The AR Version of Good to Great How

The AR Version of “Good to Great” How good AP processes build great AR programs. Stephen Burns – VP IS and CIO, Black. Hawk Industrial Distribution Jeff Haller – Managing Partner & CEO, Data. Serv

What Businesses Can Benefit from Better Coordination? • Billing consists largely of third-party costs – Direct ship - Distribution companies – Numerous supplier invoices needing aggregation into one client invoice • Subcontractor work - Construction companies • Cooperative purchase arrangements

The AR version of good to great – How good AP processes build great AR programs • Stephen Burns – Vice President IS and CIO • Black. Hawk - New company focused on “Buy and Build” with industrial distributors • First acquisition in 2010

The AR version of good to great – How good AP processes build great AR programs Challenges – Redundant organizational structures/under-utilized staff – Shared vendors - different deals – Separate ERPs – Lack of standard AP and AR processes • No “best practices” – Insufficient automation – High expectations from the acquired company

The AR version of good to great – How good AP processes build great AR programs • Customer billing dependent on AP information: – Direct ship to customers from our various distributors • Process impacts cash flow, credit collections, and earnings • AP/AR can be very strategic – Better supplier relationships equal better terms!

The AR version of good to great – How good AP processes build great AR programs Key Performance Indicators include: Accounts Payable • Number and % of overdue invoices • Elimination of duplicate payments • Cycle time to resolve errors • Auto. Vouch- $ of invoices paid without touch • Cash discounts earned • Reduced AP credit card payments Accounts Receivable • Reduce DSO • Reduce error rates • Increase collection efficiency • Improve supplier relations

The AR version of good to great – How good AP processes build great AR programs • How are we doing it? – Start with AP best practices – Build trust and confidence – Enable effective ERP conversion path – Minimize supplier disruption

The AR version of good to great – How good AP processes build great AR programs • “Vendor/Partners” are key – “Get your act together and don’t make us do extra work” • Data. Serv solution: – Minimal one-time change for suppliers – Managed change process – Brings efficiencies to AP/AR don’t wait on ERP conversion – Saa. S solution provides flexibility

The AR version of good to great – How good AP processes build great AR programs • Data. Serv solution speeds AP data to AR for billing: – Data. Serv scans, captures, indexes and quality assures – Best practices workflow – Complete reporting – Document archiving and audit support

The AR version of good to great – How good AP processes build great AR programs • Data. Serv “best practices” reviewed with accounting and management teams: – Effective supplier communications – Change management support – Workflow and approvals/exception rules – Optimized OCR – Auto. Vouch

The AR version of good to great – How good AP processes build great AR programs Think differently about this function! 5 points: 1. Minimize impact changes on vendor/partners 2. Know your business, establish KPI’s 3. Install best practices that work for you 4. Be proactive with your employees 5. Put this in the cloud!

The AR version of good to great – How good AP processes build great AR programs Questions