- Slow manual processes often cause corporate accountants to feel overworked.
- Automation technology helps retain staff and increase productivity.
- SmartCapture tools reduce errors while still giving AP teams complete control over the process.
Harold Crick maintains a regimented but monotonous existence as an IRS agent — until the day he hears a disembodied voice narrating his every move.
While most fans love the 2006 comedy “Stranger than Fiction” for its whimsical, contemplative storyline, the film’s portrayal of life as an overworked office drone hits many accountants too close to home.
So many real-life corporate number crunchers are on the fast track to burnout, but the overload is often unnecessary. Companies can increase productivity while reducing employee hours by automating a few key workflows.
The Problem: Overworked Staff
Central to the drama in “Stranger than Fiction” is Harold’s predetermined death. When he finally meets Karen — the author dictating his life — he concedes that the tragic ending she’s written for his story is inevitable yet beautiful, and he agrees to let it play out.
Spoiler alert: Karen proves that not all novelists are cold-blooded killers, but Harold’s willing acceptance of his fate is a posture all too familiar in many American workplaces. This is the story, this is how things are done, and nothing will ever change.
This seemingly inevitable staff burnout is a key talking point in Quadient Accounts Payable Automation by Beanworks' webinar, “Accounting Life: Movies and Shows.” So many accountants accept the soul-crushing monotony and furious pace of work without bothering to sound the alarm. Quadient AP's account executive Nico McEown explains that, in many workplaces, long hours are ingrained into the company culture.
“I’ve spoken to a lot of accounting teams that are working overtime,” Nico says. “Sometimes their management and directors aren’t even aware of it.”
These are the accountants who finish work on their lunch hours and cut short their coffee breaks just like Harold Crick. But with automation solutions more accessible than ever, the manual data entry that makes up so much accounting overtime is simply unnecessary.
Nico explains, “Having to type in every single piece of info that already lives on the invoice into our ERP — it just doesn’t really make sense anymore, and it’s not needed.”
Better Technology, More Productivity
Accountants have caught on, even if company leaders are sometimes slow to make changes.
More than a third of American workers say they would decline a job offer if the company culture wasn’t a good fit, and many companies are struggling to hire enough CPAs to meet demand. In a job seeker’s market, qualified candidates are increasingly less likely to stay with companies bogged down by legacy systems and frustrating processes.
But when accounting automation technology increases productivity, it’s a night-and-day change for employees. More than 60% of large accounting firms say that technology boosts staff retention by increasing staff engagement and raising morale.
“We want to be able to plan budget forecasts, move things around, [and] make the company we work for as profitable as possible,” Nico explains. “That’s the fun part of accounting.”
When automation accelerates and validates time-consuming manual data entry processes, accounts payable (AP) teams have more time for high-level strategy and innovation. In other words, work becomes more enjoyable, and people want to stay.
The Hidden Costs of Manual Processes
Nearly nine out of ten senior corporate leaders say business process automation is a priority. But many organizations are slow to adapt, or they invest in new programs only to see low adoption rates throughout the company.
Even if company leaders don’t say it out loud, slow technology rollouts are usually due to at least one of two reasons:
- Businesses find updating legacy systems cost prohibitive.
- Change is scary — it seems too hard. This is the more insidious reason of the two.
Harold Crick does his job the same way he always has. He’s trapped in the repetition and familiarity of his day-to-day life. Yet by the end of the film, he realizes that change is good for him, even if it’s frightening at first.
Companies relying on manual processes will continue to see lower morale, lower retention and more mistakes. Inefficiency spills over into the customer experience with long waits and extended processing times. But by consolidating platforms and automating invoices, leaders can create more agile and effective accounting teams who are happier at work and more likely to stay.
Quadient AP’s AP solutions integrate with existing accounting software for faster adoption and lower startup costs, and our experts can help calculate the ROI of automation based on current team size and workflows. The results speak for themselves.
The Solution to Burnout
When Elemental Energy first partnered with Quadient AP, the renewable energy company had a bloated two-day process to obtain invoice approval. It was a tangle of informal channels, paper-based approvals and long email threads to follow up or request more information.
By taking invoice processing into the cloud and using automatic routing with a customizable approval matrix, Elemental Energy cut that two-day timeframe down to a couple of hours.
How does it work? Auto capture uses optical character recognition to read and enter invoice information with a 99% success rate, and SmartCode automatically codes and fills out line items to reduce manual entry errors. Auto-direct approval structures create a streamlined, organized process for approvers to quickly see all records and sign off on the go.
The team is happier, the CEO can approve payments from Quadient AP’s free mobile app and the paperless process frees up everyone to focus on more meaningful, big-picture tasks.
For Nico, the solution to burned-out, overworked accountants drowning in manual tasks starts by realizing the possibility of a better work environment.
“I'm happy to say you can just not do data entry. It really is that simple.”
Too many accountants relate to Harold Crick, but — unlike Harold — AP teams can write their own stories. Outdated processes don’t have to stay.
See How It Works
Paying a salaried employee to spend hours on a task that a machine can do in seconds wastes money and talent. Quadient AP transfers manual processes into automated workflows while still giving AP teams complete control over the data review.
From utilities to healthcare, Quadient AP partners with organizations in all industries to drive efficient, transparent approval processes. Remove the monotony and mind-numbing data entry to create a workplace where highly skilled accounting professionals want to be.
