| Electronic payment information pertaining to other countries can be found at sites on the Internet. The Canadian Payments Association maintains a site at http://www.cdnpay.ca/imis15/eng/Home/eng/Default.aspx. Information on electronic payments in the United Kingdom can be found at www.electronic-payments.co.uk, maintained by Scottish Enterprise and UK online for business. Using electronic invoicing in The Netherlands can be read about at this site, www.nl.pwcglobal.com/extweb/bn/taxnews.nsf/Public/OM58318, maintained by PriceWaterhouseCoopers. The Bank of International Settlements maintains a resource center on payment and settlement systems at this site, www.bis.org/cpss/index.htm. Information on payment and securities settlement systems in the European Union can be found at this site, www.ecb.int/paym/market/blue/html/index.en.html, maintained by the European Central Bank. The process of electronic payments using the Internet is evolving. This evolution seems to be establishing a distinct difference, namely the fees involved, between ACH network and Internet electronic payments. The preferred payment process that a company chooses, e.g. paper checks, ACH transfers, or Internet payments, is probably highly correlated to the cost of the process chosen. In very general terms, check payments is materially (makes a difference) less than ACH payments, and check payments therefore continued to be used extensively as an alternative to ACH payments. This may change with Internet payments, which may end up being materially less costly than payments by checks. However, the exact future of Internet-generated payments seems unclear, on the assumption that technological, sociological, legal, economic, security and other uncertainties need to become less uncertain. Should and as these uncertainties clear, and as they clear in favor of Internet payments, a major change will likely come to accounts payable preferred payment methods. The US Department of Treasury and its Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) is now accepting tax payments from companies and individuals over the Internet at this site www.eftps.gov. Additional information on EFTPS and payments to the US government can be found at www.fms.treas.gov/eftps/index.html. The National Automated Clearinghouse Association (NACHA) maintains an information resource site at www.ebilling.org. The focus of this site is to assist both companies and individuals in the use of electronic billings and payments using the Internet. This “mega” site has dozens of links to sites with Internet payment information: www.semper.org/sirene/outsideworld/ecommerce.html, created by Michael Waidner. 5. Internal Control and Auditing. A very valuable Internet resource, with accounts payable internal control and auditing information, is Jim Kaplan’s Auditnet site at www.auditnet.org/Search.htm. The best way, for me, to use this site is to search the site with the Google site search system. Several accounts payable audit programs and checklists can be found and read. Like for other accounting functions, various accounts payable-related documents should be retained for periods of time. The accounting group, Sterck, Kulick, and O’Neill, has at this site, www.skocpa.com/document_retention_recommendation.htm, a list of business documents, including documents that support the accounts payable and purchase functions, that should be retained, with recommended retention periods. The Association of Information Management Professional’s site, www.arma.org, is a useful resource for finding information on many aspects of records management, such as the identity of various records important to different industrial sectors. 6. Ratio Analysis and Company Performance Measurements. Like many other accounting functions, accounts payable reports on amounts that are useful in certain company-wide performance measurements, such as current and quick ratios, days in accounts payable, and accounts payable turnovers. This site www.crfonline.org/orc/cro/cro-16.html, offers a good list, with explanations, of ratios useful in company performance measurements, including ratios that use amounts reported on by the accounts payable function. 7. Conclusion. This article identifies approximately 55 Internet sites that provide useful information related to the accounts payable function in such areas as: · Purchasing · Prices · Accounting · Processes · Procedures · Polices · Internal Control · Auditing · Performance Measurements · Payments The Internet represents a powerful tool in being able to quickly provide a wide range of useful information needed by accounts payable specialists and management accountants during their day-to-day activities. The approximately 55 sites identified in this article can be quickly linked to by going to one of the 28 topics listed on the right side of the Management Accounting Information Center’s homepage and clicking a topic most related to the information at the site. Sites identified in this article are linked to from one of these front-page topics: · Accounts receivable, accounts payable, inventory, and working capital · Banking, debt, and cash management · Costs – accounting, management, and other aspects · Internal controls · Legal information for management accountants · Quantitative analysis and decision-making · Taxation – federal and state income, employment, property, sales, and other taxes end Please click here if you would like to comment on this article or make a suggestion for another article topic. Please click here to go to the Management Accounting Information Center's homepage. |
| page 3/final page |
| Available Internet Information for Supporting the Accounts Payable Function |