There’s little doubt that accounts payable outsourcing and automation improve your organization through increased procurement savings, optimized pricing, enhanced profitability, greater efficiency, and better data insights. Auxis supports mid-market and enterprise businesses that need both strategic guidance and hands-on processing capacity. In September 2025, our research team conducted a comprehensive analysis of leading accounts payable (AP) outsourcing firms serving U.S. businesses. Discover best ways to pay invoices on time and streamline your accounts payable process.
- Using automation will provide everything that outsourcing provides, and may be a better option for businesses that wish to retain complete control of their AP process.
- Before selecting a provider, assess whether they can offer customizable services that align with your AP workflow.
- Accounts payable outsourcing is the process of hiring a third party to handle most (or all) of the tasks in your accounts payable workflow.
Tailored services
This service leads to faster processing times, fewer late payments, and lower operational costs overall. Most AP outsourcing providers also enhance compliance with financial regulations and provide audit trails for transparency. Your outsourcing AP provider makes sure vendors are paid accurately and on time, using your preferred payment methods—ACH, wire, transfer, check, or virtual card.
Should Your Business Outsource AP?
Outsourcing accounts payable helps employers focus on strategic growth while letting accounting professionals handle critical AP tasks to ensure compliance. And with new threats appearing every day, outsourcing companies are looking for better solutions to prevent data breaches and unauthorized access to customer information. However, should your vendor change your payment terms from Net 30 to Net 15 as a result of late payments, you would effectively reduce your cash flow by fifteen days. The companies that provide AP outsourcing typically utilize a variety of automated tools to streamline the entire accounts payable process. While the benefits of outsourcing accounts payable are significant, doing so brings its own set of challenges and risks. Helping organizations spend smarter and more efficiently by automating purchasing and invoice processing.
Now, depending on how efficient that service is and how many hours you need from them, they still might be more cost effective than automating your own AP processes and maintaining a lean AP team. It may take more time to get setup on accounts payable automation software as you won’t have the same level of technical support. But even then, there are instances of invoice fraud that may not be noticed without an intimate knowledge of the business, its purchase history, and the relationship with the vendor.
Streamlining processes for rapid growth
Your financial reporting becomes more cohesive when handled by one provider, making it easier to track cash flow and identify issues. This dual approach allows you to consolidate your financial operations under one experienced partner. You want a partner who’s clear about costs from the beginning, so you can budget accurately and avoid surprises on your monthly invoices.
Services Available
However, if you compare manual in-house systems to outsourced teams that use AP automation, you’ll miss an important step in this strategic decision. Companies may be tempted to outsource AP processes because they’ve outgrown their manual AP systems. You might consider hiring an accounting service or a fractional finance team just to get that towering stack of paper off your desk and get those hours back every month. To see how automation can improve your business outcomes with a scalable solution, request a demo of Order.co. Upgrading outdated accounting processes using modern tools requires upfront effort and expense, but improved outcomes make the switch well worth it. Accounts payable outsourcing companies and software can increase efficiency and eliminate manual data entry errors.
Business is Our Business
If this sounds familiar, it might be time to consider accounts payable outsourcing. Many AP outsourcing providers have expanded beyond accounts payable to include accounts receivable management. AP outsourcing typically involves minimal technology setup since you’ll be using your provider’s systems and processes. While outsourcing transfers responsibility to an external provider, automation keeps operations in-house while leveraging technology to reduce manual tasks.
“Ramp is the only vendor that can service all of our employees across the globe in one unified system. “Ramp gives us one structured intake, one set of guardrails, and clean data end‑to‑end— that’s how we save 20 hours/month and buy back days at close.” Get started with Ramp’s AP automation solution for free, then scale up for $15 per user monthly or custom property tax deduction definition enterprise pricing.
With accounts payable outsourcing, you can simplify your AP process, reduce costs, improve accuracy, and refocus on your business’s bigger goals. AP outsourcing providers use advanced security protocols and compliance frameworks to protect your business. Accurate and on-time payments keep your vendors happy and your operations running smoothly.
