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Accounts payable scanning software is essential for automating the AP process and reducing manual error. There are numerous invoice OCR scanning solutions available. You want to be looking for the following features:

1. the solution can handle both paper and emailed invoices
2. the solution intuitively remembers invoice layouts and stores that information in a database
3. there should be no cost to suppliers
4. adoption rates should be easy for suppliers (for example, having them send a PDF of the invoice instead of paper)
5. you can divide the invoice intake into 2 flows – paper goes to OCR to be scanned, and email or a PDF (or any other electronic format) goes directly into a cloud data extraction process
6. the paper workflow should have an accuracy rate of 95%, and the PDF or email workflow should have an accuracy rate of 100%
7. the solution comes with a complete approval workflow and invoice processing package

If none of these parameters are met by either your current setup or the solution you are looking for, then you are not taking advantage of advances in technology that provide a more precise and efficient data capture.

Struggling with Invoice Data Capture? You’re Not Alone

Third party reports from the field confirm the challenge organizations face when capturing invoice data. 80% to 90% of invoices received by both medium and large size companies in North America is either paper or email. 

Even with the advent of technologies such as EDI and network portals, the bulk of both invoice receipt and invoice data entry revolves around paper and email.

So how are organizations tackling invoice capture? Not very efficiently:

• Paper invoices are handled and entered into accounting systems manually
• Emailed invoices from suppliers are printed out and manually keyed into the ERP 
• AP scanning is done with legacy OCR technology that has limited functionality, depth, and integration capabilities
• For growing companies, larger invoice volumes has meant adding to their headcount
• Most ERP solutions do not have the functionality to automate these areas

Looking for a good solution for accounts payable invoice scanning and data capture of both mailed and emailed invoices? Check out Intelligent OCR.  It’s automated data capture that replaces outdated invoice scanning solutions.

Intelligent OCR is invoice data capture software that efficiently extracts data from both email and mailed invoices. As well, it provides a complete approval workflow with a searchable invoice archive. See more about Intelligent OCR.

How Accounts Payable Audit Software Helps Stress Levels

An audit is one of the most expensive (and stressful!) of all the various types of financial statements examinations.

How it works:
The audit firm will compile a list of documents to be reviewed, and forward it to the company in order to ensure that the audit process can proceed at an organized pace. Once on-site, the documentation is reviewed and transactions are selected for testing.

During this phase, much care is given by the company to ensure that all documentation that is pulled, is also copied in order to assist with the completion of the audit. Once the initial testing is complete, more samples are chosen based on either prior sample results or questions that arise during the testing process.

During the audit, business is still being conducted and day-to-day transactions are being processed. You can imagine the stress that this process brings to the accounting department. Great care is given to ensure that all documentation that is pulled for the audit is a copy. Inevitably, the company will agree to hand over original documentation in order to avoid delays. Once an original is in play, all documentation that has been pulled must be examined before determining if it needs to be filed as an original or shredded as a copy.

A good purchase to pay system will show all invoice history and audit information on one screen. When reporting capabilities allow for a quick ‘copy-paste’ from the audit request list, accounts payable staff are able to produce the audit trail. This includes a PDF of the vendor invoice, GL accounts, approvers, and payment information, and a screen print that is saved to a flash drive.

If the system has drill down capabilities, a user can produce the original P.O. as well as the purchase requisition directly from an invoice screen, where a second screen print can be generated. This not only speeds up the testing process, it provides more detail than the manual pull and copy method.

Below is a quote from Erik Krueger of Plante Moran, where he witnessed the transformation that EchoVera AP Automation brought to one of his clients. The client is one of the leading automotive suppliers of highly engineered plastic injection-molded components.

“When Palette was implemented at a client of the firm, the client was able to very quickly realize efficiencies in the administration of ordering and invoicing for goods purchased and sold. As a result, there was enhanced visibility of documents associated with buying/selling and a more streamlined process in place.” – Erik Krueger CPA, MSA | Associate | Assurance Plante Moran, PLLC www.plantemoran.com

Find out more about EchoVera AP Automation here.

