Integrated Electronic Cash Flow Management System and Method

• US 20140222669A1
• Filed: 02/22/2013
• Published: 08/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A. (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Inventors: Novak, Jamie L., Walcutt, Richard B., DeVan, Stanley M. Jr.
• Granted Patent: US 10,387,858 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/40
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/14 specially adapted for billing systems
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/04 Billing or invoicing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/12 Accounting
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/128 Check-book balancing, updating or printing arrangements

Abstract

A cash flow management system is provided within a host system for facilitating cash flow management for businesses. The cash flow management system includes an electronic billing and invoicing computing system enabling generation and transmission of electronic bills based on business invoices and for displaying the generated bills for payment and an integrated receivables and reconciliation system receiving notification of received payments and for matching received payments with the generated invoices. The system additionally includes a communication interface for allowing the cash flow management system to communicate with multiple financial management systems accessible to the host enterprise, the systems including at least an accounting system, the integrated receivables management system receiving information from the financial management systems within the host system to facilitate management of cash flow for the businesses using the cash flow management system for electronic billing.

Claims

1. An integrated receivables management system for facilitating bill payment and reconciliation, the system comprising:

at least one computer memory storing data, the data including business data and consumer data;

at least one computer processor accessing the stored data and executing stored instructions to perform steps including;

generating electronic invoices on behalf of businesses for goods or services provided to consumers, each generated invoice having identifying information;

transmitting the electronic invoices to the consumers using at least one of multiple selectable transmission methods;

automatically matching each consumer invoice payment with a generated invoice; and

leveraging a bi-directional application program interface for automatically updating business accounting records external to the integrated receivables management system based on each matched payment and invoice.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein matching comprises determining, upon receiving notification of the payment, whether the payment is linked to an invoice and performing an automatic matching process for payments not linked to an invoice based on the identifier.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the steps further comprise generating a dashboard interface displaying the automatically matched payments to the business and requesting confirmation of the automatically matched payments prior to updating of business accounting records.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein accessing the data comprises accessing consumer data, and further comprising analyzing the consumer data to generate a targeted offer to the consumer and embedding the targeted offer in the electronic invoice.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the targeted offer includes a URL and consumers can select the targeted offer on the electronic invoice to visit a web page referenced by the URL.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the selectable payment sources comprise credit card, debit card, and bank account.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the selectable payment channels include paper check, online bill pay through the host system, online bill pay through a third party aggregator, and online payment service.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein when payment is through check, prior to matching, deposit of payment is received through one of image capture and branch deposit.

9. An integrated receivables management method implementing a host system for facilitating bill payment and reconciliation, the method comprising:

storing data, the data including both business data and consumer data in at least one computer memory;

accessing the stored data and executing stored instructions using at least one computer processor to perform steps including;

generating electronic invoices on behalf of businesses for goods or services provided to consumers, each generated invoice having identifying information;

transmitting the electronic invoices to the consumers using at least one of multiple selectable transmission methods;

receiving notification of consumer payment of the invoices through one of multiple selectable payment methods, the multiple selectable payment methods including multiple payment sources and multiple payment channels;

matching each consumer invoice payment with a generated invoice; and

leveraging a bi-directional application program interface for automatically updating business accounting records external to the integrated receivables management system based on each matched payment and invoice.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein matching comprises determining, upon receiving notification of the payment, whether the payment is linked to an invoice and performing an automatic matching process for payments not linked to an invoice.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising generating a dashboard interface displaying the automatically matched payments to the business and requesting confirmation of the automatically matched payments prior to updating of business accounting records.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein accessing the data comprises accessing consumer data, and further comprising analyzing the consumer data to generate a targeted offer to the consumer and embedding the targeted offer in the electronic invoice.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the targeted offer includes a URL and consumers can select the targeted offer on the electronic invoice to visit a web page referenced by the URL.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the selectable payment sources comprise credit card, debit card, and bank account.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the selectable payment channels include paper check, online bill pay through the host system, online bill pay through a third party aggregator, and online payment service.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein when payment is through check, prior to matching, deposit of payment is received through one of image capture and branch deposit.

18. The system of claim 16, wherein the electronic billing and invoicing computing system includes an offer generator for embedding offers in electronic bills.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the embedded offers include a URL allowing the consumer to visit a website for information about the offer.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the invoicing and ebilling system includes a donation processor for allowing donations through ebill payments.

17. A cash flow management system within a host system for facilitating cash flow management for businesses, the cash flow management system comprising:

an electronic billing and invoicing computing system enabling generation and transmission of electronic bills based on business invoices and for displaying the generated bills for payment;

an integrated receivables and reconciliation computing system receiving notification of received payments and for matching received payments with the generated invoices; and

a communication interface for allowing the cash flow management system to communicate with multiple financial management systems accessible to the host enterprise, the systems including at least an accounting system, the integrated receivables management system receiving information from the financial management systems to facilitate management of cash flow for the businesses using the cash flow management system for electronic billing, the management of cash flow including generation of alerts based on information from the accounting system that cash flow is insufficient to meet cash demand.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the multiple financial systems include a payroll system, an expense management system, and a card processing system.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the cash flow management system generates alerts based on a current cash flow situation.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the cash flow management system generates an alert based on consolidated information from the accounting system and the payroll system indicating that cash flow shown by the accounting system is insufficient to meet cash required by the payroll system.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the alert advises of insufficient cash flow and offers a line of credit product.

25. The system of claim 17, wherein the cash flow management system generates a notification to each business when a payment is received for that business and automatically updates a cash flow summary for the business.

26. A cash flow management method implementing a cash flow management system for facilitating cash flow management for businesses, the cash flow management method comprising:

storing, in at least one computer memory, data accessible to the cash flow management system, the data including biller data and payer data;

implementing at least one computer processor for accessing the stored data and executing instructions to perform multiple steps, the steps including;

receiving notification of received payments for electronically generated invoices through multiple channels;

matching the received payments with the generated invoices;

communicating with multiple financial systems accessible to the cash flow management system to update the systems upon receipt of payment for the generated invoices, the systems including at least a biller accounting system;

automatically generating alerts based on information from the biller accounting system that cash flow is insufficient to meet cash demand;

and

generating at least one user interface to provide billers with updated cash flow information based on the matched payments and invoices to facilitate management of cash flow for the businesses using the cash flow management system for electronic billing.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising generating and transmitting electronic bills based on business invoices and displaying the generated bills for payment.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising generating and embedding offers in electronic bills.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the embedded offers include a URL allowing the consumer to visit a website for information about the offer.

30. The method of claim 28, further comprising implementing a donation processor for allowing donations through ebill payments.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein the multiple financial systems include a payroll system, an expense management system, and a card processing system.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the cash flow management system generates alerts based on a current cash flow situation.

33. The method of claim 26, further comprising generating an alert based on consolidated information from the accounting system and the payroll system indicating that cash flow shown by the accounting system is insufficient to meet cash required by the payroll system.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the alert advises of insufficient cash flow and offers a line of credit product.

35. The system of claim 26, wherein the cash flow management system generates a notification to each business when a payment is received for that business and automatically updates a cash flow summary for the business.

36. The method of claim 31, further comprising associating expenditures recorded by the expense management system to a particular bill transmitted to a payer.