[Editor’s Note: Ardent Partners recently published its Accounts Payable-themed report, “Accounts Payable 2022: Big Trends and Predictions”. Over the next few weeks, this site will feature articles highlighting the key discussion points from the report.
The third year of the new decade begins much as last year did: with great uncertainty and a global pandemic that will not fade. COVID-19 appears to be something that must be dealt with for the foreseeable future. As such, 2022 will see the business world continuing to operate in a new and yet, seemingly similar, ‘new normal’ that will be driven by new realities, new ideas, accelerated digital transformation, and new leadership. Here are Ardent Partners’ top trends for the year.
The global pandemic over the past two years has helped highlight the critical importance of the AP function to ensure business continuity and an organizations overall well-being. Overlooked by many for years, the importance of an automated and well-run AP department was on display for all finance and enterprise executives, as well as suppliers to see.
Big Trend – AP Data Becoming More Valuable
Over the last 20 years, AP has gone from a back-office, fully-manual, drowning in paper, siloed function that was cut off from the rest of the world to an increasingly strategic organization. That’s because there’s been a greater understanding of the value of the data that AP captures, processes, and manages. In fact, improving AP reporting and data analytics was reported by 55% of organizations as their top priority for AP as they head into 2022.
This realization that AP can be a “hub of intelligence” has emerged and continues to grow within the profession and beyond it, more broadly in finance. The AP process creates and captures a veritable gold mine of information, including the data linked to the invoices and supplier payments that the function processes. For example, AP’s data can be an incredible benefit for treasury departments that want to leverage deep intelligence as a way to improve their supplier payment strategies. Any improvements in the way AP collects and analyzes transactional data has the potential to boost its overall strategic value.
The world has become increasingly data-driven, and businesses around the globe are realizing they have an extraordinary opportunity to capitalize on it. The knowledge captured by an AP function can help it improve its own operations and can also be used to support decision-making, payment strategies, and help transform supplier relationships. The top AP leaders today understand that the information that their teams collect via their efforts, systems, and processes can be a valuable foundation for critical, strategic financial decisions and general business activity.
BIG Trend – Invoice and B2B Payment Fraud on the Rise
In good times, business professionals that manage cash and payments must be vigilant to outside threats and the risk of fraud. When times get tough or when big market shifts occur, criminals emerge to try to exploit the situation. Unfortunately, fraud has been on the rise during the pandemic as many fraudsters exploited new opportunities brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic to take advantage of businesses.
Conducting more business outside of the office and operating as virtual teams translated into higher IT and data security risks. Over the past eighteen months, fraudsters took advantage of critical vulnerabilities and attempted to steal money from exposed businesses. With so many susceptible entry points, last year was the largest on record in terms of fraudulent payment behavior. In fact, nearly four out of ten (38%) businesses reported a business payment fraud attack over the past year. While not all attacks were successful, it is clear from the sheer number that the issue of payment fraud attacks will be front and center for AP teams in 2022 and require more strategies and tools to be put in place to stop them.
Make sure to check back over the coming weeks as we share more Accounts Payable BIG Trends and Predictions for 2022.
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