Corporate treasury operations are awash in paper, and a new report by J.P. Morgan (NYSE: JPM) outlines how they can achieve a more sustainable, paperless future.
Migrating to electronic Treasury processes can have a measurable impact
on a corporation’s carbon footprint as large Treasury operations can
easily generate 5.5 tons of paper each year–the equivalent of 143
trees and 106 tons of greenhouse gasses. Since J.P. Morgan Treasury
Services’ began its “Go Green” campaign in 2007 the company says it has
helped Treasury clients eliminate more than 101 million paper documents
and save three million pounds of paper annually.
The report, “Sustainable Treasury Management: It’s Easier Than You Think,” highlights a number of best practices to help Treasury departments move toward a “zero-return” environment, including the following:
- Reengineering Receivables. Many Treasury departments still spend time and money manually entering receivable and invoice information into their accounts receivable system to track payment status. Image capture and data capture in conjunction with web based data repositories provide faster and easier access to documentation and eliminate the cost of transporting paper from lockbox locations. Treasury staff can then use their bank’s online channel to improve internal workflow, receive automated exception notices and make same-day exception decisions.
- Streamlining Disbursements. An online disbursement platform can significantly reduce the resources and hours required to initiate payments, research payment status and reconcile accounts. These platforms also reduce risk by providing safeguards against check fraud.
- Online Reports and Statements. Treasury departments are deluged with reports of all kinds. Bringing these reports online eliminates boxes of paper statements and the storage fees associated with them. With an electronic archive, Treasury staff can use the Search feature to locate specific transactions and other data.
- Document Security. Paper documents pose significant security and business continuity risks. A paperless environment turns them into electronic images that are stored in a central online repository that can restrict access to sensitive information. New workflow processes can be developed for creating, saving, filing and accessing documents that factor in security and disaster recovery requirements, as well as regulatory considerations.
A free copy of the report is available at the link below.
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