Many companies in the UK and US today are outsourcing their accounts payable jobs to offshore destinations. This trend of accounts payable outsourcing has several advantages for the company in terms of cheaper labor and quicker work. Studies show that accounts payable is the most widely outsourced finance and accounting function. It is stated that the finance and accounting BPO opportunity is one of the largest and fastest growing BPO segments.
It is estimated that Europe, the Middle East and Africa will the fastest growing areas in the account payables outsourcing market, although the US is predicted to remain the largest player finance and accounting BPO market. As with almost all outsourcing cutting costs is one of the biggest reasons for companies to outsource their accounts payable processes, although strategic business decisions play an important role nowadays.
A company can outsource all or a part of its account payables business functions. The functions may include any of the following:
- Accounts Payable Invoice Scan
- Accounts Payable Workflow
- Accounts Payable Invoice Entry
- Accounts Payable Payment Disbursement
- Accounts Payable Invoice Online Repository
- Travel and Expenses
- Up to 25% to 50% annual A/P processing cost savings without capital investment
- Greater, centralized control over payables across the enterprise, despite of the actual physical location
- World-class quality and accuracy ensuring accurate matching and elimination of duplicate and payments with errors
- Real-time tracking and reporting of all payables from the time they are received from the vendor
- Automated routing of payables for approval irrespective of location, enhancing control and manager productivity
- Elimination of the headache of recruiting, hiring and managing clerical staff
- The ability to focus on strategic, core business operations
