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SMB staff waste two days a month on unrelated work

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Abhigna
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BANGALORE, INDIA: The average SMB employee spends 16 hours and 53 minutes per month on financial processes, equating to two full working days on activity unrelated to their role, according to Basware's SMB Finance research.

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Of those two days spent on financial processes, the most time-consuming exercises include responding to supplier/customer enquiries (2 hours 19 minutes), creating and sending invoices (1 hour 55 minutes) and reviewing invoices to be paid (1 hour 45 minutes), said a report.

This coincides with the findings that in Europe, almost half of SMB business owners (46 percent) don't believe their company has a clear procedure for approving invoices to be paid, compared to 38 percent in the US, said Basware in a press release.

Similarly, 52 percent of US employees and 50 percent of European employees do not believe there is a clear process for chasing unpaid invoices, leaving the SMB vulnerable to cash flow challenges.

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John Webster, vice president of Global Product Marketing, Basware said: "Although SMB resources are often being stretched to the limit in this challenging economic climate, employees in these organizations are still spending a significant amount of time on tasks that may be completely unrelated to their role."

"By automating their financial processes, SMBs reduce pressure on employee time, remove manual errors and establish a platform for growth which stems from effective finance," said Webster.

The company claims that the research is aimed at SMBs to inform the challenges they face in growth, as well as educating business owners on the productivity levels of their employees as small business finance processes reach breaking point.

The findings also help businesses to understand the investment needed in people, processes and technologies as they move from 'small' to 'medium' and beyond, report added.

The SMB Finance research surveyed 558 business owners and 1,368 employees with financial responsibility from small to medium enterprises to identify the financial processes and owners of responsibility within SMBs.

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