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15 SCARY FACTS
ABOUT ACCOUNTS PAYABLE
By Melissa Henley
@ECM_marketeer

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Inefficient paper-based processes plague AP
operations, making it one of the scariest
processes in the office. POs and invoices go in,
sometimes never to be seen again.

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But what should scare you the most about
accounts payable?

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SCARY FACT #1:
52% of AP departments say their top priority is
migrating away from paper-based processes ...
Source: Ardent Partners

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SCARY FACT #2:
… 80% of invoices still arrive on
paper.
Source: The Accounts Payable Network

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SCARY FACT #3:
Only 14% of paper invoices are input
into the AP system on the day they
arrive.
Source: The Accounts Payable Network

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SCARY FACT #4:
47% of AP leaders feel lengthy processing times are their
biggest challenge.
Source: Ardent Partners

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SCARY FACT #5:
A manual invoice process can sometimes exceed
15 steps before the final posting is done.
Source: Stellent Partners

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SCARY FACT #6:
With minimal automation, it may
take up to 16.3 days to process a
single invoice.
Source: The Aberdeen Group

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Source: Institute of Finance & Management (IOMA)
SCARY FACT #7:
The average cost of processing an invoice in an environment with a
low level of automation can be up to 20 times greater than in an
environment with a high level of automation.

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SCARY FACT #8:
When vendors send invoices directly
to purchasers, it takes 5+ days
for the invoice to reach AP.
Source: 2012 AP Benchmarks Research Report

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SCARY FACT #9:
The industries with the highest costs to process invoices are
non-profit/education ($16.78) and government ($15.86).
Source: Institute of Finance & Management (IOMA)

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$10.58: The average cost to process a PO invoice
The scariest facts you didn’t know
about POs
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$11.63: The average cost to process a non-PO invoice
2,462: PO invoice payments processed monthly by an AP staffer
2,049: Non-PO invoice payments processed monthly by an AP staffer
Source: Institute of Finance & Management (IOMA)

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SCARY FACT #14:
On average, 3.6% of invoices have errors.
Source: Institute of Finance & Management (IOMA)

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SCARY FACT #15:
Organizations lose an estimated 5% of their
annual revenues to fraud.
Source: Association of Certified Fraud Examiners

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Thanks for reading!
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