eKourier April 2015

FEATURES

Process Improvements – Accounts Payable Automation At Kennards we are identify any missing invoices.

cally so no storage of invoices, they will be held in the system for as long as we require allowing easy search access to check on any old invoices. 4. All invoices will be in the system and it will be easy to identify the status of the invoice and where in the approval process it is. With all invoices in the system, the approval process will become far more transparent. 5. Centres will no longer need to retain hard copies of invoices. 6. Invoices will no longer go missing between centres, the approval process and final processing and payment. 7. Approvals of invoices can be done remotely and Ops Managers will no longer be required to come to THQ to approve invoices. 8. For interstate Managers there will no longer be a need to mail or scan invoices. 10. Easier processing for Finance with more accurate recording and automated updating. Training on automated AP process started in Skillbuilder training on the 24th March. The ‘go live’ date is Monday 1st June. There will be extensive training and ongoing communication to centres to prepare for the new software. There will also be communication to our suppliers that currently do not email invoices or use hand written invoices (the system will not recognise these). The Finance Team look forward to working with the business and our suppliers to deliver this automated process. AP automation will take our business forward and allow us to integrate many more centres with minimal effort from an AP point of view. Anthony Rous Chief Financial Officer 9. Minimal mail opening at THQ.

always looking for better ways to do things. This is to meet the needs of our Customers, Suppliers and Team Members, to always deliver a delightful and memorable experience. You would more than likely have come across the impact of inefficient processes. These often result in unhappy customers or suppliers, stressed colleagues, missed deadlines and increased costs due to duplicated effort or bottlenecks in the process. As a business changes and grows, processes that have worked in the past may not meet the needs of the business or may need to be adjusted to meet the changing business needs. We have seen the impact on the Accounts Payable (AP) process as Kennards has grown from 30 centres in 2003 to over 80 centres in 2015. During this period we have seen little change to our AP processes. This led us to conduct a review of the process, review what better systems/processes were out in the market and also what automation we could look at to achieve across all areas of the business. The goal was to improve efficiencies and automation across all touch points of the AP process which included: • Suppliers – prompt and accurate payments within credit terms or to achieve discounts for early payment. • Team Members – simplification and ease of processing. • Operations Managers – simplification and ease of approving and reviewing as well as easy access to view invoices. • THQ – ease of approval and transfer and capture of invoices. • Finance – automatically process 30,000 invoices without any document storage. • Reporting and access to invoices – all online and easy to sort, review and

After an extensive review of available software’s we have settled on a Swedish Company called Medius. Their software is aimed specifically at AP processing and automation. How will it operate: • Invoices will be sent to a dedicated email address for Australia and NZ (they will need to be in PDF format, or else they will be redirected to AP to resolve). • The software will be configured to read the invoice and then allocate it (based on the address) to the correct centre for online approval. • The Centre Team Member will just need to tick the invoice to approve and enter a brief Description. The approver will be able to view the invoice within the email link and will not be required to upload any invoices. • All coding of the invoice to the correct account will be done automatically, based on the supplier. • The invoice will then go to their Ops Manager for approval. From there it will go to Finance for upload into the General Ledge Accounting Software. • The invoice will then be ready for payment. The Finance Team look forward to working with the business and our suppliers to deliver this automated process. What improvements will this process deliver: 1. No mailing of invoices, everything will be on line. 2. No time delay to approve or review an invoice as once the supplier emails it to the email address, it will be in the work flow process and will easily be identifiable as to whether it has been approved or not. ‘

‘

3. All invoices will be saved electroni-

7 Kennards Kourier April 2015