An Accounts Payable Back-to-Work Action Plan

Without a doubt, the business world as we know it pre-COVID-19 is gone. The workplace will change, and in some cases, change drastically. This is especially true of the accounts payable function. An amazing thing happened during the crisis. Over 85% of all accounts payable teams started working from home, something that was almost unheard of at the start of the crisis. With very little notice, they managed to get their organization's payment process up and running and they kept it running. Management took notice. As we prepare to come out of lockdown, it is apparent that the function will be revamped to accommodate not only new working processes needed to incorporate remote workers but also to address the unanticipated accounts payable issues that cropped up during the crisis. The author was lucky enough to participate with professionals running their accounts payable functions during the lockdown in several sessions each week. During these dozen sessions, participants shared what was working and what wasn't. It was from these talks that several completely unforeseen glitches were identified. This work provides a definitive action plan for organizations of all sizes and industries to use to address the unexpected problems as well as incorporate remote working into the equation. The book starts out with a 25-step action plan. It then incorporates a wealth of information related to each of those steps to help readers design a new best practice accounts payable function. This business intelligence has been updated to incorporate the best practices you will need to operate a best practice accounts payable function post-COVID-19. Some may assume that this book is going to recommend the use of invoice automation if an organization wishes to be considered best practice. While that technology certainly would help, it is not the only way to achieve best practices. The book investigates other options. As you might expect, invoice processing and making payments get a good amount of coverage in this work. Refunds for canceled events (and the related ancillary charges), reimbursement for unplanned for remote working expenses, an interim travel policy for when workers return to work, new frauds and fraud protection are just a few of the additional topics addressed in this work. The full table of contents follows: Preface Chapter 1 The Action Plan Chapter 2 Remote Working: The New Workplace Chapter 3 Current State of Invoice Processing Chapter 4 How to Encourage/Mandate Invoices by e-Mailed (if not using automation) Chapter 5 Invoice Automation: Starting A Program Chapter 6 Invoice Automation: Increasing Usage of an Existing Program Chapter 7 Stopping the Practice of Sending Duplicate Invoices Chapter 8 Crisis Payment Issues: Duplicate Payments and Returned Checks Chapter 9 A More Efficient and Cost-Effective Payment Process Chapter 10 Starting an ACH Program Chapter 11 Expanding an ACH Program Chapter 12 ACH Debit Best Practices Chapter 13 Expanding a Card Program Chapter 14 Card Issues Created or Exacerbated by the COVID-19 Crisis Chapter 15 Expense Reporting Issues Chapter 16 The New Nightmare: Tracking and Handling Refunds (Conventions etc.) Chapter 17 Going Paperless Chapter 18 Fraud During Crisis Chapter 19 Some Password Best Practices Chapter 20 A 1099 Action Plan: Given Changes Coming to 1099 Reporting Chapter 21 Payment audits Chapter 22 Dynamic Discounting and Other Financing Programs Chapter 23 A Word about Technology Chapter 24 Concluding Thoughts Glossary About Mary Schaeffer About AP Now Index