An estimated 69% of invoices were paid late in the last academic year while there were also serious problems with double payment of invoices, an issue reported by 43% of universities, resulting in losses of up to £2m a year, revealed a FOI request by Quadient.

Despite all universities now using a completely digital invoicing system, many were still struggling with invoice management. Each university processed an average of 50,000 invoices a year.

Karim Ben-Jaafar, senior vice president of Quadient AP said: ‘The problem with just digitising the process is that things can still fall into the cracks. Given the huge number of invoices and large sums that universities process each year, these findings are likely to be just the tip of the iceberg.’

As well as issues with processing invoices, 33% of universities were also handling numerous complaints over unpaid invoices from customers, damaging revenue prospects, partner relationships and reputation.

On average 466 people were involved in paying invoices at a single university, and for many of them it was not their primary role, costing the institution time and money, according to Quadient research.

It also took 16 working days on average for each invoice to be processed, with 23% taking 42 days or more.

Ben-Jaafar added: ‘At a time of economic uncertainty and when many institutions are under pressure, these inefficient processes increase the risk of mistakes that could cripple the university’s finances.

‘Universities need a more intelligent way of dealing with invoices because the current process is inefficient.

‘When so many people are responsible for approvals and there is no clear audit trail, it’s easy to lose sight of who has ultimate responsibility. But that creates a messy web of invoices that can easily end up with invoices not getting paid or even worse, being paid twice.’

Quadient’s FOI request covers the period from 1 August 2022 to 31 July 2023.