Invoice Data Extraction Software Technologies Explained

There are two ways to capture invoice data. If the invoice is in paper format and has been scanned, OCR is the technology that will read the scanned image and extract invoice data. If the invoice is emailed and in PDF format, cloud capture technology extracts the data from the data layer that is embedded in the PDF.

OCR Technology

OCR software has a 95% accuracy rate. That’s because it will not always accurately interpret the scanned image (which is what OCR does), and invoices have to be validated as being accurate. In spite of this OCR is one of the most commonly used forms of invoice extraction technologies.

PDF Cloud Capture

PDF cloud capture has a 100% accuracy rate. That’s because the software extracts data from the embedded data layer inside every PDF directly, so the error rate is minimal as there is no “interpreting” the invoice data like OCR does.

Which will suit your organization best?

Both of these methods have merit. Your suppliers may still send you paper invoices and you have to process them, which means scanning them in and having OCR read the data. Other suppliers send their invoices by email, which means the invoice has been created and sent as a PDF.

PDF invoices can be read instantly with cloud capture, and the data is forwarded to your ERP within minutes of receipt. So it makes sense to have a system that uses both of these processes, and divide incoming vendor invoices accordingly.

EchoVera’s Intelligent OCR

Intelligent OCR uses both of these processes and optimizes data extraction for any invoice format. As well, Intelligent OCR:

• Automatically learns supplier invoices based on their respective layouts, intuitively mapping field data.
• Allows the user to search typical values in any document, and tagging it using a built-in database.
• 95% accuracy rates for paper invoices
• 100% accuracy rates for electronic file formats that received in email, such as PDF, XML, CSV, HTML, Word, Excel and more.

Once the data is captured by Intelligent OCR the option is to have it sent directly to the ERP or through an accounts payable SaaS like EchoVera AP Automation.

For more information about OCR invoice scanning visit Intelligent OCR, here.

Having your organization’s financial statements and AP processes audited can be both stressful and time consuming. Technology has made it easier for AP audits though, thanks to automation. Audit trails complete with all of the connected documents, messages between team members in your company, and timestamps are included in robust AP automation systems.

Importance and Value of an Audit Trail

An audit trail or audit log is a history of every transaction and includes all of the documents involved in the purchasing and payment process, including messages between employees, invoices, purchase orders, and more. It is a record of all the steps involved in the transaction. The benefits of having a software-based audit trail in place include:

Fraud Prevention

Once employees realize that everything is being tracked by software, they will think twice about attempting something they shouldn’t. A good AP automation platform will record each and every transaction and auditing is usually the default setting.

Reduction of Manual Errors

How many times have people in accounting or finance spent hours searching for all the documents related to one transaction? A software audit trail can access all records instantly. The audit trail will also show corrections or other changes made to a transaction, and provide visibility into who made them and when.

Reduction of  Stress Levels

Tax audits can be painful and expose the business to tax penalty risk any time it happens. Audit fees are based on the time involved and paper processes will take up a considerable amount of it. Showing a lack of an audit trail, or having missing documents and transactions raises red flags for auditors, so it’s wise to ensure everything is available for review, and quickly.

Ensuring Compliance Regulations and Investor Concerns

Companies in every industry, whether they are regulated by government or other regulatory body, need to show that they are compliant with policies and procedures. As well, lenders and investors need to be assured that the organization is transparent and accountable for all the transactions it undertakes.

Comprehensive AP automation software is engineered to provide an audit trail complete with all of the documents and messages involved in each and every transaction.

For more information about EchoVera AP Automation with Archive & Audit, visit our solution page here.

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Organizations looking for Microsoft Dynamics 365 automation solutions want technology that provides intelligent invoice scanning, 3-way invoice matching, and an AP workflow that integrates not only with Dynamics, but also with their specific invoice approval sequence/flow. In other words, a comprehensive suite of technologies that integrate well with both their AP processes and the Dynamics environment.

Let’s take a look at what each of these technologies does in detail:

1. Intelligent invoice scanning (also known as data capture)
   Data capture often consists of either manually keying in data from paper invoices, or using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to scan paper invoices. Intelligent OCR teaches itself to “read” your different supplier invoices based on their respective layouts, and then intuitively maps the data fields.

