Institute of Financial Operations - North Texas Chapter
3Q 2015 Meeting Minutes
The quarterly meeting of the North Texas Chapter of the Institute of Financial Operations was held on August 19, 2015 atthe offices of Sabre, Inc. in Southlake, Texas. Lunch and networking started at 11:00 AM.
Sandy Champion, President of the NTIFO chapter, opened the meeting. She announced that this is her last meeting as President of the chapter. We can never thank Sandy enough for all the hard work and support that she has given to this organization over the many years that she has been our President. We will miss her leadership of the chapter, but she will remain our friend and mentor. Wehope that she will be back to attend our meetings when she can. We look forward to her roving reporter commentaries about fraud!
Attendee introductions were made. Thanks go out toPhil Binkow with Financial Operations Network for providing a nice lunch for our meeting. Phil even provided Sandy’s favorite barbeque! Many thanks go out, as well, to Carrie Chambers with Sabre for providing the room. Sabre has provided the room for our meetings many times over the years and we appreciate their generosity.
Tom Lyman, Vice President and soon-to-be President of the chapter, introduced our featured speaker, Phil Binkow, founder and CEO of Financial Operations Network.
The Impact of Self-Service Applications on Accounts Payable and its Customers
If you have ever used an airline website, travel site, or Amazon, you have experienced self-service. It is the preferred method for most people. It empowers customers to do what they want, when they want, and get instant results 24/7. On the other side, it provides a platform for analytics and reduces cost.
Accounts payable receives continual communication related to new vendor onboarding, verification, lost invoices, and payment information. The number of AP customers can easily run into the hundreds, if not thousands. Vendors, employees, Procurement, Treasury, Governments, upper management, and more are all customers of AP and the demands on our time seem to never cease. The AP staff is responsible for managing payments, compliance, and the relationships to all of these internal and external customers. An AP department seldom has the resources to provide the stellar service that is desired.
It is estimated that between 3% and 15% of all invoice volume is inquired upon. Companies are increasing collections activity. Our vendors have the responsibilities of managing their aged accounts receivable and meet working capital targets. Incorrect invoicing is another issue that takes up a lot of our time. Pricing, addresses, contact information require continual communication. Maintaining good supplier relations is vital to get the best pricing and prevent shipment delays.
The cost of having a dedicated response team in AP is prohibitive, and it rarely exists. The average inquiry takes between 5 and 20 minutes. AP doesn’t always have all of the answers and frequently has to contact others for information. The frustration of not being able to provide timely answers affects staff morale as well as customer service.
Having an automated self-service solution is a best practice for AP to provide the best customer service and mitigate exception items to your process. A self-service solution is available 24/7. Besides providing payment information, these systems can allow the vendors to enter their own W9/W8 information, make address changes, etc.
The service is provided as a software-as-a-solution system. Files are sent from the client’s ERP system to the service, typically each night. The information in the files goes into a big database. The files normally include vendor numbers (not vendor names), invoice numbers, dates, amount, statuses, and payment information. Vendors are given instructions to use the system to get payment information, not to call or email the client. They are able to get check numbers or other payment information as well as see which invoices were paid. If there are short-pays, they can see the reason. A large client was able to reduce the AP staff by nine people.
You can point the vendors to the system for onboarding. The vendor forms can be available for them in the system. The system can provide TIN-matching, verify addresses, check OFAC lists, and other time-consuming tasks. Vendors can upload invoice copies to the system, if needed.
The vendor must have final approval by a person before it will be added to the client’s system or added to the vendor portal. Workflow can be used to send the vendor information for approval by multiple people, if needed. All companies have a different process for this. The existing procedures can be built into the system, and some companies are able to achieve even better security that they had when doing this process manually.
More and more companies do not use passwords for the payment inquiry screens. This cuts out the additional work of continually resetting passwords for vendors. The vendors must enter two or more pieces of information. Most companies will ask for invoice number, invoice date and invoice amounts.
