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07.02.09 Don't Skip Vacation
The current economy is causing employees anxiety about taking a vacation at a time when they may need a break from the workplace more than ever, according to CareerBuilder.com.
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07.01.09 Preventing ACH Fraud
About one in five companies have been hit with ACH fraud, according to the 2009 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey from the Association for Financial Professionals. The potential for ACH fraud is up due to the growing volume of ACH payments.
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06.30.09 Mini-Poll Results: Cash Flow
Our most recent mini-poll on AccountsPayable360.com asked the following question: How much of an impact do your role and responsibilities have on your organization's cash flow?
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06.29.09 IRS Eyes Executive Extras
As the Internal Revenue Service seeks to close the “tax gap,” payments made to or on behalf of executives is one of the areas it is scrutinizing in particular, Michael O'Toole told attendees at a session on “Executive Compensation Audits—What Is the IRS Looking At?” at a recent conference of the American Payroll Association.
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06.26.09 Test Your AP IQ: Benefits of Outsourcing
Which of the following is NOT a benefit of AP outsourcing (having an outside entity perform one or more AP processes)? more...
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06.25.09 Workers Positive Despite Downturn
Even though your AP staffers may be under stress because of workplace fallout from the current economic woes, you can safely assume that they still have mostly positive feelings about your company. Employees do say, however, that they would like to see clearer guidance from top management, according to the Workplace Watch survey for the first quarter of 2009, recently released by Towers Perrin, a global management consulting firm.
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06.24.09 Hospitals Expand Imaging Endorsement
The use of imaging and document management in AP can bring huge benefits because it transforms mountains of paper invoices into a paperless, automated environment. There are lots of software vendors out there to choose from, but the choice has been made a little easier for hospitals. The American Hospital Association (AHA) has given its exclusive endorsement to a document management system from Hyland Software Inc., developer of the OnBase enterprise content management (ECM) software suite.
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06.23.09 Vendor Welcome Letter
The use of a vendor welcome letter is a best practice in AP for several reasons. First of all, it gets the relationship between AP and the new vendor off on the right foot. That’s because it lays out exactly what is expected of the vendor, which helps eliminate confusion or problems down the road. It also helps keep your master vendor file clean, because it asks for certain information that you need, such as the vendor’s Taxpayer Identification Number for 1099 reporting purposes. This eliminates fines and penalties for incorrect 1099 reporting.
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06.22.09 Surprise IRS Audits Start November
AP professionals should be aware that the Internal Revenue Service will do about 6,000 random employment tax audits over three years (up from 4,500 originally planned) and they will begin this November. more...
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06.19.09 Test Your AP IQ: E-Payment Network
What is the organization that oversees one of the largest electronic payment networks in the world? more...
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06.18.09 Is Your AP Staff Burned Out?
If so, they are not alone. A combination of downsizing and increased workload is causing a rise in stress levels around the workplace. According to a CareerBuilder.com survey of more than 4,400 workers nationwide, 30 percent of workers who have survived layoffs say they’re burned out.
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06.17.09 “On-Demand” Invoice App Wins Award
Bill.com, Inc. has won a 2009 Tax & Accounting Technology Innovation Award from The CPA Technology Advisor, the leading independent multimedia technology resource for the accounting profession. The award honors new and enhanced technologies that benefit accounting and tax professionals. Nominated products must be less than two years old or have undergone a significant revision or addition during the past two years.
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06.16.09 Your Role in Cash Management
Take our current poll: How much of an impact do your role and responsibilities have on your organization's cash flow? You’ll find it in the Active Survey box on the AP360 home page. We’ll present the poll results in a future e-alert.
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06.15.09 IRS to Ease Tough Cell Phone Rules
Under current rules, the value of employer-provided cell phones is taxable income to the employees—even if the phones are used totally for business. However, if the employer keeps detailed records, the business usage can be excluded from income. These tough rules have been a thorn in the side of many companies—but that will soon change.
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06.12.09 Test Your AP IQ: Special Type of Invoice
The special type of invoice that is especially appropriate to request from vendors who provide freight and shipping services or office supplies is known as what? more...
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06.12.09 FULL AP EXPO PROGRAM AVAILABLE
Schedules and descriptions of over 30 sessions and workshops—including many on AP automation--are now available for our upcoming 8th Annual AP Conference & Expo October 14-16 at the Loews Royal Pacific at Universal Orlando. more...
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06.11.09 Be Flexible to Boost AP Productivity
If your AP staff is stressed out and productivity is down, consider flexible work arrangements. These include flex-time, compressed work weeks, telecommuting, and job sharing. If your organization offers these setups, you may want to use them in your department. If they are not offered, consider lobbying your boss or HR for this type of arrangement.
