Robert Burns, in one of his well-known poems, ends it with this:
“O would some power with vision teach us
To see ourselves as others see us!
It would from many a blunder free us.”
Those who process payables sometime forget what those who process receivables need to see. In addition to receiving the money, they need to know exactly what is being paid. Is it payment on account, payment of certain invoices, or a government payment where specific information must accompany the payment? Has a discount been deducted? If this type of information has not been provided with the payment it must be obtained by other means, often a phone call to the payer.
Another problem for the accounts receivable department is receiving a string of credits to a bank account and numerous email notifications that a payment has been made. Better is the consolidation of the payments so that one bank deposit and one email equal the deposit covers numerous payments.
TelPay has based its payment system on its ability to see both the payment process and the receivable process. As electronic payment systems evolve, the efficiencies of the systems will grow with the ultimate aim being to have all transactions automatically flow from the bill payer to the biller.