Accounts payable is entering a new era. After years of focusing on digitization and process automation, organizations are now applying artificial intelligence to improve decision-making, accelerate workflows, and transform AP into a more intelligent, data-driven business function.
This article series is based on the findings from State of AP 2026: AI Rising, a new research report sponsored by Medius and xSuite. Drawing on the perspectives of 194 accounts payable, P2P, and finance leaders, the research explores how organizations are adopting AI, where they are realizing the greatest value, the operational challenges they continue to face, and the capabilities that distinguish top-performing AP organizations.
Throughout this series, we’ll examine the report’s most important findings, including the current state of AP, emerging AI use cases, automation trends, AI readiness and maturity, and the strategies leading organizations are using to prepare for more autonomous finance operations. Whether your organization is beginning its AI journey or expanding existing initiatives, these articles will provide research-backed insights to help guide the next phase of AP transformation.
In Part Two of our series, we’re exploring this year’s AP priorities and what they mean for AP leaders and their teams.
AP Priorities in 2026: The Familiar and the Urgent
At first glance, AP’s priorities in 2026 look remarkably familiar. Improving reporting and data analytics remains the leading priority, followed by automation, supplier electronic invoicing adoption, and cost reduction. These objectives have appeared on AP leaders’ agendas for years. Their continued prominence suggests that the profession is not abandoning its traditional goals. Rather, it is pursuing them under new conditions and with new tools.
The persistence of these priorities is not evidence of stagnation. It reflects the reality that AP’s mandate has expanded faster than many organizations’ ability to modernize the processes and systems that support it. AP teams are being asked to deliver greater visibility, stronger controls, improved supplier experiences, and more strategic business value while continuing to improve operational efficiency. The challenge is no longer identifying the destination. It is accelerating the journey.
The top-ranked priority, improving reporting and data analytics (46%), offers perhaps the clearest signal of where the profession is headed. AP leaders increasingly recognize that the function’s value extends beyond processing transactions. They want better visibility into performance, working capital, supplier activity, and operational risk. In many respects, the growing focus on analytics is laying the foundation for everything that follows.
The continued emphasis on automation (41%), supplier enablement (36%), and cost reduction (33%) tells a related story. These priorities remain tightly connected. Organizations cannot automate effectively without digital invoice flows. They cannot significantly reduce costs while manual processes remain in place. And they cannot fully capitalize on AI if the underlying data and workflows are fragmented or incomplete. Foundational modernization remains unfinished for much of the market.
AP’s top priorities have created the condition for AI adoption across the function. As a result, deploying AI (27%) is now both a priority and a potential multiplier of every priority above it. The 27% value deserves a closer look. Given the level of adoption already underway and the strong expectations surrounding AI’s future impact, the number might initially appear low. It should not. For a growing share of AP organizations, AI is no longer a discrete initiative with its own place on the priority list. It is becoming embedded within broader programs around analytics, automation, efficiency, and process improvement. The goal is better performance. AI is increasingly viewed as the way to achieve it.
Access this exclusive research today by downloading the State of AP 2026: AI Rising report now.
