{"id":2409,"date":"2015-11-20T17:44:23","date_gmt":"2015-11-20T17:44:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peeriosity.com\/shared-services\/articles\/?p=2409"},"modified":"2022-08-04T11:13:56","modified_gmt":"2022-08-04T11:13:56","slug":"company-practices-in-handling-problem-invoices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peeriosity.com\/shared-services\/articles\/2015\/11\/company-practices-in-handling-problem-invoices\/","title":{"rendered":"Company Practices in Handling Problem Invoices"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continuous process improvement, reengineering, challenging the status quo, and delighting the customer are concepts that the world\u2019s best companies both embrace and pursue vigorously.\u00a0 For the Purchase-to-Pay process<\/a>, and specifically for Accounts Payable, navigating the achievement of these objectives is complicated when it comes to the right approach for resolving invoices with obvious errors, including missing purchase order numbers, incorrect bill-to name or supplier name, or incorrect currency.\u00a0 Returning the problem invoice<\/a> to the supplier for resolution is appealing (since they want to get paid action is almost guaranteed); however, the root cause might not be with the supplier, and regardless, depending on what is being purchased the consequences to the business can be severe.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like most problems, determining the best approach is much easier when you have deep insight into the experiences of others.\u00a0 Recently, using Peeriosity\u2019s iPollingTM \u00a0<\/sup>capabilities, we were able to quickly and easily research this issue. Within a few hours of releasing two simple polling questions, all member companies had direct insight into the actual experiences of peers, with the ability to see who responded and what company and region they represented, along with the option to contact peers directly using Peeriosity\u2019s built-in communication tool, Peer MailTM<\/sup>.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The first polling question asked whether or not problem invoices are returned to the supplier.\u00a0 Almost every option was equally represented, with 40% of Accounts Payable organizations reworking invoices, 30% that return the invoices without further rework, and 30% where depending on the specific circumstances, it varies between returning and reworking problem invoices<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"ipolling<\/p>\n

In instances where invoices are returned, only 14% of member companies report that they typically return the invoices in hard copy via the postal service.\u00a0 For 72% of member companies, the most common approach is to return problem invoices using email- with 58% reporting that this return email process is manual and 14% indicating that the email is created automatically. \u00a0Here are the details:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"if<\/p>\n

The poll generated a healthy discussion among participants.\u00a0 Here are some of the many comments added by iPollingTM<\/sup> participants:
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