The accounts payable function at organizations is evolving, and as companies bring their AP processes into the digital future, they need technological advances to keep up, bringing them from point A to point B with more accuracy, speed, and cost-savvy. All of this and more can be done with planning and automation. The following infographic shares statistics, facts, and tips on AP automation and modernizing your business processes for improved customer and supplier relationships, better discount capture, and enhanced visibility into business processes.

1. 2016-2018
WEXCORPORATEINFOGRAPHIC
APORGANIZATIONSARECHANGING
WHYAUTOMATE?4
Companies around the world are bringing their AP organizations up to date—and into the digital
future. By reimagining their workflows and investing in the technology they need to get them from
point A to point B with more accuracy, speed, and cost-savvy, they’re making a big impact on the
bottom-line and serving customers and suppliers better than ever. The following stats, facts, and
figures highlight their journey from the manual to the automatic:
68% Reduce overall processing costs
Remove paper from AP department
Accelerate invoice approval cycle times
Improve cash management
Reduce lost invoices
Improve visibility into spend
52%
46%
35%
28%
24%
Better invoice audit capabilities16%
Obtain incremental supplier dynamic discounts9%
Strengthen supplier relationships5%
GOALSFORTODAY’SAPORGANIZATIONSWITHINTHENEXTTWOYEARS3
:
75%
70%
of payments made by businesses are done by check1
of AP Professionals say at least half of their invoices are still on paper2
53%
37%
33%Improve collaboration
and process linkage
between AP and
procurement
Reduce operational costs
on AP-related processes
Automate
more AP
processes
AUTOMATIONVIADIGITALPAYMENTSARETHEFUTURE
LOWER
COSTS
LOWER
COSTS
REDUCE
ERRORS
SAVETIME
ENHANCEVISIBILITY
COSTSINCLUDE:
Paper, postage, paper
storage, printing,
labor, infrastructure
40%ofAPprofessionals
reported a decline
in error rates after
automating2
$
4-20Average cost of writing
a business check5
$
3MAnnual cost of processing 10,000
invoices per month at $25 per invoice
$
480KAnnual cost of processing 10,000 invoices
per month at $4 per invoice
62%
2015-2017
CHANGESTHEAPPROFESSIONALSEXPECTSTOSEEBETWEEN2015AND201715
:
VIRTUALCARDNUMBERS(VCNS)AREAPOWERFULDIGITALPAYMENTSOLUTION:
78%
19%
52%
68%
46%
88%
86%
82%AP staff will
move away from
manual tasks
The AP process
will be largely
automated
The amount of paper
will significantly
reduce
Labor costs
typically
consume
62% of total
AP costs6
43%
43% AP Pros
say their avg.
e-invoice costs
less than $22
90%
90% of EMEA
companies
don’t have a
transparent
view into their
cash flow6
39%
39% of treasury officials
across regions and
industries still use the
dreaded spreadsheet
to forecast cash flow10
TIMEITTAKESFORDATA
ENTRY,VALIDATION,AND
APPROVALOFANINVOICE2
:
72% – 5 days or fewer
10% – Less than a day
9% – Less than an hour
9% – Other
HALF
Amount of time
(49%) spent
on transaction
processing
by members
of the finance
department7
Vendor
invoice errors
4.0 to 3.1
Vendor
payment errors
2.6 to 2.3
Vendor checks
reissued
1.9 to 1.8
Employee expense
report errors
3.6 to 1.7
Employee
reimbursement
errors
1.8 to 1.3
Employee
reimbursements
reissued
1.2 to 0.6
of B2B companies believe
mobile is the future of
online commerce11
of digital commerce
revenue from mobile
channels is B2B
generated12
of B2B executives said they
were comfortable making
business-related purchases
on a mobile device13
of B2B buyers made
online purchases in 2014
versus 57% in 201314
of B2B buyers spent at
least half of their corporate
procurement budgets
online in the last year14
e-payment is facilitated through the widely accepted major credit card networks
suppliers get paid faster, leading to improved cash flow at a lower cost than
check, wire, or ACH transactions
payments are settled in the currency of the recipient, leading an easier
international payment at a lower cost
each transaction yields detailed remittance data that goes much farther than
what’s provided through legacy methods
VIRTUAL
CARDS
Sources:
1
AP Now
2
Institute of Financial Operations 2014 AP Automation Study
3
Ardent Partners’ePayables 2015: Higher Ground
4
Bottomline Technologies Building a Business Case for AP Automation, citing PayStream Advisors; Electronic Invoice Adoption Benchmark Report
5
Wall Street Journal
6
CFO.com citing APQC research
7
CFO.com citing APQC research
8
The Institute of Management & Administration
9
Pymnts.com article Data Digest:The Scary Stats on Cash Flow Management: citing CashfacTechnologies and East & Partners, EMEA Operational Cash Index
10
Pymnts.com article Data Digest: The Scary Stats on Cash Flow Management citing Sungard, Treasury Risk Market Survey
11
Usablenet
12
Gartner
13
Forbes
14
Accenture Interactive’s 2014 State of B2B Procurement Study
15
Ardent Partners’2015 State of B2B Payments
See also:
Cash Flow and the AP Process: 3 Big Roadblocks to Automation
Automation: Part of the Corporate Cash Flow Solution
TRANSFORMINGAP
THROUGHAUTOMATION