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The accounts payable (AP) process is widely considered one of the most manual, paperwork-heavy, and mistake-prone tasks in today’s businesses. Because paying vendors is a repetitive task that happens each billing cycle, many organizations are eager to find ways to streamline and automate their AP operations. While numerous small business software solutions offer basic automation features, discovering tools that enable genuine transformation in AP can be challenging.
Since AP is often part of broader ERP systems, many popular ERP platforms come with built-in AP automation modules. However, for organizations not ready or willing to fully adopt an ERP system, a range of dedicated AP automation solutions are still available.
This article explores some of the top AP automation software options available today, helping you choose the best fit for your business needs. Let’s dive in.
What Are The Leading Accounts Payable & AP Automation Software Solutions?
Below, I highlight what I believe are the best software tools for streamlining accounts payable tasks today.
1. QuickBooks Online
Best Overall Choice for AP Automation
QuickBooks Online stands out as one of the best solutions for AP automation, providing a user-friendly platform to handle every aspect of accounts payable efficiently. It allows businesses to easily monitor and control vendor invoices, process payments, and keep track of expenses from a single dashboard. You can attach receipts directly to invoices for audit purposes or dispute handling, simplifying record-keeping. All bank ACH and credit card transactions automatically sync with QuickBooks, centralizing your AP activities. The tagging feature also helps categorize invoices accurately, facilitating comprehensive reporting.
Key Features
- Tracking income is simplified by monitoring deposits and card transactions directly from your bank accounts.
- Making payments via check or card is straightforward, with options to automate repetitive invoices to save time.
- Set up recurring invoices once, and QuickBooks will automatically bill clients on your scheduled intervals.
- Create customized estimates that reflect your branding, convert them into invoices, and manage bills within the same system.
User Experience
Navigating QuickBooks Online is smooth thanks to a left-hand menu that organizes all features needed to manage your finances. The interface is modern, intuitive, and straightforward, making it simple for users to quickly find what they need and handle their accounting tasks efficiently.
Pricing
QuickBooks Pricing Plans
QuickBooks offers four different subscription options to suit various business needs:
- Simple Start: $12.50 per month
- Essentials: $25 per month
- Plus: $40 per month
- Advanced: $90 per month
What I Appreciate and What Could Be Better About QuickBooks Online
What I Like:
- The software can connect all your financial accounts in one place, simplifying your accounting process.
- Being cloud-based means you can access your data anytime and anywhere.
What I Dislike:
- Setting up recurring payments requires a client to have an Intuit account, which might be an extra step for some users.
Recent Updates to the Product
- The introduction of QuickBooks Early Pay allows users to manage their cash flow more efficiently.
- New features in ProConnect with Intuit Link help increase productivity and save time.
Tipalti: Ideal for Global Business Operations
Best For International and Multicurrency Payments
Tipalti streamlines international payments by automating the entire accounts payable process, making business finance management simpler and more efficient. Its intelligent platform reduces the need for manual entry, improves relationships with suppliers, and provides better visibility into spending. When scaling, Tipalti helps manage large AP operations smoothly. You can send payments to over 196 countries, handling various currencies while minimizing errors associated with manual data entry. This ensures that your supplier information stays accurate and current, saving time and money.
Key Features of Tipalti
The platform offers several powerful features, including control and oversight of purchase orders through a multi-entity architecture, which streamlines requests and approval workflows. Robust financial controls help monitor your AP expenses, and the payment API facilitates transactions in numerous countries. The platform’s secure, cloud-based setup complies with financial regulations to keep your accounts safe.
User Experience and Interface
The payment process is straightforward, guided by a step-by-step tutorial that makes sending payments easy. The interface is modern and user-friendly, ensuring users can navigate the system effortlessly. Visuals depict an intuitive experience, allowing users to manage their transactions confidently.
Pricing details for Tipalti are available only after scheduling a demo, so interested users need to arrange a session to receive specific cost information.
What I Like/Dislike About Tipalti
Like:
– It offers comprehensive reporting features that give clear insights into your accounts payable processes.
– The platform is intuitive and easy to navigate, making it accessible for users.
Dislike:
– Filling out tax forms can be complicated, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the required documentation.
