With the release of my 18th-annual Accounts Payable-themed report, my team and I continue our nearly two-decade-long dialogue with Accounts Payable (AP), Procure-to-Pay (P2P), and other finance leaders. The report captures the experience, performance, perspective, and intentions of a wide range of AP departments via the response of 190 AP and finance professionals.
The report also includes benchmark statistics, analysis, and recommendations that AP, finance, and P2P teams can use to better understand the state of AP today, gain insight into best practices, benchmark their performance against the best-in-class, and ultimately improve their operations and performance. It also discusses the impact of AI on AP and provides actionable recommendations for AP professionals to take advantage of emerging technologies and pave the way for a smarter future.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll take a deeper dive into the risks, challenges, technologies, and opportunities that AP and P2P leaders and their teams face in 2023 and beyond. There’s no better time to be working in AP than right now. The potential to extend the function’s influence in the enterprise and elevate AP’s performance is at your fingertips.
Today’s coverage examines the leading priorities of accounts payable in 2023, including improved reporting and data analytics, AI implementation, and more.
AP’s Strategic Priorities in 2023
As the role of the accounts payable function continues to evolve, AP leaders are increasingly prioritizing initiatives that will help them pave the way to a smarter future. According to Ardent Partners’ annual State of ePayables survey, AP’s top priorities for 2023 include improving reporting and data analytics, enabling more suppliers to submit invoices electronically, implementing AP automation, eliminating paper and reducing manual tasks, minimizing processing costs, and improving collaboration and communication with procurement.
Improving reporting and data analytics remains the top priority for AP leaders, with 53% of respondents citing it as a key area of focus. Visibility into key information is essential for executive planning and making informed decisions. By capturing and analyzing the streams of data created across the function, AP professionals can gain valuable insights to help them improve their operations and help support the intelligence needs of functional partners in procurement, treasury, and the lines of business.
Enabling more suppliers to submit invoices electronically was identified as a priority by 38% of AP leaders this year. This reflects a growing recognition that manual invoice processing is inefficient and error-prone, and that electronic invoicing can help to streamline the process while providing visibility and lowering costs. In addition, can also help organizations achieve compliance with government mandates. By encouraging suppliers to adopt eInvoicing. AP teams can also improve their relationships with key stakeholders and better support the wider business’s strategic objectives.
‘Implementing AP automation’ (36%) and ‘eliminating paper invoicing and reducing manual tasks’ (35%) were also identified as key priorities for AP leaders in 2023. This reflects a clear recognition that manual processes are time-consuming, error-prone, and costly. As such, many AP teams are exploring automation solutions that will help reduce the amount of paper and manual tasks being managed today. These have been important priorities for the last few years, particularly since the global shutdown in 2020.
Reducing processing costs remains a key priority for AP leaders, with 29% of respondents citing it as a top area of focus. This reflects the ongoing pressure on AP teams to deliver cost savings and improve efficiency, while still maintaining high levels of service and accuracy. Finally, improving collaboration and communication with procurement was identified as a priority by 22% of AP leaders. This reflects a growing recognition that AP and procurement are interconnected and highly dependent. Strong collaboration between the two functions is essential for either group to achieve top performance. By improving communication and collaboration with procurement, AP teams can execute more efficiently and with greater precision, while providing a superior experience for internal stakeholders and suppliers.
Next time, we’ll explore why harnessing the power of data and intelligence is becoming increasingly important for finance teams in today’s business landscape.
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