Accelerate Invoicing: Kill Manual Entry and Speed Up Billing

Read Time: 4 minutes 

This is the second post in our Accelerate AR series—a four-part guide to transforming your invoice-to-cash process using embedded payments inside your ERP.

Today’s focus: why manual invoicing is costing you more than time—and how automation helps you bill faster with fewer errors.

Invoicing is the heartbeat of your cash flow. But for too many finance teams, it’s a process riddled with inefficiencies—manual tasks, outdated tools, and fragmented systems.

Despite having powerful ERPs in place, businesses often still rely on spreadsheets, email attachments, and disconnected billing workflows that slow everything down. The result isn’t just a little friction—it’s a direct hit to revenue and customer satisfaction.

Manual Entry Madness

Surprisingly, 53% of mid-market B2B companies still rely on spreadsheets to manage accounts receivable.
Source: e2b teknologies

That’s not just out of date—it’s risky.

Spreadsheets are static, siloed, and prone to human error. They can’t offer real-time visibility, and they certainly don’t scale with your business. When your team is spending hours each week copying invoice data between systems, the margin for error increases—and the cost of those mistakes adds up.

In fact, 94% of spreadsheets contain errors.
Source: Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth

Those errors often lead to incorrect invoice amounts, missing details, or formatting issues that delay payments and erode customer trust.

Delayed Invoicing, Delayed Payments

It’s not just the accuracy of invoices that matters—it’s the speed. Manual processes often delay invoice creation and delivery, especially when teams toggle between ERPs and third-party tools or rely on batch processing.

According to the Credit Research Foundation, 61% of late payments are due to administrative errors or invoices arriving too late.

That’s a staggering stat. It means most of your payment delays may have nothing to do with customer behavior—and everything to do with internal bottlenecks.

And with every delay, cash flow takes a hit.

Why Speed and Accuracy Matter Now More Than Ever

In a fast-paced, digital-first economy, outdated invoicing doesn’t just cause frustration—it limits your ability to grow.

Here’s why:

• Delayed billing = delayed revenue. The longer it takes to issue invoices, the longer it takes to collect.
• Manual effort scales poorly. As your business grows, AR teams become overwhelmed by volume—leading to burnout, more errors, and slower collections.
• Customer relationships suffer. Mistakes or delays create friction, damage trust, and increase the likelihood of disputes or payment holds.
• Reporting is unreliable. Without real-time data, finance leaders can’t forecast accurately or respond to changes quickly.

Modern businesses need more than spreadsheets and email attachments. They need embedded workflows that move at the speed of business.

What Automated Invoicing Looks Like

Imagine this: A sale is completed. The ERP system instantly pulls the right billing information and generates a professional, branded invoice—automatically.

The invoice is emailed to the customer immediately, with a secure link to pay online. If payment isn’t made within a few days, a polite reminder is sent—automatically, based on the rules your team has set.

Meanwhile, your AR team has a live dashboard showing exactly which invoices are pending, which are overdue, and which are paid. No digging. No spreadsheets. No delays.

That’s what AR acceleration looks like—and it starts with invoicing.

How to Modernize Your Invoicing Workflow

Most modern ERPs already have the capability to support embedded payments and AR automation. The key is tapping into those native features and eliminating your reliance on disconnected tools.

Here are three areas to focus on:

• Automate invoice generation. Look for tools that pull directly from ERP data to reduce errors and avoid manual entry.
• Digitize invoice delivery. Replace printouts and attachments with direct-to-inbox emails that include payment options.
• Set smart follow-ups. Use rule-based reminders to ensure consistent collections without the need for manual outreach.

By focusing on these improvements, your team can move faster, reduce mistakes, and improve customer experience—all without switching platforms.

Embedded Invoicing: A Smarter Way Forward

Modern ERPs already offer powerful tools for automating invoicing—but tapping into those features often requires the right configuration and support. That’s where embedded payment solutions come in.

By integrating invoicing and payment capabilities directly into your ERP, you create a more cohesive, automated workflow. Invoices can be generated and delivered instantly, payment options can be included up front, and follow-ups can run on autopilot—reducing delays and manual effort.

For finance teams, that means more time for strategic work, fewer errors, and better visibility across the billing cycle.

What’s Next in the Series

Modern invoicing sets the stage for faster payments. In the next post, we’ll explore how embedded payment options remove friction for your customers—and accelerate collections for your team.

Take the Next Step

Talk to Fortis and discover how automated invoicing inside your ERP can help you move faster—with fewer errors and a better experience for everyone involved.