The guide to deploying RPA for Invoice and Accounting Processing

Integrating new technologies can be intimidating for companies, especially if the company has no prior knowledge of software integrations. But it is essential to integrate with the best technologies if you want results today. 

Today I will talk about Robotic Process Automation, a technology changing the shape of working concepts.

The best part is; that it offers attractive benefits for financial services and payment processing by increasing the ROI. You might know that a significant amount of business goes to financial accounting and back-office jobs. 

Here is when RPA can help in making the processes quick and simplified. First, let’s discuss the deployment part I’ve compiled to make your job easier, so continue reading. 

How does RPA help in Invoice Processing?

RPA software helps monitor new invoices within the company share point in a specific directory. These files are flagged as invoices as soon as they are detected. They are then forwarded for the data extraction process. 

• With the invoice capture feature, the software extracts relevant data. The data is sent for manual verification, in case it fails to collect relevant data. 

With the invoice evaluation, all the invoices are evaluated based on the order records. There are steps in the evaluation process that include:

• Cross-verifying the invoices against the purchase orders of the company.
• Using the working capital optimization to decide when the payment needs to be made.
• Cross-checking for any duplicate records in the process.
• Different limits and rules assess the need for manual intervention for checking the records. 

After this, the automated tools send the invoice forward for manual processing in case irregularity is detected. Once invoice gets processed, relevant company data is stored in database for record-keeping. 

• For making the payments, the RPA tools will start payments to suppliers if there are no errors found during the process. 

RPA in Accounting and Finance Workflow

RPA in financial and invoice processing plays an essential part in finance management. 

• For instance, a person in the Accounts payable department is responsible for validating supplier invoices, and RPA will help in the deployment part. 
• By initiating RPA for invoice processing, the person can reduce the manual efforts involved in invoice validations. 
• Automated bots help to eliminate human errors. Besides, the whole process can be undergo with a single click. 

RPA has played a significant role in online payment processors and accounts payable. An example of simplified work using the RPA tools in accounting workflow:

• The network folder contains supplier invoices.
• RPA robots monitor the folder where all the invoices are stored. 
• In case a new file is found, RPA picks it up for data extraction.
• The software bots can read and extract the information that is available in the invoice by implementing NLPC (Natural Language Processing Capabilities and OCR (Optical Character Recognition).
• The automated bots go through the company’s database and update the extracted data. 
• The automated bots send email notifications to the concerned employees once the invoice information is updated in the database. 
• Based on number of factors, the bots have the ability to schedule payments for various invoices processed.
• RPA software triggers an email to the vendor or supplier if the payment is successfully processed. 

Additionally, the RPA bots enable the companies to avoid duplication of different resources by integrating streamlined automation in the finance tasks like Expense management and Accounts payable. 

Implementation in Finance and Accounting:

The RPA technology can be integrated with the accounting data, as it minimizes the existing infrastructure. RPA technology, when combined with Payment processes, increases the importance of digital payments. 

It begins with rule-based tasks and scales to the more enhanced algorithms and ML functions as the company matures. 

1. Identification

Identifying manageable scope for the accounting processes that may benefit from the Robotic Process Automation is vital. In addition, for a company integrating with the tools for the first time, starting small and expanding later is essential. 

If you think of expansion from the beginning, it could lead to more rework if something goes wrong in implementation. Plus, it can increase the development cost of the company. However, the work will become easier once you can identify the areas.

2. Validation

Financial processes work on the transaction and the decision parts. And RPA can help in the transaction part. For example, for someone who works in the Accounting department, there may be issues related to transactions or invoices. 

But with automated tools, the person can prevent repetitive tasks that consume time. Once you validate different opportunities, you can move on to the following cost level. 

3. Determine costs

The initial costing of the process and integration with RPA help understand the financial benefits of using the process. Additionally, the cost benefits of Robotic Process Automation are visible within a year of implementation.

However, without a proper baseline, it is hard to persuade the organization’s shareholders to give a green signal to the implementation process. 

4. Standardize workflows

Implementation needs to be correct. And to increase its efficiency, you need to standardize workflows. Following this, it is vital to analyze and standardize manual processes in the accounting workflow. 

Besides, without standardization, RPA automation won’t be efficient. The project managers’ work and six sigma experiences play an excellent role in streamlining and standardizing the business processes at scale. 

5. Implement and actualize

For the implementation process, you may require a suitable RPA tool. And it is essential to test out the tool to understand its features. Most companies train their employees to set up tools and work with such software to see results. 

Accordingly, you can even call experts or hire them so that they help you with the whole RPA implementation setup. Plus, there are many RPA companies to choose from, so you have a good choice here. Proper implementation will lead to great results in the accounting process.

Benefits of RPA in Invoice Processing:

Switching to automation in Invoice processing and Payment processing can offer many benefits. However, the benefits can vary depending on the organization. 

• Increased productivity and accuracy

The employees of your organization can be deployed to higher-value tasks in the business, which increases the organization’s overall productivity. 

RPA provides accurate results in repetitive tasks like copying and pasting, filling out forms, and moving folders and files. With accuracy and productivity, your business can scale higher. 

• Enhanced customer experience 

Robotic Process Automation doesn’t consider employees’ sick leaves as the services are available around the year. 

Hence using RPA in Finance and Accounting the customer experience can be increased two-fold. In addition, the scope of your business to leverage competitive advantage and achieve growth over others becomes easy. The scale of operations also lowers bringing the much-needed cost down. 

• Audit trails and compliance

RPA enables the availability of managed logs and undertakes the specific process that is recorded for notable availability. Plus, RPA can be complied with to meet all the standards. 

• Cost-saving 

RPA is cost-saving once it is integrated with the accounting system. It saves about 20 to 50 percent of baseline FTE costs. Besides speeding up the repetitive process, it saves time to spend on invoice processing. 

• Return on investment  

It takes about 5 to 12 weeks for RPA deployment to work at full capacity. You can then follow the 60 to 90 days nesting period to let vendors tweak robots if needed, tighten the governance rules, and make the process more efficient. 

Once all of the above is done, getting ROI isn’t difficult at all. Furthermore, to improve RPA implementation you can apply fFour different ROI metrics that is:

• speed of the process
• manual effort in the back office
• accuracy of output
• and compliance. 

Well, now you know all about RPA deployment done for invoice processing and accounting processing, it is about time you leverage on the same. 

I believe the key to focusing on the process is through proper implementation. 

If you implement the RPA correctly, you can scale your business higher. Besides this, you can also manage your payment processing and finance with RPA implementation. The innovation will cut costs and provide good results.