Accounting Best Practices, Fifth Edition

3–15. Request That Suppliers Enter Invoices through a Web Site

A company may be experiencing some difficulty in persuading its suppliers to switch over to the transmission of invoices by EDI, which would allow it to automatically process all incoming invoices without any data rekeying. A typical complaint when this request is made is that special EDI software must be purchased and stored in a separate computer, while someone must be trained, not only in how to use the software, but also in how to reformat the invoicing data into the format used by the EDI transaction. This problem can be partially avoided by having suppliers access a Web site where they can conduct the data entry.

By having suppliers enter data into a Web site instead of through an EDI transaction, they can avoid the need for any special software that is stored on an in-house computer. A Web site merely requires Internet access, which is commonly available through most computers. Once the data has been entered at the Web site, a company can shift the data to an automated EDI transaction processing program that will convert the data into an EDI format and transmit it to the company’s accounting system. Thus, suppliers can use either EDI or Web-based data entry to send invoices to a company, which will process them both in EDI format.

There are some costs associated with this best practice. One is that the company may have to use special discounts or early payments to convince suppliers to use the Web site, rather ...