The days of paper invoices in Europe may be numbered. Proposed changes to European invoicing requirements could improve electronic invoice adoption while making it easier for U.S. companies to reclaim value-added tax payments.

A press release issued by the European Union announced that the Council of Economic Affairs has decided to simplify VAT invoice requirements, specifically with the goal to promote the adoption of e-invoicing.

The president’s newly-released budget proposal for fiscal year 2011 could have a direct impact on your accounts payable department.

Each year the president releases a document outlining policy initiatives that his office would like to see included in the finalized budget. This year, the “General Explanations of the Administration’s Fiscal Year 2011 Revenue Proposals,” also called the president’s Green Book, includes two proposals that AP departments should be aware of.

It can sometimes feel like there is an invisible tug-of-war match going on between buyers and suppliers over payment card acceptance. While buyers want to use p-cards so they can save money on payment processing and improve cash flow, some vendors find that the costs of accepting cards outweigh the benefits.

Hundreds of AP professionals stopped to visit The Accounts Payable Network’s booth at October’s IOMA Accounts Payable Conference and Expo.

Visitors to the booth were treated to a real-time demonstration of the TAPN homepage by Manager, Marketing Operations Whitney Vail (left) and Director, e-Learning Gordon Bivens (right). The visitors learned about the many benefits of TAPN membership, including access to downloadable tools and policy manuals, timely benchmark surveys, and a wealth of articles on every aspect of the payables process.

State governments are currently facing huge budget deficits. In fact, only two states – Montana and North Dakota – dot not have budget shortfalls. As a result, many states are looking for any way they can to boost revenue.

Rather than resort to unpopular tax increases, they are instead focusing on stricter enforcement of existing tax laws. One popular target for cash-starved states is sales tax.

Just because the accounts payable specialist job description mentions a lot about invoice handling duties and nothing about playing office basketball doesn’t mean there isn’t room for both in your department.

Employee motivation in AP is an issue very near and dear to my heart. After speaking with organizations that maintain dedicated employee motivation programs – often allocating funds for the programs as part of the yearly budget – and seeing the real benefit they have on productivity, it’s hard to imagine why any company wouldn’t have one.

Cutting costs is an essential part of staying competitive for any organization. While the current recession makes reducing costs all the more important, businesses should never stop looking for new efficiencies, regardless of the economic climate.

In accounts payable, finding places to cut costs can be extremely difficult considering the primary responsibility of AP is to pay bills. However, there are many ways AP can help their organization cut costs. AP can use its wealth of payment data to help the organization reduce spending.

With the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002, employees in public companies received protection from retaliation when blowing the whistle on their employer’s fraudulent accounting practices…on paper anyway.

Today, almost seven years after the law was passed, there have been more than 1,000 whistleblower cases filed with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration. Of them, not a single whistleblower has “won” their case. Instead, they are either not heard, dismissed, or the whistleblower is ruled against.

Everyone loves reading a juicy fraud story. We are instinctively drawn to the key information: what company was hit, what job did the fraudster do, how did they steal the money, and – most importantly – how much did they get?

Working inside an ERP system can be tricky. Sure, these complex technology packages come brimming to the teeth with useful functions, but more often than ERP providers would like to think, users have no idea how to handle them. The goal is to make ERP systems as easy to use as the many consumer-level programs we all interact with daily.

Software developers are always struggling to strike a balance between program functionality and usability. The most comprehensive software program available will be of no use if organizations don’t know how to use it, and vice versa.