News and Views from the Cashbook team

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) in Data Extraction Getting the data from a digitized document and having it ready for processing has become a key process in any Cash Management System. This is the case of Cashbook, whose software instances are working in dozens of customers, and they receive a substantial flow of documents (especially in Lockbox format, but also in formats like CSV, MT940, EDI, etc.) that need to be processed at the right time. At the beginning of the process, those documents are unknown, particularly in the case of […]

Cashbook are launching a new fintech podcast which will be focused on a wide variety of fintech related topics. This podcast will be educational in nature and seek to break down the barriers to specific financial topics and processes that may seem complex in the world of fintech. Cashbook will be exploring topics related to our core knowledge and experience of cash automation but also topics from other areas which are popular within the fintech industry. The new podcast will be presented by Greg Coulter, CEO, and David Rushe, Global […]

Cashbook are excited to announce our new partnership with and sponsorship of the International Credit and Trade Professionals (ICTF). Who is the ICTF? The International Credit and Trade Professionals or the ICTF as they are more commonly known, are a flagbearer for all credit professionals around the world. They provide education, training, collaboration, resources, certification, benchmarking and reporting on all the latest international best credit practices. The ICTF also hold annual conferences in North America and Europe where members can keep up to date with the latest credit news. ICTF […]

Cashbook are always looking to support local initiatives and organizations that directly contribute to the health and welfare of the local community in Limerick, Ireland. Due to the current ongoing pandemic, it has been very difficult for local sports clubs to stay going under the strict government restrictions around Covid-19. During our enforced lockdown’s there were limited training sessions and matches allowed to take place. This has been very tough for the many children and young adults that depend on sport as a way to stay fit, both physically and […]

Rise of the B2B E-commerce sector. Over the last few years, business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce has been changing rapidly. This was greatly accelerated last year due to the pandemic. Many companies were forced to do business online, and had to adapt their business model or suffer huge profit losses. Selling through their own websites was a fresh challenge for many. Selling via 3rd party online retailers was also essential to develop new sales opportunities and hold their business. Online Marketplaces Online marketplaces such as Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba have conquered the […]

LIMERICK, IRELAND – January 15th, 2020 – Cashbook announced today that Mary O’Brien has been named the new Chief Product Officer, overseeing the company’s product development. In this role she will lead Cashbook in designing new product capabilities to enhance Cashbook’s capabilities in cash application, deduction management, bank reconciliation and electronic payments. Mary started this new role on January 15th, 2021 and will be based in Cashbook’s HQ in Limerick, Ireland. Mary most recently served as USA Director running support & implementations out of Chicago for the last four years. She […]

Deductions are a huge problem for many businesses. Imagine losing 5-10% of your business to deduction claims. For some companies those deduction costs can run into the millions of dollars. For many years, Cashbook has helped companies set-up deductions on their systems for review and analysis. We auto-generated and auto-coded thousands of customer deductions. Saving our customers thousands of hours of tedious work. Once these were analyzed, we once again became involved in the clearing & writing-off of deductions. Deductions Management Automation Recently our customers and interested parties have challenged […]

Earlier this year we done a feature on what our staff had been getting up to during lockdown in Ireland. That feature unearthed some hidden talents amongst us, we discovered some secret gardeners, oil painters and D-I-Y experts. So, we decided that the time was right to launch the inaugural Cashbook Staff Photo Competition 2020. We were looking for any type of photography – scenic, abstract, architectural, still life, or even pictures of pets! All of our staff are very well travelled and have been to all corners of the […]

PayPal has been around since the late 90’s and impressively was the most used method of secure payment for online shoppers in the last 12 months. PayPal has over 300 million active users worldwide, and 87.5% of all online shoppers have used PayPal. The three main users by country are the US (44%), Germany (18%) and the UK (14%). Its usage has increased dramatically in 2020, as more individuals, both businesses and consumers alike, were forced to conduct business online. PayPal Remittance Files When a consumer purchases a product online […]

Christmas is always a very special holiday in Ireland. The time of year, where people make a determined effort to return home and see their loved ones. Priceless memories are created through spending quality time with family and friends, precious memories that last a lifetime. Many Irish family members who have emigrated to the UK, Australia and the United States return “home”. They mark the dates on their calendar at the turn of each year, for a week or two in December, when they get to return to their homeland. […]

