In our recent webinar “Kickstart Your AP Transformation: 3 Resolutions for Smarter Finance in 2026”, we explored why Accounts Payable Transformation so often stalls not because finance teams lack urgency, but because AP is where every operational “messy middle” shows up. Invoices arrive as PDFs and emails, approvals get stuck in inboxes, exceptions bounce between teams, and spreadsheet workarounds quietly become mission-critical. During the session, we focused on three practical resolutions finance leaders can take to cut through this complexity, regain visibility, and make meaningful progress without overhauling everything at once.
And if you’re wondering what counts as Accounts Payable Transformation, it’s not just “going paperless.” It’s the shift from fragmented, manual invoice handling to standardized intake, automated workflows, stronger controls (like matching), and reporting that gives finance real visibility, so AP supports speed and smarter cash decisions.
A quick benchmark reality check: Ardent Partners’ 2024 data shows “Best-in-Class” AP teams run at $2.78 per invoice and 3.1 days to process an invoice, while “All Others” average $12.88 per invoice and 17.4 days with higher exception rates and less straight-through processing. That gap explains why AP modernization often delivers outsized impact compared to many other finance projects.
So, if AP still feels like a constant cleanup job, you’re not imagining it. The gap is real and it’s fixable.
Resolution 1: Remove manual friction (without breaking your process)
During the webinar, this was the most common pain point raised by attendees: invoices arriving everywhere, approvals stalling in inboxes, and AP teams spending too much time chasing instead of processing.
Manual friction is anything that forces AP to chase, re-key, or re-check information: invoices arriving in multiple places, inconsistent coding, approvals that stall in inboxes, or exceptions that bounce between AP and procurement.
The cost of friction isn’t the only time it’s error risk. Spreadsheet-heavy processes are especially vulnerable (and most teams use spreadsheets far more than they admit). If your process depends on people copying data between systems, you’re basically betting the close on human perfection.
What “friction removal” looks like in practice
The teams moving fastest toward Accounts Payable Transformation tend to standardize three things first:
1) Standardize invoice intake
Pick a small number of “front doors” for invoices (email, vendor portal, scan/OCR) and make them consistent. The goal isn’t perfection it’s reducing the number of places AP has to “hunt.”
This is where automation starts to feel practical, even for smaller teams. A common question is, “Is AP automation only worth it for large enterprises?” Not necessarily mid-market finance teams often feel the pain more intensely because they’re managing complexity with lean headcounts. Standardized intake alone can remove a surprising amount of daily chaos.
With Quadient AP Automation, invoices can be captured consistently and routed into a centralized workflow, instead of living across inboxes and shared folders.
2) Automate matching and exception handling
Matching is one of the quickest wins because it turns “investigation work” into “review work.” If you’ve ever asked, “How does matching actually reduce AP risk?” It’s because 2-way and 3-way matching help verify that what you were billed aligns with what you ordered (and received) and then routes exceptions to the right owner quickly. That’s how teams reduce overbilling, missed credits, and approval back-and-forth.
Quadient supports configurable matching and exception routing, which helps teams move from manual detective work to structured resolution.
3) Make approvals predictable
Approvals are where friction hides. Instead of “who should approve this?”, define rules by amount, entity, GL, department, or vendor type then route automatically with visibility into bottlenecks. Quadient’s workflow approach keeps approvals moving with tracking and audit history, so AP can see where invoices stall and why.
How do you know if this resolution works?
If you’re looking for a simple way to measure progress, start with invoice cycle time, cost per invoice, exception rate, and how much time AP spends responding to supplier inquiries. Those KPIs usually improve quickly when intake and approvals stop being “invisible work.”
Resolution 2: Gain cash visibility (because “timing” beats “speed”)
This resolution resonated strongly during the session, especially for finance leaders trying to balance cash control with operational efficiency.
AP shouldn’t be measured only by how fast invoices move. It should be measured by how well the business can see liabilities early, plan payments intentionally, and reduce “surprise cash crunch” moments.
That’s why “visibility” came up repeatedly in finance conversations: most cash issues aren’t caused by bad decisions with good data they’re caused by decisions made with incomplete information.
