While the economy isn’t out of the woods yet, many organizations have started thinking about how they are going to come out of the recession stronger and more competitive than when they went in.

Several business surveys making their way around report that businesses are planning to start hiring again soon. According to the Employment Dynamics and Growth Expectations Report, 53 percent of employers expect to hire additional full-time staff during the next 12 months. Meanwhile, 40 percent plan to hire contract workers, and 39 percent expect to hire part-time staff.

For many organizations, outsourcing accounts payable operations is a great way to focus their efforts on primary business goals. A car manufacturer may want to concentrate on making cars and not on paying invoices.

Outsourcing accounts payable can also save money, as outsourcers have access to AP automation technology and can take advantage of economies of scale. For even more cost savings, many prominent AP outsource providers operate overseas in low-wage countries like India and the Philippines.

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.

We go back, Linda and me. In fact, we used to work together when I lived in Los Angeles some years ago. As sometimes happens when you are fortunate enough to make a life-long friend (I consider her my kid sister) at work, living across the country doesn’t change that friendship.

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.

When it comes to corporate fraud, it would appear that the United States does not have a monopoly. Last week the head of India’s fourth largest business process outsourcing firm, Satyam, confessed that he’s been cooking the books for years. The total damage: $1 billion!