5 Best Accounts Payable Systems

With an expected growth rate of 12.5%, the Accounts Payable automation software market will likely increase to $7.5 billion by 2030 [1]. However, despite many successful case studies, some companies still rely on manual processes – with 68% of businesses entering invoices manually [2].

We’ve rounded a list of the top accounts payable automation solutions to help you get acquainted with your AP software options.

But first, here’s a primer on accounts payable software solutions.

Accounts Payable Software – What is It?

Accounts payable software is a tool that allows companies and their accounting team to speed up invoice processing and management.

Continued reliance on a manual process leads to many problems for understaffed accounts payable departments. When there are too many invoices to process, AP teams can’t keep up with business operations. Problems like late payments, paying invoices twice, and processing incorrect payment amounts often crop up.

Using ERP or cloud-based accounting systems like Xero and QuickBooks Online helps, but it doesn’t solve the problem. These tools lack features to address pain points in a manual AP environment­.

Expense management and accounts payable software solutions exist to fill this need. Products like Envoice leverage technology so businesses gain visibility and control over invoice management.

Top Features of an Accounts Payable Automation Software

Automating manual tasks plays a vital role in business success. So, picking the right AP automation investments is critical. Here are some of the best time-saving features to look for when choosing AP software.

Optical character recognition

Reducing manual data entry is among the biggest selling points for AP automation – and this is impossible without optical character recognition or OCR.

With OCR, users don’t need to key data from bills or invoices. Data from photos or PDFs get converted to a machine-readable format in seconds. Rather than entering data, users only need to review it for accuracy. Some providers also add human verification to their subscription plan to achieve 99% accuracy.

Automated Approval Workflows

In a manual environment, companies route invoices for approval before getting paid as part of internal control. AP software transforms this process by creating an approval workflow for all invoice activities.

Having every invoice enter the workflow enables invoice status tracking. When users send the invoice for review, the approver receives a notification, so they know that an invoice is waiting for them. Best of all, an approval log shows all actions related to the invoice.

Machine Learning

Machine learning allows your AP software to recommend categories and use past transactions to apply rules automatically.
Self-learning AI reduces repetitive tasks like adding vendor codes or choosing expense categories, which frees up additional time for your staff.

Accounting Software Integration

Integration puts an end to entering data in multiple systems. AP software solutions should integrate with your existing accounting or ERP software to enable information sharing. Integration makes it possible to push data captured through your AP automation tool to the right expense category in your accounting software with the push of a button.

Availability Across Different Devices

More businesses embrace hybrid work, making it necessary for AP software solutions to be accessible from a laptop, mobile phone, and tablet. Users expect their AP software to have a mobile app that allows them to capture invoice data by taking a photo of an invoice and sending it directly for approval.

Why Companies Embrace AP Automation

 

Automating the accounts payable function comes with many benefits. Many businesses accelerate AP automation to modernize business processes, address emerging business risks, and achieve growth targets while keeping costs at bay.

Here are reasons why almost all companies consider automating the AP process.

Better Document Management

Accounting departments deal with various types of paperwork – invoices, expense reports, billings, and other supplementary documents to support data reported in the financial statements. Having all this information in file cabinets may work for a small business, but as you grow, it becomes more challenging to keep up with all the paperwork.

Paperless records that users can access online make data accessible to authorized users. It is also easier to comply with legal and regulatory requirements with an efficient document management system. Document retrieval is also more convenient with a paperless system.

Higher Productivity

Access to more tools does not necessarily lead to greater productivity. In fact, it can result in hours wasted due to navigating between apps, training on how to use the tool, dealing with the learning curve, and more. AP automation solves this productivity paradox by leaving repetitive tasks to robots who can process data non-stop without sacrificing consistency and accuracy.

While humans should still be in the loop to make decisions related to invoice approvals, automating data entry and invoice routing means less time wasted, so you get more work done.

Stronger Internal Controls and Higher Compliance Rates

Compliance with regulatory and legal requirements is among the most tedious parts of accounts payable compliance. AP automation tightens internal controls and enhances compliance by providing another level of oversight.

Automated invoice workflows allow administrators to code rules into the system. All expense claims that enter the process should pass these rules to move through the approval phase. Since everything happens in one system, all actions and changes leave an audit trail – making it easier to track everything related to a transaction.

