Report: SMEs Can Save $12 and 40 Days Processing Time On Each Invoice By Automating Their Accounts Payable

Beanworks AP and Levvel Research today announced the release of their collaborative report entitled, “Mature Accounts Payable for the Small and Mid-Size Enterprise.” The report looked at trends in automation processes amongst SMEs, finding that through automation, SMEs can save time and money in the AP processes.

The report titled “Mature Accounts Payable for the Small and Mid-Size Enterprise” examines SMEs using three “maturity” benchmarks: novice, mainstream, and innovators. One significant data point demonstrates that SMEs are still entering 86 percent of their data manually, compared to 22 percent of Enterprise companies. While SMEs have yet to fully adapt to automated AP processes, this report shows that it is just as valuable for these smaller companies to convert to automation as it is for enterprise companies. 

This is evident from the findings from the report showing that the hard costs of SME AP processes – both average cost per invoice and percentage of discounts uncaptured – drastically decrease as automation maturity increases. In total, 45 percent of SMEs fell into the novice category, while less than 10 percent were labelled innovators. By improving AP automation from novice to innovator level, SMEs can save 40 days on their average AP invoice processing time, while full automation of the workflow can save roughly $12 per invoice. 

“The report reveals that big businesses are not the only ones that need to automate workflows, said Catherine Dahl, CEO of Beanworks, “With more software geared toward SME needs and a more concerted effort from SMEs to implement automation in their AP solutions, we can see a massive increase in efficiency from all companies.”

Beanworks automates accounting workflow to empower teams to succeed. From purchase to payment, Beanworks integrates with your software to make accounts payable (AP) simple and delightful. Thousands of users manage AP at a fraction of traditional processing costs while remaining focused on financial management and reporting.

About the Methodology: The findings presented in this report are based on an online survey conducted by Levvel Research in February 2019 among more than 250 finance and accounting decision makers and influencers in organizations with at least $1M in total revenue across all industries. Respondents were screened for their familiarity with their organization’s accounts payable, invoice receipt, and invoice routing processes. The data was weighted to represent the proportions of SME, mid-market, and enterprise organizations in Levvel Research’s database.

Disclosure: This article includes a client of an Espacio portfolio company