PAPERLESS INVOICE-TO-PAY

The Invoice is Captured From the Vendor

When a vendor sends a PDF invoice to your financial institution’s Accounts Payable designated email, ASCEND automatically captures the PDF from the email and sends an auto-response to the vendor to let them know their invoice was received.

The PDF is Converted into a Record

Once the PDF is converted into a record, you can track the invoice within the ASCEND dashboard of the accounts payable application. It’s simple to convert the record from an Invoice Inbox record into an invoice in a few quick steps.

Invoice Inbox Organizes all Invoices

The Invoice Inbox page displays a list of images captured, the email they were sent from, the subject of the email and a thumbnail image. You can delete anything that’s not necessarily an invoice, or create an invoice from a captured PDF image.

Create an Invoice

When you select Create Invoice, you’ll see a split view of the PDF invoice and the ASCEND invoice record. The vendor will automatically be populated on the invoice record, and you can add all other information including the date, amount, invoice number and approval workflow.

Approval workflow, descriptions and G/L allocation can be created using a default setup at the vendor level; if no defaults are keyed in at the vendor level, those fields will replicate from the past history of invoices paid — no repetitive data entry required.

The Invoice is Routed for Approval

The invoice will be assigned a workflow approval process, and once you save the invoice, ASCEND will automatically notify the approver of a pending invoice in their approval queue. Notifications can be sent via email and text messages. The approver can click a link to sign into ASCEND for easy access to the invoice.

Customize the Approval Workflow

Approval can be as simple as assigning to one approver, or you can set up a more complex approval flow that allows for multiple users and other criteria including amounts, account numbers and vendors. The approval workflow is set up as a separate process within ASCEND and then assigned to the invoice during entry.

The approver can view invoices assigned to them for approval within the Approval application. The approval queue has several different filters they can use to filter down to specific invoices.

View Invoice Details in Approval Workflow

When the approver selects the invoice, they will be able to view the invoice in its entirety along with the attached image on the invoice details page.

The Invoice is Approved, Declined or Held

Once the approver reviews the invoice and closes the invoice page, they will be prompted to Approve, Decline or Hold. If approved, the invoice can be paid. If Decline or Hold is selected, the approver will be prompted to leave a comment. You’ll get a notification and will determine the next step based on the comment provided. If you change or update the invoice, the approval process will start over.

Pay the Invoice With AvidPay

Once the invoice is approved, it’s ready to pay through the AvidPay option within the AP application. Approved invoices are selected as a batch or individually and will initially go through an OFAC scan.

Potential OFAC Issues are Flagged

You will get an OFAC Warning when a vendor is a potential match against the OFAC list. You can then review the SDN record, cancel the invoice processing and remove the problematic vendor from the batch or simply move forward with the payment process.

Finalize the Payment

Complete the paperless invoice-to-pay process in ASCEND using AvidPay’s automatic file upload feature. The file sent to Avid will start processing immediately so that your vendors are paid quickly.

Vendors are Paid

Every step of the AvidPay process is recorded as part of the historical payment record in ASCEND for easy review. When you use AvidPay to process a payment, you never have to worry about vendors getting their funds. Avid takes care of the rest of the processing, offering vendors different payment types and helping them set up their preferred method of payment.