iPep Brings Speed, Efficiency to Postal Intercompany Accounting
Online accounting tool created by the International Post Corporation is making the letter mail Terminal Dues accounting process faster and easier
Brussels - May 14, 2010
The International Post Corporation (IPC) has together with its members developed a web-based tool for exchanges and approval of Terminal Dues accounting information. The web-based tool, iPep, is used for exchanging and approving letter mail accounting information.
Currently, postal accounting for letter mail Terminal Dues is a slow, manual – but necessary – element of the international mail exchange process. “Despite the many technological advances postal organisations have made in the processing and delivery of mail, the back-office work, in particular the accounting for cross-border mail, has remained a manual and laborious process, according to Dimitrios Tsatsas, IPC manager of Terminal Dues. “ This accounting is complex and requires numerous forms to be filled out, approved or amended, and returned. The complexity and design of this process renders it time consuming and prone to human errors.”
IPC and its members recognized that by digitizing this process, posts could save resources and achieve higher quality of accounting data, thereby reducing the number of accounting disputes. Reducing the duration of the accounting process could shorten the transaction cycle (from dispatching a letter to receiving remuneration), which would result in more efficient cash management.
By using iPep, members can quickly access standardized data that can be more easily monitored and analyzed, which allows posts to avoid disputes at later and more complex stages in the accounting process.
Outlook for the Future
The iPep application currently covers the REIMS Terminal Dues sampling information and will soon be expanded to include a module dealing with weight information. The application could easily be extended to incorporate exchange and approval of accounting information under other Terminal Dues systems.
Our goal is to provide complete electronic accounting for REIMS Letter Mail Terminal Dues and to broaden the iPep user base by providing the possibility to join for posts subject to other Terminal Dues systems. “We expect that both the processes and the data quality will further improve. More sophisticated data analyses will be made possible leading to timely and correct Terminal Dues estimations and payments,” said Mr. Tsatsas.
“IPC is paving the road for all-encompassing postal electronic accounting. Both member and non-member postal organizations are invited to shape the e-future together with IPC.”
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For further information, please contact:
Valoree Vargo; Head of Communication, International Postal Corporation:
+32 (0) 2 724 71 97, email: valoree.vargo@ipc.be.
About the International Post Corporation
The International Post Corporation (IPC) is a cooperative association of 24 member postal operators in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region. Over the past two decades IPC has collaborated with its members to upgrade the quality of mail service by developing technology systems that bring transparency to the mail processing system and delivery chain. It also manages the system for incentive-based payments between postal operators and creates business intelligence for its members, by providing a range of platforms for CEOs and senior management to exchange best practices, discuss strategy and engage in industry research. IPC represents the majority of the world’s mail, with its members delivering about 80 percent of global postal volumes. They also account for nearly 2.4 million jobs. IPC is based in Brussels, Belgium and has an international staff of 60 representing more than 17 countries. IPC is an organisation governed by a board comprised of CEOs from eleven member posts and the IPC Chief Executive Officer.