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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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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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09.15.09 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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08.04.09 Reduce Your Vendor Base
In a procure-to-pay (P2P) environment, AP and purchasing work closer together to optimize the transaction process. One key part of this is to focus on your vendor base and to work to reduce it. more...
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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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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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02.27.09 Test Your AP IQ: Vendor Add Form
How many organizations do you think always use a Vendor Add Form before setting up a vendor in the master file?
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02.03.09 Need to Cut Your AP Costs? Free Webinar!
AP managers have found many ways to cut costs and increase productivity. Some ideas are new and innovative. Others have stood the test of time. Either way, they work—and that’s all that matters. Learn all about them by attending a FREE 60-minute webinar. more...
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01.26.09 PRESS RELEASE: Controllers Eye AP
CFOs, Controllers and Business Managers now realize there are significant bottom-line savings to be found in accounts payable, savings they need to tap in 2009. You’ll find a precise roadmap to those savings at the 9th Annual Accounts Payable Operations conference (March 11-13, San Antonio), presented by the Institute of Management and Administration, BNA Subsidiaries, LLC and Casher Associates.
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01.09.09 Test Your AP IQ: Vendor File Management
Which of the following is a good practice for managing the master vendor file?
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12.16.08 Purge Inactive Vendors
Inactive vendors should be purged periodically from the master vendor file in order to reduce the opportunity for duplication and fraud. The process is relatively simple. more...
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08.25.08 >>>Benchmark Your AP Operations<<<
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 survey. 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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07.29.08 Shrink Your Vendor File
In an optimal procure-to-pay (P2P) process, purchasing and AP work closely together. One area that can benefit from this collaboration is the master vendor file, and this can produce significant cost savings—especially when you work with purchasing to cut down on the number of vendors.
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07.15.08 Recovery Audits Snare Big Bucks
Private recovery auditors have retrieved almost $700 million in Medicare overpayments to hospitals and other medical providers, according to the Wall Street Journal. This amount was recovered over about a three-year period as part of a pilot program examining improper payments, most of which involved claims filed in New York, California, and Florida. Under the program, the recovery auditors are paid a percentage of the overpayments they retrieve.
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05.30.08 Test Your AP IQ: Vendor Data
How familiar are you with AP rules, regulations, and best practices? Here’s a multiple-choice question to test your knowledge: Which of the following does the accounts payable department typically have the most problem getting from a vendor?
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04.08.08 Nix Punctuation in Vendor File
Periods, commas, slashes, hyphens, ampersands—all of those little marks may seem like nothing. But their significance in a master vendor file can be enormous. These marks are common triggers of duplicate vendor entries. To avoid duplication, it is important to make and enforce a policy for consistent use of punctuation.
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02.22.08 Test Your AP IQ: Master Vendor File
How familiar are you with AP best practices, rules, and regulations? Here’s a question to test your knowledge: Which of the following not a good practice for the master vendor file?
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11.06.07 IOMA Launches On-Site Training for Accounts Payable
New York, NY (November 6, 2007)—The Institute of Management & Administration (IOMA) has announced the full roll-out of its on-site training programs to help organizations large and small efficiently meet their management and professional development objectives when it's convenient.
IOMA experts will work one-on-one with organizations to identify and address their specific needs. After agreeing on an organization's objectives, IOMA will pair the organization with one or more IOMA Advisory Services consultants, comprised of the nation's leading payables management authorities.
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08.28.07 Avoid the “Credit Memo Purge”
Generally, AP should never make a payment off of a vendor statement. Statements often contain invoices that have already been paid. Because of the lag time, the vendor may not have received the check, and the invoice shows up on the statement. If you pay from the statement, you’ll double-pay some invoices.
But that doesn’t mean vendor statements aren’t useful. You should look at them regularly—and even request them periodically. Why? One reason is to avoid a phenomenon called the “credit memo purge,” according to Nat Goodman, APM, MBA, CPA, and one of our senior AP consultants.
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08.10.07 Test Your AP IQ: Recovery Audit Firms
A recovery audit firm specializes in recovering duplicate payments. As a general rule, what percentage of the amounts recovered does the recovery audit firm retain?
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08.07.07 Control of Master Vendor File
Our research indicates that AP has principal control of the file in over three-quarters (78%) of the companies surveyed. Nearly one-eighth of respondents (12%) stated that purchasing, not AP, controls the master vendor file in their organizations. Ownership may be shared with purchasing (7%) or another department.
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07.19.07 Call for Presentations: Advanced AP 2008
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06.08.07 Test Your AP IQ: Purging the Master Vendor File
How familiar are you with AP best practices, rules, and regulations? Here’s a question to test your knowledge: Most companies purge their master vendor files on a regular basis. What do you think is the most common frequency companies use for doing the purge?
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04.27.07 Test Your AP IQ: Duplicate Vendors
Having duplicate vendors in your master vendor file can lead to duplicate payments. If your master vendor file hasn’t gone through a cleanup lately, what percentage of the vendors can you expect to be redundant (assuming the file size is 50,000)?
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03.27.07 New Survey: Master Vendor File Setup
In a recent survey we conducted concerning AP department compensation and operational tasks, we received some responses that may indicate a control problem. When asked about vendor setup and maintenance, 60% of AP support staff are doing the actual work. Much fewer higher-level AP pros are hands-on with this task. For instance, 24% of AP managers actually do vendor setup.
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02.23.07 Test Your AP IQ: Master Vendor File Size
What is a good rule of thumb to use to determine whether your master vendor file is getting too large?
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02.02.07 Test Your AP IQ: Vendor Add Forms
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01.16.07 Top 10 Master Vendor File Best Practices
The master vendor file is the foundation of the accounts payable and procurement systems. Left unchecked, the master vendor file can become bloated with duplicate vendors, inactive vendors, different addresses, and the like. When this happens, all kinds of problems can be triggered, such as fraud, duplicate payments, and headaches from the Internal Revenue Service. Here are the top 10 best practices we recommend for the master vendor file.
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11.14.06 Access to the Master Vendor File
For internal control reasons, access to the master vendor file should be restricted to avoid duplications by keeping input consistent.
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