Accounts Payable Chexs Inc.

HOME

FTP ACCESS

FRANÇAIS

Auditing & Recovery Services

Workflow & Back Office Solutions

why choose
ap chexs?

FAQ's

• Require vendors to send invoices direct to AP. • Set up a voucher system so accounts payable can be aware of and track vendor invoices from the moment the company receives them. • Route invoices directly to accounts payable rather than purchasing. Contact purchasing only when there is a discrepancy. • Use the computer to replace manual processes, such as logging in invoices, etc. • Set up repetitive payments before you receive invoices. • Develop an invoice-numbering scheme to use consistently for invoices without numbers. • Set a strict schedule for receiving invoices for payment and cheque mailing and/or pick-up. Distribute the schedule to all affected parties within the company and stick to it firmly. Inform departments that, if invoices are late, they will be charged for the late fees. • Develop procedures on handling proper authorization. • Start a shadowing process with the contract management department. • Eliminate redundant steps in the invoice-approval process. • Eliminate invoice approvals for routine and recurring expenses (use a blanket approval). • Streamline the approval authority. Reduce the number of individuals who must review invoices for approval. • Raise signature-level amounts. • Obtain senior executive support for enforcing payment-approval policies. • Reduce the number of G/L codes. • Shift invoice coding decisions back to the departments. • Move GL tasks, such as reconciliations, from AP specialists to staff accountants to allow the specialists to focus on AP-specific issues. • Create a cash disbursement report to use during coding to verify that invoices have not been paid previously. • Develop an Excel spreadsheet to help track POs. • Use approved POs to pre-approve invoices. • Set a “No PO, No Payment” policy. • Enforce policy of not paying invoices unless a PO has been completed. Send a letter to all vendors informing them of this requirement. • Eliminate matching invoices for office supplies to the PO and receiving document. Have the vendor bill on a summary invoice. Make departments responsible for reviewing the expenses as they hit their cost centre. • Implement a direct-pay process to allow departments to purchase items costing less than $500 without a PO. • Have AP and Purchasing each spend one day on the other’s ‘turf’ to build awareness of the other department’s role within the company. • Have a biweekly meeting with purchasing to improve procedures and help with exceptions. • Put receiving documents online eliminating the need to forward them to accounts payable. • Handle the 3-way match in purchasing/receiving. Forward invoices for payment only after the match is complete. • Partner with purchasing on a major project. It doesn’t matter what. Working together builds stronger relationships. • Collect all questions for purchasing in a file and give it to them at the end of the day. Have them give you the answers within 24 hours. • Use a problem board or panel made up of AP and purchasing staff for major disputes. • Work with purchasing to get better payment terms and try payment on consignment (payment to supplier after use of material in manufacturing process). • Make sure that vendor set-up and changes are uniform for both purchasing and AP. • Provide purchasing with an analysis of their top supplier’s payment history – can use for negotiating leverage. • Consolidate purchasing and accounts payable into a single work unit under one manager. • Replace a voucher control document with a stamp that goes directly on the invoice. It contains spaces where required information, such as voucher number, vendor number, etc. can be filled in. • Use a sticky label and attach accounting information to the actual invoice. When this replaces a separate form, it can save a good deal of filing space. • Ensure that all required backup and authorizations are in place before paying an invoice. • Do not pay from invoice copies or statements. • Pay utilities promptly to avoid late fees. • Change from paying invoices on a first-in first-out basis to paying them based on terms. • Take control of your master vendor file by limiting the number of vendors that can be set up. Giving certain companies exclusive business means more discounts and cheaper prices. • Set a strict policy for setting up new vendors. • Combine vendors on a national level to get the maximum discount. This also eliminates duplicate payments. • Categorize vendors to show management where the money is being spent. • Consolidate vendors and terms. Eliminate duplicate vendors and use those offering the best pricing and terms. • Review all vendor terms to be sure discounts are taken. • Request that vendors of large-volume, small-dollar items bill monthly rather than for each item. • Develop a quick form for credits, charge backs, and vendor inquiries to reduce duplicate payments and missed credits. • Make discount vendors the top priority for invoice payment. • Delay payments on any vendors not offering some type of discount or terms. • Should there be a payment to the wrong vendor, run a query for both vendors to look for a pattern. • Whenever you find a problem with an invoice for a particular vendor, use a query to dump all the transactions for the vendor and export it to Excel. • Assign alphabet letters to AP staff to indicate which vendors they handle and switch quarterly. • But if the processing for different types of vendors varies greatly, then split master vendor file among staff by type of vendor, rather than alphabet letter. • Develop an online vendor note program. Anyone dealing with a particular vendor should be able to access this program. Each person with such dealings with a vendor keeps the file updated as the current status of their transactions for all to see. • Review sales tax laws to avoid paying tax on items that are not taxable. • Create an aging report to identify shortfalls in the invoice-payment process. • Process T&E reports in a shared services department for improved consistency. • Induce more timely submission of T&E reports to cut time spent investigating outstanding expenses. • Pay more invoices via a p-card or one-card (one that combines purchasing and T&E). • Post invoices daily to eliminate end-of-the-month bottlenecks. • Automate expense reports with a spreadsheet program, such as Excel. • Change cheque form from 3-part to 1-part with a tear-off stub. This eliminates the need to burst the cheques. • Outsource cheque printing. • Evaluate cheque run information and reduce the number of weekly cheque runs. A side benefit of this tactic is that the number of cheques will be reduced. • Develop and stick to tough procedures for rush cheques. • Limit post-printing cheque review to cheques over a large dollar amount, which will vary from company to company. • Eliminate or reduce the dependence on manual cheques. • Have payments for freight or phone invoices made and audited by a 3rd party. • Reconcile major account statements on a monthly basis to reduce any out-of-period surprises. • Research past-dues promptly to avoid late charges. • Change paid invoice filing system from individual vendor files to filing by cheque date and cheque number. • File cheque copies and documentation by cheque number to save time and eliminate file snatching. • Replace alpha filing (with cheque copy attached) with batch processing and filing. Enter batches daily with a batch number and file the batch with invoices attached alphabetically. To find the original invoice, simply locate the batch number. • Review all contracts to make sure you have signed copies and that terms are current. • Generate a problem list and submit it to purchasing weekly. • Review payments