Nonprofit organizations can reduce their AP and payment processing costs, eliminating all of the manual tasks associated with paper invoices and checks in the process. By automating the accounts payable process, organizations can track invoices electronically, streamline workflows, and have a central repository for invoice data that can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
In today’s blog, we’ll take a look at an AP automation case study and how it saved Harpeth Hall – independent college preparatory school – time and money.
Harpeth Hall Case Study
Located in Nashville, TN, Harpeth Hall is a school for young women where each student realizes her highest intellectual ability in the sciences, the humanities, and the arts, and discovers her creative and athletic talents. Harpeth Hall develops responsible citizens who have global perspectives and make meaningful contributions to their communities and the world. With a tradition of excellence and a commitment to life-long learning, Harpeth Hall educates young women to think critically, to lead confidently, and to live honorably.
The Challenge
Harpeth Hall was scanning into a system that was mostly an electronic filing cabinet. Department chairs could approve invoices if they were on campus, however, they could not access the server when they were off campus. Janet, Associate Accounting Manager for Harpeth Hall, had to e-mail reminders to tell people they had something to approve and then more reminders if they did not do so in a timely fashion. She also had to key the information into the scanning system, and then again into their accounting system. This meant that she was double keying everything, which meant more room for data entry errors.
The Solution
The financial team at Harpeth Hall knew that there had to be a better way to do their invoice approvals. Harpeth Hall implemented AvidInvoice, so that they could mimic their current approval processes, but in an automated fashion and in a cloud-based solution that could be accessed 24/7 from anywhere. The solution was great for the finance team, because they could see where invoices were at all times and rely on the system to send reminders for pending invoices instead of having to personally reach out. The electronic audit trail available through AvidInvoice also made for much easier audit seasons.
The Results
“I now process invoices in about half the time it took prior to using AvidXchange™. There is more accuracy, more accountability, and a better audit trail for approvals. I am very satisfied with the impact that automating our payables with AvidXchange™ has had on my workday! I can now spend more time on other aspects of my job that previously fell to the bottom of the pile.” — Janet Baxter Associate Accounting Manager
