Blog Post
How Automation Speeds Up Vendor Statement Verification
In a high-volume Accounts Payable (AP) environment, speed is currency. The faster you verify vendor statements, the faster you can close the books, capture discounts, and resolve disputes. Yet, many teams are bogged down by manual matching that takes days. Here is how automation slashes verification time from days to minutes.
The "Tick and Tie" Bottleneck
The traditional "tick and tie" method involves an AP clerk holding a physical (or PDF) statement in one hand and scrolling through an Excel ledger with the other. For a statement with 500 lines, this process can take 2-3 hours per vendor.
Multiplied by 50 key vendors, that is 150 hours of work—essentially one full-time employee doing nothing but checking boxes.
The Impact of Automation
Automated reconciliation software changes the game by digitizing the comparison process. Here is where the speed comes from:
1. Instant Data Ingestion
Instead of manual data entry, the software ingests statements instantly via email, portal upload, or API. It doesn't matter if the vendor sends a PDF or an Excel file; the system standardizes the data in seconds.
2. The "90/10" Rule
Automation typically matches 90% of transactions immediately (perfect matches on Invoice # and Amount). This means your team only spends time on the 10% of discrepancies.
Result: A process that took 3 hours now takes 15 minutes of review.
3. Automated Communication
When a discrepancy is found (e.g., "Invoice Missing"), legacy processes require the clerk to draft an email to the vendor. Modern tools automate this. With one click, the system can email the vendor requesting a copy of the missing invoice, tracking the request until it's resolved.
Real-World ROI
Companies that switch to automated vendor statement verification often see a 70% reduction in processing costs and a significant drop in late payment fees.
Reconwizz is designed to deliver these results. Our engine processes thousands of statement lines in the time it takes to brew a coffee. (See how it fits into the broader AP Automation Strategy).