A high level of security is built into these systems. There are a finite number of times that they can enter information before they get locked out. The portal is not connected to your internal systems so it does not contain sensitive information. If someone was able to hack into the vendor portal, all he would see is a bunch of numbers. He would not see pricing or vendor names.
Phil took several questions from the attendees. Everyone appreciated his presentation and insight into this valuable service.
Chapter Business
Information andOfficer Updates - Sandy Champion – President
Sandy had additional handouts about the Generational Report Card, talking about how different generations (traditional, baby boomers, generation X, millennials, etc.) affect the workplace. This is such an interesting topic. As more people live longer and work longer, we will be working with multiple generations. We will need to appreciate and respect the viewpoints of all ages to work together effectively.
With Sandy’s departure as our President, the chapter officers as of September 1, 2015 are:
President: Tom Lyman (the focal representative for National, leads chapter meetings, leads the other officers)
Vice President: Tonya Fyke (assists President, organizes speakers, location, and food for meetings, door prize management)
Membership Chair: Anita Poyner (sends out meeting invitations, manages chapter funds, works with National to grow membership, shares information that guests need to consider joining IFO)
Webmaster: Joanna Wilson (provides website content to National, distributes emails of interest to members, assists members with profile updates)
Historian: Jan Wallace (takes meeting minutes, meeting attendance records for CAPP and CAPA credits, manages elections)
The chapter agreed with these selections. We eliminated the Secretary position for the time being and redistributed some of the responsibilities. The next elections will take place in November 2016. Everybody needs to think about running for office in 2016!
Membership and Bank Account Update - Anita Poyner
We now have 209 members in our chapter, including 74 member organizations. We have added 48 new members in 2015, which puts us ahead of where we were this time last year. We are still growing!
As of the end of May, we had a balance of $254 in our chapter bank account, earned from chapter rebates and book sales. We have cashed out the bank account and have purchased gift cards to use for door prizes at our meetings. These will last through the next three or four meetings.
Website/Email update and Books – Joanna Wilson
Since Joanna will be sending out the chapter emails, she will be getting all of the undeliverable bounce-backs. She will notify National of members who are not getting emails. If other chapter members exist for the same company, she will check on the undeliverable recipients with them, as well.
Expense Report News and Fraud Updates – Sandy Champion
Sandy discussed a very funny story about Buzz Aldrin having to submit and expense report when he went to the moon. He expensed $33.31 to go all the way to the moon and back! You can read the online article about this by searching “Buzz Aldrin’s expense report” on the internet. On a more recent note, 33% of business travelers do not submit expenses for reimbursement because it is too much trouble to do an expense report. 60% report that they have experienced difficulty paying personal expenses while waiting for reimbursement. Some companies take up to five weeks to reimburse business expenses. Sandy reported that more people are taking Uber than cabs now. If you have ever used Uber, you know that it is easier, cheaper, and more pleasant than most taxis.
After being indicted for her role in stealing $16 million dollars, the wife of a former Collin Street Bakery employee has pled guilty to money laundering. She will receive a reduced prison sentence of no more than three years. She admitted to helping her husband spend the money he embezzled from the bakery during the years that was the controller with the company. Her husband now faces 60 years in prison and repaying the money. Only in Texas could a fruitcake company even have $16 million dollars to steal. Kudos to the new accounting clerk who started asking the questions that finally identified the source of its lean profits. All companies must be vigilant against fraud!
Identity Theft Update, Death Master, and Regional Forum – Tonya Fyke
The IRS sends periodic emails that can be quite informative. You can sign up for these online. A recent one in July had to do with identity theft of tax returns. There was an uptick in the number of fraudulent tax returns this year. The perpetrators obtain tax information for an individual, file a fraudulent tax return as soon as the season opens, and receive a refund. Then, when the real person files his taxes, the IRS tells him that his taxes have been filed and a refund has already been paid. This has become a huge issue in Florida, Georgia, and Washington DC. If you file taxes in these states, or have been a victim of identity theft, you can now apply for an IP PIN (Identity Protection Personal Identification Number). This provides an extra precaution against IRS identity fraud. See the IRS website for the form to apply for the IP PIN.