2. Electronic invoice capture
   Invoices sent by email are processed automatically by software that maps and stores the data. Virtually all billing applications generate data PDFs and the capture system uses the data layer found in PDF invoices to extract the required information.

3. 3-way matching of invoices, purchase orders and goods receipts
   Automating the 3-way matching process takes a lot of time and effort out of the manual accounts payable workflow. When an invoice matches a purchase order, it inherits the account postings and authorizations from that order, and can go directly to payment without any manual intervention. With simple rules, you control what happens to invoices that don’t match a purchase order, and which tolerances apply.
   ….
   All invoices can be automatically matched against the corresponding PO at the header or line level according to your predefined rules and tolerances. Invoices that are matched within your approved tolerances are sent directly to Dynamics 365 for recording. Invoices that have values outside of your tolerance values are automatically sent to the appropriate role for review.

4. Workflow
   The AP automation workflow starts with the data capture of either mailed or emailed invoices. Invoices are gathered into a central dashboard. From here they are automatically routed to the appropriate approvers for review and approval. Once approved, invoices are sent to Dynamics 365. Invoices are then archived in the cloud for searching, reporting, and audit trail.

Find our more about how a robust AP automation platform for Microsoft Dynamics 365 that has a 96% recommend rate here.

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As seen in MarketWatch, Morningstar and PRNewswire

EchoVera, an AP automation solutions provider in North America, surpassed the $3 Billion invoice processing mark for the organizations it serves in Europe, Australia, the US, and Canada. EchoVera’s customers use Palette AP Automation software to process, approve, and match supplier invoices.

EchoVera services and sells Palette Software solutions to customers in diverse industries such as biopharma, automotive, airlines and telecommunications.

Ralf Leitner, CEO of EchoVera said, “Palette AP Automation is extremely powerful. It can handle complex tasks such as PO matching with invoices and internal or external purchase orders that have multiple pages and hundreds of lines. Users find it intuitive to use as it easily adapts to different roles within any organization. Customers are always concerned about integration and Palette has a rapid deployment connector for popular ERPs such as NetSuite, SAP Business One, Sage 200, Sage Intacct, Microsoft Dynamics, and Oracle.”

Palette AP Automation gives employees visibility into supplier invoice status and lets them approve invoices through email and mobile devices. Palette also automates the matching of invoices, purchase orders and goods receipts. Exceptions are automatically put into an approval workflow, delivering all the information necessary for approvers to clear the exception.

Palette’s AP Automation and Purchase to Pay platform complies with rigorous standards and regulations demanded by financial institutions and healthcare organizations. Accreditations in the US include SOC1, SOC2, HIPPA, ISO 27001, GDPR, and PEPPOL.

Key to successfully automating the business processes in accounts payable are an efficient invoice data capture system, seamless integration to the ERP, and an approval workflow that is highly configurable. 

One of EchoVera’s service offerings that complements Palette is digital capture technology for collecting invoice data. Intelligent OCR takes paper or emailed invoices and intuitively captures field data. It handles electronic formats such as PDF, EDI, XML, TIFF, CSV, and HTML. The accuracy rate for paper is 95%, and for electronic formats is 100%.

Palette AP Automation and Intelligent OCR require minimal IT resources and are available on-premise or in the Cloud.

About EchoVera

EchoVera Inc. provides Intelligent OCR, AP Automation, Purchase Automation & Spend Management solutions to organizations looking to reduce costs and increase the efficiency of their financial operations. EchoVera brings over 30 years experience to clients worldwide. Clients include NCAA, Riovant, Mygrant Glass, Transtelco and ClubLink.

For more information about Echovera: https://echovera.ca

About Palette

Palette is a leading provider of accounts payable automation with 3,500 clients and 250,000 users worldwide. Palette is a global solution for companies with multiple ERPs, multiple countries, currencies and tax rules. Customers get unlimited users with no user license costs, bulletproof compliance control and minimal IT involvement.

In user surveys, 96% feel that Palette fulfills expectations and 95% consider Palette to be a worthwhile investment.

Palette provides the white label platform behind AP automation solutions offered by international banks, accounting firms, and ERP managed service providers worldwide.

