping up. The efforts involved in producing these documents (FAQ and newsletter) will be worth the investment when the phone calls about these simple everyday issues plummet.

(c) 2010 Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow

It’s that time of the year - the time to evaluate what you’ve done in the past, set goals for your future and then the hard part - figuring out what you have to do to achieve those goals. Now, it goes without saying that most of our readers would like to hold onto their jobs and perhaps get promoted. If you fall into that category, here are some goals you might want to consider.

Demonstrate your cost-cutting skills.

Step outside your comfort zone at work.

Raise your profile at work.

Become invaluable to your boss.

Minimize the number of duplicate vendors in the master vendor file.

Improve departmental morale.

Improve relations with other departments.

No more headaches getting 1099s prepared because of missing information.

Minimize the number of B-Notices received.

Need help figuring out how to accomplish these goals? The January 2010 issue of Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow has some suggestions readers can use to help them meet these goals.

For information about the AP Now newsletter, go to http://www.ap-now.com/aboutnl.html

(c) 2010 CRYSTALLUS, Inc.

If you can do just one thing to prevent duplicate payments in your accounts payable process, this is it. Implement a comprehensive, rigid coding standard and mandate its use no exceptions whatsoever. You’ll see what happens to your duplicate payments and you’ll like what you see.

But following this one seemingly simple step is not quite as easy as it might first appear. However, those that manage to do it take a serious chunk out of their duplicate payment dilemma.

For more suggestions on duplicate payment obliteration, visit all three pages of our Duplicate Payment Resource Center: Page 1 Page 2 Page 3

(c) 2009 Mary Schaeffer

We believe in having fun even while getting our work done here at Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow. That’s why we’ve come up with our ‘What Would Oprah Do?’ contest. If ever there were a person who could provide insights into chaos, Oprah Winfrey wins the prize. And let’s face it, some of the problems we face in accounts payable could definitely use her touch.

This is a two-part contest. The first is the problem . We’d like you to share your most difficult accounts payable dilemma with us and then we’ll see what creative solution other professionals can supply. And that’s the second part of the contest: providing solutions to those thorny problems presented by others.

To enter the contest, simply send your problem and, subsequently, solution to
publisher@ap-now.com with the words “Contest” in the subject line. Don’t forget to include your name, company name, and mailing address (so we know where to send your prize, should you win). We’ll put the best problems and solutions together in a mini-phamplet and share it with all who enter the contest.

The deadline for this contest is June 30. The winners will be decided by the Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow staff. New problems will be added to the AP Now blog and featured in our weekly e-zine (signup at http://www.ap-now.com/ezinesignup.html) The prize is a choice of a six-month subscription to AP Now or a copy of Travel & Entertainment Best Practices.

To kick off the contest, here’s the first problem. We call it the “Travel & Entertainment Nightmare.” In reviewing the expense reimbursement report of a senior-level executive, one of the processors finds a charge for $325 for a bottle of wine on a dinner receipt. The company policy strictly forbids charging the company for liquor. What would Oprah do? (What would you do?)

(c) 2009 CRYSTALLUS, Inc. and Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow

Slightly fewer than 85% of Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow’s readers recently surveyed report that their organizations have taken steps to tighten their belts in response to the current economic crisis. And accounts payable is contributing to the effort. While some are what you might expect, a number of the strategies being used are never considered by management when looking to bolster the bottom line. (See accompanying table.) Here’s the “AP Contributes” Top 10 List.

1. Staff reductions
2. Stretching payment terms
3. Eliminating or reducing salary increases 
4. Taking all early payment discounts
5. Rigorously employing duplicate payment checking routines

The rest of this article appears in the April issue of the Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow print newsletter, a special expanded issue focusing on Accounts Payable in Tough Times. Take a look at the brochure which describes it and explains how to order it.

© 2009 Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow, a CRYSTALLUS, Inc. publication

What follows is a short excerpt from the book, Fraud in Accounts Payable: How to Prevent It just published by John Wiley & Sons.

If I were to simplify this chapter into a few lines, it would be this: Poor accounts payable practices unintentionally promote fraud, while strong ones prevent it and duplicate payments. Your employees know where all the weaknesses in your processes are. So if you use any of the practices discussed in the rest of this chapter, you are opening the door should one of your employees decide he or she would like to supplement his or her income at your expense. So let’s take a look at the ten really bad accounts payable practices that facilitate fraud.

1. Allowing employees to share passwords and user IDs. This happens all the time, and then when fraud occurs it is impossible to figure out who did it although you can be certain of one thing: it wasn’t the person whose password was used. Have a transparent company policy, shared with every employee, about how seriously you take this issue. Make it clear that if passwords are shared the employees involved will be fired.

2. Employees who write their passwords and User IDs on a piece of paper or yellow sticky Post-It and then tape it to their computer for easy reference—both theirs and, unfortunately, the crook passing along the blame for the theft he or she committed.

The rest of these tactics are in Chapter 13 in Fraud in Accounts Payable: How to Prevent It.