The habit that improves cash control quickly: a rolling 13-week forecast
A practical way many finance teams operationalize visibility is a rolling 13-week cash flow forecast long enough to plan, close enough to be actionable. But here’s the catch: forecasts only work when AP data is reliable. If invoices sit unentered or approvals lag, your forecast becomes guesswork.
This is where automation makes a tangible difference day-to-day: when invoice capture is consistent, approvals are trackable, and data syncs cleanly with your ERP, liabilities show up earlier and finance can make better calls on payment timing.
Quadient supports centralized tracking and reporting, so AP can see what’s received, what’s pending approval, what’s scheduled, and what’s paid giving finance a clearer view of upcoming cash requirements.
Speed vs. visibility: Which should you prioritize first?
If you’ve been debating this internally, here’s the practical answer: prioritize visibility and control first, because payment timing decisions depend on early, accurate data.
This doesn’t mean slowing payments down — it means giving finance the confidence to decide when to pay, not just reacting to what shows up at the last minute.
Speed improves naturally once friction and exceptions shrink, but visibility is what stops the “fire drill finance” cycle.
Resolution 3: Position AP as a strategic partner (not just a payment function)
This is the most underestimated part of Accounts Payable Transformation: once AP stops drowning in manual work, it suddenly has the capacity to contribute to the business.
In high-performing finance organizations, AP isn’t just processing invoices; it strengthens controls, improving forecast accuracy, supporting procurement compliance, and reducing supplier friction.
Where AP creates strategic value fastest
Partner with procurement
When AP and procurement share cleaner processes, PO compliance improves, and discrepancies (pricing/terms/mismatches) get flagged early before they become reworked. With tools that support matching and exception workflows, AP stops being the “last stop” for issues that should have been resolved upstream.
Partner with FP&A
FP&A needs reliable liability data to forecast. When AP workflow status is visible and consistent, finance gets better inputs for budgeting, planning, and cash forecasting without relying on “best guesses” and end-of-month scrambling.
Partner with vendors
Vendor experience is often a mirror of AP maturity. Predictable cycles and clear status reduce inquiries and friction. When approvals and invoice status are trackable in one place, AP spends less time answering, “where’s my payment?” and more time managing exceptions proactively.
Strengthen audit readiness and controls
Another question that comes up a lot is, “Will automation help audit and compliance or just make things faster?” It does both when the workflow includes clear routing history and audit trails.
With Quadient, approvals, exceptions, and invoice status are captured directly in the workflow, making it easier to show who approved what, when, and why — without digging through inbox threads and spreadsheets.
Key takeaways from the webinar
Reducing manual friction in intake, matching, and approvals is the fastest way to stabilize AP.
Visibility into invoice status matters more than raw processing speed for cash control.
Once AP workflows are structured, teams can shift from transactional work to strategic partnership.
A practical 30–60-day checklist to kick-start transformation
If you want momentum without boiling the ocean, start here:
1. Define your invoice “front doors” (and retire the extras).
2. Set approval rules (by threshold, department, entity, vendor type).
3. Turn on matching where it fits (2-way/3-way + exception routing).
4. Create one visibility view: received → in review → pending approval → scheduled → paid.
5. Align AP data to a 13-week cash view, so timing becomes intentional.
These steps aren’t “the whole program.” They’re the foundation that makes the rest of the program work especially if you want transformation that sticks after the initial rollout excitement fades.
Conclusion
When invoice intake is standardized, approvals are predictable and matching and exceptions are handled in a structured workflow, AP stops feeling like a daily fire drill. You get cleaner data, fewer surprises, and more control over timing, not just speed. And as the noise drops, AP gains the capacity to collaborate more closely with procurement, FP&A, and vendors in ways that directly support forecasting, compliance, and smarter decision-making.
If you’re planning your next step, start by identifying where invoices get stuck in today’s intake, approvals, exceptions, or reporting and fix that bottleneck first. The results tend to show up quickly, and they create momentum for bigger improvements.
Missed the session or want to revisit it?
Watch the on-demand replay of Kickstart Your AP Transformation: 3 AP Resolutions to see these concepts in action.
Have questions about your own AP process?
Our team is happy to walk through your current setup and explore whether these resolutions make sense for your environment. If it’s helpful, we can walk through a short, practical example tailored to how your team works today.