Accounts Payable

Accounts payable (AP) is the amount of money a business owns suppliers and is an essential part of working capital. When you optimize accounts payable, the aim is to extend the credit period: the time until payment of supplier invoices.

There are different approaches you can take in optimizing your accounts payable: optimization of payment processes, such as payment run frequency or discounts for early or on time payments; optimization of the own payment behavior through, for instance, avoidance of early payments; or optimization of payment master terms and application of these master terms. One of the key factors in optimizing accounts payable is a good relationship with suppliers, as it may get you a longer term to pay bills.

Does this sound familiar?

Due to process inefficiencies, I often miss drawing offered discounts.

We are missing policies allow an efficient payment approval.

We know who our important suppliers are, based on experienced but not on facts. This impacts our position in negotiating payment terms.

Our cash balance is not sufficient to make payments, resulting in increased external financing need.

I have so many different payment terms agreed with my suppliers, leading to tremendous process inefficiencies in managing our accounts payable.

We rely too heavily on error-prone manual processes to approve requisitions, scan supplier invoices, and issue payments.

Issues in Accounts Payables we encounter often.

Does this sound familiar?

Due to process inefficiencies, I often miss drawing offered discounts.
We know who our important suppliers are, based on experienced but not on facts. This impacts our position in negotiating payment terms.
I have so many different payment terms agreed with my suppliers, leading to tremendous process inefficiencies in managing our accounts payable.
We are missing policies allow an efficient payment approval.
Our cash balance is not sufficient to make payments, resulting in increased external financing need.
We rely too heavily on error-prone manual processes to approve requisitions, scan supplier invoices, and issue payments.

Benefits

Up to 40% increase in accounts payable productivity

Up to 75% reduced accounts payable process time

Increased on-time payments and eliminated paying of duplicate invoices

Increased efficiency in supplier management through segmentation and improved collaboration

Up to 5% EBIT increase through better payment terms

How it works

With AIO Insights we create the required transparency to reveal areas of improvement, highlighting specific observations in payment terms application, process inefficiencies and supplier segments.

With AIO Intelligence we evaluate improvement concepts using advanced algorithms that enable optimization of accounts payable through supplier segmentation and evaluation of payables scenarios, such as payment frequency optimization.

With AIO Impact we initiate, execute and monitor short- to long-term improvement measures that leverage a library that is packed with best practice, tracking the implementation progress on for instance the SKU, supplier, or invoice level.

In addition to our AIO platform, we offer managed consulting services to optimize your purchase-to-pay process.