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5 Signs That Your Finance Approval Process Needs Automation

Tired of Dealing With Delays in Your Finance Approval Process? We Have the Solution!

Team Kissflow

Updated on 17 Oct 2023 3 min read

Automation has been a buzzword in most finance departments for years, with many accounts payable (AP) teams claiming to see the benefits that automating their approval processes can bring. In truth, however, too many companies are settling with digitizing only some elements of the process, leaving team members to connect the missing parts manually.

So, how do you know if your finance team has the scope for improving the efficiency of its approval process? Take a look at these reasons to consider finance automation.

1. Paper is efficiency’s worst enemy

You might think that by simply minimizing the amount of paper that flows through your AP department, you can reduce any delays in your finance approval process. However, unless paperwork is essentially eliminated and replaced exclusively with digital invoices, auto-approval options, and automated payment workflows, delays will inevitably hold up your approvals.

For every paper invoice or hard copy signature that exists, there is a manual step that needs to make it happen, costing your business time and money.

2. Keeping track of manual processes can be a nightmare

Have you ever wanted to get a status report on an invoice and found that it takes a long time to track down exactly where it is? There are many steps to financial approval processes. Unless the data is captured in one place, it can be easy for invoices to fall between the gaps, causing problems and frustration for both customers and finance teams alike.

3. Paper templates just don’t cut it

Unfortunately, it’s all too common for approvals to be rejected because the information supplied is incorrect or inadequate. We’re talking about missing payment information, incomplete order details, and wrong coding notices.

You name it; paper templates are far too fault-prone to ensure a smooth and consistent approval process. Digital templates have the advantage of forcing the users to enter accurate and relevant information every time, ensuring data accuracy and speeding up the process along the way.

4. You’ve only dipped a toe in the water of digital approvals

So, you think you’ve fixed your approval processes by investing in a digital approval system? Then why is your finance team still beset with issues and delays? It’s likely that your current digital system only automates part of the numerous steps in the approval process–meaning that your finance team members have to put manual fixes in place in between each step.

Ironically, this can sometimes hinder your whole finance workflow. Constantly shifting between digital and paper processes can cause confusion and hamper accountability. To really benefit from the time savings that digital approval can offer your business, you need to invest in a comprehensive system that offers you enough features to consistently digitize your full workflow.

5. Complex and manual processes result in blurred responsibility

There are so many people involved in the approval and payment process of a business–from data entry operators to finance clerks, line managers, approvers, and of course, external customers. It’s actually quite easy to see how keeping track of individual responsibilities and accountabilities is tough.

When paper passes through numerous people’s hands, errors are made and deadlines are missed. A fully digitized and automated financial management tool tracks all stages of the process automatically, helping everybody to know exactly what their responsibilities are.

How Kissflow Finance & Ops Cloud can make a difference to your finance approvals

Real automation can be a game-changer to your business, especially in the area of finance. Kissflow’s can offer you customizable, efficient workflows that are designed to suit your existing approval processes. Many of your existing manual tasks and activities can be completed automatically. Implementing Kissflow in your business couldn’t be easier.

By replacing any automated processes relating to finance approvals with Kissflow’s financial process automation solution, you can benefit from the ease and incredible time savings that an all-in-one, comprehensive system can offer you.

What’s more, as Kissflow has a range of finance and business related solutions in its system, integrating your digital needs across different functions and departments is really straightforward and can offer great standardized benefits.

Conclusion

It’s clear to see that there are massive opportunities in most organizations to simplify, streamline, and make their finance approval process more efficient. Automation can offer a cost-effective and straightforward solution to decrease the number of delays in your workflows, as well as adding consistency and standardization to what can often be a complicated and frustrating process for those involved.

Kissflow Finance