Acumatica makes managing vendor bills easier by automating the bill entry process, a crucial part of accounts payable (AP) automation. Whether your vendors send invoices via email, paper copies, or electronically, Acumatica Cloud ERP provides an easy-to-understand workflow that simplifies the way your business processes and manages your AP bills.
With the ever-increasing volume of transactions and the need for real-time accuracy, businesses today can no longer afford to spend valuable time and resources on manual data entry. By leveraging Acumatica’s AI-driven automation, organizations can streamline vendor bill recognition, enhance operational efficiency, and reduce the risk of human error, all while gaining better visibility into their financial processes.
In essence, Acumatica’s accounts payable recognition and automation feature is transforming how businesses handle vendor bills. This tool not only minimizes manual tasks but also empowers businesses to refocus their teams on more strategic, high-value activities. Fortunately, SWK has created a demo to help you understand this new feature in action.
You can watch the video version here or keep reading for a detailed description of the entire process.
How Acumatica Accounts Payable Automation Works
Acumatica’s AP automation handles vendor bills from various sources, making it adaptable to different business needs. Here is what you need to know about its capabilities:
- Paper bills can be scanned into PDF files and processed by dragging them into the Acumatica UI
- Email attachments can be directly submitted for recognition via the Acumatica Outlook add-in
The 2020 R2 (We are now on Acumatica 2024 R1) release added an AI and machine learning engine that can read and input data from PDF bills. This means both digital bills and scanned paper bills can be processed quickly and accurately.
Handling Email Attachments
Many vendor bills arrive via email. Here is how Acumatica makes dealing with these attachments quick and easy.
When a vendor bill comes in an email:
- Select the email in your inbox
- Open the Acumatica Outlook add-in
- Click “Submit to Recognition” for eligible files
- Pick the document to process
The more bills you process, the smarter the system gets, leading to faster and more accurate recognition over time.
AI/ML-Powered Bill Recognition
Once a document is selected, the system automatically contacts the AI/ML service. As you process more bills, the system learns and adapts to improve future recognition, making the process smoother over time. After recognition is complete:
- Refresh your screen
- View the created document
- Acumatica will identify vendors and line-item details automatically
If needed, you can view the source of any recognized values and adjust unrecognized fields by clicking on them and linking them to the correct field in the document. You can also hold down the control button to add multiple fields at once. Once everything is verified, the AP bill is created in draft status for appropriate approvals before payments are made.
Processing Scanned Paper Bills
In cases where a paper bill is scanned into a PDF file, the process remains just as simple:
- Open Acumatica and navigate to the Incoming Documents screen.
- Drag the bill onto the screen and start the recognition process.
If the vendor is not already created in Acumatica, you can quickly add it by selecting the pencil button next to the vendor line. After entering the required vendor information, save the vendor and continue the recognition process. For example, you may delete a tax line if your system is set to automatically recalculate tax.
Once a vendor has been entered into the system, future bills from that vendor will be processed even faster.
Setting Up AP Automation
Getting started with Acumatica’s AP automation is straightforward. Here is what you need to do:
- Install and enable the document recognition service feature.
- Install the Outlook add-in if you wish to submit email attachments directly to the recognition process.
Installation for M365 users:
- Open User Settings and navigate to the Email Settings tab
- Open Outlook on your desktop
- Go to “File” > “Manage Add-ins”
- Select “My Add-ins”
- Choose “Add a Custom Add-in from a File”
What You Gain from Acumatica’s AP Automation
Implementing Acumatica’s AP automation brings several significant benefits to your accounting processes.
Key advantages include:
- Less time spent on data entry
- More time for strategic financial planning
- Fewer errors in bill processing
- Faster approval processes
- Better tracking of vendor information and spending
By using Acumatica’s automated Accounts Payable features to handle routine tasks, you will be able to free up your team to focus on more important work, especially if you process a high volume of bills.
Learn More About Acumatica AP with SWK Technologies
Acumatica’s advanced AP automation is designed to simplify your financial workflows, ensuring faster, more accurate bill processing while minimizing manual intervention. By harnessing the power of AI and machine learning, businesses can improve efficiency, lower costs, and enhance overall productivity.
This eliminates tedious data entry and enhances accuracy by learning from past entries, allowing for smarter processing over time. As your company grows, Acumatica’s scalable solution ensures your financial operations keep pace with increasing demands.
If you are ready to optimize your accounting processes, contact SWK today and let our team with decades of combined experience show you how Acumatica can revolutionize your operations.