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03.11.10 Customer Service
AP departments--particularly in a centralized or shared services environment—need to monitor and measure performance with respect to their customers. AP needs to define the terms of service it can provide to internal departments of the company and its external customers (vendors).
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03.10.10 AP Automation and Productivity
A recent survey reveals AP staff productivity improvements when going from a low level to a high level of automation.
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03.09.10 Ease Unclaimed Property Woes
Cash-starved states have become more aggressive in targeting companies for unclaimed property that must be turned over (escheated) to the state. From AP’s perspective, unclaimed property consists primarily of uncashed checks to vendors. They have to be researched, and special escheatment procedures must be followed more...
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03.08.10 1099 Red Flag Sparks Trouble
Bad news for a company that paid for a nanny to look after the company owner’s children. The company treated her as an independent contractor and sent her a Form 1099-MISC. The company heard from the IRS about this.
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03.05.10 Test Your AP IQ: Air Travel Perk
The rates used to figure the taxable value of an employee’s personal use of company-owned aircraft are called what?
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03.04.10 Coping With a Younger Boss
A new survey shows that many employees are older than their bosses--and they are just fine with the arrangement. more...
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03.03.10 ***Free Webinar on AP Automation***
Your next AP automation project in on the road to failure unless you have a solid plan of attack. Join us for a free 60-minute webinar, 25 Best Practices for Planning an AP Automation Project, Thursday, March 4 at 1:00PM ET. more...
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03.03.10 Where’s Your Pain?
To effectively automate the AP process, you need to identify your “pain points.” These are the areas where problems and inefficiencies plague your AP department.
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03.02.10 Vendor Welcome Letter
Vendors won’t become “problem children” if you set down the ground rules in the beginning of the relationship. That way, the vendor knows what’s expected and can comply. That’s where the “Welcome Letter” comes in. It should be sent to anyone at the vendor who might have cause to interact with AP and it could include any or all of these elements.
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03.01.10 “Less Mercy” by IRS in New Audits
The Internal Revenue Service will be particularly aggressive during the 6,000 surprise audits that will target Form 1099 independent contractors that should really be classified as employees, employee fringe benefits, employee reimbursements, and executive pay. Audit notices have already started to go out to employers of all shapes and sizes—with a particular emphasis on small companies.
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02.26.10 Test Your AP IQ: Strange TIN
On a W-9, you see a 9-digit Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) that begins with the letter “P.” What does this signify? more...
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02.25.10 True Love at Work
Are any of your AP workers gazing off starry-eyed and ignoring their work? It could be love. In the wake of Valentine’s Day, it’s nice to see that romance in the workplace continues to flourish, according to a new survey. But when it comes down to choosing between losing the job or the paramour, most would dump the lover to keep the job.
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02.24.10 SaaS Pitfall
Software-as-a-Service, or SaaS, is a way to use software without owning it. You access the software over the Web on a pay-as-you-go basis, often based on volume of transactions. But just because the software is not owned by you does not mean you’re off the hook in terms of internal controls. more...
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02.23.10 Finding Duplicate Vendors
To help eliminate duplicate payments, you need to get rid of duplicate vendor records. The trouble is, this can be tricky. You can’t totally rely on an automated solution to eliminate duplicate vendors, because these systems not always detect near-matches. Just as human error is responsible for creating the duplicate vendor record, a lot of human effort is required to identify them. However, you can use automated tools to help you to some degree.
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02.22.10 SIFL Rates Decrease for 1H10
All the Standard Industry Fare Level (SIFL) formula rates have decreased for the first half of 2010 (January 1 through June 30), the Transportation Department announced. more...
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02.19.10 Test Your AP IQ: Foreign Tax on Purchases
What is the tax levied on the purchase of goods and services in foreign countries called? more...
