Optimizing accounts payable to strengthen cash flow

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Your Huntington business banker will help guide you through optimizing accounts payable to strengthen cash flow. Learn more today.

For many small businesses, paying bills involves processing invoices manually and issuing checks. In fact, 82.9% of surveyed companies still manually process more than half their invoices that arrive as paper documents, fax documents, or email attachmentsi.

What many business owners may not realize is that streamlining payment processes can deliver benefits.

Here are some things to consider:

  • Processing payments by hand is time consuming, labor intensive, and expensive. The average cost of issuing a check can range from $2 to $10ii.
  • Manual processes are prone to human error and susceptible to payment fraud. Seventy-four percent of organizations surveyed reported check fraud in 2019, up from 70% in 2018iii.
  • Replacing your paper checks with electronic payments, such as ACH and credit card, can help reduce your cost per transaction and the potential for fraud.
  • Converting to an electronic payments system can help your business realize benefits, including a reduction in labor costs associated with paper handling and filing.
  • Shorter cycle times can reduce late payment penalties and help capture more available discounts for early payment.

Huntington has in-depth knowledge of the cash flow cycle and practices to help optimize cash on hand. In the face of an uncertain economic climate, now is the time to connect with us. We’ve helped many business owners improve their cash flow management with a thorough cash flow analysis and by offering customized solutions that helped them better manage both payables and receivables.

iAccounts Payable Optimization Study. Institute of Finance & Management

ii2015 Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) Payments Cost Benchmarking Survey. Association for Financial Professionals and Bottomline Technologies. October 2015. The High Cost of Issuing Business Checks in the US. Cape Payment Experts. February 17, 2018.

iii2020 Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) Payments Fraud and Control Survey Report. Association for Financial Professionals. April 2019.

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