Businesses losing out on £6.7 billion by using out of date accounting systems

Research carried out by Barclaycard found that more than one-fifth of finance officers consider their accounting software is outdated, while 16 per cent revealed that companies are not making the most of early payment discounts, losing an estimated £6.7 billion each year.

According to the study, suppliers who now offer pre-agreed discounts for paying before their standard payment terms already saves companies £14.4 billion a year, equating to around £75,389 per business.

The greatest shared concern to investing in finance technology is an inflexible culture, the study revealed 40 per cent of businesses that have not invested in their software in the past five years cite ‘resistance to change’ as one of the main reasons.

The study asked how current systems could be upgraded, more than four in ten would like more automation, and nearly a third said they would like to add functionality that automatically matches supplier invoices against purchase orders.

Marc Pettican, Managing Director of Barclaycard’s commercial payments division, said: “finance bosses have a critical responsibility of driving growth by optimising their business’ financial performance.”

“Our research shows that CFOs that embrace technology not only achieve tangible savings for their organisation, they also streamline business processes and paperwork, even when faced with resistance to change.”

“The latest innovations in B2B payments, such as integrating payments directly into the procurement journey, can save finance teams significant time and effort, helping them capitalise on early payment discounts more often.”

If you are concerned that your accounting software is becoming dated and feel you could be missing out of potential early payment discounts, then contact our team today for a discussion on the full range of accountancy services we have available to you.