Finoko: payment approvals is a universally applicable management reporting system, planning and control of the cash flow in any company. The service helps to:
- register supplier invoices using mobile application;
- create recurring (repeating) payments;
- control cost item limits;
- approve payment requests in the mobile application or web service;
- flexibly set up the approval sequence in complex cases;
- manage payments with a convenient payment calendar;
- create a payment ledger use for automatic registration;
- load bank statements (check availability for your bank);
- build a cash flow budget based on payment requests;
- maintain a list of contracts and control payment limits under contracts;
- maintain a list of approved suppliers and manage the status of counterparties.
Payment approval seems to be easy and simple. Do you need to make a payment? You managed to get the signatures of all the executives, and the payment is approved. As if! Someone took a vacation, someone is at a remote facility and cannot prepare documents, etc. Finoko service: payment approval is the opportunity to approve payments anywhere and at any time while having all the details you need.
Do you need payment approvals for your company?
Every single company, regardless of size, needs to control its payments. Approval and scheduling are effective ways to avoid cash gaps.
If, in the course of your business, you:
- plan and control the company’s processes;
- keep track of cash flow and limits;
- save time and are not used to long-running workflows,
Then Finoko Web Service: Payment Approval is right for you.
The payment request is the basis of the approval system
The necessity to make payments in business does not arise unexpectedly. The invoice from the supplier, which must be paid, is preceded by the conclusion of a contract and the receipt of goods, works or services. The company can and should plan payments. The payment approval process begins with registering all incoming invoices and recurring payments (for example, rent or electricity). Planned payments are noted in the system by the document Payment request.
A payment request (PR) is a document that contains future payment details.
You can create a payment request in the Finoko mobile app, and to do so, you only need to take a picture of the supplier’s invoice. We recommend doing this at the place where documents are received, and materials or goods are accepted. In construction businesses, this is done at the sites, and in a restaurant in a warehouse — at the time of arrival of products (or materials).
If according to the company’s policy the accounting department receives documents directly, they are registered in the accounting software. The Finoko service allows to automatically make payment requests from suppliers’ invoices created in accounting software if proper connection for your software exists.
Analytics in payment requests
The Payment request document in Finoko allows you to collect structured information necessary for making decisions during the approval process and further work.
The document contains details such as:
- Cost item (or cash flow item);
- Counterparty and contract with a counterparty;
- Legal entity and departments;
- Payment account or cash source planned to use to make payment;
- Amount;
- Notes, discussions and comments.
The date of the payment request, the document’s author and the date of payment are automatically registered.
How to approve payments
The procedure of approval is set in the web version of the Finoko system. The list of the approving people depends on the cost item, legal entity and amount.
Approval rules are set for job positions. The system registers positions and specific users who currently hold them. A user of the system can hold several positions at the same time. Positions may be common to the entire group of companies, such as the Chief Financial Officer. Or they may vary depending on a legal entity, such as a General Manager. If one of the employees is on vacation or sick leave, you can indicate who is appointed temporarily.
You can choose an approver depending on the amount of the payment request. It is often necessary to get the approval of the General Manager for payment requests over a certain amount. When requests are within the budget and on schedule, they could only be approved by the heads of departments or department managers.
You can approve requests in the Finoko mobile application or in the web version. Both the mobile app and the web version have a lot of filters that make it easier to find the right documents. The solution includes a filter “required to be approved today”, and when it is applied, the system displays only requests that the user needs to approve.
Attached files
The approval process involves the sharing of responsibility for the payment decision. The list of approvers includes employees of various positions for a comprehensive decision assessment. The legal adviser studies the completeness and correctness of the documents, the accountant reviews the possible tax consequences of paying this counterparty, and technical specialists can check, for example, if it is possible to operate the purchased equipment.
Finoko allows you to attach the entire set of documents for the transaction to the request. The attached files can be scanned copies in graphic formats or editable files. Everything the supplier has provided you can be included in the document.
The attached files can be added from the mobile app or using the web version of the service. If documents are added to the system, you can learn them from any device and at any place, if you have an Internet connection to your Finoko server.
Request approval
Approval is a decision-making process, and the following results are possible in the system:
- Approve;
- Reject;
- For revision.
Approved requests get into the payment schedule. Rejected ones remain in the system for tracking records. For revision, you can send a request to a specific employee.
When the approval process starts, the document is blocked from editing. But there are times when you need to make minor changes to the documents that do not alter the essence of the operation. In such situations, the document can be sent for revision to the right specialist.
Payment limits for cash flow items
Limits based on the company’s budget
To begin the process of approving a request, we should understand whether we make provision for this cost item. In this case, there is interaction with the company’s budget.
One of the strong suits of the Finoko web service is that all the necessary data from the budget is available on the mobile phone screen.
The following information is available for decision-making:
- how much has already been paid under this item;
- how many approved but not yet paid requests;
- how many requests are currently in the approval process.
Limits on contracts and receipts
There is also another way to set limits — on the basis of concluded contracts and received receipts. In this case, everything is plain and simple too. The specialist enters the purchase receipt into the system, then it queues up for approval and payment.
Once your company accepts some goods and register. The contract states that we must pay for it within a fixed number of days after receipt. As soon as the accountant has issued a purchase receipt, the Finoko web service automatically collects information on this document, adds a period and starts the approval process. No additional steps are required.
Payment calendar planning
Approved requests fall into the payment calendar.
The payment calendar allows you to manage the operational schedule of payments and control cash gaps. In the payment calendar an operational payment date is assigned, and a payment ledger is formed.
The payment ledger is uploaded to the accounting software for the automatic issuing of payment orders.
The payment ledger and information exchange with the bank
Based on the approved payment ledger, payment orders can be created in the accounting software.
Bank statements are uploaded to the Finoko service.
The system automatically determines which payment requests have been paid and registers cash flow transactions.
Cash Flow Budget (CFB)
Paid payment requests automatically generate a cash flow statement.
The Finoko solution allows you to plan and forecast the cash flow.
Cash Flow Budget can be generated in the Finoko system or uploaded from Excel.
Additional features of the Finoko system
- Maintaining a list of approved suppliers;
- Adding new counterparties by TIN (check availability in your country);
- Checking counterparties according to the Federal Tax Service (check availability in your country);
- Translation of reports into supported languages;
- Control of key performance indicators;
- Maintaining the register and approving contracts.
Where to start?
To use the Finoko payment approval solution, you will need:
- An active subscription to the Finoko web service or a corporate version of Finoko installed on your server.
- Mobile app — you can install it by yourself. Mobile application users are not charged separately.