“Have I paid that vendor yet?” you ask yourself as you sort through the dozens of invoices you’ve received this month. Definitely not the way you wanted to spend your Friday afternoon.
As your small business grows, manually managing accounts payable (AP) processes becomes more challenging, time-consuming and error-prone.
Enter accounts payable software. These platforms can automate processes like invoice management and payment processing while syncing to your accounting software to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
This article offers an overview of the six best accounts payable software solutions for small businesses so you can find just the right platform for your needs. We’ll also give you a list of the features you should look for when choosing a platform, plus tips for how to make your decision.*
Financial admin eating up too much of your time? We can take it off your plate
Automate your accounts payable processes with Juni and free up your day for more impactful work.
*The information about all the platforms discussed in this article was collected between 9 January 2024 and 11 January 2024. This article was written and approved by Juni and is intended as marketing material.
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Whenever you’re researching software, whether that be an accounts payable solution or inventory management platform, you need to be clear on what functionalities your business needs. So before we get into our list, here are some features you should prioritise when selecting accounts payable software:
Let’s take an in-depth look at our list of software. For each platform, we’ll list its features (as well as its limitations), explain how pricing works and point out what kind of business it’s best fit for.
Juni’s platform for ecommerce entrepreneurs comes with automated accounts payable features that can help you run simpler, tighter and more accurate financial admin. With Juni, it takes just seconds to auto-collect, pay and even finance your invoices.
By collecting and scanning your invoices automatically, then pre-filling all the important payment details, Juni saves you time and reduces the risk of human error. You can also automatically import your receipts and invoices with your dedicated Juni inbox for effortless spend management, plus match receipts to transactions.
What’s more, if you need to reduce pressure on your cash flow cycles, Juni offers financing options for certain types of payments, giving you up to 120 days to pay.*
The platform goes beyond accounts payable features, also offering business accounts and cards, features to optimise cash flow management, powerful accounting automations, fast transfers and storefront integrations.
Most suitable for: Ecommerce entrepreneurs and small businesses
Juni has two plan options:
You can try our Scale plan for free for the first 30 days.
Based in Copenhagen, Pleo is a business spending solution with built-in AP automation software. Pleo’s invoice management features make it easy to capture, process, approve, pay and bookkeep invoices in a central location. With over 50 supported currencies, Pleo users can seamlessly pay vendors across the world.
Most suitable for: Companies that need to pay invoices in several currencies
Pleo has three plan options:
Spendesk is a spend management platform with accounts payable features like invoice automation and approval workflows, giving you greater control over the invoicing lifecycle and your AP processes. By using Spendesk, you can minimise (or eliminate) manual data entry for your invoicing processes, plus get real-time insights into your spending patterns.
Most suitable for: SaaS, tech and fintech companies
Spendesk doesn’t list its pricing options, so you’ll have to reach out to sales to get a quote
Sage Intacct’s cloud-based invoicing software helps small business owners and finance teams automate invoice management with the power of AI. For example, simply upload or email an invoice, and the software will automatically extract details and populate fields for your approval. The platform can also detect duplicate invoices, helping you stay in control of your expenses and avoid costly errors.
Most suitable for: Businesses that need powerful analytics tools
Sage Intacct has three plans for its accounts payable software. All plans come with three months free:
While SAP Concur isn’t specifically designed for small businesses, it’s still a good fit for solopreneurs and SMBs looking to automate their AP processes. The platform automates invoicing processes, meaning you can pay suppliers quickly without constantly having to double-check invoices and complete transactions yourself.
Most suitable for: Businesses with immediate plans to scale
SAP Concur doesn’t list its pricing options, so you’ll have to reach out to sales to get a quote.
Visma is the parent organisation for a number of accounting and invoicing solutions across Europe. It has designated products for 15 different EU countries, such as Visma eKonomi, its designated Swedish accounting platform. Visma eKonomi has basic AP features for paying vendors, but it has a range of other accounting features that can help you streamline your financial admin as a whole.
Most suitable for: Small businesses in Sweden
Visma platform prices range depending on which country you operate in and the Visma product you select. Visma eEkonomi has three plans that come with supplier invoicing features:
You can have all the software comparison guides in the world available to you, but if you aren’t intentional about your decision, you may end up choosing software that falls short for your needs. Here are a few steps you can take to help you make the right decision when selecting an accounts payable platform for your small business.
By digitising the traditionally paper-intensive process of handling invoices and payments, AP software is not only more efficient than manual processes, but also minimises the possibility of errors, like a missed or incorrect payment. Having more visibility over invoices, due dates and your general spending patterns can help you maintain tighter control over your financial operations.
But to get the most out of a platform, you need to make sure you’re choosing the right one for your needs. For example, if you run an online storefront, you’ll want to choose a solution like Juni that has the specific needs of ecommerce entrepreneurs in mind.
By choosing a software solution that’s a good fit for you, you’ll make your business more agile, resilient and competitive. Meanwhile, you’ll get back more time in the day to focus on what you most love about running your company, whether that’s marketing your product, interacting with customers or finding ways to scale.
Financial admin eating up too much of your time? We can take it off your plate
Automate your accounts payable processes with Juni and free up your day for more impactful work.
*Juni Invoices is available for EU-based companies only. Media financing is available for companies registered in NL, SE, DE, FR, ES, IT, FI and NO, upon eligibility. Fees and terms and conditions apply. Click here for more details.
Accounts payable automation software helps businesses manage and track the money they owe to suppliers, vendors and other parties. Essentially, this type of software helps business owners and finance departments handle their payment processes by recording invoices, tracking due dates and organising information.