Product Updates:
– A new chat feature now allows users to message approvers directly, improving communication and collaboration throughout the approval process.
3. Sage Intacct
Best For Customized Reporting
Sage Intacct is a flexible, long-term financial management solution designed to adapt to the unique needs of any business. This accounts payable automation platform provides a scalable foundation that grows with your company. Its interconnected solutions enable businesses to automate various accounting tasks efficiently, saving valuable time. Features include full visibility into supplier invoices, early payment discounts, and automated workflows. Additionally, the platform offers real-time, multi-dimensional reporting tailored to your specific requirements.
Key Features:
– Monitor your financial performance instantly to stay on track.
– Native analytics tools provide quick insights into your data.
– Over 200 prebuilt visualizations help customize your reports effectively.
– The ‘People Dashboard’ offers immediate access to workforce data.
– Employee information syncs with Sage Intacct in real-time, ensuring records are always current.
– Payroll processes are simplified through seamless integrations.
User Experience:
– Sage Intacct provides visual dashboards that display critical financial data, such as cash balances and revenue, in real-time, enabling informed decision-making.
Pricing:
– Details are only available after scheduling a demo, allowing potential users to explore the platform’s features and costs directly.
For detailed pricing details, you’ll need to contact the provider directly.
What I Like/Dislike About Sage Intacct
Like:
– Its straightforward interface makes navigation simple.
– The company regularly releases updates, ensuring the software stays current and improves over time.
Dislike:
– Sometimes, it requires a few extra clicks to reach specific features or sections within the software.
Product Updates:
– One notable feature is GL Outlier Detection, which monitors your account for irregular or unusual activity, helping you stay informed and secure.
What I Like/Dislike About Sage Intacct
Like:
– Its straightforward interface makes navigation simple.
– The company regularly releases updates, ensuring the software stays current and improves over time.
Dislike:
– Sometimes, it requires a few extra clicks to reach specific features or sections within the software.
Product Updates:
– One notable feature is GL Outlier Detection, which monitors your account for irregular or unusual activity, helping you stay informed and secure.
What I Like/Dislike About Sage Intacct
Like:
– Its straightforward interface makes navigation simple.
– The company regularly releases updates, ensuring the software stays current and improves over time.
Dislike:
– Sometimes, it requires a few extra clicks to reach specific features or sections within the software.
Product Updates:
– One notable feature is GL Outlier Detection, which monitors your account for irregular or unusual activity, helping you stay informed and secure.
You’ll need to request specific pricing information from the provider, as it varies depending on your needs.
What I Like/Dislike About Sage Intacct
Like:
– Its straightforward interface makes navigation simple.
– The company regularly releases updates, ensuring the software stays current and improves over time.
Dislike:
– Sometimes, it requires a few extra clicks to reach specific features or sections within the software.
Product Updates:
– One notable feature is GL Outlier Detection, which monitors your account for irregular or unusual activity, helping you stay informed and secure.The following outlines the available pricing options:
- Lite: $4.50 per month
- Plus: $7.50 per month
- Premium: $15.00 per month
- Custom Pricing: Tailored according to your specific requirements
What I Like and Dislike About Freshbooks
Likes:
- The platform offers smooth and efficient workflows, with a strong emphasis on customer support.
- Creating professional-looking invoices is quick and straightforward.
Dislikes:
- Handling retainers can sometimes be complicated, especially when tracking hours and goods received.
Recent Product Updates
- Export all receipts with just a few clicks, simplifying expense management.
- On iOS devices, you can now filter clients by archived or deleted status, making client management easier.
Bill.com
Best For Enhancing Team Productivity
Bill.com improves team productivity by keeping everyone on the same page. The software automates accounts payable processes, providing a full overview of bills, including payment deadlines. You can set up automatic payments so you never miss a due date. Furthermore, Bill.com enables collaboration with suppliers and sharing of financial data across your ERP and accounting systems, ensuring everyone remains updated. The tool offers real-time synchronization, helping your team stay efficient and your financial processes smooth.
Key Features
The platform offers implementation services to help you get started quickly and maximize its benefits. Importing and exporting data is simple, allowing seamless integration with any accounting system or ERP. Faster reconciliation processes save time and reduce errors through automatic updates that ensure data accuracy.
