Integrating automation in financial operations can lead to a 60-80% reduction in processing times and a 50% reduction in costs associated with manual reconciliations (PWC Report July 2023).
In B2B, integrating your sales, warehouse and accounting systems is crucial for seamless operations and business growth. One essential feature to consider when evaluating B2B order management and warehouse management systems is their ability to integrate with your accounting software. This integration is vital for managing bank reconciliation and updating sales orders and customer accounts accurately.
The Importance of Bank Reconciliation in B2B
There’s no denying the fact that running or managing a business requires the need to tackle regular administration tasks.
One such requirement is bank reconciliation.
Although the term may not get you too excited, technological advancements have made it a simpler and faster procedure. With the right accounting software, bank reconciliation can become a quick daily task, offering real-time insights into your business finances. The result is greater flexibility and more informed decision-making for your business.
Bank reconciliation involves matching your bank records with your accounting ledger to ensure both balances agree. This clarifies your cash flow. The use of reports and dashboards also offers valuable financial insights and data essential for making strategic decisions.
Integrating Sales Orders with Your Accounting System
A key question for any B2B business is – are all your sales orders seamlessly pushed through to your accounting system?
This integration ensures that your financial records are up-to-date and accurate, reflecting real-time sales activities. However, it’s equally important to consider what information is pushed back from your accounting system to your sales and order management platforms.
Managing Customer Payments and Reconciliation
When sales occur through various channels such as phone, email or field sales, managing unpaid invoices becomes a complex task. If customers pay their invoices through BACS payments directly into your bank account, you would typically reconcile these transactions using your accounting software to match unpaid invoices with received payments.
But what happens if your software doesn’t pull this reconciled payment data back into your sales and customer management systems?
Without this automated data flow, your team may spend unnecessary time on manual data entry to update customer accounts and sales orders. This inefficiency not only wastes valuable time and resources but also increases the risk of errors and delays in processing.
Automate the Flow of Payment Data
Stok.ly offers a solution by importing reconciled payments data from your accounting software and automatically updating the status of sales orders and customer account balances.
This automation ensures that you have accurate account balance information when making sales over the phone or in the field. Stok.ly also alerts your sales team when an account exceeds your agreed credit limit, requiring authorisation to complete the sale.
Automate Sales Order Processing
With Stok.ly, you can automate your sales order processing to ensure that only orders within the agreed credit limits or ‘fully paid for’ are shipped.
This feature is useful for businesses that sell on a proforma basis and need payment confirmation before dispatching goods.
Stok.ly’s rules engine ensures compliance with your payment policies, reducing the risk of shipping unpaid orders and improving cash flow management.
Choosing the Right B2B Platform for Growth
Selecting the right B2B platform is critical for business growth. Stok.ly provides a robust framework that supports the efficient management of B2B sales orders and customer accounts through seamless integration with your accounting software. By automating data flow between Sales, Warehouse and Finance, Stok.ly removes the need for paper processes and manual data entry, whilst safeguarding against shipping orders before payment is received. Using Stok.ly allows you to focus on your core objective – to grow your business.
Deloitte’s 2024 financial services outlook emphasises that integrating automated systems for financial processes, including bank reconciliation, supports strategic business goals by providing reliable data for decision-making. This approach helps firms manage their cash flow more effectively and supports overall business growth.
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Author: Iain Coplans CEO Stok.ly