on deposit accounts – some may need to be refunded. • Change business system to integrate purchasing and payables with G/L. • Install a new system that integrates purchasing, receiving, and payables. • Use continuous process improvement, workflow mapping, time studies, and a 3rd party audit to improve payables accuracy rate and reduce turnaround time for processing both T & Es and invoices. • Update system to allow a screen inquiry to check payment history with the most recent payment showing at the top of the display. • Delegate more responsibilities and corresponding authority to your staff members. • Have staff take on more accountability for problems and for recommending possible solutions if something isn’t working. • Hold regular AP staff meetings to discuss work status, assignments given, and concerns. • Shift non-AP work to departments that are more experienced in the function. • Divide AP processing into 3 categories: accounting, cheques and records, and data management to promote specialization. • Take an overview of the whole department and the tasks each staff member is performing to enable you to identify duplicate efforts and realign responsibilities that should be grouped together. • Write a procedures manual and make sure everyone who needs a copy gets one. • Make a list of tasks that have no written procedures and then write up the procedures for these tasks for inclusion in the departmental procedures manual. • Hold training classes to ensure employees know how to use current processes and procedures. • Educate and train staff to minimize questions and maximize brainstorming ideas. • Require staff to attend audio conferences to discover simple, new, or different ideas. • Send staff to training to make them feel more a part of the organization. They’ll give back by working faster and more efficiently. • Cross-train every AP employee so that anyone can step in for anyone else who is missing. • Promote teamwork to solve problems faster. • Track turnaround time to gauge productivity. • Post productivity figures on a bulletin board. • Set quarterly goals for productivity and accuracy. • Send a welcome letter to new employees to train them from the beginning and eliminate problems and bad habits before they have a chance to start. • Give weaker staff members standardized processing tasks and allow stronger members to handle items that require additional research and review. • Use the self-managed work team model with accountability by objective measurements for each staff member. • If there have been no changes to AP processes for a number of years, take a fresh look at them all – you’ll find at least one process that can be streamlined. • Flow chart your processes to identify and eliminate non-value steps. • Use process teams – one team for cheque requests, one for expense reports, one for PO-related invoices, and another for exceptions. • When an AP staff member leaves the company, realign duties instead of hiring a replacement. If AP is understaffed, implement benchmarking to provide evidence of this to senior management. • Benchmark each AP employee against quality measures and use public display of charts showing results. • Develop a benchmarking relationship with an AP department at another company whose operations are very similar to your own. • Add a position of ‘compliance specialist’ to the accounts payable department. This person’s only responsibility is to review suspicious invoices, billing patterns, etc. This position requires good analytical skills and the ability to use spreadsheets and comprehensive knowledge of the accounting software. • Use permanent staff instead of temps, and pay higher for better skills. • Raise hiring standards in the accounts payable department. Require a financial and/or accounting background of new hires. • Make sure that new hires have skills that exceed those of any past staff member. • Increase the pay grids for employees in the AP departments who want to become certified accounts payables professionals (CAPP). • Hire recent college graduates in finance or economics – they move up in the company, but you get a high caliber employee. • Emphasize attitude and customer service. • Recognition, recognition, recognition – you’ll be amazed at what this simple concept can do. • Have a monthly staff appreciation lunch for those who have gone above and beyond the call of duty. • Have a monthly birthday cake for those with birthdays that month. • Have a regular ‘potluck’ lunch – everybody brings something. • During times of great stress, let everyone go home early on Friday. • Use team rewards such as t-shirts, umbrellas, parties, cash or gift cards. • Provide an Olympic Gold, Silver and Bronze medal for outstanding achievement during Olympic summer and winter games. • If an employee saves the company a significant amount of money, give him or her a paid day off. • Do Secret Santa over the holiday. • Do an Easter egg hunt – hollow eggs. Take your bunny to lunch or supper. • Each quarter, give one employee the responsibility of recognizing and rewarding a co-worker. • In the summer, have an old-fashioned departmental picnic. • Use some object, such as a stuffed animal or star, and rotate it outside the cubicles of the employees who have most recently done something outstanding. • Put together an employee relations toolkit, containing various items, such as thank you cards, pens, certificates, trinkets, and so on. • Reward employees for community service or charitable work. • Start an attendance-incentive program that offers awards to employees who pick up the slack when others are absent. • Offer flex time. • Allow some employees to telework – work from home using a virtual desktop hookup. • Implement job sharing. • Revise or prepare a formal, written, comprehensive manual of AP policies and procedures. • Implement procedures to train professionals in other departments about accounts payable processes and requirements. • Educate other departments in proper AP procedures, particularly with respect to invoices – late invoices mean lost discounts and late fees. • Create an AP PowerPoint presentation and meet with different business units to explain AP expectations and workflow. • Develop a site-wide presentation of about 30 minutes outlining how accounts payable does business. Cover invoice approvals, completion of expense reports, etc. Require all managers and staff to attend. • Make departments aware of all their errors. Set up a system to input vouchers as they are coded and send incorrect data to a report called “error suspense’. Distribute copies of this report to the appropriate departments so they may fix their errors. • Set deadlines for all departments to have all invoices turned in quickly – send out monthly reminders. • Meet with ‘problem’ departments to find out the source of bottlenecks. • Hold monthly finance and operations meetings to discuss financial results from the prior month and to discuss future plans. • Show department managers how to look up invoices, so they can better manage their budgets. • Hold a monthly training meeting with AP, purchasing, and the accountants, and tackle a tough topic each month. • Create a new-vendor packet that describes payment terms. • Make customer service the focus of the AP department – the other departments will recognize and appreciate the huge output AP handles. • Use a recovery audit service to find duplicate payments, overpayments of PST, GST, HST, QST and other payment errors or lost discounts. • Initiate a review of the entire procure-to-pay process using an outside consultant. • Make sure management knows not only what you did but also how much it saved the company in either time or money. • Raise senior management’s appreciation of AP by preparing reports that show enhanced profitability.