To learn more about Palette Accounts Payable Automation: https://www.palettesoftware.com

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OCR invoice scanning software for NetSuite captures supplier invoices in both paper and email formats

There are key differences between OCR invoice scanning technologies. The difference can mean having a solution that handles all formats (with a substantial increase in productivity) where intelligent software intuitively maps out the fields to be scanned, and then inputs the data to Netsuite – or investing in OCR technology that is limited in the formats it handles, has NetSuite integration issues or is user-unfriendly.

The most cost-efficient platforms offer a subscription where pricing is based on the number of invoices processed (as opposed to the number of users).

Look for a solution that gives you the most flexibility no matter what the format, as well as the option to have an approval workflow, PO matching, and other functionality.

Legacy OCR

Historically invoice data capture is performed in two ways: manually keying in data from paper invoices; or the invoices are scanned with OCR software and then manually mapped in order to capture essential information from relevant fields in the document. Here are some of the issues with simple OCR:

• Time is spent on field-mapping: a staff member gives the OCR software instructions as to where data is located on an invoice
• Time is also spent on data collection: a staff member manually selects the data zones
• Integration and the lack of a workflow

Intelligent OCR

Intelligent OCR changes the playing field dramatically. It intuitively performs field mapping and data collection, freeing up time and making the entire process more efficient:

• Automatically learns supplier invoices based on their respective layouts, intuitively mapping field data.
• Allows the user to search typical values in any document, and tagging it using a built-in database.
• 95% accuracy rates for paper invoices
• 100% accuracy rates for electronic file formats that received in email, such as PDF, XML, CSV, HTML, Word, Excel and more.

Once the data is captured by Intelligent OCR the option is to have it sent directly to NetSuite or through an AP automation platform.

For more information on OCR invoice scanning visit Intelligent OCR, here.

With every capture solution you’ll need an automated approval workflow. Watch the video “How AP Automation for NetSuite Works”

“I just found a $56,000 invoice that wasn’t on the spreadsheet I sent you.”

It’s month end, and as a CFO, controller, plant manager, or accounting manager you need accurate, up-to-date data. Unfortunately you only have an estimate as to where your payables stand. Some important documents are missing for a large invoice that is overdue. And one of the large spreadsheets a manager sent you has some missing fields – making you wonder what else is out there you can’t see.

That could be the scenario for anyone who is working with business processes that are manual, lack a cohesive platform for digital workflows and invoice processing capabilities. Enter AP Automation technology – Stage Right!

There are many factors contributing to the proliferation of AP Automation solutions, some of them being:

Digital Transformation 

Companies the world over are transforming their operations to reflect a more digital approach, including SaaS software solutions and tools. The aim is to boost productivity, get more visibility, and reduce costs.

 AI and Automation  

Automation and AI technologies are used to help employees be more productive and do more high value work, rather than repetitive tasks that are prone to error.

Paper-based processes in the Finance Department

Finance may be one of the last places companies are looking to optimize, as organizations switch from legacy on-site ERPs to cloud-based solutions such as NetSuite,  SAP Business One, Dynamics, and more.

Here is the business case for AP automation for organizations interested in augmenting the investment they have made in their ERP. There is plenty of evidence for positive ROI and success in taming the paper-based processes in finance.

The Business Case for AP Automation PDF Download

Also, see the video: “How AP Automation Works”

OCR Invoice Scanning and Data Capture – Faster, Easier

AP departments are investing in OCR invoice scanning and data capture to input both paper and emailed invoices which, according to PayStream Advisors, the data entry of invoices into an organization’s ERP is a big pain point for many organizations.

That’s because manual data entry has its limitations, and legacy OCR (older OCR technology) has both integration and throughput issues.

Whether the company is experiencing growth, or paper processes are holding back the process of becoming more efficient, AP departments are loath to add to their headcount just to manually enter invoice data. As well, in spite of technologies such as EDI and network portals, the vast majority of supplier invoices are still sent in either email or paper formats.

An Intelligent Solution

Invoice data capture software that uses automation and some patented AI to capture either paper or emailed invoices delivers the optimum ROI.  The software identifies, categorizes, and extracts data from all the ways invoices are received, be it paper or electronic (i.e. PDF, XML, EDI, Word, Excel, TIFF, JPG).