To borrow from the great Mark Twain, reports of the demise of the check are greatly exaggerated. This payment instrument continues to enjoy immense popularity. Especially in North America within the Small to Medium Business (SMB) and Business to Consumer (B2C) sectors. However, it’s true that digital is the future. The payments landscape will continue to shift toward digital payments, as service providers continue to innovate and make it easier and cheaper to go digital. However, the humble check has also benefitted from innovation even as it continues to lose […]

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, Trinity Industries, Inc. is a premier provider of railcar products and services in North America that markets its business under the brand name TrinityRail®.  TrinityRail subsidiaries in Mexico have been using Cashbook for the last 2 years to automate their Cash Application process. Trinity went live in September with Cashbook V6, the new cloud-native version of Cashbook. This new version includes an improved user interface and workflow to enhance the user experience. As it is accessed by browser, V6 is equally at home hosted on-premise or […]

Over the last few months, there have been huge challenges for businesses and industries all over the world. A few industries have been lucky enough to see profits increase and business soar. However, the majority of companies have experienced temporary closures, fall in production, decrease in revenues, and sadly enforced staff reductions. Pressure on finance departments to achieve goals faster There is huge pressure on finance teams to complete their tasks quicker than ever before. There is now an urgency to improve cash flow within organisations, to help in planning […]

There are three main players when it comes to cloud infrastructure today: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). However, there is one clear leader who has the same market share as it’s three closest rivals combined – AWS. This was mainly due to Amazon’s early diversification into public cloud services, a near seven-year head start on its rivals. Their growth in this space has been relentless. Recent figures below show that by the end of Q2 in 2020, AWS held 33% of the public cloud […]

Cashbook and Sidetrade have partnered to combine their expertise in the Order-to-Cash area for the next generation of finance automation technology. This partnership merges Cashbook’s 20+ years of cash allocation automation experience with Sidetrade’s 20+ years in the credit and collections arena. Sidetrade, a Euronext-listed company with €30m+ in annual revenues, has made the combined solution available on its AI-enhanced Augmented Cash platform. This will enable customers to rapidly meet their business needs and tackle the evolving financial challenges presented in the new working environment. The Order-to-Cash automation efficiencies from […]

Cash is the lifeblood of any business, if cash dries up then a company will eventually die. Bank reconciliations (bank rec) are hugely important in maintaining internal control along with a steady and consistent cash flow. Cash flow is separate from cash position, as having cash on hand is important but cash flow indicates an ongoing ability to generate and use cash. Having a strong cash position and a positive cash flow are common company financial goals. A company will process a bank rec at least once every month, in […]

As we know, a successful bank reconciliation (bank rec) is very hard to achieve for any company. Especially when the bank rec is done manually, there are multiple challenges and roadblocks that stand in the way of a successful completion. Bank recs are a very useful financial control tool, which are used to identify any issues within the company financials. They can highlight any fraudulent activities, by showing differences between bank balances and company ledger balances. We are now going to discuss the three key challenges of bank reconciliation. 3 […]

Ireland enters lockdown In this article, we take a look at what Cashbook staff have been getting up to during lockdown. To give some background, Ireland and its people have been on lockdown since March 12th. When Prime Minister, Leo Varadkar, announced that we were going into lockdown for two weeks. On March 27th it was announced that Ireland was going into full lockdown mode for another two weeks. All schools, sports, restaurants, pubs, cafés, and non-essential shops and services were forced to close. On April 10th the lockdown was […]

During the pandemic and the enforced lockdown that occurred in many countries, there have been huge changes with Covid-19 payment trends for both B2B and B2C. In this article, we take a look at some of these Covid-19 payment trends and how businesses had to very quickly adapt their model and payment infrastructure overnight. “Bricks and mortar” outlets had to close their doors and people shifted to online shopping for almost every need. We investigate some of these trends and take a look at some of the winners and losers […]

The history of payment trends Paper to Plastic Payment trends have changed hugely in the last 10 years, before we examine that time period, we will quickly look at the evolution of payments throughout history. Payments have changed fundamentally down the years. In the two images below, we can see the evolution from the first paper money used in the year 806, right through to checks, wire transfers, credit payments, and finishing with numerous methods of plastic payments up to 1979. Online Payments Once the internet was developed and business […]

