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11.13.08 AP Manager Improves Morale Amid Cutbacks
In one AP department, morale sunk to a new low when widespread cutbacks were announced by the top brass. “If morale didn’t improve quickly, it was only a matter of time before productivity was affected,” says a disbursement manager at a wholesale/retail firm (14 full-time in AP). With no money to spare for raises or bonuses, he had to find some creative, yet inexpensive ways to improve morale.
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11.11.08 Top Drivers of Success in AP Shared Services
We had a record turnout at our 7th Annual Accounts Payable Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, and one of the most popular speakers was Penny Weller, Ph.D., CMA,, a 30-year veteran of AP, formerly with Pfizer, and now a senior director with the Hackett Group. Weller spoke about how to bring about continuous improvement in AP. AP360 also talked with her about shared services, one of her special areas of expertise.
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11.06.08 Fewer Gift Turkeys Will Trot
We’re saddened to see fewer employers doling out gifts this Thanksgiving season—and especially with respect to the age-old tradition of handing out a free turkey.
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11.04.08 Year-End Mystery Invoices
It’s not uncommon to have invoices show up in AP with absolutely no identification as to who ordered the goods. But now, at year-end, it’s important to get these invoices identified, approved, and onto the books. more...
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10.30.08 Office Costume Parties Could Haunt Firms
Allowing employees to dress up in Halloween costumes might seem like a fun way to get into the holiday spirit—but the practice could come back to haunt an employer in the form of a discrimination claim, workplace injury, or just bad public relations.
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10.28.08 Stretching Payments
In today’s tough times, many AP managers will be pressured from above to stretch payment terms by simply paying vendors late. Controllers and CFOs may claim that "everybody’s doing this." They may also mandate that tougher terms be negotiated. While these tactics are designed to help out the organization’s working capital position, there are several real problems that should be brought up to management.
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10.23.08 Take Back the Lunch Break
Many AP managers use their lunch break to catch up on work, answer e-mails, return phone calls, and the like. For them, the lunch hour has dwindled away to just a few minutes. But it’s important to take the break and get away from work during the midday.
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10.16.08 Managing Amid Turmoil
Managing people is a difficult job—and it’s become tougher in recent weeks because workers are being stressed by a host of outside issues. Few workers, for example, are unaware of or unaffected by rising unemployment, the gas crisis, the crash in the value of their homes, banking failures, and tumult in the stock market that could threaten the savings, investments, and retirements of ordinary workers. Throw in frightening headlines about corporate downsizing and outsourcing and many employers' own public statements about the shaky economy affecting their businesses, and ordinary line workers increasingly view the workplace with anxiety and are unlikely to respond to traditional management "pep talks," according to Gary A. Kraines, a physician who heads the Levinson Institute in New Hampshire. more...
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10.09.08 5 Ways to Manage Stressed-Out Staff
Your workers are under more stress now than ever before—from forces both inside your organization and on the outside. But there are some things that you as a manager can do to help transform workplace stress into productive energy, according to Robert Nelson, president of the San Diego-based consulting firm Nelson Motivation.
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10.02.08 The Challenge of Coaching
Nearly one-third of supervisors say their main problem with coaching is that it is too time-consuming, according to a survey released Sept. 23 by global consultants BlessingWhite. And part of the problem is that coaches need more coaching themselves on what the process is and is not, according to the firm's coaching practice leader, Cathy Earley. more...
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09.25.08 Happy Workers Amid Economic Woes
Even though the U.S. economy is troubled and the cost of commuting for many workers is high, nearly two-thirds of employed Americans say they are happy at their jobs, according to findings of the second annual Labor Happiness Index from job Web site SnagAJob.com. The 65 percent of U.S. workers expressing contentment is up slightly from the 61 percent who said they were happy in their jobs last year.
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09.23.08 Handling Stale Checks
One of the common issues in AP is how to deal with stale dated checks, including contacting the payees/vendors. In general, a check goes stale six months after it is written or after the negotiable date on the check. Stale dated checks are returned by the bank as "non-negotiable - stale dated."
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09.18.08 Millennials Demand Work-Life Balance
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09.11.08 Four Crucial Hiring Errors
Managers tend to make four crucial errors during the hiring process, ranging from not being selective enough to treating the applicant as a new friend rather than a potential hire, according to Lynn Unsworth, regional manager for Capital Associated Industries Inc., the largest employer association in North Carolina.
