How to Install Document Flow in Accounting? Two Control Points From Source to Financial Report
The quality of accounting records is not measured only by choosing the correct account code. When a process starts, which is supported by the document, who is controlled by, which is a whole where the notebook is processed and then how it can be explained. Healthy document flow is particularly important in businesses where sales, purchasing, warehouse, finance and accounting are dependent on each other. It can also affect the outcome of the registration period twice for a invoice to arrive late, incorrectly binding to the customer or the same transaction. The following method is a practical internal control frame that can adapt to the business’s own legislation, scale and software used.
1. Start the process not with the document, but with the event
It starts when a good flow purchase invoice arrives, not the purchase request is approved. Demand, order, delivery, acceptance, invoice and payment are different stages of the same process. The offer, order approval, delivery, invoice and collection should be considered together. There should be a common transaction reference even if each stage does not carry the same number. Thus, when registering the accounting unit invoice, the cost is not really delivered, the order price does not change and change and the payment terms. Control logic is simple: the economic base of the lost amount should be open.
2. Classification according to the type and source of documents Home
Incoming bills, bills, bank receipts, expense compasss, collection documents, contracts and warehouse records should not be introduced into the same folder. Define required fields, file name standard and responsible person for each document type. For example, supplier, document date, document number, currency, matrah, tax and related order number should be separate fields. The document does not eliminate the need to control the PDF or electronic system registration. The main purpose is to understand that at the end of the year it is not only finding the document, which processing of the document belongs to a glance.
3. Use a single input point
With email to the purchasing staff of the same invoice, it increases the risk of sending a message to the accounting and the financial unit as well. Use an input box or controlled loading screen where documents are collected. Give recording time and unique internal reference to each incoming document. The system can control supplier and billing number matches, but it should not only decide that the document is copied based on the number analog. Exceptions such as cancelled and reorganized documents require explanation. With the first contact person to the document, the duties of the last consent should be separated from each other.
4. Compare order, delivery and invoice triple
The triple consensus in the purchasing process provides a strong control: what the approved order says, what does the delivery or service accept record, what does the invoice request? Evaluate the differences in quantity, unit price, isconto, currency, tax and delivery date with predefined tolerances. If the tolerance is exceeded, the registration can be sent to the corresponding authority instead of being rejected automatically. It should also be determined to be documented as it will not be a physical storage record in service purchases. This comparison does not block fake transactions alone; but it makes it easier to monitor differences.
5. Make tax control before selection of code
The tax application depends on the type of processing and current regulations. Therefore, the proportion should not be selected with the habit of the past period of exceptional, tevkifat, tamper or document obligation. The accounting team must verify the nature of the transaction with a checklist, status of the parties, document history and the required legal basis. For example, it may not be enough to pass through the same control screen of domestic goods intake with cross-border service. Identify the process of expert review for complex or exceptional situations. With the legal assessment of the transaction, it reduces errors that separate the responsibility of filling the technical space in the system.
6. Keep the authorization and match the risk
Each document is not a solid control of creation, correction, approval and payment of one person. The full task separation in small businesses can be difficult; although the second eye review and periodic report control can be applied. The competent matrix should not only occur from the limits of the amount. New supplier may require additional confirmation of cases such as unusual bank account, emergency payment request, high inconto or retrospective correction. Who has decided on the approval record, when and on what information he decided clearly should appear. Even if email confirmations are properly archived, it contributes to audit permission.
7. Track Cari accounts with document number
It is not enough to see customer or supplier balance only as total amount. Which invoice is open, which payment has closed the document, which is associated with the bill of credit note, which amount is conflicted? Cari account display answers to these questions should be given. On the contrary, it is possible to re-demand the same amount or to appear delayed in a actually closed bill. Regular car account consensus is not only to collect signatures at the end of the year; unexpected differences are the early detection tool. Associate disclosures and corrective transactions in interviews with records.
8. Match bank and case movements without delay
Bank extract is an independent resource that controls the reality suitability of collection and payment records. Responsible to expect unmatched transfers in the temporary account, reason and identify the date of solution. Bank expense, exchange difference, part collection, return or same consistent payments can make it difficult to match automatically. That’s why automation should offer non-definite matches to user review. The relationship between the document and the actual movement in case movements should be open to the frequency and authority limits. It should be followed in reports that the history of the transaction should be different with the day it is done.
9. Manage exchange transactions with a consistent policy
The date of invoice in exchange transactions, the date of collection, the rate and value of the used can give different results. Determine the accounting and tax rules that the business is subject first; then register the source of exchange used in the system, the moment of application to the document and the correction method. It is possible to prepare the management report in different currencies with accounting registration; but conversion assumptions should be explained. Link the courier differences in the open pen if possible to save in bulk at the last time. Thus, the actual collection performance and periodic effect on the basis of the customer becomes more understandable.
10. Connect the end of the term to the calendar
In the closing process, the bill records, expenses, stock movements, amortisman, bank consensus, cari account confirmation and report review complement each other. Who should be determined in advance, which will do until the date. The missing document is not required to postpone the closing date for uncertainty; it is important to document the nature of the open pen and its possible effect. The separation of certain and temporary amounts in management reports can be prevented from wrong decisions. The closing control list should carry out the process improvement that they learned in place to re-research the same error in each period.
11. 11. Provide search and change history in digital archive
The good archive is not only a folder where files are stored. Document number, cari account, date, project code, order and a structure that can be sought with keyword. After the document is added, the installation date and the added user should be seen; the previous versions of important records should be protected. Access authorizations of files should be limited to task requirement; personal data, commercial secrets and backups should also be assessed. Verify the information that the system will be wrong if OCR or automatic data extraction is used. To test the archive regularly, the presence of the file really secures its accessibility.
12. Measure more than the number of performance errors
It is useful to know how many bills are processed at the end of the month; but it does not show the quality of the process alone. The processing time per document should be monitored with the correct registration rate at the first time, the number of pending approvals, closing delay, corrected car account differences and access to the document from the archive. These indicators should be used to determine the problematic steps not to punish the personnel. For example, the source of repeated errors is often no accounting employee, missing order information or non-standard data input. Regular little improvements can be more sustainable than a large cleaning operation at the end of the year.
Conclusion: Record the process from start to finish
Healthy document flow creates an easy operating memory to control. Start event for each transaction, supportive document, competent approval, accounting record, payment or collection and archive link should be seen. For this, an expensive software is not mandatory from the first day; the common transaction number provides a reliable folderization standard, responsibility matrix and regular consensus an important start. Timely automation can be improved. However, the principle that should not be forgotten is not changed: It is more valuable than quick registration, accurate, explained and reapproved when necessary. This article is the general framework; current legislation and concrete processes should also be reviewed.
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