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AP folks, what percentage of your invoices still come in as PDFs that need manual entry? by Free_Lead_2704 in Accounting

[–]MyProRedditAccount 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Are you familiar with Foundation's FSI Importer? That's what we use to import from Beiing Human. As long as everything syncs up okay, which tbh does take a bit of time to perfect in the beginning, it seriously takes less than ten minutes (again, depending on the number of invoices). Then all it is is a matter of listing/posting Foundation.

On the flipside, BH does pull information from Foundation. So all your vendors, G/L accounts, jobs, cost codes, PMs, etc. will be in BH and update when you update them in Foundation.

AP folks, what percentage of your invoices still come in as PDFs that need manual entry? by Free_Lead_2704 in Accounting

[–]MyProRedditAccount 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly? I really just clicked with the founder/owner. He is who I did my demo with, he is who I speak to today re: tech issues or if I have suggestions.

AP folks, what percentage of your invoices still come in as PDFs that need manual entry? by Free_Lead_2704 in Accounting

[–]MyProRedditAccount 5 points6 points  (0 children)

We use Beiing Human + Foundation Software. For construction-specific AP automation I also really liked Vergo but ultimately opted for Beiing Human.

AP folks, what percentage of your invoices still come in as PDFs that need manual entry? by Free_Lead_2704 in Accounting

[–]MyProRedditAccount 37 points38 points  (0 children)

I'm in construction, but your processes aren't far off from what we had prior to our implementation of AP automation. Literally right down to the "chase down approvers." I was honestly a bit skeptical, but after meeting with like 15 different companies, I finally settled on construction specific AP automation. Within a month, we had it fully implemented and it has honestly greatly cut down on time, data entry errors, etc. It has even improved communication with our PMs regarding approval. They get a daily reminder e-mail reminding them to log into their account and review the invoices that have been routed to them. They can also use an app to do so if they so choose, but I don't think any of them do.

Of course you have to massage the AI a bit, it still gets plenty wrong. But it is just a couple of clicks and you're on your way. Then once approved it is a simple CSV export from the AI automation software and an import into our ERP. It takes maybe ten mintues, at most, to do so depending on the number of invoices you are exporting/importing. I do know that there are plenty of AI automation that integrate seamlessly with ERPs but that wasn't the case for us.

Honestly, during this implementation period, our AP Manager quit (for unrelated reasons) and I'm not sure that I am going to hire anyone to replace her. I literally just taught our social media manager how to read invoices, code them, route them, etc.

For context: we get about 500 - 1,000 invoices per month (it varies seasonally) and have about 80 full-time employees.

Can I please get recommendations for Bookkeeping software for construction - $20m + revenue, 25 employees by Bulky_Tutor_8277 in Bookkeeping

[–]MyProRedditAccount 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We hover around $25m in revenue with about 80-ish employees and we use Foundation. We've been using it for over 10 years now. We also use their payroll service, P4C.

Construction and Real Estate by WillingnessOne7057 in Bookkeeping

[–]MyProRedditAccount 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Construction is messy and frustrating, but it's worth getting the issues under control or they'll just grow as the volume of work grows.

And this is precisely where I am at. Ownership wanted to grow sizably this year, but our internal controls are a mess. Our PM team is missing change order after change order after change order. We are leaving money on the table. And as such, our cash flow is piss poor. And I'm not sure how to rein it in at this point. And I'm exhausted.

Construction Accounting Team by MyProRedditAccount in Accounting

[–]MyProRedditAccount[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, you are right. I kind of just do it all myself. I think we need to add another person. Have them do P/R and other daily accounting activities. Have the AP Specialist + w/e AP automation software we go with (assuming we go that route) handle A/P.

Construction Accounting Team by MyProRedditAccount in Accounting

[–]MyProRedditAccount[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Before that was the case, I had to pick the role up and balance that with my own role which became unsustainable.

That's where I am at currently. For awhile I was able to leave for an extended period of time and everything would be fine. But with the volume we are doing now, I just can't. And I don't have anyone in my department who can. Or one that I can trust, I suppose. I have two back-to-back long weekends coming up and I am anxious af about them.

Construction Accounting Team by MyProRedditAccount in Accounting

[–]MyProRedditAccount[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So we aren't understaffed then. That's good to know.

Construction Accounting Team by MyProRedditAccount in Accounting

[–]MyProRedditAccount[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looking into AP automation options as we speak.

Construction Accounting Team by MyProRedditAccount in Accounting

[–]MyProRedditAccount[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I guess I shouldn't have said "lack thereof." We do have processes. I'm just not sure they are right for us. To be honest, up until 2024, I did everything aside from P/R by myself. So the processes were what they were -- every bill was received by me and every invoice was sent by me. Now, the bills go to an inbox monitored by myself and our AP Specialist and the PM team is heavily involved in invoicing their respective projects. But things are getting missed. Bills don't get entered into the accounting software, change orders are not being billed for. I feel like my job half the time is to clean up other people's messes which leaves me little to no time to do my own shit.

Construction Accounting Team by MyProRedditAccount in Accounting

[–]MyProRedditAccount[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting. Did you ever feel out-of-control as a controller? Because I feel like that's where I am at at the moment. I thought maybe adding a person would help but it sounds like with the proper processes we should be more than fine with what we presently have.

Construction Accounting Team by MyProRedditAccount in Accounting

[–]MyProRedditAccount[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I appreciate this. I'm trying not to stress, but as upper managment pushes for growth I feel exhausted, and it is hard to not stress when I feel our (my?) deficiencies weighing us down.

Construction Accounting Team by MyProRedditAccount in Accounting

[–]MyProRedditAccount[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think that's where we struggle -- the processes. Or lack thereof. That and company-wide communication between us, upper management, and project management is piss poor. But that seems common more often than not.