Company: Wholesale Distribution Company
Industry: Wholesale & Distribution
Client Background
Our client is a Georgia-based wholesale distribution company supplying consumer goods, industrial products, and commercial supplies to retailers and businesses across the United States. With an extensive network of domestic and international suppliers, the company processed thousands of purchase transactions every month to maintain inventory availability and meet customer demand.
As the business expanded, the volume of supplier invoices increased significantly. The finance team was responsible for verifying invoices, matching them against purchase orders and receiving documents, resolving discrepancies, and obtaining approvals from multiple departments. Growing transaction volumes created processing delays, increased administrative complexity, and limited visibility into invoice workflows and outstanding liabilities.
To improve efficiency while maintaining strong financial controls, the company partnered with OBS for dedicated invoice processing support.
Client Challenges
- Rapid Growth in Supplier Invoice Volumes: Increasing purchasing activity across multiple product lines led to a substantial rise in supplier invoices, putting pressure on the finance team to process transactions quickly and accurately.
- Time-Consuming Invoice Validation: Every invoice required detailed verification against purchase orders, receiving reports, pricing agreements, and vendor information, creating delays in approvals and payments.
- Managing Invoice Exceptions: Duplicate invoices, pricing discrepancies, incomplete documentation, and data mismatches required additional investigation and manual intervention.
- Approval Workflow Delays: Invoices often remained pending while awaiting approvals from multiple stakeholders, affecting processing timelines and reducing visibility into payment obligations.
- Lack of Real-Time Process Visibility: Management had limited insight into invoice status, pending approvals, exception volumes, and processing performance, making it difficult to identify inefficiencies and optimize workflows.
Our Solutions
- Dedicated Invoice Processing Support: OBS deployed an experienced invoice processing team that worked as an extension of the client’s finance department, managing daily invoice workflows while adhering to established policies and controls.
- Invoice Validation and Purchase Order Matching: Our specialists verified invoice details against purchase orders, receiving documents, vendor records, and pricing agreements before processing, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
- Invoice Coding and Financial Data Management: We accurately coded invoices to the appropriate general ledger accounts and maintained structured financial records to improve reporting and downstream accounting processes.
- Invoice Exception Resolution: OBS proactively identified discrepancies, documented exceptions, and collaborated with finance and procurement teams to expedite issue resolution.
- Workflow Monitoring and Reporting: Customized dashboards and reporting mechanisms provided management with visibility into invoice status, pending approvals, turnaround times, and exception trends.
Results Achieved
Within five months, OBS transformed the company’s invoice processing operations, creating a more efficient, transparent, and scalable workflow capable of supporting continued business growth. Here’s how we delivered measurable impact:
- Processed more than 20,000 supplier invoices with 99.8% accuracy, significantly reducing processing errors and improving overall financial data integrity.
- Reduced invoice validation and processing turnaround time by 50%, accelerating approvals and enabling faster payment scheduling.
- Improved purchase order matching efficiency by 47%, streamlining verification processes and reducing administrative effort.
- Reduced invoice exception resolution time by 52%, enabling quicker investigation and resolution of pricing discrepancies, duplicate invoices, and documentation issues.
- Implemented real-time invoice tracking and reporting capabilities, providing leadership with greater visibility into processing performance and outstanding liabilities.
- Improved supplier satisfaction through timely invoice processing and faster issue resolution, strengthening vendor relationships and supporting supply chain continuity.
As a result, the company gained:
- Stronger financial controls through standardized invoice validation and processing procedures.
- Greater visibility into invoice workflows, approvals, and outstanding obligations.
- Reduced administrative burden on the finance team, allowing resources to be redirected toward higher-value activities.
- Faster invoice approvals and improved operational efficiency across departments.
- Enhanced supplier relationships through timely processing and proactive communication.
- A scalable invoice processing framework capable of supporting increasing transaction volumes without additional internal headcount.
With structured workflows, dedicated processing support, and enhanced reporting capabilities, the company transformed invoice management from a resource-intensive back-office function into a streamlined financial process that supports operational efficiency, financial control, and long-term growth.