Finance Shared Services? Starts with AP, always.

I first gained exposure to Finance Shared Services back in 1995 in Galway at the American Power Conversion company. It is where I first learned that Rechnung is the German for Invoice. Every Finance Shared Services Project since then has led off with Accounts Payable and every major piece of Research on Shared Services has confirmed that AP always goes first, but do you know the history of the Invoice?

According to my research the first use of an 'accounting document' to record a transaction between a buyer and seller originated in Mesopotamia over 7,000 years ago. It then acquired its English name "Invoice", which we are familiar with today, from the French word 'envoi' during the Middle Ages.

From these ancient beginnings at the very heart of civilisation sprang an Industry which today provides employment to hundreds of thousands of people across the World processing millions, or dare I say Billions, of Invoices everyday.

It is at the very heart of every Business on Earth. All Businesses will perform 3 primary actions in which they will buy, create a product or service and sell. Two of these actions lead to the creation of either a Supplier or Customer Invoice, driving the Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable process respectively in every Business across the Globe.

This basic record of buying and selling are the primary drivers of all Financial and Management Accounts in every Business. The humble Invoice, 7,000 years old in origin, driver of employment to potentially millions is actually a multi-billion-pound industry which is always the primary focus of Finance Transformation programs.

How we go from Mesopotamia 7,000 years ago to driving a multi-billion-pound industry today consuming the attention of Finance Teams, Management Consultants and Finance Automation providers the World over, is because the Invoice has remained largely static for 6,980 of those 7,000 years.

Its evolution in 7,000 years has been at a snail's pace and the bulk of Invoices produced in the World today are still on paper. Within the EU alone that is 80% of all Invoices.

It is this paper Document, the humble Invoice, whether it be an Accounts Payable or Accounts Receivable Invoice that consumes the creative intellect of Finance Technology companies the World over. From the day an Invoice could be printed and faxed, Global Corporations have endeavoured to find the most technologically advanced and cost-efficient means to process that Invoice.

Every experienced Accounts Payable Manager will have seen Fax, Scanning, Optical Character Recognition (OCR), Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Self-Billing and many more solutions. They will have experienced Finance Shared Services, Global Business Services (GBS) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) all attempt to manage that Invoice better, faster, and cheaper than ever before. Now we wait to see what AI will do to the humble Invoice and we probably won't have to wait long.

In 25 years of managing Finance Transformation and Shared Services Projects every single one of them involved Transforming the Processing of an Invoice. The number one Finance Process to kick off a Finance Transformation Program is always Accounts Payable. The number one Finance Process to be transitioned to Finance Shared Services or GBS is always Accounts Payable.

Amazing to think that one simple Document has consumed the time and the attention of so many people the World over and few will agree on how to Process it best.

All I can do is offer you, the Finance Director and Financial Controller, the benefit of my experience distilled into my Training Course AP∞One to show you how I have Transformed Accounts Payable time and again for multiple Clients. Follow the Steps within and you and your Team can Transform Accounts Payable yourself.

I want to show you how a Transformation Professional approaches this challenge so that you can adopt my approach and address concerns over efficiency, effectiveness and compliance within a timeframe that suits you and your priorities.

Here is a 90 second Video highlight clip from the Course to spark your AP Transformation just click on the Image:

If you feel this could help you achieve best in class performance across your Team and Process then feel free to explore it further on my Website dedicated to Finance Training based on my personal experience at Finance Transformation Training

Best Regards,

Michael Ryan