Controller and CFO's Guide to Accounts Payable
As controller or CFO of your company, you may not realize the far-reaching impact of the decisions within the accounts payable (AP) process unless you are intimately involved in the particulars of AP's operations. You might be thinking, "What's the big deal? AP gets bills and pays them. How can that possibly take up a whole book?"Controller and CFO's Guide to Accounts Payable demonstrates that there is much more to AP than merely paying bills. Drawing on her extensive experience in the corporate financial community, author Mary Schaeffer unveils the myriad of tasks involved in this department and reveals what it actually takes to get these tasks done in the most cost-efficient manner while strengthening internal controls. Her unflinching look at the problems—and their best-practice solutions—shows readers effective ways to tackle the issues encountered between AP operations and the controller's or CFO's office to move on to excellence as a corporate whole.Controller and CFO's Guide to Accounts Payable is strategically divided into three segments:Part I focuses on the core functionality of the AP operation—the processing of invoices and ensuing paymentPart II turns its attention to specialty functions such as T&E;, 1099 Reporting, etc., that may or may not be handled by accounts payableFinally, Part III looks at management and oversight issues, explores the latest in fraud and financial crimes as well as the newest initiatives to put a stop to them, and the enduring impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley ActRefreshingly candid and witty in tone, Controller and CFO's Guide to Accounts Payable is required reading for any professional wanting to understand more about their organization's AP operations. It declares that AP is no longer a back-office function and underscores the reality that proper attention must be paid to this crucial department in order to run a leading edge and competitive company.