Outsourcing firms offer detailed reporting and analytics tools, allowing businesses to monitor AP trends, assess payment performance, and optimize financial decision-making. All payment records, invoices, and confirmations are stored digitally for auditing and compliance purposes. Outsourcing companies implement automated approval workflows that route invoices to what is discount the appropriate stakeholders based on predefined business rules, reducing delays and improving efficiency. Vendors submit invoices for goods or services via email, mail, or vendor portals.
Accounts payable outsourcing alternative: BILL Accounts Payable
Capgemini is a top provider of AP outsourcing, using automation, AI, and analytics to enhance financial operations. WNS offers financial process outsourcing to help businesses manage AP functions with analytics and digital solutions. Infosys BPM offers business process management solutions like accounts payable outsourcing. Outsourcing providers streamline this process using automation tools to reduce manual entry errors, improve accuracy, and accelerate invoice handling.
This can result in incorrect tax payments, leading to penalties and hefty fines. If your third-party service provider has not handled customers in your specific industry in the past, they may not be aware of your industry-specific compliance requirements. Providers are typically compliant with industry standards such as SOC 2, GDPR, or ISO 27001, ensuring sensitive financial data is safeguarded. This way, you don’t have to hire a team full-time with a recurring payroll, recruiting, and training costs. Outsourcing the accounts payable function means you only pay for the period you’re actually getting any AP-related tasks done.
The most common approach is per-invoice pricing, where you pay a set fee for each invoice. Automation requires more internal management but provides superior flexibility to adapt workflows as your business grows. Outsourcing offers effortless expansion but limits your ability to customize processes or implement changes quickly. You maintain complete control over approval workflows, vendor management, and reporting requirements. AP providers excel at handling volume fluctuations without requiring additional hiring or training on your part.
Why businesses outsource accounts payable
Helplama is a fit for organizations where the finance leader needs immediate relief from AP workload without committing to a full shared services build-out. The company’s strength lies in its solved: standard irs meal allowance ability to spin up support quickly and adapt to changing volumes. QX brings structured onboarding, documented workflows, and strong data security practices to each engagement. The company focuses on disciplined process documentation, quality control, and productivity metrics.
Many business leaders expect a huge headache in switching from a traditional AP system to a more practical automated one. Still, that outsourced team didn’t have to be trained, right? To do that, let’s look at the pros and cons of outsourcing versus automating your own AP and keeping it in-house.
Some opt for a price per invoice while others may use hourly or flat rate pricing. The data is secure and you maintain privacy while still minimizing your workload. This also creates vulnerabilities as sensitive information will be passed through an external vendor. A combination of email and mail forwarding needs to be established to make it a completely hands-free process. An AP outsourced business solution might sound like it operates more efficiently, so it can improve your bottom line. You’d be so busy shipping papers back and forth, making sure nothing slipped through the cracks of those manual systems, that you’d be no better off than you were before.
- Depending on your setup, some vendor relationships and exceptions still need human oversight.
- Similarly, the system can detect and block duplicate invoices to prevent double payments.
- Businesses that struggle with manual processes, growing workloads, and compliance gaps can benefit from passing the baton to professionals specialized in managing AP.
Employing an outsourced AP team means sharing sensitive financial data with a third party, which introduces the risk of data breaches or unauthorized access to confidential information. Outsourced accounts payable offers unparalleled scalability, allowing businesses to adjust their AP operations in alignment with their growth trajectory and seasonal demands. These providers stay at the forefront of industry best practices, offering insights and strategies that might be beyond the scope of an in-house team. Outsourcing these tasks allows businesses to realign their focus towards the heart of their operations – key areas like product development, customer service, and strategic planning. Invoices must be approved by designated personnel before payment is processed.
Outsourcing accounts payable can be an effective solution for smaller businesses that have struggled with slow invoice processing times or consistently pay invoices late, as the decision will directly impact cash flow and working capital. Outsourcing providers use automated payment processing systems to ensure payments are made on time, helping businesses take advantage of early payment discounts while avoiding late fees. Yes, you can automate accounts payable using AP automation tools and software that handle invoice processing, approvals, and payments on behalf of your team.