The next several blog submissions will deal with what I call the "Pain Points" in Accounts Payable. The first deals with a "Pain Point" that is near the top of very AP professionals list, namely "Rush Checks". They are sometimes referred to as On-Demand or ASAP Requests.

Invoices are treasure troves of valuable data. With everything from product descriptions to contract terms, invoices feature a wealth of vital information that AP can leverage to improve the organization’s procure-to-pay cycle.

Unfortunately, many departments are not doing this. Mining data from a paper invoice is a daunting task. It requires organizations to devote staff resources and time to a job that doesn’t help pay the bills any faster. The key to getting access to this data is to go electronic.

The TAPN/IOMA certification program has been very successful since first introduced at Johnson & Johnson.

A major contributing factor to the success of this program has been the recognition an A/P professional receives having successfully met the standards for the most comprehensive certification program available today. This recognition comes not only from their management, but also from their peers.

In addition to the other benefits afforded by certification, two additional benefits were recently cited by TAPN member A/P organizations.

There are only a few vertebrae of difference between a "Pat on the Back" and a "Kick in the Butt."

As I conduct Certification training, one issue that accounts payable professionals continually share with me is their frustration of how their contributions go unrecognized and unrewarded by management. In many cases, accounts payable personnel are the lowest paid group within financial organizations. A/P is also way down on the priority list of organizations' capital funding.

While getting rid of paper seems to be the mantra of the 21st Century for those in AP and accounting departments around the globe, “going green” and saving a few trees while we’re at it, is not only a worthy trend and good for the environment (a sheepish nod to Hollywood’s green brigade) it’s good for your department’s bottom line!

It’s been about 8 months since a federal court ordered California to stop collecting unclaimed property. During the past few months State Controller John Chiang has made several improvements to California’s unclaimed property process, including a new Web service that helps property owners track down their assets, all in an attempt to rebuild the controller’s office’s damaged image.

An A/P certification trainer’s lunch hour experience in Johannesburg, SA

I had the great experience of training 62 A/P professionals that are member the Gauteng Province Shared Service Center. There is a great deal of commonality among A/P professionals regardless of where the A/P function is performed in the world, and also very similar personnel concerns.

There have been more changes in Accounts Payable in the last five years, then in the previous ten years. This rapid rate of change can be primarily attributed to the growth in technology solutions. Many A/P organizations' that invested in such technology have earned the designation as "Best-In-Class."

The Hackett Group, which specializes in Benchmarking, defines "Best-In-Class" as being in the top 25% quartile in both qualitative measurements and traditional quantitative measurements such as cost, cycle time, quality and productivity.

Purchasing cards are an excellent option for businesses wanting to streamline payment processes and reduce paper volumes. However, as with all AP tools, they can be misused by employees. The key is to have strong controls in place.

"We are working on it" — or if I am in the southwest "we are fixing it" — is the expression I often hear about a best practice I discuss during an accounts payable workshop. We laugh and move on to the next subject. Fortunately in several organizations, I sometimes hear "we are doing that today," which is a way of identifying where a best practice has already been implemented.