ARE YOUR INVOICES STILL WAITING?
Automated workflow, tracked approvals, invoices easy to find, controlled deadlines: discover how M-Files speeds up supplier invoice approval.
Galaxy Conseils • Banking sector & financial institutions
End of the month. Société Alpha has finished servicing the equipment at ten branches, and Aïcha has sent her invoice to the bank, as agreed in the contract. She's counting on this payment to settle her own spare-parts suppliers.
At the bank, the invoice must be approved by three people: the general services manager, who confirms the work was actually carried out; management control, who checks the budget; then the chief financial officer. The paper invoice moves from desk to desk, tucked inside a folder.
The general services manager approves it in two days. Management control keeps it for a week, unsure which budget to charge it to. Then it waits on the CFO's desk, who is away at a seminar. When Aïcha calls, no one can say where the invoice is.
The invoice is paid a month late. Aïcha has to negotiate an extension with her own suppliers. And the bank, without realizing it, damages its reputation as a reliable payer with a loyal partner.
For a bank, as for any organization, approving a supplier invoice is a necessary check: was the service actually delivered? Is the amount correct? Is the budget available? But when that check relies on paper workflows or emails, it becomes a source of delay.
Blocked invoices. Stuck with an approver who's away, overloaded, or doesn't know it's waiting.
No visibility. No one knows where the invoice is, or for how long.
Invoices that can't be found. Slipped into a pile, lost between two desks.
Suppliers penalized. Late payments, follow-up calls, a damaged relationship, sometimes contractual penalties.
The solution is to define the invoice approval workflow once (who approves, in what order, based on what amounts), then have every invoice follow it automatically, with a task for each approver and a clear view of pending invoices.
Let's revisit Aïcha's story, this time at a bank that uses M-Files.
1. Receive. Société Alpha's supplier invoice arrives by email. It's recorded in M-Files with the status "Received."
2. Index. Its details are filled in: supplier, amount, date, relevant contract and budget. It moves to the "Pending approval" status.
3. Approve. Each approver receives their task in turn. The CFO, at a seminar, sees the "Invoice to approve" notification on his phone and taps "Approve" between sessions.
4. Archive. The invoice moves to "Approved" status, goes to payment, and is then archived with its full approval history.
5. Find. When Aïcha calls, or when the auditor comes by, the invoice and its workflow history are found within seconds.
The head of accounting checks the list of pending invoices every day. Those running past the expected deadline rise to the top, and the relevant approvers are automatically reminded.
An automated workflow. Every invoice follows the right approval route, without being passed from hand to hand.
Tracked approvals. Received, pending approval, approved: you know where every invoice stands, and with whom.
Invoices easy to find. No more lost invoices: each one is filed and retrievable within seconds.
Controlled deadlines. Automatic reminders, mobile approval: your suppliers get paid on time.
With M-Files, it's no longer the invoice that circulates, it's the approval task. The invoice stays in the same place, and each approver accesses it in turn, on desktop or mobile.
Workflows can vary by amount, supplier or department, and approvals are tracked, which makes internal control and auditing easier. M-Files doesn't replace the accounting software that executes payments: it prepares and secures everything that happens beforehand.
Finally, approved invoices stay linked to their supplier and their contract, giving a complete view of each relationship.
Ask yourself the question:
"How many supplier invoices are currently awaiting approval at your organization, and how many days has the oldest one been waiting?"
If no one can answer without digging through desks, your invoices deserve a real workflow.
At Galaxy Conseils, we set up your invoice approval workflow in M-Files together with you, starting from your own delegation rules and approval thresholds. Want to see exactly what this would look like in your bank?
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