Achieve Higher Cost Targets

Finance operating models are changing as companies continue to face long-term economic uncertainty. For 88% of companies, the main goal for revamping operation models focuses on achieving an average cost savings of 4.8% in the next two years [3].
AP Automation allows finance teams to achieve their cost targets through process optimization. Introducing robots into the invoice approval workflow decreases labor hours spent reviewing, approving, and correcting invoices due to coding errors, increases capture rates for early payment discounts and helps the business avoid penalties and late payments.

Reduce Employee Turnover

Repetitive manual processes hurt businesses and employee morale. About 55% of employees think of leaving a position with too many admin tasks [4]. Meanwhile, 85% navigate to organizations that invest in using technology to reduce manual work like data entry.

With hiring challenges across organizations, it makes sense to automate AP workflows to continue business as usual without adding headcount and to attract and retain talent. Freed-up time from automating tasks allows your employees to focus on their main job and widen their skillset to take on bigger responsibilities.

5 Best AP Automation Software

Businesses have a wide range of options for accounts payable automation solutions. There are standalone systems, cloud-based tools that allow integration, and enterprise-wide solutions with advanced features from the world’s leading software providers. Below we look at payment processing systems that have already made their mark in the accounting world.

1. Envoice

Envoice makes smart accounting possible by automating your pre-accounting functions and creating faster payment processing times. This cloud-based accounting software allows small and medium-sized businesses to reap the benefits of automation on a budget.

Their full expense management function allows you to create spending limits and employee-driven expense reports, while their powerful machine-learning and OCR capabilities provide you with error-free accounting processes.

Main features

Automation:
Free yourself from actions that technology can do better, and get your accounting data extracted accurately in seconds. With Envoice, you can streamline your workflow and concentrate on more important tasks, confident that your financial data is accurate.

Create your own custom rules to streamline your workflow and eliminate repetitive actions. The easy-to-use platform allows you to set up rules for categorization, approval, and more, so you can spend less time on manual tasks and focus on growing your business.

Digitization:
An easy-to-use, accurate AI tool (SmartExtract) frees you from the hassle of data entry and reduces errors. The system reads all the necessary information from invoices and receipts without manual input.

Mobile Application:
Take pictures of invoices and receipts with the Envoice mobile app. All your paperless documents are kept safe and secure without them getting lost.

Expense management:
Set reimbursement rates and daily limits for employees to make it easy for them to declare mileage and daily expenses online. Report costs are classified as reimbursable and non-reimbursable. A simpler, web-based process allows employees to create and submit both requests and reports to the entire team.

Wide integration capabilities:
Envoice integrates seamlessly with all leading software, so you can create the complete solution that suits you best.

Price

The Envoice pricing model includes a fixed monthly subscription fee and a variable fee for additional documents processed.

• Essential – €7 per month inclusive of 30 invoices + €0.15 per invoice for each additional document
• Business – €14 per month inclusive of 30 invoices + €0.15 per invoice for each additional document
• ExactExtract digitization- €0.20 per document

2. Stampli

A cloud-based account payable and invoice management solution that provides businesses with the tools they need to streamline their AP process. With Stampli, users can easily manage corporate spending, from cards to invoices to payments, all in one place.

The platform offers communication and collaboration tools for vendors, customers, and internal teams and complete visibility over all corporate spending.

Additionally, Stampli provides users with end-to-end AP automation capabilities that give them complete control of the invoice lifecycle. With Stampli’s powerful features, small businesses can easily manage their accounts payable process and ensure accurate payments are made on time.

Main Features

Stampli Expenses:
This is a cloud-based platform for automating expenses that aids in streamlining the cost management process for enterprises. It offers features like corporate card solutions and does away with the necessity for manual, labor-intensive procedures like using spreadsheets.

Remote Access:
This enables remote employees to process and approve invoices at any time, location, or device. Additionally, Stampli provides capabilities like automated data entry and smart AP processing to lessen the amount of manual work needed for remote accounts payable processes.

Stampli Direct Pay:
This is a B2B payment service that makes ACH and check payments faster and easier to reconcile. Small businesses can use this to automate payment runs and gain access to all relevant details and supporting documents for seamless payment approvals.

Price

Companies need to contact Stampli for a quote, but pricing includes a number of advanced features and unlimited invoice capture.

