Why is the finance department refusing to save one day per week?

As a company, the choice is yours: The future can be something you are exposed to or it can be something you create. The latter is both safer and much more exciting!

In all likelihood, no one will measure how good your company’s finance department is compared to the competition.

In any case, how do you define a “good” finance department? Everyone agrees that the finance department is the heart of the company, which is why it feels safe to follow established procedures and familiar processes. 

– But what happens in the long term if staying safe constantly stands in the way of fresh ideas? How is the company's competitiveness impacted if old and familiar processes are allowed to remain in place long after they have expired – no matter how safe they are?

One extra day per week?

It’s not hard to establish whether the finance department has room for improvement. If an average of 1.5 hours is spent each day on manually entering, accruing and posting incoming invoices, as well as following up invoice approvers, this is equivalent to one day’s work per week. Even if you were to spend only half as much time, we are still talking about freeing up nearly one extra month per year.

This is not uncommon.

– An average finance function costs six times more than the most efficient finance functions, according to a PwC survey*.

 

Automation and Artificial Intelligence in the Finance Department

So it may be a good idea to ask what the finance department has to gain from waiting for the future. Wouldn’t it be more interesting to bring a little enthusiasm to their work, while also helping to secure jobs both in the finance department and in the rest of the company?

Automating tasks performed by the accounting department helps build adaptability and competitiveness. Many people like that idea: According to PwC’s survey*, 72 per cent of the companies surveyed are considering automating manual processes, and the survey also shows that a fully automated, incoming invoice process can provide savings of 50 per cent. 

READ MORE: Here’s why AI can make finance departments even more efficient

Not always voluntary

More interesting tasks, and what those tasks may be, it is important to emphasise that, at some point, switching to a new technology will no longer be a voluntary decision. This doesn't mean that all companies must run frequent and extensive projects in which they replace the entire technological foundation of their finance function. Most finance departments implement efficiency measures from time to time – a new process here or maybe an app there – but it is important that you make the right technological choices. 

– Most companies have a solution aimed at automating the incoming invoice process, but it is often governed by rules that still need to be maintained. 

I would assert that most companies have much more to gain by how technology is used in this process. Such a boost does not have to be extensive or very costly, but it is important to adopt a technological approach that can be used to solve more issues than those you are struggling with at the moment. The finance department’s tools must therefore make operations future-oriented, efficient and adaptable, otherwise the present situation will eventually no longer be sustainable.

READ MORE: AP Automation: Key terms you need to know

It is therefore important to keep up with the technological developments that affect your field. It can be the difference between being dragged backwards into the future, or whether it will be you who steers the company’s finance department into a new era – a time when artificial intelligence performs invoice posting and other manual work automatically, while you dedicate your time to helping the organisation reclaim lost hours and operate more efficiently.