When discussing accounts payable automation, we at TAPC tend to mention how it saves time, effort, and money. However, we rarely mention the environmental benefits of automating manual invoice processes.
Recently, the idea of “going green” has gone from being the rallying cry of environmentalists to the new corporate strategy for many businesses. Across the country, businesses are recycling, adopting alternative energy sources, and lowering their “carbon footprints.”
Another aspect of going green – and the one that has the most profound impact on accounts payable – is reducing paper volumes in an organization. According to global e-invoicing network OB10, the environmental impact of replacing paper invoices with electronic documents is significant.
The Green Organization, an independent non-profit that recognizes, promotes, and rewards environmental efforts around the world, recently gave OB10 the Green Apple Award for Environmental Practices. This is the second year in a row OB10 has won the award. According to OB10, their solution enabled organizations to save 1,400 trees worth of paper in 2007. Each tree produces an average of 9,000 pieces of copy paper.
The Accounts Payable Network benchmark data indicates that e-invoicing adoption is still considerably low and larger organizations tend to have higher adoption rates. For organizations with between 5,000 and 10,000 employees, the median amount of e-invoices they receive is 20 percent of their total volume. The median invoice volume for organizations that size is 11,000 a month.
Information released by OB10 includes some remarkable statistics on the environmental impact of electronic invoicing. The information states that invoices are responsible for 10 percent of all trees cut down around the world and creating paper invoices uses as much electricity each year as 20 million homes. Also, a year's worth of invoices take up as much landfill space as 10 football fields each stacked more than 100 feet deep with paper.
In addition to e-invoicing, organizations can go green by cutting paper out of other aspects of the AP process. Instead of checks, you can switch to electronic payments or p-cards. Or instead of requiring business travelers to print expense reports, consider implementing T&E expense reporting software.
For a thorough list of tips that offices can use to go green, see Weakest Link Consulting.
Adopting environmentally-friendly practices like e-invoicing can go a long way to improving the planet, improving your organization’s public relations image, and strengthening your bottom line. After all, there’s no reason going green can’t bring green into your business.
Patrick Harbin is Editor of The Accounts Payable Channel and Assistant Editor of The Accounts Payable Network
