"Our controller insists on having access to everything," wrote an exasperated accounts payable manager after reading last week's e-zine. He wondered if other readers have run into this problem and, if so, how they had addressed it since it presents obvious internal control and segregation of duties issues. We suggested he get either internal audit and/or the outside auditors involved in the discussion to get the issue back under control. If the company is a public one, there would also be Sarbanes-Oxley considerations. We also said we'd ask our readers for suggestions. Please send your thoughts on this issue to publisher@ap-now.com and, as always, we'll share all comments with all respondents. You can also post your thoughts on this matter on the AP Now blog.

By the way, this is just one of the issues that will be addressed in the Internal Controls Webinar scheduled for April 17.

In addition to the discussion of the inappropriateness of any executive having access to all functions, there's a discussion of another one of my pet peeves, people who think accounts payable is no big deal . In fact, when people say that I have been known to go absolutely ballistic.

Remittance Advice Information Via e-Mail: What You Need to Know

While almost everyone agrees that electronic payments are the way to go, not everyone is actually on board. Paper checks are still the payment norm. One of the barriers to a higher acceptance of electronic payments has been the problems associated with transmitting remittance information. As the recent Association of Financial Professionals recent survey shows e-mail is fast becoming the delivery method du jour for remittance advice. Given this exploding interest, we undertook a review of the advances in the remittance delivery arena. Here's what we found.

Background

Before investigating the e-mail alternative let's look at the different ways you can deliver remittance information when making payments electronically. The principal alternatives include:

1) Via fax.
2) Via postal mail, which can be delivered directly to your vendor's accounts receivable department.
3) An EDI 820 transmission to bank or VAN (Value Added Network).
4) An e-mail with the pertinent information.

The sooner the information is received, the sooner the supplier can update its accounts receivable. This makes it less likely you will receive those productivity- zapping, "Where's my money?" calls after you've made the payment. Hence, if you are not EDI capable, e-mail is the best bet.

The rest of this article can be found in the April issue of Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow

This section could also be titled, "Why doesn't something like this ever happen to me?"

"Unclaimed property nets $1 million for Tulsa Woman" was the headline on a Tulsa Today News Story. A retired Tulsa woman recently received cash and stock worth more than $940,000 from Oklahoma's unclaimed property program. Certificates from inherited stock were destroyed and the woman thought the money was gone forever. The state tracked her down.

Our readers are generally not that lucky. Their encounters with unclaimed property are more likely to entail work and aggravation. Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow aims to make that task just a little bit easier. That's why we're bringing together three of the best minds in unclaimed property to present an all day seminar in Chicago on April 25. We hope you'll join us. It's just one month away.

We offer all issues as a single purchase. Simply check out our Web site and order away. We sell single issues of every issue of our newsletter for $29.95.

I'd like to share another feel-good story with you. This has nothing to do with accounts payable-and it's something you really shouldn't listen to at work. But, if you get home and are looking for an uplifting story, go to your computer, make sure the sound is on (a very good reason not to do this at work) and click on http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=exyJ2CSfrHo

Thanks for listening.

Mary Schaeffer
Accounts Payable Now & Tomorrow