Corcentric Report Quantifies Major Issues with Processing Manual Payments

Cherry Hill, NJ, August 21, 2019 – Many companies of all sizes are stuck in a rut of manual processes when it comes to their Accounts Payable (AP) departments, according to a new report from Corcentric, The Payables Friction Index: Barriers to Invoice Automation. More than 80 percent of businesses surveyed still use paper checks to pay their invoices.

“Our report proves that most AP departments are stuck in a ‘go with what you know’ approach,” commented Matt Clark, president and COO, Corcentric. “While paper checks might be the most common form of payment, our findings show that about half of the departments using this method are dissatisfied with it. Through digital solutions, companies can quickly become 100 percent paperless, evolve their AP departments from cost centers into revenue-driving teams, and make informed business decisions based on real-time and historical data.”

Notable findings from the Payables Friction Index include:

• 4 percent of AP professionals cite snail mail as the most frequent way they receive invoices
• 8 percent of AP professionals regularly receive invoices via fax
• AP professionals are losing their patience with paper checks as a payment method; there is a 30-point satisfaction gap between departments using paper checks and their payment preference
• Nearly 45 percent of invoices take a week or longer to process
• 5 percent of companies would implement e-invoicing to reduce manual tasks involved in processing
• By automating the AP process, companies are able to reduce invoice processing costs by 80 percent

The companies in the study identify e-invoicing as a way to remove manual process frictions – the highest share (35.5 percent) would implement them to reduce manual processing, 34.2 percent would do so to minimize the number of people required and 32.9 percent wanted to reduce the time involved in AP processing. Automation also removes processing bottlenecks, secures an audit trail for compliance and improves supply chain visibility.