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02.18.10 Problem-Solving Tip
If you have a problem with some AP process, keep in mind that the people closest to the situation are most likely the ones to tell you what the trouble is—and how to fix it. That typically means your staff. Since they’re involved in the day-to-day details, the solution may be crystal-clear to them. Sometimes, these solutions may involve a very simple change.
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02.17.10 AP Automation Needs Support
To ramp up your AP department to paperless invoicing, you need to think about more than just the technology aspect. Without support from management, your automation project will never take off. You also need support from IT, personal commitment from the AP department staff, and the cooperation of the rest of your organization’s employees.
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02.16.10 Check Printing
It seems like forever that we’ve been hearing about the disappearance of paper checks in favor of electronic payments. Well, that simply hasn’t happened. Only 22 percent of invoices are being paid for via ACH, wire, or some other form of electronic payment, according to our research. That means AP is still dealing with the printing of a lot of paper checks. This means issues with internal control, so let’s review the best practices for controlling the check printing process. more...
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02.12.10 Test Your AP IQ: Unclaimed Property
Which of the following statements about unclaimed property is not true?
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02.11.10 Misleading Goals
In order to measure the performance of both the AP department and individual staff members, goals must be set that are clearly identifiable and measurable. But you need to take into consideration that fact that goals can sometimes be misleading.
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02.10.10 AP Automation Increasing
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02.09.10 Rogue T&E Spending
Rogue (out-of-policy) spending by employees on travel and entertainment (T&E) can happen for several reasons. Different departments or business units could interpret company policies differently—or certain managers feel that the rules don’t apply to them. more...
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02.08.10 IRS Audits Start Feb. 16
The Internal Revenue Service will finish training examiners during the week of Feb. 8 in preparation for a Feb. 16 start to a three-year audit program concerning Form 1099 independent contractors that should really be classified as employees, employee fringe benefits and executive pay. The audit program will target 6,000 companies at random and will last over three years.
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02.05.10 Test Your AP IQ: EIN Red Flag
If you see a vendor EIN that begins with “98,” what does that probably mean? more...
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02.04.10 AP Clerk Pay Drops a Bit
Salaries in 2010 for AP clerks have decreased a little, reveals the 2010 Salary Guide from Robert Half International.
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02.03.10 Cloudy Forecast
Just as AP departments are struggling to find the budget to buy new technology tools to automate the invoice payment process comes the promise of “cloud computing.” This concept could really take hold in 2010 and trigger more AP departments to automate because cloud computing makes state-of-the-art technology more affordable than ever.
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02.02.10 Centralized Invoice Receipt
In general, a best practice is to have all incoming invoices go to AP first. That way, they can be properly tracked, especially for discount purposes. more...
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02.01.10 More Time for Some 1099 Reporting
The Internal Revenue Service is providing an extra day this month for providing annual tax reporting statements on broker and barter exchange transactions, real estate transactions, and certain miscellaneous income. The IRS said it is extending the deadline from Feb. 15 to Feb. 16 for these reporting statements because Feb. 15 is a national holiday. more...
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01.29.10 Test Your AP IQ: Invoice Scanning
To create an electronic archive of paid invoices, some AP departments scan the invoices after they have been processed. What is this called?
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01.28.10 Salaries Flat for AP Managers
Salaries in 2010 for AP managers have stagnated, reveals the 2010 Salary Guide from Robert Half International.
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01.27.10 Affordable AP Automation
Automating your invoice and workflow process slashes costs and boosts productivity, but not all companies have the budget to afford the technology. But now, technology is being delivered in a different way that could put it in the reach of cash-strapped firms. more...
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01.26.10 Paying From Invoice Copies
Using invoice copies or statements to make payments has always been a fact of life in AP—but it appears to be becoming less so. Over a third (39 percent) of AP departments we polled say they issue payments without an original invoice, but this is down from 44 percent in 2007, and 53 percent in 2005, when the prior polls were done.
