Accounts Payable Automation

Executive Summary

Accounts payable is a perfect storm of repetitive data entry, fragmented approvals, and avoidable errors. Processing delays quietly tax the business through missed early-payment discounts and late fees. The proposed design replaces manual scavenger work with AI-driven intake, automated invoice checks, modular workflows, and transparent approvals—keeping finance in charge while reducing touch time and variance. The approach is modular and interface-friendly: start via email/SFTP intake and CSV/ERP export, then deepen integration when value is proven.

The problem today

Invoices arrive in many formats and languages. Analysts retype header lines and line items, hunt for POs, and email approvers who may be traveling or unsure of policy. Non-PO invoices take the longest path. Duplicate detection is inconsistent; tax/VAT checks are manual; supporting documents live in mailboxes. The result is long cycle times, high process cost, and discounts left on the table.

The AI-led flow

1. Universal intake: A dedicated inbox or portal ingests PDFs, scans, EDI/XML, and image attachments. Layout-aware OCR and document understanding normalize headers and line items into a canonical schema.
2. Automated validations:
   • 3-way/2-way match (PO–GR–Invoice / PO–Invoice) with tolerances by vendor and category.
   • Duplicate and anomaly checks (amount, supplier IBAN, date overlaps, vendor changes).
   • Tax/VAT validation and basic compliance checks (e.g., supplier VAT ID format, totals consistency).
3. Risk scoring & routing: A rules/ML layer assigns risk levels and routes exceptions to the right owner (buyer, cost center, AP lead). Routine, low-risk matches go straight to approval.
4. Fast approvals: Approvers receive a one-page brief (key fields, deltas to PO, risks). One click approves, rejects, or requests info; comments and attachments stay linked to the invoice.
5. Posting & payment prep: Approved invoices produce ERP-ready postings and payment proposals with complete audit trails. A chatbot assists finance with questions like “Show unmatched invoices > €5k due this week.”
6. Observability: Dashboards track cycle time, straight-through-processing (STP) rate, hold reasons, and discount capture. Every step is logged for audit.

Privacy-by-design, compliance-aligned: Data minimization, role-based access, SoD (segregation of duties), immutable logs, and region-bound processing (e.g., EU) as required. This is decision support—finance retains approval authority.

Pilot scope (30–45 days)

• Scope: One legal entity, 2–3 major vendors, PO-based invoices first; non-PO later.
• Interfaces: Start with email/SFTP intake and CSV export to ERP; optional RPA bridge if APIs are unavailable.
• Success criteria: Time-to-first-touch, STP rate, % invoices approved within SLA, duplicate detection precision/recall, and additional discounts captured.

Hypothesis metrics (illustrative, not guaranteed):

• STP rate to 40–60% for clean PO invoices in month one.
• Time-to-approve reduced from 3–5 days → <24–48 hours.
• Duplicate/leakage incidents reduced by 60–80% on pilot scope.

Quick ROI math (scenario):
24,000 invoices/year × 10 minutes manual handling saved = 4,000 hours.
At €60/hour blended cost ≈ €240,000/year time returned.
If earlier approvals add 0.5% discounts on €5M eligible spend, that’s €25,000 incremental cash benefit—before fewer late fees.

Risks & mitigations

• Low-quality scans / complex layouts: Use layout-aware OCR with confidence thresholds; low-confidence fields require human confirmation.
• Policy drift: Versioned tolerance tables and approval rules; every decision references a rule/version ID.
• Change management: Keep the human-in-the-loop; surface clear “why” explanations; start with a shadow mode before auto-posting.

From pilot to scale

Expand to non-PO invoices, more entities, and supplier portals. Add supplier self-service (status, disputes, dynamic discounting). Integrate payments and cash forecasting so approved payables inform working-capital decisions. Over time, exception patterns update vendor terms and purchasing behavior. The destination is not “no humans”—it’s fewer touches, faster decisions, and cleaner audits.