3. Melio

Melio is a web-based accounts payable software designed to simplify paying bills online. It offers an automated payment system that allows businesses to pay their bills via bank transfers, debit cards, or credit cards. Melio also supports vendors who only accept check payments.

The software is tailored for accountants, bookkeepers, and small business owners. It maximizes cash flow and minimizes busy work by allowing users to pay vendor bills using a bank transfer or debit card for free, even if their vendor doesn’t accept electronic payments.

Main Features

Pay By Card:

This is a great feature for small business owners who need to pay vendors and suppliers quickly and easily. With Melio, you can pay any vendor using a debit card or bank transfer for free if the receiving party accepts checks.

Team Management:

This enables you to choose which and how many clients each team member will manage, assign roles to team members, and gain financial transparency and complete control over your finances with just a few clicks. With Melio Team Management, businesses can ensure that their teams are organized efficiently and effectively.

Invoice Capture:

This makes it easy to take a photo or upload a file, manually enter the details, and connect with your accounting software. You can also set up automatic payment reminders for customers, schedule payments in advance, and customize your invoice templates.

Price

Melio offers two main plans, namely, Core ($21.25 p/m) and Boost ($46.75 p/m). The plans give you a limited number of ACH transfers, 2-way sync with accounting software, and payment management features.

4. Nanonets

Nanonets is an AI platform that enables businesses to digitize documents by leveraging deep learning capabilities. It extracts relevant information from unstructured text and documents using advanced OCR and deep learning, allowing users to quickly and accurately capture invoices electronically.

In addition, Nanonets provide self-learning OCR capabilities that can be trained for specific use cases. It also offers headquarters locations and products that save time by instantly capturing and structuring the correct data from documents. Small businesses can use AP software to digitize documents quickly and accurately.

Main Features

Emails Bills Fetch:

This is a powerful tool for automating bill data capture. It enables users to collect and forward emailed bills, process invoices, and track accounts receivable to their Nanonets Inbox. This makes it simple to reconcile accounts payable and accurately match balances and SKUs.

Furthermore, the Email Parser from Nanonets can be used to extract relevant invoice data from emails and send it to Excel, Google Sheets, ERPs, or other systems.

Reconcile Invoices:

It enables users to collect or forward emailed bills, invoices, and receipts to their Nanonets Inbox and reconcile invoices with 2, 3, and 4-way matching, making it easy to manage bank statements or identify and balance deviations in the accounts payable department.

Price

Nanonets offers a pay-as-you-go option, which you can get started for free, and a credits accelerate plan (you need to speak to their sales departments about this plan).

5. Sage Intacct

As an AP automation solution endorsed by the American Institute of Public Accountants, Sage Intacct has powerful features to assist accounting professionals. Accounts payable automation is part of the Sage Intacct ERP ecosystem.
Companies can use the AP module to decrease processing time for invoices. Accounts payable automation features for this ERP tool can do the following:

Main Features

Save time on data processing:
Upload or email an AP bill and Sage accounts payable ap automation will extract details and create a pre-populated draft for your approval. Sage Ai correctly identifies the vendor, amount, dates, and line items.

Reconcile invoices in minutes:
Reconcile in minutes with auto-matched and auto-created draft transactions, making it easy to soft-close daily. Sage Ai flags duplicate invoices so you don’t pay twice by mistake, helping you stay on top of your bills.

Cash flow and risk management:
Set spending limits to maintain budget compliance with Sage Intacct spend management. Get complete visibility into the entire accounts payable process.

Price

Pricing is provided on request only. Speak to one of the Sage experts regarding your unique needs.

Embrace Automation Software

Choosing the right accounts payable automation software is a big decision, and it’s something that should not be taken lightly. Once you’ve done your due diligence, act swiftly to implement automation and enhance your AP processing and financial management.

One way of testing your shortlist is to sign up for a free trial. That way, you can see the impact of the new software on your day-to-day activities.

You can’t compete in a world of fast-moving AI development and automation if your finance team has outdated tools and manual processes that hold you back. So modernize now and stay in the race.

Discover how accessible AP automation can be. Schedule a free demo with the Envoice team today.

References:
1. 2030 Adoption of Smart Technology
2. Research shows AP automation growing
3. Transform your financial function
4. Most hated office tasks