With unemployment at a record high, loan payment risks are certain to increase over the coming months and years. Adopt a risk management approach that will address risks beyond the here and now.

Is your credit union worried about how to handle the uptick in uninsured collateral and delinquencies? Hear how to adopt proactive, borrower-friendly strategies to better predict and manage these pandemic-related portfolio risks.

Recent trends indicate that consumers don't stick to just one approach when searching for and purchasing auto and home insurance. While personal interaction is still important, experts recommend a newer multi-channel approach to meeting your members where they are today. Listen for some innovative ideas on how your credit union can deliver more value to your members by helping them evaluate and choose insurance options.

In this episode, we're talking about how to align your payments strategies with shifting consumer behavior. This process is more complex now than ever before, as credit unions face a slew of pandemic-related revenue disruptions. Gain insights on recent data, shifts in the payments landscape, and how to address upcoming deadlines in critical vendor contracts.

In this episode, we're delving into data selection, and why adjusting your data is even more important than forecasting. Gain insights into how to best utilize your data in your models.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the US economy hard in the spring of 2020, yet many credit unions have yet to see the full impacts on their loan portfolios. While government stimulus and proactive steps by lenders have helped borrowers stay afloat, credit challenges are still likely on the horizon. Credit unions can prepare now by leveraging portfolio analytics to spot trouble before it arrives, and have the right processes in place for when it does.

Today we are discussing how to automate vendor invoice auditing to improve your bottom line. The impact of unchecked vendor management is estimated to cost organizations and an average of 9.2% of their bottom lines. A big part of the problem is the lack of time allocated for auditing high-value vendor invoices.

I am talking with Michael Carter today. Michael is the Executive Vice President of SRM. He is going to share some insight on using automation to track and audit major contracts and invoices to reduce overhead, increase productivity, uncover cost savings, and improve quality.

In This Episode:

[00:49] I am joined by Michael Carter, Executive Vice President at SRM.

[02:04] Now is the most important time to be looking at back-office operations and trying to determine if there are ways to access low hanging fruit and turn that into some costs savings at a time when that asset is precious.

[02:48] Michael's firm has audited invoices for credit unions for 28 years and they found about 1 in 10 invoices have significant errors in them.

[04:32] Financial institutions are not auditing their vendor invoices in the way they should be audited.

[04:39] The common way to audit is that the payables department will take the last month's invoice and compare it to this month's invoice. If the totals are within margin then they will be paid.

[05:35] Auditing invoices is a perfect area for applying automation. There are inexpensive bundles of automation that credit unions can use on their own or services they can get to compare the invoice to all prior invoices and the fee schedule.

[07:35] There are variables in the contracts that move constantly.

[08:43] Automating is almost like a type of insurance going forward because our contracts are living, breathing things and they change, and therefore the invoice changes. It is also a more professional way to handle vendors.

[09:39] The first step for Michael's firm is to always sit down and talk with them about what their major high-value critical vendors are and then they take their bundle of invoices.

[10:09] Every vendor invoice is different by category and also within a category.

[11:39] He suggests starting with a simple first step and three critical vendors.

[13:06] You release human capital to be used in other places in your back office. If the machine finds an error you also save the money before you pay the invoice.

[14:53] They typically take 1% of the total value of the invoice with a bottom number. The more invoices you get audited the less the percent.

[15:43] Often one big find can pay for years and years of service.

Links and Resources:

NAFCU

SRM

Michael on LinkedIn

Tweetables:

"Now is the most important time to be looking at back-office operations and trying to determine if there are ways to access low hanging fruit and turn that into some cost savings at a time when that asset is precious." - Michael Carter

"Every vendor invoice is different by category and also within a category." - Michael Carter

"Financial institutions are not auditing their vendor invoices in the way they should be audited." -Michael Carter

Mobile banking usage has grown exponentially with the pandemic. Hear how to leverage the increased usage and demand for on-demand channels to enhance member service, marketing, growth, and risk strategies.

Learn what other credit unions have done to keep their loan, deposit, and member growth thriving throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Also in this episode, hear about strategies you should consider to future-proof against risks yet-to-come, such as a resurgence of the pandemic.

Join us for a discussion on why student loan refinancing and private student loan participations may be right for your institution to stay competitive and attract younger members. Learn how to expand your portfolio, diversify your assets, and grow yield through student lending loan participations.