Your 19th tip
What is your position on checking invoices?
,If I have to check my service provider's invoice, I don't trust him anymore,' an outsourcing coordinator once said.
- What is your position on that?
e take the view that checking an invoice is not a matter of trust in the strict sense. You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs' is a well-known saying. It is perfectly normal, under inverted commas, for invoices to be faulty too.
Moreover, unless you own the outsourcing company, it is someone else's money. A vendor manager takes care of this. As a vendor manager, you ensure that your company gets the best possible result from outsourcing. In our understanding, this also includes checking whether the invoice is correct.
eisq even goes one step further. The acceptance of a service is closely linked to the recognition of a payment obligation. Acceptance is one of the core obligations of every client of an outsourced service.
The Osnabruck consultants recommend that service providers check invoices and books of account:
Think of auditing as part of the vendor management task. It is neither a matter of distrust nor a matter of getting one over on someone.
- Show your service provider that the service is important to you and your company by checking the invoices.
- Keep in mind that the acceptance of external services should be done by the people who deal with them most intensively in your company - the vendor management.
- Keep the balance between checking the invoice, monitoring the service and actually controlling it.
Your specialised consultants from eisq help you to work more effectively and in a more effort-optimised way with your service providers. Achieve more results with outsourcing. Check out the fixed-price invoice verification offer. Did you know? For invoice volumes of 25,000 euros or more, you can also choose a performance-based option. Zero risk, but all opportunities are open to you.
Find out more right now!
Your 20th tip
How well do you use the range of your response options?
Reaction options represent an essential element in the practical seminars for service partner managers on the way to the training "Operative Vendor Manager". Many service partner managers ask themselves how they should correctly deal with invoices and especially faulty invoices.
They suspect the typical consultant answer: "That depends...".
In principle, you recall the following patterns of action:
- Reject invoices.
Condition: The invoice is formally or factually incorrect. Examples of formal errors are: wrong company name or wrong address, missing information on the period of performance, tax number, etc. Factual errors are wrong positions, services, calculation errors, duplications, etc.
This is how it works: Formulate the reason why you are rejecting the invoice in writing.
Note: Use the help of your financial accounting department for a letter. This way you can remain the "good guy" with whom your service provider is happy to work.
- Reset the invoice. This means you remove the invoice from further processing.
Condition: You identify a possible error and ask for clarification.
This is how it works: Formulate why you are putting the invoice on hold and ask for clarification in writing. Sometimes service providers also "forget" to press the button for "payment release". This is the same process. However, your service provider may then send you a reminder.
Note: Of course, you only put the invoice on hold for a reasonable period of time.
- Release a partial amount.
Condition: You/your company recognises the service/part of the service.
This is how it works: Agree with your accounting department that you release a partial amount and that a provision is to be created for the remaining amount. Inform your service provider in writing why you are only releasing a partial amount.
Note: Partial amount invoices are sometimes not much fun in SAP. Show understanding for your colleagues in financial accounting if you reduce the invoice or only release partial amounts.
- Issue a conditional release.
Condition: You identify reasons why your company should not accept the invoice. Ask for clarification in writing.
This is how it works: You draft a written request for invoice clarification. You inform your accounting department of a conditional payment. Normally, reservations are valid for a reasonable period of time: 6 months.
Note: Your colleagues will certainly be happy to help.
- You release the invoice.
Condition: You agree to the bill.
This is how it works: This probably needs no further explanation.
Note: If you want to please your service provider, ensure faster/preferential processing if necessary.
Depending on the situation, choose one of the options.
Find out about eisq's seminars for vendor managers right now!
Your 21st tip
How much time does the conscientious checking of the invoice require?
As a vendor manager, as service providers are increasingly being called lately, one also devotes oneself to checking invoices. If these turn out to be invoice books, this sometimes takes up a lot of time. Time that is missing for other tasks.
As a service partner consultant, outsourcing coordinator, etc., keep a record of how much time you spend on conscientious checking. If the result is that you need more than four working days per month for this, you need to act. Four working days is roughly equivalent to 20% of your capacity for a full-time job. In eisq's experience, higher values only seem justified in exceptional cases.
The following five steps will give you a starting point:
- Can the workload of checking be shortened by other working methods or tools? Process invoices using text recognition, request as open file, etc.?
- Does vendor management have the necessary staff capacity for the task?
- Does the form of cooperation with your service provider match your control capacity?
- Does the contracted mode fit the task of the service? Historically contracted services and positions may not reflect current needs.
- How do we put ourselves to the test in vendor management, similar to an appointment with the car at the TÃœV?
Your specialised advisors from eisq untie many knots. Above all, we ensure that your taxes are optimised in terms of time and effort. In other words: you make better use of your time.
Achieve better results with outsourcing. Check out our offer for auditing at a fixed price. Did you already know? For invoice volumes of 25,000 euros or more, a performance-based option is also available to you. Zero risk, but all opportunities are open to you.
Find out more right now!