Combine Bill.com and QuickBooks Online To Achieve Account Payable Victory in Construction Accounting

It’s no secret that accounts payable can be one of the biggest pain points in the construction business. Not only is the A/P workflow fraught with opportunities for error but getting bills paid is expensive relative to other business processes. According to a fast web search, manually processing a single invoice all the way from receipt to payment might run you anywhere from $10 to $22!

In an effort to lower this cost and improve efficiency, curious construction accountants and bookkeepers gather at forums and social media groups across the interwebs to chat about the options. So, if I have QuickBooks Online, do I need Bill.com? They contend that bill-paying apps integrated with QuickBooks Online's (QBO) platform are available. Are you sure we need both?

The answer is YES -- you need both. Here are some things to explain why you should do it.

TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Approval Workflows & Controls Supported by Granular User Roles

2. Seamless International ACH Payment Processing

3. The Magical Intelligent Virtual Assistant 4. Automated Data Entry & QBO Integration

1. Approval Workflows & Controls Supported by Granular User Roles

If your organization has approval policies in place, they can be applied during the data-entering procedure. And you can automate this enforcement (or not – but really, why not??) through approval policies at Bill.com. Multiple approvals can be put in place as well if more than one person needs to sign off on a bill. And it’s all digital with a perpetual audit trail. Infinitely more efficient than actually putting a piece of paper on two different desks?

This workflow is supported by a robust variety of user types available on the platform. A/P staff members who are simply responsible for data entry can be added to the system as Clerk users, whereas department heads or those with budgetary authority can be added as merely Approvers. The role of the data entry employee and the bill payer can even be kept apart. There’s simply no competition with QBO on these user permissions, approvals, and controls.

2. Seamless International ACH Payment Processing

If your business pays its vendors abroad, you are aware of the hassles involved. What do you typically do once your invoice from an overseas vendor is accepted? Send a wire? What’s that cost you? $15, $20, maybe even $35 per wire? Or do you try to skirt the fees and pay with PayPal or some other app? And we won’t even talk about currency exchange rate losses.

With Bill.com, you can now pay vendors internationally (over 70 countries) either in USD or in the local currency. You may even enter payables into the system in another currency. And the best part? The savings. Making wire transfers in local currencies is free of charge. (We couldn’t believe it either!) International wires sent in USD are $9.99 per transaction.

3. The Magical Intelligent Virtual Assistant

What if the entire scope of work for the A/P clerk was simply data verification? It can be for Bill.com users. While you’re doing other higher-level tasks, Bill.com’s Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA) goes to work on any invoice received. Upon logging in, you have at least halfway through your bills. And they are accurate, to boot. After scanning the invoice, the IVA fills in the bill entry blanks. It is artificial intelligence at its finest – it extracts the data, lowers (if not outright eliminates) errors, and even flags duplicate invoices for you.

4. Automated Data Entry & QBO Integration

As you can see, Bill.com develops technology that your business can use. When an invoice is processed at Bill.com, the payable is automatically created in QBO. A payment on that invoice is instantly created in QBO when it is paid at Bill.com with a single click. The Bill.com journal will be made available to you as a match by the QBO bank feed once the payment has cleared your bank.

Yes, one Bill.com transaction equals three QBO automated transactions. The G/L integration and sync tool offered by Bill.com guarantees that you only need to enter data once on their platform—the accounting will take care of itself.

There are more benefits to using QBO and Bill.com seamlessly than just saving time and money. It’s the creation of a robust, efficient, highly controlled, and cost-effective A/P department. In short: a CFO’s dream.

Our construction accounting specialists are here to assist you with any questions you may have regarding bookkeeping, accounting, or tax matters related to the construction industry. Get in touch with us for a free quote.