For staffing agencies, the cost of invoicing errors can stretch to much more than the time and expense of correcting mistakes.
Inaccuracies in the invoicing process can severely impact cash flow and put agency-client relationships at risk.
Using an end-to-end management system to visualize data and automate financial processes saves days from financial processes — and it helps agencies achieve financial confidence by eliminating errors from the invoicing process.
For agencies dealing with high-volume or shift-based workforce management, the invoicing process is complicated by a host of unique industry-specific factors.
The sheer volume of invoices generated month-to-month, along with complex shift patterns and rate variances, can make invoicing errors an all-too-common occurrence.
The challenge is made more difficult by agencies’ old-fashioned approach to finances and management: Siloed, non-real-time data in spreadsheets and management systems makes it difficult for financial teams to identify and rectify the most common causes of errors.
If you're trying to navigate and manage invoicing using tools that are slowing you down or are inefficient, talk to us about the challenges you're facing.
Invoice errors are more than just a problem for financial teams — they could cause agency-wide issues and erode clients’ goodwill, trust and patience.
Inaccurate invoicing makes for a poor client experience. Repeated confusion over invoices puts the agency-client relationship in jeopardy. In the worst-case, invoice errors could lead to a scenario where non-payment results in the agency withholding vital labor.
Inaccurate invoicing causes payment hold-ups, creating cash flow problems for staffing agencies.
Invoice corrections and reconciliations can be complex and end up taking up valuable hours of work time.
Process auditing
To minimise invoice inaccuracies, you first need to map your end-to-end process to uncover where mistakes are most commonly made.
The complexities of high-volume or shift-based management mean errors may not always arise in financial departments. There’s plenty of scope for inaccuracies and misreporting to occur during planning, shift allocation or almost any other part of the workforce management process.
Once you understand where the most common invoicing errors are happening, you can understand why they occur and engage the appropriate teams to take action.
Of course, you’ll also need to monitor and manage weak spots to prevent mistakes from reoccurring.
Visualize your data
A lack of centralized data is the single most significant obstacle preventing agencies from auditing their processes to identify and correct invoicing errors.
Often data is spread out across various management systems, which turns auditing into a lengthy and complex process.
Having all the crucial data to hand in a central dashboard allows agencies to see trouble spots at a glance.
It also helps agencies cut invoicing errors at the source — by presenting crucial information in a way that’s much easier to interpret and work with.
Automate your processes
By automating complex financial calculations, agencies can cut out days of work from invoicing and lengthy reconciliations, reducing the margin of error in the process.
The most sophisticated management tools, such as JoinedUp by Beeline, automate timesheet generation and the associated pay and charge calculations.
It’s designed with high-volume, shift-based workforce management in mind, so it can accommodate overtime and other rate variances that complicate manual invoicing.
Get error-free finances with JoinedUp
With an easy-to-use central dashboard, JoinedUp lets consultants eliminate potential invoice errors by seeing end-to-end, real-time financial data at a glance.
Even better, it integrates seamlessly with agencies’ existing financial systems to automate the most time-consuming parts of the invoicing process.
To discover how JoinedUp could help you achieve error-free finances in seconds, ask to see a demo today.
