2013 Innovation Awards Nominee: Bill.com Approvals Solution

Until now, workflow automation has been feared. If you mentioned workflow automation to an accountant or tax professional, they would likely conjure up images of the configuration and implementation nightmares associated with enterprise software systems. Just as Bill.com has made AP, AR and cash flow management painless and paperless, the company has now lead the charge and built an easy-to-use approval workflow system while still providing an unprecedented level of control to accountants.

The Bill.com Approvals Solution enables accountants and tax pros to customize approval processes to fit the specific needs of each of their clients via personalized consoles that let them manage all clients from one easy to use interface. Features of the Bill.com Approvals Solution include:

1. The ability to customize the approval policies of client companies to require approvers for any bill or vendor credit based on the dollar amount. Users can require a minimum number of approvers, specific approvers, or both.

For example, if you are a CPA of a 50-person services firm, you can tailor your policies for the complexity of that business. For example, set up a policy, that says that for all bills, you need a minimum of one approver. Then, set up another policy, that says that for bills greater than $5000.00, you need a minimum of two approvers, and one of the approvers must be the CEO.

Setting up these approval policies once allows accountants peace of mind, knowing that they are in compliance with clientsâ?? approval needs. It also means that they no longer have to manually scrutinize each bill to ensure all the right parties have agreed to pay it.

2. Bill.com now provides accountants with convenient access to make changes in the workflow easily at any time. This is useful for cases where the accountant may want to set permissions on their clients or staff to make changes to bills under certain circumstances. It also allows them to highlight these changes in the workflow and provide a detailed audit trail of every step in the process.

3. Bill.com offers configuration options to allow accountants to control when changes are allowed to a bill or vendor credit during the approvals process. For example, the accountant can lock down bill changes after anyone has approved.

4. Bill.com allows users to protect their accounts with additional security so that that if a client is subjected to a phishing attach, for example, and someone were to get his Bill.com username and password, Bill.com blocks them from sensitive areas of the clientâ??s Bill.com account by requesting a secure code sent to their phone or other device.

The Bill.com Approvals Solution is bringing accountants unprecedented control and flexibility. Consider this testimonial:

“Without Bill.com, SmartBooks would not be in business,” said Calvin Wilder, Founder and CEO of SmartBooks Corp. “Bill.com offers the right combination of control, efficiency and transparency. Being able to customize approval policies are proving to be invaluable for clients. I am able to enforce policies while getting the work done more efficiently.”

 

Click here to see an in-progress list of nominees for the 2013 Innovation Awards.