Small business with the accountant or principal managing Payables  

In this instance, the organization assigns all of its payables activities to one individual – typically an accountant.  In this case, set up user roles in Bill.com as follows:

• The accountant or principal user is assigned the role of  Administrator in Bill.com, which enables him or her to handle all aspects of the payables process, including paying bills via Bill.com (The user needs to go through a verification process to pay bills via Bill.com).  

In a slightly different scenario, your company or firm may  have other individuals involved in entering bills into Bill.com. In this case, set up user roles in Bill.com as follows:

• The accountant or principal user is assigned the role of  Administrator in Bill.com, which enables him or her to handle all aspects of the payables process, including paying bills via Bill.com (The user needs to go through a verification process to pay bills via Bill.com).
• The data entry user is assigned the role of Clerk in Bill.com, which enables him or her to enter/update bills as well as enter/update vendors. If you want to limit the ability of the data entry user to only enter bills (and not enter/update vendors), for example, you can create your own custom role.

Small business with the owner and an accountant managing Payables

This business relies on an accountant to enter bills and maintain the company’s payables online via Bill.com.  The accountant also uses QuickBooks to manage other aspects of the organization’s finances.  The company owner, or a finance person in the company pays the bills.

In this case, you could set up user roles in Bill.com as follows:

• The owner is assigned the role of  Administrator in Bill.com, which enables him or her to handle all aspects of the payables process, including paying bills via Bill.com (The user needs to go through a verification process to pay bills via Bill.com). In this scenario, their primary task will be to pay bills.
• The accountant is assigned the role of  Accountant in Bill.com, which enables him or her to handle most aspects of the payables process, except paying bills via Bill.com. In this scenario, their primary task is to enter bills and sync with the accounting system.

Medium-sized organization with an AP department  

This business relies either on an accounts payable department or its outsourced CPA firm to manage its payables.  The process of entering, managing, approving, scheduling, and paying a bill is spread across several individuals, each of whom handles only a piece of the overall process.

In this case, you could set up user roles in Bill.com as follows:

• The data entry user (e.g. A/P Clerk in your company) is assigned the role of Clerk in Bill.com, which enables him or her to enter/update bills as well as enter/update vendors. If you want to limit the ability of the data entry user to only enter bills (and not enter/update vendors), for example, you can create your own custom role.
• The department head (e.g. Marketing Director in your company) is assigned the role of Approver in Bill.com. They can then approve individual bills assigned to them for payment.
• The authorized check-signer (e.g. controller/CFO in your company) is assigned the role of Payer or Administrator in Bill.com. If you want a clear separation of duties in your organization, use the role of Payer. If the person paying the bills may also be routinely performing other tasks such as syncing with the accounting system, managing users etc, use the role of Administrator. If you want tighter controls, then  create your own custom role.

The Bill.com system ensures that each role is strictly defined so that only individuals specifically authorized to pay bills can, in fact, pay bills.  Bills move from individual to individual – i.e., from bill processor to bill approver to bill payer – via Bill.com’s automated workflow, with automatic notifications to each individual as their participation becomes required.