Case study: Paperless accounts payable at Endsleigh. By Rob Lewis

I've seen this in action at my previous employer, where they did a similar implementation for a client.

I never asked the question at the time but I'm curious to how you deal with invoices that you receive from a supplier electronically?
i.e. when a supplier sends you an invoice as a PDF file.

Regards

Roger Neale
07714 670789

In my view this is a paperless archiving system not a paperless accounts payable department!

In reply to the previous post, I assume electronic invoices are printed out (paper), bar coded (paper), keyed into the system (time) and then shredded (waste of paper).

We can all devise this type of paperless archiving system with an approval interface, but do we all have to write to HMRC first? As every inspection I have overseen, the inspector has only looked at paper records and has shown no interest at all in the electronic systems. They have required printouts from the systems as back ups and have not been interested in looking at anything on screen, merely noted which computer accounting system is being used, assumably for reliance purposes.

Equally, audits by one of the largest firms (who shall remain nameless) have required paper records and printouts. When offered access to the accounting software, the answer has been that they do not involve themselves in the software side of things as it would require knowledge of all the accounting software which is impossible - so years after taking my Auditing exams which involved essays on the pros and cons of auditing through the computer or round the computer, it seems to me one of the largest auditing firms at least, still audits round the computer. Oh yes, the self same firm requires the Client to prepare the actual accounts using a template that was drawn up on Word in the dark ages.

How does Endsleigh deal with these two things and has the Revenue given carte blanche approval to us all using such a system?