User Experience
As your financial activities grow, tracking due bills can become complicated. Bill.com simplifies this by providing a centralized view of all accounts, including outstanding payments. You can easily monitor approval statuses and incoming or outgoing payments to maintain healthy cash flow.
Pricing
When choosing a plan, there are several options to consider. For most companies, the typical choice is the “Pay bills and get paid” plan. This plan has two tiers: the standard Corporate plan at $79 per user each month, and a customizable Enterprise plan for larger or more complex needs. Alternatively, some businesses might prefer individual plans that focus solely on either paying bills or receiving payments independently.
In discussing Bill.com, I appreciate that importing an invoice automatically fills in all necessary fields, reducing manual entry and saving time. The platform’s web application is robust and dependable, ensuring your financial data remains accurate. However, one downside is that the default ACH transfer method doesn’t always function as expected, which can cause delays or frustrations. Recent updates have improved data synchronization, keeping your records precise, and adding a one-click bill creation feature that speeds up invoice processing.
Moving on to Zoho Books, this software excels at facilitating teamwork across departments by assigning appropriate roles to each team member. This setup ensures everyone has access to the information they need at the right time, fostering effective collaboration. Zoho Books provides numerous features that help streamline accounting and invoice management, like creating professional invoices quickly, tracking payments, and sending reminders to ensure timely collections. It also supports generating purchase orders to simplify procurement, uploading expense receipts for better expense tracking, and managing inventory by setting reorder points to prevent stock shortages. These functions enable smarter inventory decisions and reduce operational hiccups.
Zoho offers three pricing plans, starting with a free option for $15 per month billed annually. The next tier, Professional, costs $40 per month, while the Premium plan is priced at $60 per month, also billed annually. These options allow businesses of different sizes to choose a package that best fits their needs.
Finally, Beanworks targets organizations aiming to cut costs. While detailed features are not listed here, it’s generally recognized for helping businesses reduce expenses through efficient invoice and payment processes, thereby saving resources and improving financial management.
Beanworks offers an excellent way to reduce expenses related to managing accounts payable. In the past, handling invoices was often slow and costly. However, Beanworks leverages optical character recognition (OCR) technology to automate data entry, enabling faster and more efficient invoice processing. This allows your team to dedicate more time to strategic activities rather than manual bookkeeping. With this cloud-based system, you can easily access accurate details for any payment, invoice, or credit, seamlessly integrating with your existing workflows. If you’re looking to ditch paper invoices and checks, automating your accounts payable through Beanworks can facilitate this transition smoothly.
Key Features:
- Consolidate your accounts payable across multiple locations, helping you oversee and approve expenses efficiently in one centralized platform.
- Match purchase orders with invoices to ensure accurate payments for goods and services received.
- Automate approval routes for purchase orders, invoices, and credit notes to accelerate your payment cycle.
- Quickly locate any accounts payable document and see all workflow approvals at a glance, making it easy to track payment statuses.
- Approve and release vendor payments with a single click to ensure invoices are paid on time.
Pricing:
Beanworks offers several subscription plans to suit different business needs:
- Beansprout: Free trial to start exploring the platform.
- Purchase Orders: For managing and automating purchase order processes.
- Invoices Payments: To streamline invoice handling and payments.
- Expenses: For expense management and reconciliation.
Pricing details for plans beyond the free option are available upon request. Other popular accounts payable tools include Netsuite, Microsoft Dynamics, Xero, AvidXchange, and more.
What are Accounts Payable & AP Automation Software?
Accounts payable software helps businesses automate and monitor their outgoing payments, including invoice creation, processing, and vendor management. AP automation software specifically enhances this by streamlining workflows—covering the entire cycle from invoicing to payment—to ensure timely cash flow. Usually integrated with other financial systems like accounts receivable (AR) or enterprise resource planning (ERP), these tools enable companies to automate routine tasks, minimize errors, and foster better vendor relations. With multiple payment options, manual processing becomes time-consuming and error-prone, which is why many organizations adopt AP automation tools to improve efficiency and ensure on-time payments, especially with rising volume in global vendor transactions.
