Introduction:
Accounts payables are the balances owed by the company to its vendors when they supply goods or services to the company. The company increases its accounts payable as the vendor supplies the goods to the company on credit.
Accounts payables are credited while goods or supplies are debited. Accounts payables are of a credit nature and are placed under the current liabilities of the balance sheet.
The roles of accounts payable managers or accounts payable departments in a company are the functions they perform to control their accounts payables efficiently. In the following section, we will look at the roles an accounts payable department or accounts payable manager in a company performs.
Roles and responsibilities of an accounts payable manager/Department:
The role of the accounts payable department is to provide administrative and financial support to the company in its circle.
They perform the responsibilities to control expenses, process payments related to accounts payable balances and verify and reconcile invoices from vendors.
The role of the accounts payable department also includes processing payments to its creditors on a timely basis and efficiently. The following are some of the roles specified for the accounts payable department/manager in a company.
1) Processing payable documents:
The accounts payable department has to keep track of all the invoices from its vendors, compare them to purchase orders and goods received notes to reconcile the data they will be processing or making the subsequent payments.
Other than that, they keep a record of all previous payments and all the expenses the company has incurred on credit.
2) Reconciling Reports:
The company has to prepare and reconcile many reports supporting accounts payables balances. This includes verifying the entries that lead to these balances of payables and reconciling them to different reports to verify that balances are correct.
3) Make payments on time:
One of the vital roles of the accounts payable department is to make payments to its vendors on time that they have agreed on before.
This is critical because the company has to build trust with the vendors to supply goods on time and more loose terms with the company and in cases even if the company is in the worst financial difficulties.
4) Making payments to its employees:
One role of the company is to track a record of payments due to employees of the company. The accounts payable department has to prepare their reports and make sure that correct payments with paychecks are processed. This can be assisted with confirming the balances against other reports.
5) Prepare reports for the company on a monthly basis:
It is the company’s responsibility to prepare monthly reports and analyses to present them to the top management to make informed decisions and keep liquidity ratios on track.
These reports should also present information about whether the vendors are paid on time and if they have any outstanding payments.
6) Payables process:
The accounts payable department has to make sure that the accounts payable process is up to date and that it is fulfilling the needs of the company.
They should assess the performance of this process with time and make sure that all stakeholders are satisfied with the process.