Cashbook provides instantaneous outsourcing service for customers For over twenty years, Cashbook has focused upon providing financial software for automating Cash Application, Electronic Payments and Bank Reconciliation processes. During the Covid-19 pandemic, one of our luckier customers became overwhelmed with extra work due to high transaction volumes. A Friday night phone call was made to Cashbook for help, and work began on Monday morning to clear the huge backlog of unapplied cash. With Cashbook’s experienced team of support and product consultants, we were able to offer a two-week business process […]

Cashbook has over twenty years supplying Cash Application software around the world. During that time, we’ve come across many different cash automation challenges. The three key challenges of Cash Application automation are outlined below: Digitizing Remittances Lockbox services involves banks collecting checks from a designated address (usually a P.O. Box) then process these checks on your behalf, and deposit them directly into your bank account. To eliminate bank keying fees, we take images of checks and remittances and use OCR functionality to digitize the data. Special challenges encountered and resolved […]

Cashbook is delighted to announce an expansion into Sub-Saharan Africa with our newest partner Penny Buthelezi. Penny is a dynamic entrepreneur with great business acumen and is based in Johannesburg, South Africa. She has pioneered new business models, strategic partnerships and promoted trade and investment growth through business development initiatives. She has a particular focus on international companies looking at expanding their global reach and investments in emerging markets. For over 15 years, Penny has played a pivotal role in strategic and business development for companies such as: Microsoft, Rand […]

Cashbook’s latest release is v5.X. This follows on the footsteps of last year’s v5.9, it includes an incremental group of new improvements. Here is what our users can expect to find in Cashbook v5.X. Reconciliation – With bigger and bigger customers, we have created batch inserts in reconciliation for faster processing within the action buttons, for closing of reconciliations and carry forward processes. New buttons for toggle selected/all like in cash application will help all our users.  New fields for showing carried forward items at a header level help with […]

St. Patrick’s Day 2020 St. Patrick’s Day 2020 will be a day to remember long into the future for the Irish people and all those around the world. This national holiday would usually see the streets, pubs and local communities abundant with people celebrating this patriotic day. However, this year there was a disheartening spirit around the country as people were advised to remain in their homes, and to self-isolate amid fears of the recent outbreak of Covid-19. These extraordinary circumstances saw local towns and cities of Ireland deserted, during […]

The Payments Landscape In North America, the value and volume of ACH payments have increased year on year over the last five years. In 2019, ACH volumes increased by 7.7% to 24.7 billion items, and ACH values increased by 8.9% to $55.8 trillion from the 2018 figures. The volume of business-to-business (B2B) ACH payments were up by 12% at 4 billion items. ACH is rapidly moving towards the most used form of payment in North America. Checks still continue to be the most popular form of payment for B2B transactions. […]

Due to the unexpected outbreak of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) across Europe and the rest of the world. Cashbook have taken essential measures to protect both our staff and customers from the danger of infection. At the time of writing, over 127,000 people have contracted the virus worldwide and 4,700 of those people have sadly passed away. Cashbook take the risk of Covid-19 extremely seriously, and are closely following guidance from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Health Service Executive (HSE) in Ireland. Covid-19 is a situation that requires […]

Cashbook are delighted to once again be Gold sponsors of inPOWER 2020 in St. Louis, Missouri. inPOWER is an Infor specific user group for Infor LX, XA and System 21 users in North America. This conference will be held on 17–19th May at the St. Louis Union Station Hotel. Attendees at this 3-day event can expect to avail of numerous breakout sessions, vendor demonstrations and expert-led roundtable discussions. inPOWER is an exciting event for users to network with peers and learn about new developments over the last 12 months. 2019 […]

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our dear friend and colleague Martin Whelan. Martin was one of the Directors of Cashbook and the Chief Technical Officer for over 20 years. He is one of the main reasons why Cashbook is a successful company today. Martin was a larger than life character with a unique personality. If you ever had the pleasure of meeting Martin then you would long remember him after your encounter. A friendly, fun-loving person with an infectious laugh and such a quick […]

What is Bank Reconciliation? A bank reconciliation (bank rec) is where a company completes a comparison of the cash balances on their general ledger (GL) against their current bank statement information. Any differences in amounts need to be accounted for, and when the two sides are evenly matched the accounts are said to have been ‘reconciled’. This can be a very demanding process for companies, especially when you allow for the level of data that is required to complete a successful bank rec. Bank Reconciliation Issues There are a lot […]