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01.25.10 IRS to Audit 500 Nonprofits
As part of its new crackdown on employment taxes, the Internal Revenue Service will examine 500 tax-exempt organizations this year. Agents will be especially looking for Form 1099 independent contractors that should really be classified as employees. The penalty for this is big back tax bills and stiff fines. Plus, IRS agents will look for violations in the tax rules for fringe benefits and executive pay. more...
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01.22.10 Test Your AP IQ: Military Payments
If you made military differential payments in 2009 to employees who left their jobs to go on active military duty, where do these amounts get reported on the Form 1099-MISC? more...
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01.21.10 One in Five Workers May Bolt
Your AP department may lose a staffer or two if recent statistics are any indication. Nearly one out of five (19 percent) workers are planning to leave their current employer this year, according to a new survey from job site CareerBuilder.
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01.20.10 Prevalence of Invoice Imaging
The vast majority (85 percent) of AP departments we polled say they either use or plan to use imaging to automate invoice processing. About half (46 percent) of the over 450 AP departments we surveyed currently use invoice imaging, and an additional 39 percent say they plan to use it.
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01.19.10 Most Firms Use Positive Pay
Two-thirds (67 percent) of all companies we polled use positive pay as an internal control measure and to combat check fraud.
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01.15.10 Test Your AP IQ: Unclaimed Property
What is the deadline to report unclaimed property in most states?
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01.14.10 Fewer Firms Give MLK Day Off
Nearly three in ten employers (28 percent) will give all or most workers a paid holiday on Monday, January 18 for Martin Luther King Day. This is down slightly from 31 percent in 2008, according to a recent survey of holiday practices by the Bureau of National Affairs.
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01.13.10 Test Your E-Payment Armor
Do you have weak spots in your defenses against cyber payments fraud? Find out by registering for the free Cyber Attack against Payment Processes (CAPP) Exercise. It will be administered by the Financial Services-Information Sharing and Analysis Center (FS-ISAC) and will last for three days (February 9-11).
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01.12.10 Taking Invoice Discounts
Almost half (47 percent) of all companies say they pay at least 90 percent of their invoices within the specified discount terms, according to our research. Only 7 percent of companies say they take the discounts on each and every one of their invoices.
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01.11.10 Tax-Free Commuting Amounts
The monthly tax-free amount of employer subsidy for mass transit passes and van pools used by an employee is $230 for 2010 (unchanged from 2009). This is the same amount as the monthly value of employer-provided parking that can escape taxation as employee income. Employees who commute to work by bicycle can be reimbursed by employers up to $240 per year (also unchanged from 2009) for maintaining, repairing, storing, and buying bicycles. more...
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01.08.10 Test Your AP IQ: Mileage Rate for 2010
What is the standard business mileage rate for 2010?
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01.07.10 Transactions vs. Analysis Tasks
For the past several years, the role of AP has been changing from a back-office operation that merely processes transactions to a department that can bring more value to its organization, such as through the analysis of corporate expenditures. Almost a quarter (24 percent) of the average AP department’s time is spent on analysis work, according to IOMA research. more...
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01.06.10 Top 10 ECM Products
The ECM Connection website has announced its annual Top 10 ECM Products for 2009, based on reader interest. Some of the vendors that offer these products are well known for AP-related solutions, such as AnyDoc, Kofax, and OnBase.
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01.05.10 Urge to Purge
A best practice in AP is the regular purging of the master vendor file. Inactive vendors should generally be eliminated periodically from the master vendor file in order to reduce the opportunity for duplicate payments and fraud. How often should a purge be done? It depends, but our research reveals the most common practices. more...
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01.04.10 Year-End Form 1099 Tips
Here are a few tips to help make your year-end easier with respect to Form 1099 filing.
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12.31.09 Year-End Workload
If you have not done so already, make sure your staffing needs are met for the year-end close. more...
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12.30.09 Too Many Paper T&E Checks
Despite the rise of electronic payments, organizations are still using the old fashioned paper check to reimburse travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses, according to a new report from PayStream Advisors. more...
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