Accounting teams battle a costly bottleneck: invoices that should take minutes to approve instead languish for days in email chains and manual handoffs. The result? Late payment penalties, damaged supplier relationships, compliance headaches, and zero visibility into where critical approvals actually stand. What if the fix isn’t working harder, but letting modern document management automation handle the heavy lifting?
In most large companies, invoice processing feels more like a relay race than a streamlined system. A supplier sends in an invoice, which then sits in an inbox. Someone from accounting has to pick it up, check the details, forward it to the right person (hopefully), follow up, wait for approval, and only then process it for payment. Multiply that by hundreds—or even thousands—of invoices per month, and it’s not hard to see how things can slow down or fall through the cracks.
Now more than ever, accounting departments are under pressure to move faster while reducing errors and maintaining airtight audit trails. The question is: how do you build speed into a process that’s historically been anything but agile?
What’s Really Slowing Things Down?
Let’s break it down.
- Manual routing: Invoices arrive via email, PDFs, even the occasional paper copy. Someone has to figure out where it goes and who needs to approve it.
- Data entry and validation: Double-checking totals, purchase order numbers, supplier details—it’s necessary, but time-consuming.
- Lack of visibility: Once an invoice is sent off for approval, it often disappears into a black box. Who’s seen it? Where is it stuck? No one knows unless they go digging.
- Audit pressure: Every approval (or delay) needs to be documented, especially in industries where compliance isn’t optional.
The end result? Approvals that should take minutes often take days. And that delay isn’t just frustrating—it can damage supplier relationships, incur late fees, or throw off forecasts.
What a Smarter Process Looks Like
Imagine this instead:
- Invoices are sent directly to a dedicated email inbox. No manual triage needed.
- Key information is automatically extracted—invoice number, supplier name, PO reference, amount, due date.
- The invoice is instantly routed to the right approver, based on pre-defined business rules.
- Approvers are notified immediately (on desktop or mobile) and can review and sign off with a click.
- The entire process is tracked and traceable, so accounting has a full record—no more guessing or chasing.
Sounds like a wild enterprise fantasy? It’s not.
One Team’s Experience
In a recent video, we followed “John,” an accountant at a large company, who showed us what this looks like in practice. With the help of a smarter document management platform, John receives invoices automatically, reviews them quickly (thanks to automatic data extraction), and sends them for approval with a single click. The approver—let’s call him Sam—gets all the necessary information right away and signs off on the go.
Everything is recorded. Everyone stays in the loop. And payment can happen without delay.
Making It Happen
Implementing this kind of efficiency doesn’t require a complete overhaul of your finance systems. In many cases, it just means adding the right layer of automation and document control.
At AODocs, we’ve helped accounting and procurement teams achieve exactly that. Our platform streamlines document workflows, automates approval chains, and provides full visibility from intake to payment. And because it’s built with compliance in mind, you’re always audit-ready.
If your team is looking to reduce bottlenecks, cut down on manual tasks, and process invoices faster—with full control and transparency—we’d love to show you how.
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