Electronic Bill Payment Makes Life Easier

About ten years ago I started paying my bills online through my bank's processing service. Back then I was using Rhode Island Hospital Trust's online system and it actually had more features available than the system I currently use. Of course we all know what happened to Rhode Island Hospital Trust Bank, but today paying bills via electronic funds transfer or having the bank prepare and process checks based on the consumer's instructions has never been safer or easier.

Paying bills is no longer the chore it once was with envelopes and postage. And of course I don't miss the occasional surprise of finding a bill ready for mailing in the jacket pocket of a suit I wore ten days ago, that I had intended to mail on that day in order to have it reach my vendor on time. Now I simply tell the bank who to pay and when to pay it, scheduling the payment on the last possible day in order to maximize the float and keep my money working at the magic interest rate of less than 1 percent!

All of the information can be integrated into Quicken or Quickbooks which allows me to track where my money is being spent.

Now CPA's can offer the same kind of functionality to clients with a few more bells and whistles that make it attractive to business environments. Working with a secure third party vendor utilizing a portal, electronic bill pay is available to businesses along with a system that stores and catalogs bills, essentially creating the paperless environment. The system also allows for the routing of bills for approvals and prompts all the responsible parties to the process so that everyone knows if there is something in the cue for them to deal with. It also allows for better tracking.

All this is accomplished without loss of control. Another by-product is that the system provides a great transaction history or audit trail which should contribute to audit efficiency. This system does not come without a cost, however, but that cost is illustrated to be much less than working with paper, stamps and envelopes.

If this is something you thing you would be interested in learning more about, please contact me at frankd@pgco.com.