The 3 low-value everyday charity finance tasks that should go the way of burnt toast

Think about all the times you come into contact with automation tools in your day-to-day life – and it starts from the moment you wake up until the moment you fall asleep. Your thermostat perfectly tunes the temperature of your house and your alarm wakes you with a soothing melody. Automation is everywhere.

It’s not always perfect, however – for example, we’re yet to find a toaster that doesn’t burn your morning breakfast to a jet-black crisp. That’s why it’s important to know what tools are must-haves, and what tools will overcomplicate your workday (or burn your toast).

Stop doing low-value tasks

These days, the value of automation is more important than ever – and the most valuable tools cut out everyday low-value tasks. Charities stand to benefit the most from eliminating these tasks and saving their staff valuable time, and with so many powerful tools available on the market, there’s never been a better time to start looking.

That’s why 2020 is set to be the year of charity automation. New tools are coming out every day that stand to revolutionise how finance professionals approach everyday work. These tools aren’t designed to replace hardworking financial managers, but rather to supplement them and to free up time that would be better spent on higher-value tasks.

With that in mind, these are the three low-value everyday finance tasks that you don’t have to do any more.

Invoice matching

When you consider the value of staff time, matching invoices is a costly process that has very little benefit to your organisation – it’s just one of those tasks that has to be done.

However, machine learning has now advanced to the point that it’s not only capable of taking over this task for you, but it’s actually better at matching invoices than human processors. For example, we found that IRIS Invoice Matcher is up to 71% faster than humans.

As more and more organisations adopt IRIS Invoice Matcher, they’ve found that their invoice matching costs have gone down by a staggering 80%, proving that invoice matching tools are here to stay.

Because these tools are virtually error-free, your financial and administrative staff are freed up to focus on more important tasks that add real value to your organisation.

Expenses approvals

Do you waste countless hours chasing company credit card expenses and seeking approval for employee purchases? That’s another low-value task that can be crossed off with the right automation tools.

Purchasing and expenses automation tools such as PS Purchasing can enable your users to raise requisitions online and from any device, without the need for any paperwork. The system then stores a full electronic audit trail, so you don’t have to lift a finger.

You can then set up automation rules that route employee expenses to the right stakeholders for approval. That means no more tracking down Mike in sales to authorise last month’s credit card purchases; it’s all sorted for you.

Ledger consolidation

If you’re still using the three-ledger system of accounting, it may be time to put it to bed.

Unified ledger accounting turns the age-old accounting method on its head by only using a single ledger that’s automatically consolidated and reconciled in real-time.

For robust charity unified ledger systems like IRIS Financials, this also enables powerful up-to-date reporting at the click of a button. Human input will always be required for reporting, but that doesn’t mean that month-end reports and compliance shouldn’t be given a helping hand by automation tools.

For example, charity finance workers can build out SORP/SoFA-compliant reports at the push of a button. You have to produce these whether you like it or not – so why not automate the process?

Don’t choose a financial package that will burn your metaphorical toast – choose a powerful, modern package like IRIS Financials. To find out more about unified ledgers and modern-day charity finance automation tools, check out IRIS Financials today!