If critical services or products have delays, deliver partial supply or are unavailable, the business can quickly lose money and operations can slow or stop entirely. The Accounts Payable (AP) role in this is vital. If payment is late or incorrect, it can damage your supplier relationship. This could mean withheld deliveries and even the end of the relationship.
A strong supplier relationship cultivates trust and affects cost, efficiency and risk for the better. Suppliers are likely to keep you up to date if there are significant changes or problems with supply.
So how can you improve supplier relationships through Accounts Payable?
The answer is surprisingly simple: Through timely and accurate statement reconciliation.
How does statement reconciliation improve supplier relationships?
We know that manual statement reconciliation for every single supplier is a daunting task. Matching the top 5-10% of statements each month is sometimes the best you can do.
We recommend switching to automated statement reconciliation. You complete the manual process within seconds and the benefits are huge.
Time Savings
On average, one manual statement reconciliation takes 30 minutes. Automating them dramatically reduces this number. Our own statement reconciliation module matches your statement in just 7 seconds. This frees your time up to review any risks and take proactive action to rectify them. The more statements you get through, the more up to date your ledger, benefitting both you and your suppliers.
High Accuracy
Our statement reconciliation solution uses an AI model capable of accuracy beyond human capability. It highlights errors or issues to rectify, and your suppliers will appreciate you being on top of missing POs or erroneous values.
Streamlined Payment and Recovery
A faster statement reconciliation process enables you to review statements and rectify error before paying your vendor. You’ll be able to catch overpayments before they’re made and pay correctly within the payment terms. This has the bonus of fewer calls from your suppliers to ask where payments are. You’ll also be able to claim credits as soon as they appear.
Regular Communication
Completing your supplier statement reconciliation more often means more timely communication with suppliers and a proactive relationship. This builds a stronger rapport and your suppliers will be better informed.
Gain Supplier Trust
Facilitating consistent payments within terms, with steady communication, gains the supplier’s trust. You show you can be relied on, making you a stronger organisation to do business with. This increased trust can build commercial value, as the best supplier offers are generally reserved for those customers that pay accurately and on time.
How we help you improve supplier relationships with statement reconciliation.
Our software makes statement reconciliation manageable, matching statements fast and clearly identifying anomalies. Match supplier statements in real time, as they’re received, and match ALL the statements.
