A Guide to Financial Workflow Optimization

More and more businesses are understanding the importance of replacing time-consuming, manual processes with automated financial workflows.

According to one report, 51% of survey participants said that legacy workflows decrease productivity in their business. And 63% said that their customers’ tendency towards digitalization requires increased digitalization of workflows.

But while many businesses may understand the advantages of workflow optimization, successful optimization requires the right tools, methods, and knowledge.

In this guide, we’ll explore financial workflow optimization in more depth. We’ll look at the advantages of optimization, which workflows can be optimized, and the benefits of Finbite’s workflow optimization services.

What is financial workflow optimization?

Financial workflow optimization is the use of digital tools and methods to improve the efficiency of financial processes. This can include the optimization of invoicing, expense management, payroll, or any other process essential to a company’s financial operations. 

Examples of optimization include automating repetitive tasks, digitizing paper-based processes, and integrating various financial systems into one cohesive ecosystem. 

The overall goal of financial workflow optimization is to reduce manual work, minimize errors, save time, and improve financial management.

What are the benefits of workflow optimization?

Improved Efficiency

Automating tasks and digitizing paper-based processes can save significant amounts of time, money, and labor. According to research, 74% of employees said that automation tools help them finish their work faster. 

By automating repetitive tasks and streamlining business processes, businesses can focus more on strategic decision-making and growth, rather than getting bogged down in day-to-day financial operations.

Reduced Errors and Accurate Reporting

Businesses can use financial workflow optimization methods and tools to automate workflows, eliminating errors that often occur with manual data entry.

For example, Finbite’s invoicing software automatically digitizes PDF or paper invoices, eliminating the need to manually enter invoice data. Invoices are also verified by Finbite’s team, guaranteeing 99% data accuracy. 

With enhanced accuracy of financial data, businesses can improve their accounting processes and ensure tax compliance. Accurate financial data is also essential for effective data analysis and forecasting.

Cash Flow Management

Optimizing financial workflows can also help businesses improve cash flow management. 

For example, invoicing solutions can speed up invoicing and payment processes. With more timely invoice payments, businesses can ensure they have enough cash on hand to sustain operations and invest in growth.

Digital solutions can also give businesses improved visibility of their incoming and outgoing payments, making it easy to track and analyze cash flow data. This improved insight can help businesses make informed strategic decisions and better allocate their financial resources.

Improved relationships

Workflow process optimization also benefits a business’s suppliers and customers. By optimizing financial workflows like invoicing, businesses can ensure more timely and accurate payments, strengthening their relationships with suppliers. 

For example, by optimizing sales invoicing, businesses can send out sales invoices in any format to customers, immediately following a purchase, making payment easier.

Which financial workflows can be optimized?

Accounts Payable and Receivable

Optimization of accounts payable and receivable processes is crucial for ensuring healthy cash flow and maintaining vendor relationships. Businesses can use digital tools to streamline processes like invoicing, payment approvals, and fund transfers. Optimization of accounts payable and receivable may include:

• Implementing confirmation workflows to reduce the amount of time accountants spend on manual tasks and recurring processes. 
• Automating the expense reporting process (from receipt collection to confirmation)
• Automating data entry for purchase invoices with OCR technology. With Finbite, you can choose whether to automatically record all invoice information or just the essential information with invoice amounts. 
• Using automatic accounting templates to assign predefined accounts and dimensions to invoice rows, significantly reducing work associated with recurring invoices.

Accounting workflow automation can reduce accounts payable and receivable processing time, minimize errors, and improve financial visibility.

Expense Management

Expense management optimization also allows businesses to track their expenses with more accuracy, leading to improvements in budgeting and cash flow management. Optimizing expense management processes can include:

• Implementing digital expense reporting systems
• Automating expense approvals
• Integrating accounting and payroll systems
• Allowing employees to submit expense receipts through mobile apps

Digital tools also eliminate manual data entry and its associated errors, allowing for more accurate expense reporting and compliance with tax regulations. The most significant benefit of expense reporting automation is the time it saves. Digital tools like Finbite allow employees to take a picture of a receipt immediately after purchase and submit it as an expense report.

With Finbite’s mobile app, employees don’t need to collect paper receipts and deliver them to accounting, and accountants don’t need to spend time organizing them. As a result of this digitalized system, employees are reimbursed 6 times faster compared to a paper-based system.

Invoicing

With invoicing solutions like Finbite, businesses in the Baltics can significantly improve their invoicing processes. Invoice workflow and process optimization with Finbite can include:

• Automated entry of purchase invoices into accounting software 
• Digitization of PDF and paper sales invoices into e-invoices (incl PEPPOL)
• Setting up automatic accounting templates and rules
• Automating recurring invoicing tasks
• Streamlining invoice approval through a digital confirmation circle
• Providing easy access to invoices via a digital archive.

