There is no doubt in our mind that Invitbox is the best accounts payable processing add-on available, which explains why it won Xero 2013 Add-On Partner of the year. ‘Competitors’ like Receipt Bank or Shoeboxed may claim to provide a similar service, but there are some key features you’ll find missing which means they really are best suited to managing your receipts and not your accounts payable.

Invitbox was recently bought out by one of Xero’s competitors in Quickbooks – a huge endorsement for any add-on! Unfortunately, this means you’ll no longer find it listed in the Xero add-on marketplace. But don’t stress! Both Xero and Invitbox have vowed to continue to keep their API open to one another, which means integration will continue.

If you’re a business that receives even just a few accounts payable per month you can benefit from the features Invitbox offers. The following is a quick break down of why Invitbox is awesome for accounts payable processing:

• Automatic, line-by-line data extraction from electronic invoices
• Reduced mail processing
• Less physical storage required, invoices stored electronically for 7 years
• Easy end of month statement reconciliation
• Greater data accuracy
• Duplicate invoices automatically identified
• Ability to check the price you are paying for items
• Integrates with Xero, even exporting a PDF of the invoice to Xero as a file
• Improves the invoice approval process
• Environmentally friendly

So how does Invitbox work?! Rather than suppliers posting their invoices and statements they email them directly from their accounting system to your specified Invitbox email (yourcompany@invitbox.com) as a PDF. Alternatively, they can be emailed to your company email (accounts@yourcompany.com.au) and forwarded on to your Invitbox email (email rules work a treat!).

Each supplier then has a map applied to their invoice that tells Invitbox where the invoices key data is that needs to be extracted (e.g. supplier name, invoice number, invoice data, product code, description, costs, etc.). Invitbox reads the data based on the map, extracts that data and creates an electronic file. Once a map for a supplier is established, you can teach Invitbox to automatically apply this map to all invoices received from that suppliers email. Processing future invoices from that supplier is now as simple as review, approve and export to Xero.

If it’s hard to visualise the mapping process, Director of Product Development at Invitbox, Roger Gregg, provides the below video that explains the mapping process. And if that looks a bit tricky; Invitbox can do it for you!

Invitbox is already working wonders for several businesses we work with. If you’re interested in implementing Invitbox within your business, don’t hesitate to contact us.