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06.10.09 Hospital Aims for E-Payments
Boston Medical Center expects to convert 67 percent of its paper checks to electronic payments in six months, according to Bank of America, which will work with the hospital on the project. more...
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06.09.09 Big Trouble Over Delayed Payments
If your company is in a cash crunch and is delaying payments to vendors, take note of this recent case: A federal jury found the Kmart Corporation’s former CEO, Charles C. Conaway, liable for misleading investors about the company’s cash crisis in the months before its 2002 bankruptcy. The Securities and Exchange Commission contended that Conaway had failed to disclose a cash shortage at the company and its program to delay payments to vendors.
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06.08.09 Timber! IRS Fells 1099 Loophole
Because the Internal Revenue Service felt that there was tax avoidance going on with respect to purchases of timber, final regulations have been issued for lump sum timber sales [T.D. 9450]. These transactions must now be reported on 1099 forms.
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06.05.09 Test Your AP IQ: T&E Receipt Threshold
Most organizations require employees to submit receipts for reimbursable T&E expenses that exceed what amount? more...
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06.04.09 How to Become Indispensable—Part 1
The old saying “Nobody's indispensable” is especially true in today’s environment. However, during a downsizing, smart companies will keep their best or key people. Here are a few ways AP professionals can make themselves indispensable in the eyes of their companies. We’ll present more ideas in future AP360 e-Alerts. more...
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06.03.09 Eliminate Invoices Before Automating
AP departments that seek to automate their invoice processing should first step back and determine which invoices can be eliminated altogether. Why automate something that doesn’t need to be there in the first place?
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06.02.09 Farm Out Check Printing
Many AP departments outsource check printing because the production and distribution of paper checks is expensive and is subject to fraud. Outsourcing this function also provides access to best practice payment processes, thereby reducing overall processing costs. It also eases the transition from checks to ACH payments by reducing number of bank accounts and creating one common payment process. more...
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06.01.09 Wisconsin Jumps Onto SST Bandwagon
The Streamlined Sales Tax (SST) Project, which has been gaining steam, seeks to radically simplify the now complex rules for state sales and use taxes. Wisconsin has become the 23rd member state of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Governing Board, according to a press release issued by the state's revenue department.
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05.29.09 Test Your AP IQ: Escheatable Items
Which of the following is NOT considered to be escheatable unclaimed property? more...
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05.28.09 Dealing with Negative AP Staff
Especially in today’s tough times, you’re likely to have an employee who is down on everything. Always a complaint about something---always disgruntled over what they have to do—always finding fault with what’s going on. And what’s worse, they try to infect their co-workers with their discontent. This is enough to make any AP manager angry, frustrated, and helpless. You feel like confronting this constant griper and yelling: “Look, if you’re so unhappy here, why don’t you just LEAVE!” Of course, you can’t actually do that, so here's what you can do.
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05.27.09 AP Confabbers Offer Tech Tips
At the recent IOMA/RECAP Accounts Payable Operations Conference in San Antonio, we heard many valuable ideas and pieces of advice from attendees during the various networking breaks. Plus, the exhibitors—solution providers set up at the conference to demonstrate their products or services—had their own ideas based on their experiences with their various clients. Here are a few of the more notable pieces of advice that can help you avoid some needless headaches.
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05.26.09 Put Your AP Dept. on the Map
Before you can improve any AP process, you must first “map” it. That is, create a picture—a visual story—of how the work flows and who does what. Only then can you analyze the process and discover its true potential. Used properly, an AP process map can be a powerful tool to help you increase efficiency, eliminate non-value-added activities, reduce cycle time, and simplify work flow. more...
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05.22.09 AP IQ: Certain Employee T&E on a 1099?
Your CEO goes on a business trip and his spouse tags along. You reimburse the CEO for his and his spouse’s travel. Should you report the spouse’s reimbursement on a 1099-MISC? more...
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05.21.09 Good Time to Stretch Your AP Staff
Leading edge AP departments are moving away from low-value tasks and becoming more involved in strategic activities. The current economic downturn could actually help this transformation process. That’s because the recession has given employees in general the opportunity to stretch beyond their typical job constraints, according to a survey recently released by staffing firm Accountemps.
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05.20.09 Why Automating AP Can Stall
In our research, one of the biggest reasons companies do not move forward with AP automation is “lack of knowledge” and the confusion about all of the choices out there. So anything you can do to increase your knowledge and sort things out, such as listening to webinars, reading white papers, or attending an AP conference, will help.
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05.19.09 Uncovering Duplicate Vendors
You should run a series of regular reports to keep tabs on the master vendor file. Regular reporting, checking, and cleanup efforts will help to avoid larger, more expensive clean-up efforts that may be required when the accuracy of the file has been allowed to deteriorate over time. To reveal potential duplicate vendors, three basic reports can be used. more...
