Most people are familiar with the online bill pay feature included with their bank, but did you know there are bill payment platforms specially designed for small businesses? These systems not only print and mail checks for you, but they can do direct electronic payments with your vendors as well. The banking profile of the vendor can be managed by the vendor without you ever being involved with it. Wires, domestic and international, can all be handled within this system. And perhaps the best feature is the interaction with the bill payment system and your accounting system. Bills automatically sync between both systems for a seamless experience. This drastically reduces the amount of time for data entry. In this article, we’re going to discuss why you should consider moving away from hand-written checks and move toward a bill payment platform.
The first question an owner should consider is just how much time they spend each week on their payables process…. reviewing bills, printing checks, or submitting payments electronically. The time savings we’ve typically seen by implementing the system above is about a 50% reduction in your time. While there is a cost to these programs, you must ask how much an hour of your time is worth. Time is one of the most valuable resources you have and there never seems to be enough. What if you got back several hours per week?
You may be thinking, how will I still maintain control in this system? That’s a very good question. The bill pay system includes a multi-level review. Bills can be entered by your accounting staff but not paid. As the owner, you can review and approve all bills before they are submitted for payment. People often find they have more control over their payables with the new system than they did with the old.
Before you consider making a move to the bill pay system (we frequently use bill.com), you’ll want to make sure it connects to your accounting system. It works with most of the major online accounting platforms. If your current accounting system does not sync, it may be time to consider a change. Cloud accounting is the future of accounting so why not consider making the moves now?