The technology intuitively studies each invoice to know who it is from and which fields to gather data from, storing the information in a database. Invoices can have multiple pages: as an example, a 50 page invoice can be processed this way.

The accuracy rate for paper invoice scanning is 90%, and the accuracy rate for electronic invoice files is 100%.

Intelligent OCR & Intelligent Data Capture

The chart in the post below shows how different invoice data methods work, and the impact they have on both the organization and suppliers.

By using the best technology, invoices sent and processed in either electronic or paper format can be efficiently scanned and made ready for the ERP – without the supplier taking on extra costs for infrastructure or where the on-boarding rate is low.

EchoVera’s Intelligent OCR invoice capture solution solves many of the issues surrounding invoice capture and compatibility – it’s the optimal combination of both paper and electronic invoice scanning.

It’s available either on-premise or in the Cloud, and the I.T. involvement is minimal. There is no cost for suppliers, and it seamlessly integrates with popular ERPs. For more information about Intelligent OCR, click here.

PayStream Advisors did a survey of corporate back offices and found that many organizations are struggling with high volumes of both email and paper invoices – without an efficient way to capture the information into their ERP through technology such as invoice scanning, using OCR, or other means.

With the plethora of invoice scanning options around this important issue, it’s easy to get confused. Even the different file formats are treated differently, so it’s a good idea to understand which technologies do what, exactly. Let’s start with the bigger picture.

Inputting Invoices To Your ERP

Overall, here are the issues growing organizations with large invoice volumes are dealing with:

• Emailed invoices are received electronically, printed out and then keyed in manually (time consuming and resource intensive)
• Many companies have some OCR software, but often it is outdated or has integration issues. Older OCR software requires a lot of manual effort (such as manual field mapping)
• The PayStream report talks about efficient invoices, which are invoices that arrive for processing through EDI or a solution portal. The vast majority of invoices are not delivered this way, however, as most suppliers are sending emailed and/or paper format invoices to their customers

Five Ways To Process An Invoice in 2020

1. Digital PDF Suppliers output an invoice from their ERP as a digital PDF. The PDF is sent to a specific email address that uses automation and Artificial Intelligence to instantly recognize the vendor and read all of the field data.

The accuracy rate of 100% is achieved because it is a direct data transfer, since digital PDFs have a data layer that can be extracted by the software. Suppliers don’t need to change any of their technical structure or pay network fees, so on-boarding is rather painless.

2. Advanced OCR
For Paper Invoices – Paper invoices are scanned and advanced OCR recognizes the supplier and processes the invoice according to pre-set rules.

The software intuitively knows which fields to capture and stores the information in a database. Accuracy rates are high for this method as well: around 95%. Suppliers are already sending their invoices by post, so on-boarding is unnecessary.

For Invoices Sent In Email as Scanned Images – Sometimes suppliers will send a “picture” of the invoice (also known as a scanned image) by email. This type of file is processed by advanced OCR as well, with the same accuracy rate.

3. Invoice Portals
Suppliers enter invoice data into a supplier portal. Usually the data is manually keyed in, a time-consuming task. Low on-boarding rates (but usually good for smaller suppliers).

4. EDI or XML
The supplier sends an invoice in the XML or EDI format. Buyers who have an EDI system in place are happy, but suppliers have to justify the cost of installing and maintaining EDI. EDI and XML both have high accuracy rates, but the on-boarding rate is low, due to high cost.

5. Manual Data Entry
Keying in data from invoices manually, either from paper invoices or from emailed invoices that have been printed out to facilitate the process.

Things to Consider

For organizations looking to capture email, paper, and EDI or XML invoices digitally, it’s important to think about:

• the time involved in set up
• the I.T. resources needed
• infrastructure costs
• cost involved for the supplier
• on-boarding rates

Intelligent OCR & Intelligent Data Capture
EchoVera’s Intelligent OCR & Data Capture solution handles all the above file formats, from paper, to email, PDF, EDI, and XML very efficiently, for more information click here.

Intelligent OCR integrates with over 50 popular ERPs like NetSuite and SAP Business One, read more about integration here.