NORRISTOWN, PA, November 20, 2006 – Montgomery County Controller Eric Kretschman today announced an innovative project to make paper checks a thing of the past. The Controller’s Office, which handles all payments to county vendors, as well as employee paychecks and pension payments, has embarked on an ambitious effort to transform the County’s payables and payroll system into a paperless, electronic format. “My goal is that by January 2008, we will have eliminated paper checks from our system altogether and all payments and invoicing will be done electronically through ACH payments, direct deposits and possibly even purchase cards,” announced Kretschman.
The Controller’s Office currently processes more than 65,000 checks each year to vendors, with an additional 19,640 paper checks as part of the payroll and pension functions. In total, the Controller’s Office disbursed more than $491 million in 2005. “The MontgomeryCounty annual budget is very large,” noted Kretschman, “so this is no small undertaking.”
The advantages of moving to a paperless, electronic system are numerous. Cost is chief among them. “Through electronic payments, we are saving money on postage, check stock, labor costs in terms of processing checks, stuffing envelopes and mailing them out,” said Kretschman. Also important is security. “When you send a check to a retiree, you run the risk of having it fall into the wrong hands. With an electronic payment, it goes right into their account.”
So far, the Controller’s Office has switched over more than 1,500 employees and vendors to electronic payments as part of the initial rollout. These include payments to day care providers, foster care parents, employee paychecks, employee reimbursements, and monthly payments to retirees. Kretschman noted that vendors and employees should benefit from the new system as well. “At the end of the day, we are going to get payments to our vendors and employees faster and in a more secure way.”
Kretschman noted that the project is just underway and that the real benefits are yet to come. “The biggest benefit to taxpayers will come when we begin to switch over the 12,200 remaining vendors that we have to the electronic format.” Once that is complete, the Controller’s Office plans to focus on creating a website so that vendors can track their payments and payment history and also standardizing the invoicing process and making it paperless. “When completed, my hope is that invoicing and payments are done electronically and we can use the system for innovative purposes like improving internal controls, expediting approvals of payments and making our cash flow more efficient,” said Kretschman.
The Controller also noted that this project would not be possible without the support of the county commissioners, the county’s IT Department, its employees and vendors. “The level of cooperation and support has been tremendous,” noted Kretschman.
Contact Information:
Eric S. Kretschman, Controller
MontgomeryCounty
MontgomeryCounty Courthouse Post Office Box 311 Norristown, PA19404
