Accounts Payable – Opportunities and Challenges in the Digital Age

17.12.2024

Topic: AP Automation | SAP | Digitalization

Accounts payable has seen fundamental change in recent years. Compliance requirements – that is, the obligation to adhere to certain rules – comprehensive reporting, a growing shortage of skilled workers, a lack of specialist knowledge (so-called skill gaps) and, most recently, mandatory B2B e-invoicing (especially in Europe and Asia) as well as upcoming system migrations (especially for SAP user companies) are keeping those in charge of financial accounting on their toes.
As an expert in accounting automation, I would like to share the most important developments and current challenges with you today.

Digital Transformation

Most importantly, the switch to fully digital invoice processing is no longer optional but has instead become a legal obligation. XML formats for e-invoicing are the new required standards in a lot of countries. Many accountants are still struggling when it comes to integrating these formats into existing systems and converting internal processes.

Automation and Artificial Intelligence

Modern AI-driven systems are increasingly used for invoice recognition and recording. This means that accounts payable clerks have to acquire new skills that focus less on manual data entry, but more on process monitoring and exception handling.
AI also holds great potential in the areas of forecasting and analysis as well as risk management and compliance. In the future, these topics will also pose new challenges in the context of financial accounting as data protection, qualified employees, system integration and ensuring accurate, reliable AI-driven analyses play an important role here as well.

Current Challenges

• Compliance & documentation: Increasing regulatory requirements, particularly in the area of international business relationships and VAT
• Process optimization: Integration of different systems and automation while ensuring that control mechanisms are in place
• Skill gap: Need for continuous training in the field of digital applications and the current legal landscape
• Shortage of skilled workers: In accounting in particular, there is often a lack of employees and junior staff following this career path. This means that a lot of work has to be done by a select few due to a lack of properly trained specialists.

Take this Advice to Heart:

Treat change as an opportunity! Invest in your digital skills and integrate automation into your invoicing processes, so you can focus on value-adding activities. The future of accounts payable lies in strategic process control and data analysis.
Find out what concrete potential AP automation offers to you in our benchmark report on automated invoice processing. The report incorporates data from over 180 customer health checks – process analyses performed for customers – so it provides a representative basis for comparison: to the benchmark report: Digital Invoice Processing