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09.09.08 Planning for Year-End
Yes, folks, year-end will be here before you know it. So now’s the time to start planning. Here are five tips to help you prepare for what will be your most hectic time of the year.
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09.04.08 Flexible Work Setups
Sixty-one percent of workers recently polled said taking advantage of flexible work arrangements has made them more productive. This is according to a CareerBuilder.com survey of more than 7,600 workers nationwide.
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08.28.08 How to Avoid a Mandate to Cut Heads
If you’re given a mandate to cut heads, pitch the idea of cutting hours instead. You’ll end up with the same amount of cost reduction, but it could be easier on everyone.
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08.21.08 Managing AP Productivity
Everyone is under pressure to cut costs. And AP is no exception. One area to target is overtime—especially if your invoice volume rises and falls during the year. “The normal number of invoices jumps from 2,800 to 4,500 a month during our busy season,” said Ellen DeWeerdt, AP manager with a staff of five at The Vermont Country Store, a mail order and e-commerce specialty retailer. more...
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08.15.08 Test Your AP IQ: AP Performance Metrics
What is the primary reason for developing and using performance metrics in accounts payable?
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08.14.08 Are You Hosting the Olympics?
Your AP department may be inadvertently playing host to the Olympics at Beijing. That’s because hundreds of millions of American workers are tuning in to watch the Olympics this month, and many will be doing some of their viewing during work hours. Coverage is available both streaming and downloadable from sources ranging from YouTube to network television. more...
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08.14.08 >>> AP Benchmarking Survey Now Open <<<
How much does it cost AP departments to process an invoice? How many invoices should AP staffers be able to process in a month? What is the average error rate for payments? You will get the answers to these questions--and a lot more—if you take part in our AP Benchmarking Survey. We’ll send you the results so you can see how your AP department stacks up against all the others.
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08.12.08 Nip Problem Vendors in the Bud
Vendors that are “problem children” generally don’t set out to make your life miserable. It’s just that--most of the time--they truly don’t know what’s expected of them.
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08.07.08 Tough Times Cause “Cave Man” Behavior
Are your staff members bickering more than usual? If so, the reason could be this: The current difficult economic times have employees behaving in ways that harken back to the Stone Age, according to Morrie Shechtman, a change management consultant and author of Fifth Wave Leadership: The Internal Frontier.
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08.01.08 Test Your AP IQ: Managing an Outsourcing Deal
AP departments that outsource a task to an external service provider should also generally use an SLA. What is an SLA?
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07.31.08 Summer Office Fashion Disasters
Here we are in the middle of summer and many workers have abandoned their conventional attire for more comfortable duds. The trouble is, the choice of summer garb could threaten a worker’s professional credibility if they commit a fashion faux pas at the office.
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07.24.08 Bad Boss Contest
If you think you have a bad boss, listen to this: One boss made his employees stay in a burning building to continue answering calls. This boss was the winner of last year’s Bad Boss Contest, conducted by Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO. If you think you have a bad boss, this year’s contest is now underway.
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07.18.08 Test Your AP IQ: Continuous Improvement
Which method of continuous process improvement focuses on the reduction of “defects” (i.e., performance below standard)?
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07.17.08 78% of Workers are Burnt Out
Downsized staffs paired with increased workloads may be causing a rise in stress levels around the workplace. According to a CareerBuilder.com survey of more than 7,600 workers nationwide, 78 percent reported feeling burned out at work.
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07.10.08 Gas Prices Spark Commuting Perks
Your AP staffers are certainly feeling the effects of soaring gas prices. Is your organization keeping up to speed with what others are doing to help the situation? Many employers are offering workers commuting perks ranging from flexible work schedules to free bicycles. These commuting benefits may do more than put extra money in workers' pockets; they also can have environmental benefits, enhance work/life balance, and even decrease the likelihood of employees arriving late to the office.
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07.03.08 Work Flexibility and Staff Health
Workers who reported increased work flexibility from one year to the next had fewer absences for illness and improved job commitment, according to new research from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. In addition, these workers were less likely to say that health problems affected their job performance.
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