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05.18.09 AP Says KO P-Card/1099 Reporting
Back in February, the Internal Revenue Service, in Notice 2009-19, asked for comments from the public on the new law (Section 6050W of the Internal Revenue Code) that requires credit card organizations to do Form 1099 reporting of the payments made to merchants through the cards. The way the rules were written, there was the possibility of double reporting of payments made via payment cards—once by the bank and again by cardholders. Luckily, many groups wrote to the IRS, urging it to shape the rules to make sure this double reporting was eliminated—and take AP out of the picture.
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05.15.09 Test Your AP IQ: What is SaaS?
What does the term SaaS mean? more...
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05.14.09 Preventing Overwork in Lean Times
Asked how current economic conditions have affected their individual employees, nearly half (48 percent) of corporate finance and accounting departments in the U.S. surveyed cited increased stress, compared to 39 percent globally. In response, the majority of managers surveyed (62 percent in the United States and 70 percent globally) said they have taken some form of action to better support their teams. more...
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05.13.09 Tech Issues in Outsourcing
To cut costs, AP can outsource some of its processes—from basic functions, such as check printing, to more complex operations, such as invoice imaging or data input. When you get into outsourcing tasks that require the use of advanced technology, there are a couple of important considerations.
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05.12.09 Talk to Treasury
The financial pros who handle the treasury functions in your organization can be AP’s biggest ally. Treasury and AP want the same thing—to make the payment process as efficient and effective as possible. So they will help you—and you will be able to help them.
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05.11.09 IRS Nixes 1099s for COBRA Subsidy
Employers or health plan sponsors subsidizing health care premiums for laid-off workers will not be required to file separate information returns on subsidy amounts for individuals, John Tuzynski, chief, employment tax operations, Internal Revenue Service, announced April 23 during a teleconference.
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05.08.09 Test Your AP IQ: First Step in Streamlining AP
What is generally the first step in streamlining an AP process? more...
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05.07.09 Staff Snacking Up in Down Economy
While in the current recession many things at work are shrinking—jobs, pay, benefits—at least one thing is expanding: employee waistlines. Forty-three percent of U.S. employees have gained weight in their current jobs, and the economy may be part of the problem, according to a recent survey from online job site CareerBuilder.com.
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05.06.09 Shun Checks to Sidestep Fraud
One of the main reasons to move away from paper checks in favor of alternative payment mechanisms, such as ACH and corporate credit cards, is to reduce the risk of fraud. And a recent survey backs this up.
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05.05.09 Look at New Bank Services
Traditional AP-related bank services—check payment administration, wire transfers, positive pay, ACH payments—have been expanded to now include outsourcing (e.g., check printing) and electronic invoicing and payment tools. Some banks have staked major claims in the AP automation space by acquiring e-invoice and e-payment solution providers more...
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05.04.09 IRS Starts Audits of Backup Withholding
If you’re not doing the proper backup withholding on payments to independent contractors, now’s the time to get your house in order. The Internal Revenue Service has started audits of a slew of companies over backup withholding on these payments.
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05.01.09 AP IQ Test: 1099 Reporting of Legal Damages
Someone falls in your company’s parking lot and breaks his ankle. His lawyer sues your company, which settles the claim for $100,000 payable jointly to the individual and the lawyer. What is the 1099 reporting for this payment? more...
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04.30.09 Web Breaks Can Help Productivity
Rather than serving as a distraction, “workplace Internet leisure browsing” (WILB) can actually increase concentration levels and productivity, according to a new study. more...
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04.29.09 Break Down a Big Tech Project
At the recent IOMA/RECAP 9th Annual Accounts Payable Operations Conference in San Antonio, several speakers talked about implementing a new system. But we also heard many valuable ideas and pieces of advice from attendees and exhibitors during the various networking breaks.
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04.28.09 Audit Trouble Over Unrecorded Invoices
A county recently got into hot water because invoices totaling more than $95,000 were not recorded in AP at year-end, which skewed a true picture of the county’s financial statements for fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2008, reports the Clare (Mich.) Sentinal.
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04.27.09 MD Targets Ersatz 1099ers
Maryland is the latest state to announce plans to penalize companies over mislabeling workers as 1099 freelancers. Employers in the construction and landscape service sectors that knowingly misclassify employees as independent contractors would be subject to civil penalties under legislation (S.B. 909) that cleared the Maryland General Assembly just hours before the close of the 2009 regular legislative session.
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04.24.09 Test Your AP IQ: Corporate Card Rebates
Banks offer rebates (e.g., cash back) as part of their corporate charge card programs. What is the most common factor used in determining rebates?
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