Some companies’ accounts payable (AP) functions spend 30 percent more than necessary on labor costs. That’s because they are drowning in paper invoices that must be processed by hand. Typically, documents have to be fed into a scanner that feeds into a software program that recognizes and sorts data. Short of that, information must be manually keyed into a system.

APQC just launched a survey to uncover how recent advances in mobile computing can enhance business decision-making and performance management. We were flooded with responses during the first 24 hours—a sign the corporate world is going mad over mobile. Early results suggest that senior executives really do believe that mobile computing can better align people in operations with the strategy of the enterprise.

The world has gone crazy over mobile—and finance is no exception. Mobile solutions have the capability to transform the way we operate, manage, and monitor the workplace. For finance in particular, “the immediacy of information that can be received, processed, analyzed, and then pushed back out—with all of this done remotely—is the real opportunity,” said Lawrence Maisel, founder the performance management consultancy DecisionVu.

On January 1, 2013, final passage of the “fiscal cliff bill,” otherwise known as the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, averted scheduled income tax increases and spending reduction requirements, much to the relief of many. However, this new Act also retroactively reinstates for 2012 many fixed asset management tax provisions that expired at the end of 2011. Included below is an excerpt from Title III in the Act.