AP Automation for Separate Companies and Multiple ERP Systems

When your business becomes more complex, your accounting systems must change to manage the complexity. Firms expand by starting new product lines, buying other businesses, or through mergers. Business growth leads to more transactions, and automation can help you complete more work in less time.

Accounts payable (AP) processing is one component of a firm’s day-to-day operations. Using an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system may not be enough to fully automate AP processing, and your staff may deal with bottlenecks in the system. 

Stampli’s AP automation brings together accounts payable communications, documentation, and payments all in one place, allowing AP to have full control and visibility over corporate spending. Stampli has the flexibility to accommodate multiple companies, and businesses that use more than one ERP system.

The Benefits of AP Assignments

Stampli’s AP assignments tool routes invoices to the right AP team members and approvers. Here are some other ways that Stampli improves the AP process:

• The platform provides flexibility to accommodate a company’s invoice process, including businesses that operate multiple companies, or use multiple ERP systems.  

• Ability to create any number of sources that can be assigned to any AP user.

• Stronger internal controls: Individuals can only view and take action on invoices assigned to them. Users only see the data that they need.

• Assignments are available for coding and payment authorization.

Stampli allows you to use a single AP automation system for multiple companies, and for two or more ERP systems.

How to Use AP Assignments

To illustrate the AP assignment process, assume that Jill is the CFO of Consolidated Manufacturing. Consolidated operates three company divisions:

• Central Glass: The division manufactures windows for the residential market, and the manufacturing takes place in the central US.

• New England Doors: This division produces high-end wooden doors for the residential market, and most of the doors are custom made for clients. The business operates out of Boston, MA.

• West Coast Countertops: West Coast is based in California, and specializes in manufacturing granite countertops.            

Each division operates independently, and has a unique group of coder/routers and approvers.

Creating source codes

Consolidated can use Stampli’s AP automation to manage the invoice lifecycle for all three divisions on a single platform. Businesses can assign source codes to separate activities by location, department, or company division. The codes are created in system settings.

To segregate each division’s activity, the AP manager creates location codes: Central (Central Glass), East (New England Door), and West (West Coast countertops). A business can connect coder/routers and approvers to each location code to manage the invoice process. The user profile page allows the AP staff to add coder/routers and approvers.

Dedicated email addresses

Assume that Bob is the coder/router for Central Glass, and that Lisa approves invoices. With the proper coding, Central Glass invoices are only routed to Bob and Lisa, using a specific email address. Businesses can also assign multiple approvers to a particular invoice.      

Stampli’s AP automation allows you to assign invoices to the correct coder, and to determine which approvers must review an invoice. If your organization includes multiple companies, the entire AP lifecycle can be managed through Stampli. As this podcast episode explains, automation can help a complex business operate more productively.

AP Automation for Multiple Companies

To explain AP processing for multiple companies, assume that Outdoor Sporting Goods includes two companies: Treeline Mountain Bikes and Adventure Hiking Gear. Treeline and Adventure generate separate financial statements, and Outdoor produces consolidated financials that include each company’s results.

Operating with a single ERP system

If Treeline and Adventure use the same ERP system, Outdoor can manage AP for both companies using one Stampli account. The accounting staff uses codes to keep track of AP transactions separately within Stampli. 

Let’s assume that Treeline is assigned company code 10 and Adventure uses code 20. Each Treeline invoice with company code 10 is routed to the Treeline coder. The same process applies to approvers: company code 10 routes invoices only to Treeline approvers. The specific approver varies, depending on the type of invoice. 

Stampli can also manage AP for companies using different ERP systems.

Managing AP automation with two ERP systems

When a business operates using two separate ERPs, or has multiple accounts for the same ERP, the AP teams can use two Stampli accounts, and move between accounts using a drop down menu.

Multiple Stampli accounts are necessary, because the coding process may differ between the ERPs. While the two ERPs operate differently, AP automation within Stampli looks very similar, regardless of the ERP in use. Coding an invoice, reviewing the communication hub, and receiving auto-notifications is standardized, which reduces the learning curve for AP teams.

Distributed AP teams

Stampli is particularly useful if AP processing takes place in more than one location. The Treeline AP team can operate in Denver, for example, and the Adventure staff can process invoices in Salt Lake City. The coding system ensures that the activity for the two companies is kept separate, and that the correct general ledger accounts are used.

Use Stampli to increase productivity, reduce error rates, and scale your business with confidence. With automation, the year-end closing process will be smoother, and you can close the books in less time.

Take Control of Spend

Stampli’s end-to-end platform gives you full control and visibility over all your corporate spending from cards to invoices to payments – all in one place. Launch in weeks, not months as our award-winning customer success team ensures processes and systems from custom fields to preferences are maintained.

Stampli uses advanced OCR, ML, and AI technologies to capture invoice data in real-time and learns your accounting process for accurate coding and approval routing. Ask and answer questions from teammates or management. With easy access to relevant details and documents, making an invoice decision has never been easier.

Growing complexity does not have to slow down your AP processing. Don’t just manage spend, control it with Stampli.