Does this sound like your day to day?
Small business back office tasks require data to move from one tool to another. Using workflow automation can allow that data to be handed off to the next process or person. This can reduce follow ups, duplicate data entry and improve recordkeeping.
Invoicing, expense claims and small business payroll software are all areas that can benefit from workflow automation.
What you'll learn:
- Why disconnected systems are causing issues
- How to automate payroll and reporting
- Following up on invoices
- Staying up to date with financial data
- When humans are still needed
- How to build a workflow that's useful
Why disconnected systems are causing issues
Small businesses use many programs to complete their day to day tasks. When these programs don't feed the correct data to the user, problems can occur.
In October 2026 the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found that 41% of small businesses used six or more platforms at work. That figure isn't evidence that using multiple programs will slow your business down, but it gives business owners a reason to look at where they can streamline things.
When a supplier sends you an invoice it can be stored in various locations. It may need approval, added to your accounts and updated once paid. If there is no process in place to handle each step, the invoice will sit idle.
You can build a workflow that allows an invoice to be queued, routed to the approver and sent on once approved. Every process has a task that triggers the next, allowing your employees to spend less time following up.
Streamlining tasks that are currently happening is a great place to begin using automation.
How to automate payroll and reporting
Payroll requires you to have the required data before you can reconcile the pay run.
Your payroll software can allow approved time sheets and employee pay settings to flow into your payroll process. Payroll staff can then review the data and identify any discrepancies without having to input hours from another source.
Tax reporting at the end of the year also falls under the payroll and record keeping process. In the U.S., businesses issue W-2 forms to employees and 1099-NEC forms to certain vendors. You can use 1099 filing software to assist with this process and even file electronically with an optional module.
By ensuring your payments are recorded throughout the year, you'll make this task much simpler to reconcile. You can verify the recipients and total amounts against your records.
Software can only calculate from the data and rules it receives. If you need to determine if someone should be treated as an employee or contractor, you will need to conduct further research on that worker.
Following up on invoices
Expenses can come in from many sources. Employees may send in receipts, suppliers will send invoices and your managers may approve purchases in a variety of ways.
An invoice workflow could include the following:
- Collect the invoice/receipt
- Identify the supplier, expense category and PO number, if available
- Send to approver
- Log approval before processing for payment
Not only can you see what invoices are pending, but you can identify who needs to approve them. No more going through different email inboxes to find out if an expense was approved or not.
Workflow automation can also allow you to identify duplicate invoices. Although your automatic process may be able to pull most of your expenses, you'll want to hold off on sending through any outliers or duplicate invoice numbers.
Staying up to date with financial data
Not only do you want your data to be moved, you also want to ensure it's kept up to date.
Invoices can be amended, customers can pay partial payments and expenses can be miscategorized. Having one program up to date and another behind will give you inaccurate data when generating reports.
Your integrations should account for these scenarios as well. Determine which program the source data is coming from, what will happen if a field is updated and how to identify failed transfers.
Test these common scenarios before linking two programs together:
- How will your invoice be handled if amended?
- Are failed transfers logged in a queue you can review?
- Can you track where a payment was made?
By checking these scenarios you can reduce corrections to your reports. Don't let your software selection be based on the number of features offered.
Have accurate data to make decisions with.
When humans are still needed
There will always be instances where a human will need to get involved.
Adding a new supplier to your company is one of those examples. While your software can collect the necessary information, a manager will need to verify if this is a valid purchase.
Similar to changing bank details or approving unusually high expenses, you'll want to have these flagged for approval before processing any funds.
Make sure you have processes in place that allow for these exceptions. Have an owner that will be responsible for each approval, limit access to certain records and allow for a trail of who changed what. Allow your employees to halt a process if something seems off.
If your approver is out of office, how will a valid request be handled? By having a reminder system or second approver, you'll allow your workflow to continue without cutting corners.
Having humans involved in your process will always be necessary, the goal is to have them spend less time doing menial tasks.
How to build a workflow that's useful
It can be tempting to link all of your systems together, but you may run into more issues than you're trying to solve.
Follow these steps to create a workflow that works for your business:
- Identify repetitive tasks. Duplicate information, lack of receipts, following up on approvals.
- List out the tasks you are currently doing. What programs do you start with, who checks the data and where does it end up?
- Pick one process to automate. Send invoices to an approver, transfer payroll data to your accounts, etc.
- Run through typical and non-typical scenarios. What if an invoice is rejected, changed or lacks documentation?
- Review the process. Are you saving time, reducing delays and having to correct information?
Allow yourself to start small and understand your first workflow before adding more. If your testing leads you to have more house keeping, resolve those before moving onto the next task. Have an owner that will be responsible for maintaining your workflow.
Continue to find other tasks that will save you time, but don't simply recreate what you already have in place.
Final Thoughts
Automation can help improve your back office processes. Allowing your data to be handed off to the next person can reduce duplicate work and keep information more accurate.
Whether that's sending payroll data to your books, invoices to an approver or updating your accounts when a payment is received, pick one that will save you time and allow for users to intervene when necessary.
