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Accounting

Miscommunication in Invoice-to-Cash Cycles Can Hurt Business Financial Health

The findings showed that 82% of executives say their company lost revenue due to miscommunication in the invoice-to-cash cycle, leaving money on the table and damaging customer relationships.

Versapay, a provider of AR technology for business, has published a new report from the 2022 Gartner CFO and Finance Executive Conference. “The State of Digitization in B2B Financereport reveals that when customer experience issues are not factored into AR digitization projects, it hurts the bottom line.

The report surveyed 1,000 C-level executives at companies with a minimum annual revenue of $100m on their accounts receivable digital transformation efforts. The findings showed that 82% of executives say their company lost revenue due to miscommunication in the invoice-to-cash cycle, leaving money on the table and damaging customer relationships.

“The State of Digitization in B2B Finance” found that 92% of executives surveyed agreed that to reach peak performance, every department in the organization needs to be digitized. However, 60% of executives also agree that AR departments have not been prioritized for digitization as much as other departments. While there is significant AR digitization work left to do, this also presents an opportunity as executives can eliminate costly miscommunications and enhance their customer experience by making sure to include digital collaboration in their AR transformation projects.

“Without the customer at the forefront of every digitization project, including accounts receivable automation, many companies are leaving money on the table,” said Craig O’Neill CEO at Versapay. “It’s imperative to move digitization efforts beyond just improving efficiency. Efficiency is important to be sure, but there needs also to be a focus on transparency and collaboration in the transaction experience, which will lead to faster payments and more satisfied customers as well.”

Other highlights:

  • 78% of executives say payment conflicts could have been avoided with better communication
  • 73% of executives say the invoice-to-cash process can negatively affect a customer’s experience
  • 65% of executives say transparency and collaboration between AR and customers would reduce invoice disputes
  • 64% of executives say that invoice disputes resulted in the threat of a lawsuit (38%), or escalated to full-blown litigation (32%)

For more details and insights regarding the survey results download the full “The State of Digitization in B2B Finance” report here