UK universities risk losing more than £2 million a year on average from disputed invoices, according to Freedom of Information requests by Quadient, a leader in helping businesses create meaningful customer connections through digital and physical channels.
A series of requests exploring data from 1st August 2022 until 31st July 2023, found that despite 100% of universities digitising their Accounts Payable (AP) processes, for example via email or online portals, many still cannot overcome invoicing challenges. With each university receiving on average nearly 50,000 invoices a year, ongoing processing issues not only impact the productivity of finance teams but the financial health of the university.
The FOI laid bare the challenges universities face in the invoicing process, including:
- 69% of universities have paid an invoice late, worth on average £37 million a year;
- 33% have had a supplier or customer dispute an invoice, potentially leading to lost revenues, damaged relations, or worse payment terms
“It is encouraging to see that universities have digitised invoice processing, but there is clearly still a lot of work needed to help finance teams work effectively,” said Karim Ben-Jaafar, Senior Vice President of Quadient AP. “The problem with just digitising the process is that things can still fall into the cracks. Given the huge number of invoices and large sums that universities process each year, these findings are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg. At a time of economic uncertainty and when many institutions are under pressure, these inefficient processes increase the risk mistakes that could cripple the university’s finances.”
“Universities need a more intelligent way of dealing with invoices because the current process is inefficient,” continued Ben-Jaafar. “When so many people are responsible for approvals and there is no clear audit trail, it’s easy to lose sight of who has ultimate responsibility. But that creates a messy web of invoices that can easily end up with invoices not getting paid or even worse, being paid twice. Digitising Account Payable processes is a great first step but isn’t enough on its own. Universities need a smarter way to streamline the finance function, and to gain the visibility to understand when something has gone wrong, and quickly fix it. This ability will give staff the time and resources to focus on the important work that universities do.”
Quadient is the driving force behind the world’s most meaningful customer experiences. By focusing on three key solution areas, Intelligent Communication Automation, Parcel Locker Solutions and Mail-Related Solutions, Quadient helps simplify the connection between people and what matters. Quadient supports hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide in their quest to create relevant, personalised connections and achieve customer experience excellence.