5 administrative processes you can automate this year

You do not need a large digital transformation project to start automating. Most companies have administrative tasks that are repeated every day or every month, always follow the same rules and take up hours of skilled people’s time. These are five processes that are usually worth starting with.

1. Supplier invoice posting

The classic one. AI reads each invoice, proposes the journal entry with account, tax and cost centre, and a robot posts it to the ERP as a draft for your team to approve. More in AI accounting automation.

2. Tax return preparation

VAT and withholding returns are prepared every month or quarter from data already in the accounts. A robot can extract it, reconcile it and leave the draft ready to review and file, reducing the risk of errors and penalties. See tax automation.

3. Payments and treasury

Many payment requests arrive by email and are executed one by one in online banking. By standardising the request (a form or a template email), a bot can generate the payment file for the bank or treasury tool and log every transaction.

4. Bank reconciliation and document filing

Downloading statements, matching transactions and filing receipts is mechanical work. A robot can post bank movements to the accounts and file each document in the right folder, leaving people only the items that do not match.

5. Monthly management reports

If someone exports data from the ERP every month, pastes it into Excel and builds the report for management, it can be automated. With scheduled extraction and a Power BI dashboard, the report refreshes itself. See data and Business Intelligence.

How to choose where to start

1. List your team’s repetitive tasks and estimate how many hours a month each one takes.
2. Mark those that follow clear rules and use digital data.
3. Start with the one that combines the most hours with the least complexity: it pays back fastest.
4. Measure the result and use that experience for the next one.

Automation is not about replacing people, but about letting them spend their time reviewing, analysing and deciding, which is where they add value.