Definitions for Accounting Automation

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This won’t be the greatest article I have ever written. As a matter of fact it may have the least immediate benefit of any article I have written. On Monday (9/30/2013) I am starting a new series on Accounting Automation and what people, companies, accounting systems and situations are the best fit.

In preparation of the series I decided I needed to do a quick post on certain terms that I will be using to make my point. Instead of writing a definition each time for each term I thought it would be a more effective use of space to write an article on those terms and link back to them when I refer to them. That is what this article is about. Here are the terms:

  • Accounting Automation
  • No Paper Invoices
  • No Paper Checks
  • Cost Per Invoice (CPI)
  • Cost Per Process (CPP)
  • Accounting System
  • Service Provider
  • Vendor
  • SaaS
  • On Premise Software

Accounting Automation = No paper invoices, an accounting system, and no paper checks.

No Paper Invoices = all invoices are either scanned (by a third-party) or electronic, which is email, vendor (see below) portal, EDI, CSV, XML, TXT… to name a few.

No Paper Checks = all checks printing or process is outsourced (by a third-party) or are ACH, Wire, Draft or Paid by a Credit Card.

Cost Per Invoice (CPI) = The total cost of when an invoice is received and processed into the accounting system.

Cost Per Process (CPP) = The total cost of all processes associated to accounting, which include but are not limited to, invoices, 1099, reconciliation, payments and filing.

Accounting System = A system of record where all financial transactions are recorded and reported along with managing the vendor records, the companies bank accounts, chart of accounts and money.

Service Provider = A company that provides automation software and services.

Vendor = A company that provides goods and or services to your company that will ultimately invoices or be paid by your company.

SaaS = Better know as Software as a Service or in the cloud, web-based or net based. This is a company where there is no need to buy or maintain hardware and software to run their systems. All is needed is a connection to the internet.

On Premise Software = This is software that you buy and install on your computer or in your company’s own data center.

Buy the book – The Argument to Automate – How Innovation Can INSPIRE Not Fire – click here to buy

(Also) To get your copy of The 8 Pitfalls of Accounts Payable Automation – click here to buy

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19 responses to “Definitions for Accounting Automation”

  1. […] are still struggling with justifying accounting automation (the definition of accounting automation is no paper invoices, an accounting system and no paper […]

  2. […] first glance this may seem like a silly statement “People who benefit from accounting automation“. There is a couple of ways of looking at that statement. One is to ask the obvious question […]

  3. […] week’s series is focusing on the people who can best benefit from accounting automation. I am starting with the accounting department and the different roles within the department. […]

  4. […] the Controller and/or Director of Accounts Payable has particular needs that can be satisfied by accounting automation.   There are so many areas to talk about as it pertains to the middle managers of an accounting […]

  5. […] be that automation started with the information technology (IT) department, however with advent of SaaS, or software as a service, in some cases the technical departments have been left out of the loop. Even though this series is […]

  6. […] is the last installment of writing about the types of people who can benefit from accounting automation. I have written about the benefits for the CFO the Controller and Technical Staff. The last group […]

  7. […] hope you have enjoyed this part of the series about people and the benefits accounting automation can have on them. If I get my wish I will, in the near future, complete a book about technology and […]

  8. […] perspective. Shifting gears a little bit but continuing with hoping to open your eyes to how accounting automation is helpful, this week I am going to write about different types of companies that can benefit from […]

  9. […] This series is dedicated to helping answer the question… Why automate accounting? I have already written about the people . This week I am going to write about the corporate structures and situations that can benefit from accounting automation. […]

  10. […] is the best example of a project based and a type of company that really can benefit from accounting automation. What makes automation so helpful to project based accounting revolves around all of the steps that […]

  11. […] am in the second of a three-part series on the people, companies and situations that accounting automation is best for. As I have written many times, automation is good for a lot of things, but in my […]

  12. […] is my final stop on writing about companies that can benefit from accounting automation. I wanted to write a “catch-all” article because I didn’t want to leave any out. […]

  13. […] per month nursing home that was tired of filing cabinets. As I wrote yesterday, when it comes to accounting automation there are only good – better – best and we should have done this years ago. I believe […]

  14. […] I started this series I really (really) wanted to write about the situations where accounting automation is best used. I know that makes all of the other article seem like I wasn’t that […]

  15. […] yesterday that I was really (really) looking forward to writing about business situations where accounting automation can help. Now my “looking forward” has turned to pure excitement, like a 11-year-old […]

  16. […] have written a lot about the definition of automation… or why people automate, but to seize the attention of you come your first move […]

  17. […] have become very serious about Account Payable Automation in the new year, I want to give you a definition of automation that not only will tell you what AP Automation  is but it tells you what AP Automation does, which […]

  18. […] about return on investment and cost per invoice. They both go together because you need to know you cost per invoice (CPI) before you can ever calculate your return on invoices (ROI)… CPI – ROI., I feel like I […]

  19. […] about return on investment and cost per invoice. They both go together because you need to know you cost per invoice (CPI) before you can ever calculate your return on invoices (ROI)… CPI – ROI., I feel like I […]

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