Another way that people are filing fraudulent tax returns is by obtaining information from the Social Security Administration’s Death Master. The Death Master contains 86 million names. Fraudulent IRS tax returns have been filed under names on the list and some have actually gotten through. Two million new records are added to the Death Master each year. These records normally come from the states. Sometimes people will get on the Death Master in error and they are actually still alive. This can create huge issues with banks, as bank accounts for deceased individuals are normally locked. The Social Security Administration is paying benefits to 200,000 people over the age of 110!
Regional Forum Information
If non-members want to attend the Regional Forum in November, they can sign up for a free trial membership. Then they can register for the Regional Forum. Several topics have been scheduled for the Forum, including:
Taking Your Vendor Master to the Next Level
Five Keys to Building Leaders, Not Managers
Meeting News - Sandy Champion
Wednesday, November 19 & 20, 2015 – Regional IFO Forum (more information below)
2016 IFO Fusion is April 18th through 21st in Anaheim, California.
The IOFM has a 2015 Forum in October 25th through 28th, in Las Vegas.
We need facilities and food for our 2016 meetings!
Surprises for Sandy!
Sandy received some lovely parting gifts at her grand finale meeting! We had a big card signed by the chapter with lots of well wishes. Ken Brown and National sent Sandy a beautiful glass plaque designatingthat she is a Lifetime Member of the IFO. There were flowers, M&Ms, and a bag of barbeque for Sandy to take home, and a big cake for the celebration. Tom had a special door prize bag for her containing the best of the SWAG over the years, including a whoopee cushion, toys from IFO, and the famous “note clip” from KPMG!
We will miss Sandy! Although things may never be the same, we will do our best to continue with her good work and make her proud. We look forward to her visits to our meetings!
Upcoming 2015 chapter meetings:
Wednesday, November 19 & 20, 2015 – Regional IFO Forum
Cocktail reception to be held on November 19th
North Texas Regional IFO Forum – A one-day Mini Forum on November 20th
Cost: $59.99 per member
Facility: Embassy Suites Market Center, 2727 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas, TX 75207
Food: IFO
Contact: Ken Brown & Kimberly Chatfield, IFO
Future Meeting, date to be determined: Texas State Securities Board, 1099 Filing Updates
Upcoming 2016 chapter meetings:
Wednesday, February 16, 2016
Wednesday, May 18, 2016
Wednesday, August 17, 2016
Wednesday, November 16, 2016
If you have a facility, topic idea, or would like to provide lunch for a meeting in 2016, please contact one of the IFO officers.
Door prize winners were:
$50 Visa gift card from the NTIFO chapter: Darlene with Freeman
$25 Visa gift card from the NTIFO chapter: Judy with Novartis
$25 Visa gift card from the NTIFO chapter: Vickie with City of Southlake
Mari with TI won a Global Edge bag, IBML freebies, Commerce Bank phone holder, Lexmax mug, IFO toy, CPRS toy, and a Kofax phone cover.
Jennifer with Dean Foods won an American Express bag, Lavante ball, Recall bin, IFO toy, IFO ball, pen Apptricity toy, and a C-Tabs mug.
Kimberly with Novartis won a Global Edge bag, Corcentric shirt, Safety-Kleen pill box, Accounting Principles mug, US Bank compass, MTS toy, pens, and a CPRS toy.
Linda with NCH Co won a Trinity bag, Catch Me if you Can book, Group One mug, Commerce Bank phone holder, PRGX mints, IFO toy, Tungsten mug, and an IBML toy.
The meeting adjourned at 1:00.
Jan Wallace
Historian
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