Finance teams face ongoing challenges in controlling costs, optimizing cash flow, and reducing financial risks. Without real-time visibility into spend commitments, managing budgets effectively, creating accurate accruals, or ensuring reliable financial reporting becomes difficult. This reactive approach often results in budget overruns, inefficient workflows, and missed opportunities to negotiate better terms.
Manual, outdated processes, such as low PO matching rates, also increase the risk of errors and fraud, leaving businesses vulnerable to financial losses. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Pre-approved spend brings spending into focus before it happens, ensuring that every transaction aligns with your financial goals and policies. Companies that adopt this approach gain transparency, reduce risks, and improve their ability to scale sustainably.
The five reasons to embrace pre-approved spend
1: Gain real-time visibility into your spend commitments
Many organizations only discover spending data after transactions are completed. This creates blind spots that make it impossible to control costs proactively. Imagine trying to drive a car while only seeing the road behind you—it’s risky and inefficient. Pre-approved spend changes the game by making spending commitments visible from the start, giving your team the power to act before mistakes happen.
2: Improve invoice matching for faster, fraud-resistant processes
If your PO matching rate is below 80%, your team likely spends hours on manual checks, increasing the chance of errors and fraud. Pre-approved spend automates the process, ensuring that invoices align with budgets and contracts before they’re paid. The result? Faster payments, fewer discrepancies, and a drastic reduction in financial risks.
3: Prevent budget overruns before they happen
Do rogue purchases still bypass your procurement processes? In decentralized organizations, this is common—and costly. Without pre-approved spend, controlling budget adherence becomes a guessing game. With it, every transaction aligns with company policies and strategic goals before any money leaves the account.
4: Achieve more accurate accruals and financial forecasts
Have you ever been surprised by end-of-month cash flow gaps? Delayed or inaccurate data on committed spend can lead to unreliable accruals and projections. Pre-approved spend provides a real-time view of commitments, ensuring that financial forecasts are based on actual, up-to-date data—no surprises, just actionable insights.
5: Maximize your negotiated contracts and terms
You’ve negotiated great supplier deals—discounts, rebates, extended payment terms—but are you fully benefiting from them? When purchases fall outside pre-negotiated contracts, potential savings are lost. Pre-approved spend ensures purchases are tied to agreements, so you get the best value from your contracts and strengthen supplier relationships at the same time.
Why visibility matters for spend control
According to the Coupa Benchmark Report 2024, companies with a 96.1% pre-approved spend rate achieve enhanced financial control, reduced risk, and improved scalability. This demonstrates that pre-approved spend isn’t a “nice-to-have”—it’s a key driver of operational excellence.
You’re likely ahead of the curve if your processes are fully transparent and error-free. But if any of the issues above sound familiar, it’s time to rethink how your organization approaches spend management.
Total spend management: smarter decisions, stronger performance
At Dynatos, we believe that real control starts with real visibility. That’s why we combine Total Spend Management (TSM) with our deep expertise in financial process automation.
By implementing pre-approved spend processes powered by AI-driven insights, you can enable your finance and procurement teams to make better decisions, faster. This doesn’t just improve your cash flow—it makes your organization more agile and resilient in the face of changing demands.
Our unique strength lies in our consulting expertise
As a years-long Coupa reseller in Europe, Dynatos brings unmatched insight into optimizing Source-to-Pay processes. Our consultants know the right questions—thanks to our extensive and diverse customer portfolio, our consultants know the right questions. This breadth of experience allows us to think outside the box and craft resilient, future-proof solutions tailored to your needs.
When it comes to Source-to-Pay, we don’t just focus on the numbers; we focus on creating lasting impact. With a deep understanding of industry challenges and best practices, we help clients implement strategies that deliver measurable results and noticeable impact.
