Finance departments in UK businesses seem to be stuck firmly in the past, as many haven’t modernized their practices in decades. This is according to a report from business process automation solutions providers Invu, called “The Covid-19 stress test for business: an accelerator for change”.
Based on a poll of 210 business decision-makers working in organizations of varying sizes, the company uncovered that most (85 percent) have an accounts payable process that still sometimes needs printed invoices, even when they’d been sent via email.
As a matter of fact, a third will always print invoices that they receive while email, with another third will do it “sometimes”.
For Ian Smith, GM and Finance Director at Invu, the results show a clear failure to innovate among finance departments struggling with hybrid working.
“The continuing dependency of many UK Finance departments of paper-based processes raises questions as to whether they are able to fully embrace new ways of working and attract the best staff,” he said.
Purchasing processes can also use a little innovating, Invu further found, as 14 percent of businesses confirmed their purchasing processes as broken and in need of urgent fixing. Two in five are interested in acquiring new software to help out.
“The digital transformation of the purchasing and accounts payable processes has made some progress since we last reported, however, our latest research shows that many finance departments still need to embrace ways of transforming their processes to facilitate worker mobility and productivity,” Smith concluded.