Benefits of Using Accounts Payable Software
Handling financial obligations responsibly is critical for any business. The AP department manages all outgoing payments to vendors, making an efficient process vital for maintaining solid supplier relationships and avoiding penalties for late payments. Human errors can cause delays, making automated systems essential. Benefits of accounts payable software include reducing mistakes through better data entry, improving cash flow management with invoice tracking and automated reminders, strengthening vendor relationships via punctual payments, increasing departmental efficiency through clearer audit trails, and allowing easy scaling as your business expands. These advantages help streamline financial workflows and safeguard your company’s financial health.
Features of Accounts Payable & AP Automation Software
While features vary by vendor, core functionalities are common to effective systems. Invoice processing features typically include creating, sending, and tracking invoices, along with managing vendor data. Invoice automation capabilities allow automatic matching of invoices to purchase orders and payment terms, reducing errors and late payments while boosting efficiency. Other key features might include automated approval workflows, real-time visibility into payment statuses, and easy vendor management—all designed to make your accounts payable process smoother and more reliable.Automated Workflow for Approvals
Streamlining accounts payable through automation is a vital feature to consider in this type of software. This process helps accelerate approvals and guarantees that invoices are settled promptly. When an invoice is received, it is automatically routed to the relevant approver for evaluation. Once approved, the invoice moves to the accounts payable department for disbursement.
Managing Payments Efficiently
Automating payment processes is another critical aspect of an effective accounts payable system. This includes options to set up automatic payments and capabilities to monitor and control all outgoing payments seamlessly.
Cloud Accounting Solutions
Many modern accounts payable platforms operate in the cloud, allowing users to access their financial data anytime and anywhere. This flexibility is especially beneficial for remote teams or businesses that require mobility. Some organizations may opt for on-premise solutions for enhanced security and extra features, though these tend to be more costly. Ultimately, whether cloud-based or on-site depends on the specific needs of your business.
Using Machine Learning in Accounting
As automation advances, machine learning has become increasingly important in accounting software. It supports tasks such as detecting fraud and enhancing the accuracy of financial reports. Systems powered by machine learning can save time and money while boosting the reliability of your financial data.
Maintaining Healthy Cash Flow
Tracking key performance indicators like DSO helps businesses understand how long it takes clients to settle invoices. DSO indicates the average number of days for customer payments. A lower DSO suggests faster payments, which is vital for maintaining smooth cash flow within the company.
Reducing Departmental Workloads
Incorporating enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems into accounting processes can automate numerous tasks, thereby decreasing the workload for finance teams. This includes activities such as issuing invoices, managing vendor details, and overseeing payments. Additionally, ERP can streamline procurement, helping to integrate purchasing with the accounts payable process and further lessen departmental burdens.
Avoiding Manual and Duplicate Data Entry
For small businesses, document management can pose significant challenges. Effective solutions provide a central repository for all documents—from invoices to purchase orders—and enable automatic updates to the general ledger, reducing the risk of errors. While manual entry might seem straightforward, it is often slow and prone to mistakes. Automating data entry, especially for electronic invoices, can eliminate many errors and save time.
Tailoring Software to Business Needs
Since accounting and bookkeeping methods vary across organizations, it’s crucial to choose accounts payable software that can be customized to meet your specific requirements. This might include integrating with other tools, generating custom reports, and customizing workflows. Ensuring your software captures payment and invoice data will improve accuracy and give you a comprehensive view of your financial status. Many solutions offer modular features, allowing you to select functionalities aligned with your business.
Final Thoughts
The processes of managing accounts receivable and payable are fundamental to keeping your business running smoothly. When handled manually, these tasks can become laborious and prone to errors. That’s why investing in accounts payable automation software is essential—it simplifies tasks like vendor invoicing, customer payments, and expense tracking. Every level of your finance team, from the CFO to clerks, will benefit from increased efficiency and accuracy. Choosing a adaptable software solution tailored to your company’s needs can save time, lessen manual workload, and improve overall financial management.
Do you currently utilize accounts payable automation in your business? If yes, which system do you use, and what has your experience been? Share your insights in the comments section below.
Further resources available on StepThroughThePortal.com include information on how order management systems can help automate accounts payable. These systems, combined with tools like CRMs and ERPs, can give a complete picture of your financial health and improve operational efficiency. There’s also a detailed comparison of ERP and CRM systems, discussing the benefits of each.