Global businesses face a dynamic and changing financial landscape. In spite of technological advancements, many businesses lack the data and systems needed to ensure long-term financial health, stability, and continuity to steer growth in the right direction. Financial and treasury departments often repeat the same cash management and payment mistakes involving visibility and outdated systems and processes that inevitably result in issues with bottom lines and stunted growth. We discuss the top cash management and payment mistakes global businesses make that prevent them from increasing operational efficiency on a global scale and stifle their ambitions to expand.

Managing cash and working capital effectively requires visibility and treasury management across all institutions, currencies, and companies to ensure smooth operations and financial stability. The more a company grows, the more banks and financial institutions it has to deal with, which makes it increasingly difficult to get complete and real-time insights. A recent survey by Blackline found that 62% of respondents believe that understanding cash flow in real time is more important than ever before, especially in the midst of economic uncertainty. Nevertheless, nearly all participants wished for greater confidence in their cash flow data.

A major problem lies in the time-consuming process of aggregating data from disparate sources. By the time it’s consolidated it often becomes outdated - and nearly half of companies worry about making financial decisions based on outdated information.

Despite technological advancements, many companies still rely on outdated processes and manual systems to manage cash and payments. Using spreadsheets and manual payment execution leads to inefficiencies and increases the risk of errors and fraud. Manual processes are prone to delays, which can cause issues with cash flow and working capital, impact client and supplier relationships, and hinder timely response to market trends.

Moreover, the lack of encryption and security measures in manual systems exposes financial data to manipulation and fraud, posing significant risks to businesses' reputation and financial integrity.

The burden falls on the financial team to navigate these challenges, diverting their valuable time and resources away from strategic initiatives.

A recent article by Forbes revealed that, similarly to cash management, a vast number of companies still rely on manual payment execution for both local and international payments. Over half of global businesses rely on manual payment processes and lack digitization, while over 40% have disconnected payables and receivables processes. The problem arises from the fact that an international company needs access to multiple currencies and financial institutions.

In the absence of an efficient system, each payment must undergo multiple approvals internally and, when sending or receiving money internationally, it also involves multiple intermediaries, giving little visibility to the status of payments once they have been expedited. Using manual processing can lead to wasted time and errors, as well as a negative impact on the bottom line of a company since fees are incurred at each stage.

Furthermore, fragmented payment workflows create opportunities for fraudsters to exploit security gaps, exposing businesses to financial losses and reputational damage. Lack of consistent approval processes and controls exacerbate these risks, highlighting the urgent need for integrated payment solutions.

Investing in a technology stack that solves end-to-end accounts payable and receivable, automates cross-border payments, and unifies treasury for complete cash visibility is the solution to all the above. Connecting all your tools through an API ensures the data flows seamlessly between them, ensuring you always have an accurate and up-to-date view of your financial information.

An alternative would be to invest in a financial operations platform such as Fyorin that combines international payments, AP, AR capabilities and treasury management under one roof. In this way, your business can save money on multiple tools and your financial team will be able to handle all financial processes using just one system, ensuring all data is accurate and up-to-date. Interested in bringing all those critical financial operations under one roof and never making the same payments and cash management mistakes again? Get in touch with us at [email protected] or book a free demo.