Streamline Invoice Handling for Engineering Teams

Invoice handling for Engineering

What is invoice processing? Invoice processing is the series of steps involved in receiving a supplier invoice, approving it, establishing a remittance date, paying the invoice, and then recording it in the general ledger. To show you how this works, let’s go on a little trip, which involves these five critical stops along the way -- skip one and you could lose out on early-payment discounts or even get hit with late fees. First stop: Accounts payable. Upon receipt, the invoice taxis into your accounting system, where it’s recorded on the balance sheet as a liability. Your AP crew must make sure everything checks out.If you use 3-way matching, you’ll answer questions like: did we get what we ordered? Are we being charged properly for what we got? Does this all match the invoice we’ve received? If there’s a discrepancy in the amounts charged versus the purchase order, the issue must be resolved before the invoice journey can continue. Once cleared for takeoff, the invoice is then routed for approval in ance with company policy. Now, all systems are go to pay that bill! You’ll want to set the invoice for payment based on the agreed-upon terms with the vendor. You may choose to pay an invoice early in order to take advantage of a discount. Or, if cash flow’s an issue, you can time your payment to keep the money as long as possible -- without risking late fees. Your last stop? The ledger. Once processed, the invoice amount is removed from accounts payable with a debit and an offsetting credit to cash. First-class invoice processing can improve your supplier relationships, save time and money, and optimize your cash flow. Bon voyage!