Payroll Processing

While often overlooked, efficient payroll processing is essential for accounting teams. By using digital tools to optimize payroll processing, businesses can:

• Automate time and attendance tracking
• Automatically calculate taxes and deductions
• Implement direct deposit systems
• Integrate HR and accounting systems

Optimizing payroll processes significantly reduces the burden on your accounting team, while ensuring timely salary payments to employees and compliance with tax requirements. 

Compliance

Businesses in the Baltics must ensure compliance with local and EU regulations, including e-invoicing requirements, to avoid financial penalties and legal troubles. Compliance also ensures a business remains accountable and transparent, which helps build trust with customers, partners, and regulatory bodies. Compliance optimization includes:

• Implementing automated compliance checks
• Maintaining digital audit trails via a digital archive
• Automating regulatory reporting
• Using a digital confirmation circle to verify expenses

Finbite’s digital archive helps businesses maintain compliance by ensuring accurate record-keeping and providing easy access for auditors to ensure tax compliance. 

Workflow Optimization Examples in the Baltics

Megameta MB

Megameta MB, a Lithuanian CNC parts manufacturer, optimized its invoicing processes to address the issues of duplicate and missing invoices. They use Finbite to optimize their invoicing workflows in the following ways:

• Data capture: Invoice data is captured automatically using OCR (Optical Character Recognition). Human verification ensures 99% data accuracy.
• Automated digitization: Invoices are automatically digitized and imported into Megameta’s accounting system. This increases the efficiency of their invoicing workflow and reduces errors and duplicate invoices.
• Digital archiving: Digitized invoices are automatically stored in a digital archive, eliminating the need for time-consuming manual organization and storage.

JCDecaux

JCDecaux, a French outdoor media company operating in Estonia, has implemented automated invoice approval templates for purchase invoices, eliminating the need to manually exchange invoices for approval. 

Instead of physically exchanging documents or sending invoices through email, an employee will receive a notification when they are linked to an incoming invoice. The employee can view and confirm the invoice from any device. This optimized workflow saves time, reduces the need for communication between departments, and eliminates the chances of invoices being lost in emails.

How Finbite can optimize financial workflows

With Finbite’s invoice workflow software, businesses can eliminate the need to manually submit paper receipts and expense reports to the accounting department. Instead, businesses can implement a digital confirmation circle, allowing employees to automatically submit expense reports to the accounting team for approval. 

Finbite also optimizes financial workflows by conveniently digitalizing invoices into any format, eliminating the need for manual data entry. In addition, accounting teams can use automatic accounting templates to assign predefined accounts and dimensions to invoice rows, reducing manual data entry for recurring invoices.

Finbite’s digital archive is another crucial component of workflow optimization. Storing and retrieving data in a digital archive is faster, easier, and more secure, compared to physical storage or other digital mediums like USB drives.

Finbite also integrates with leading accounting software in the Baltics like Merit Aktiva and Standard Books, allowing businesses to automatically sync invoice data with existing accounting systems.

Finally, businesses can optimize their invoicing by using Finbite to send and receive e-invoices. As an all-in-one invoicing platform, Finbites allows users to send and receive invoices in any format (including PEPPOL e-invoices). E-invoicing is faster, cheaper, and more accurate than other invoicing methods.

FAQ: Financial workflow optimization

How can invoicing processes be improved?

Moving away from paper-based invoicing processes to machine-readable e-invoices can greatly reduce the time spent on sending, receiving, and organizing invoices. E-invoices are machine-readable invoices that are more secure than other types of invoices. Programs like Finbite can convert PDF invoices into a machine-readable format, eliminating the need for manual data entry and allowing for automated invoice handling and digital processing. 

What is the best automated invoice processing software?

There are many options in the workflow automation and optimization software market, but Finbite is the best invoice automation software available. As an all-in-one invoicing solution, Finbite can convert all incoming invoices into e-invoices and lets users submit purchase invoices in any format. Finbite seamlessly integrates with leading ERPs in the Baltics, such as Merit Aktiva and Simplbooks, making it easy to optimize workflows across all departments.  

Is there any free software for optimizing invoicing?

Finbite’s workflow optimization software offers some invoicing features for free. With the Starter plan, users can send and receive 5 e-invoices (incl PEPPOL) per month. Paid plans also include features like a digital confirmation circle, digital archive, and ERP integration, all of which enhance invoicing optimization. 

What is an example of financial workflow automation?

A common example of financial workflow automation is invoice processing automation. Workflow automation tools can automatically capture invoice data, route invoices for approval through digital confirmation workflows, match invoices to purchase orders, and schedule payments. Through this workflow optimization, businesses can significantly reduce manual effort and errors.

Optimize your invoicing workflows with Finbite today

Outdated invoicing workflows can be a significant burden for accounting teams. Legacy systems can cause errors in invoice data, duplicate invoices, and slow payment times. This hurts not only your business but also your relationships with customers and suppliers. 

With Finbite’s workflow automation optimization services, you can optimize every aspect of the invoicing process, ensuring your workflows are fast, reliable, and accurate.

Book a demo with Finbite today to optimize your invoicing workflows.