FOR A FREE CD WITH OUR TIPS PLEASE CLICK HERE!

Accounts Payable Chexs Inc.

A Canadian company performing post audit reviews all over the world.
We're based in Calgary with offices in - Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Cleveland, Dallas, Sacramento, Manchester, Sydney.

Mission & Corporate Philosophy

MISSION .. to find, document, verify & collect Lost Profits (recovery of cash flow dollars) accurately, with efficiency and integrity, while maintaining job satisfaction and teamwork within a positive atmosphere for our clients.

CORPORATE PHILOSOPHY
We strive for:

Excellence in service through premium people.
Efficient and professional service with minimal disruption for front line staff.
Positive long term relationships with clients.

OBJECTIVE

Locate and recover “lost dollars” in accounts payable and commodity taxes.
Ensure the prevention of future “lost dollars”.
Provide a risk free, no cost, value added and internal control review.

STRENGTHS

PEOPLE - CA, CPA,CGA,CMA with at least 15 years experience.
EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE
Based on our work with other similar clients and business systems.
PROCESS - Find, Document, Verify, and Collect
We get paid when the recovered money is back in your bank.
DATA MINING TECHNOLOGY
Electronic Data Analysis and On-Site Review.
FOCUS - long term relationship for today and the future – working together.
FINAL REPORT
Information for staff education
Suggestions for A/P process improvements
Benchmarking for quantifiable continuous improvement
Evidence of compliance for regulatory body or Audit Committee.
COMMITMENT TO TOTAL STAKEHOLDER SATISFACTION