If you run an architecture, engineering, or consulting firm, you know that great project work doesn't pay the bills. Getting paid for that work does. But when payments aren't connected to your project financials, the lifeblood of any A&E or consulting firm, your team spends valuable time bridging the gap, manually reconciling transactions, and working across multiple systems just to keep your books accurate. Whether you are on electronic payments or paper checks, distributing paper invoices in the mail or via email, chasing down accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP), and manually reconciling accounts receivable can eat hours every week — hours your accounting team would rather spend on other projects.
Vantagepoint Payments is designed to change that. Now that both AR and AP automation are available, Vantagepoint users can digitally transform the entire cash flow cycle — getting paid by clients faster and paying vendors more efficiently — all without leaving Vantagepoint.
The Problem with Manual Payment Processes
If your firm is still relying on paper checks and email invoices or using a payment portal that isn’t integrated with your ERP, you're likely feeling the pain on both sides of your balance sheet.
On the AR side, sending paper or email invoices and waiting for client checks to arrive is labor-intensive and unpredictable. Manually depositing checks and reconciling check or ACH payments against invoices takes time, creates room for error, and makes it hard to know at any given moment exactly where your receivables stand. Delayed client payments directly impact your cash flow and your ability to pay your own bills on time.
On the AP side, printing and mailing checks to vendors, manually processing invoices, and managing paper records add up to high administrative costs and risk. Manual data entry leads to mistakes — duplicate payments, wrong amounts, missed invoices — and fixing those errors takes time your accounting team doesn't have. Without a streamlined process, AP approvals get stuck, payments get delayed, and vendor relationships can suffer.
Introducing Vantagepoint Payments Built for A&E and Consulting Firms
Vantagepoint Payments seamlessly integrates with Vantagepoint to streamline both your AR and AP processes, giving you visibility into all payments from a single place within the ERP your team already uses every day.
AR Automation: Get Paid Faster
With Vantagepoint Payments: AR Automation, you can enable clients to pay invoices electronically through a secure online payment portal, so you get paid faster without changing how you create and approve invoices in Vantagepoint.
Here's how it works: Once a client invoice is approved in Vantagepoint's billing review process, the invoice detail and a PDF of the invoice are synced to the Vantagepoint Payments payment portal. Your invoice is emailed to the client billing contact, with a "Pay Now" or click-to-pay link automatically. Your client clicks the link, pays via ACH or credit/debit card through a secure portal, and the payment details are synced back to Vantagepoint, where they are associated with an invoice, project, and customer. This makes reconciliation as easy as a few clicks when reviewing and approving the entry, eliminates errors from manual entry and manual reconciliation, and makes it easy to reconcile hundreds or thousands of payments.
And remain in control of your banking information and reduce your exposure to fraud as there is no longer a need to share banking data with your customers. Both parties remain in control of their banking data, decreasing risk for both parties.
Key benefits for A&E and consulting firms:
- Accept digital payments (ACH, credit card, debit card) from clients
- Reduce time spent reconciling client payments
- Reduce days sales outstanding (DSO) by providing “Pay Now” links and fast settlement
- Provide clients with a self-service payment experience, including access to invoice history and stored payment methods
- Keep Vantagepoint as your system of record throughout the entire process
AP Automation: Streamline How You Pay Vendors
Vantagepoint Payments: AP Automation helps you replace the manual vendor payment process with a secure, digital alternative; all managed from within Vantagepoint.
With fraud on the rise, this gives you another tool to protect your banking information from bad actors. One process that is clearly defined with total visibility into each step helps counter internal fraud. And the use of a third party to manage and update vendor data means you have one less thing to do, and that any updated vendor data is thoroughly vetted.
Use Vantagepoint's AI-powered Intelligent Character Recognition (ICR) tool to capture and automatically populate key details from AP invoices — including purchase order numbers, amounts, and vendor information — directly into AP vouchers, and leverage Vantagepoint's configurable approval workflows to route invoices for review and sign-off before payment is issued to the vendor. Once AP vouchers are approved, a single electronic payment file is sent to our AP Automation partner, who makes payments on your behalf. No more printing checks, generating multiple files for multiple payment methods, or following up on payments that you’ve made. Manage and track all outbound payments in a single place, so you always know who has been paid and which payments are outstanding. And by using a Deltek-vetted, trusted service partner to process payments through a secure digital portal, you can reduce fraud risk and maintain full audit trails for every transaction.
Key benefits for A&E and consulting firms:
- Replace manual check printing or generating multiple payment files with a single AP flow
- Manage all AP payments in one place within Vantagepoint
- Reduce payment fraud risk with audit trails for every payment type
- Turn AP into a potential profit center by earning rebates when paying vendors electronically
- Free up your accounting team from manual payment tasks
One Solution, Both Sides of Your Cash Flow
What makes Vantagepoint Payments particularly powerful for A&E and consulting firms is that it addresses both AR and AP payments in a single, Vantagepoint-integrated experience. Your team doesn't need to manage separate tools or jump between systems. Everything flows through Vantagepoint, keeping it as your authoritative system of record while automating the manual steps that slow your team down.
Faster client payments mean healthier cash flow and the ability to pay your own vendors on time. Streamlined AP means fewer errors, lower administrative costs, and better vendor relationships. And with rebates available on electronic vendor payments, AP automation can even become a source of income for your firm.
Built for How Project-Based Firms Work
Vantagepoint Payments was designed with the realities of A&E and consulting firms in mind. You work on a project-by-project basis, manage complex billing cycles, and depend on timely payments to keep projects moving. The payment challenges your firm faces aren't generic and neither is this solution.
By integrating payments directly into Vantagepoint rather than forcing workarounds with standalone tools, Vantagepoint Payments keeps financial data accurate, reduces reconciliation burden, and ensures your project-based ERP remains the single source of truth for your business.
Ready to Modernize Your Payments Process?
Vantagepoint Payments is available to all Vantagepoint customers. To learn more about how AR and AP automation can help your A&E or consulting firm get paid faster, reduce costs, and improve cash flow, fill out the Contact Us form today.
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