While you can manually manage your accounts payable process, this approach can be time-consuming and error-prone. A better way to keep track of accounts payable is by using specialised accounts payable software that tracks and pays your invoices for you.
You can automate accounts payable processes by using specialised software. These platforms handle a number of tasks, including:
"Only six more to go," you tell yourself as you upload yet another receipt to your accounting software. We all know the pain of searching for receipts across emails and platforms and trying to match them to expenses.
This becomes even more challenging the larger your business becomes and the more vendors you have to pay. You can avoid most of that frustration and wasted time with the right spend management software.
But not all spend management platforms will be a good fit for your business. For example, digital commerce companies need solutions that take into account sector-specific expenses like ad receipts and multiple platform payments, while small businesses need tools that simplify their financial admin, not complicate it.
This article takes a look at the six best spend management software solutions so you can find just the right platform for your needs. We’ll also give you a list of the features you should look for when choosing a platform, plus tips for how to make your decision.*
Spend less time on spend management
With real-time spend overviews, receipt matching automation and powerful integrations, Juni will make you forget what a hassle managing your expenses used to be.
*The information about all the platforms discussed in this article was collected between 17 January 2024 and 19 January 2024. This article was written and approved by Juni and is intended as marketing material.
Before taking a closer look at the tools on our list, here are six features your spend management software (also known as expense management software) should come with:
Bonus: Look out for spend management platforms that come with built-in accounts payable and invoice automation features, which will help you centralise your financial admin and save time.
Now, let's explore the solutions on our list in depth. For each platform, we’ll list its key features (as well as its limitations), explain how pricing works and point out what kind of business it’s best fit for.
Juni helps businesses in digital commerce manage their cash flow, track their expenses and optimise their profits with features that are specifically designed with ecommerce companies in mind.
While it’s not specifically expense management software, you can use the platform for your spend management needs. Juni's goal is to give everyone in digital commerce, from the CFO to the accounting team to marketing managers, everything they need to focus on business growth.
Juni’s expense management features are especially valuable for users who have multiple receipts coming from different media buying channels and online transactions. With Meta and Google Ads integrations, plus powerful receipt matching, expense management suddenly becomes easy. On top of that, you can also manage your unpaid invoices and accounts payable processes within Juni, bringing your financial admin under one roof.
All of this comes with easy access to media and inventory financing for up to 2 million EUR, helping you free up your cash flow and grow your business.*
*Juni Invoices is available for EU-based companies only. Media financing is available for companies registered in NL, SE, DE, FR, ES, IT, FI and NO, upon eligibility. Fees and terms and conditions apply. Click here for more details.
Most suitable for: SMBs and mid-market companies in digital commerce
Juni has two plan options:
SAP Concur helps you streamline processes to deliver efficiency savings, with a focus on eliminating manual data entry, lost receipts and unclaimed VAT refunds. As such, it’s best suited to larger organisations. The platform helps you reduce the risk of human error and compliance issues with automations, plus the software can identify potential mistakes and discrepancies in real-time.
Most suitable for: Larger and enterprise organisations
SAP Concur doesn’t list its pricing options, so you’ll have to reach out to sales to get a quote.
Zoho Expense is the business expense tracking app from the Zoho suite of business tools, which means it integrates with Zoho’s other financial management apps. It’s a reasonably priced platform suited to handling all aspects of expense management and reporting for SMBs. Zoho Expense automatically records expenses from receipts, simplifying and automating the expense reporting process.
Most suitable for: People already using other Zoho products (namely Zoho Books)
Zoho Expense has three plans for its spend management software:
Expensify is a spend management solution for keeping track of business expenses on the go. Most of the expense management functionality can be done on your phone, while a series of handy integrations help to automate and streamline processes around uploading and allocating receipts. Plus, it’s easy for employees to create and submit expense reports for quick reimbursement.
Most suitable for: Small businesses with lots of employee expenses
Expensify has two plans:
One of the many features of smart accounting software QuickBooks is its built-in expense management tool. There are obvious advantages to expenses being handled via your accounting platform, like how easy it is to claim business expenses for tax purposes. And when you connect your bank to the platform, QuickBooks automatically matches and organises your receipts to transactions.
Most suitable for: Businesses who want more comprehensive accounting tools built into their spend management software
Quickbooks has five plans:
Fortnox is a cloud-based accounting software platform based in Sweden that helps businesses manage their accounting and bookkeeping processes, as well as other financial admin like spend management. Users can take photos of receipts and instantly upload them via a mobile app, and the platform automatically fills in date, amount and VAT.
Most suitable for: Businesses that operate in Sweden
Fortnox has three plans:
The information in this guide can help you make your decision, but ultimately, you need to factor in considerations about your business and its needs when choosing a platform. Here are three things you can do to ensure you’re choosing an ideal solution.
As you’ll notice from the list above, different software solutions are more suitable for different business industries and sizes. For example, Juni is spend management software built with the needs of ecommerce companies in mind. So when researching a platform, pay close attention to what type of business (big or small, ecommerce or SaaS) it’s best suited for.
While it shouldn’t be the only factor that guides your decision, you can’t ignore pricing when choosing a solution. You need to find a healthy balance between a platform you can afford (and doesn't go over budget) that still gives you all the key features and functionalities you need to run smarter, more efficient financial admin.
You may be a small business now, but if you have plans of scaling in the future, you want to make sure your expense management solution can scale with you. Juni, for example, caters to both SMBs as well as mid-market companies, meaning we can provide the solutions you need from the time your business is founder-led to when it has 100+ employees.
While you can never remove expense management from your to-do list, you can find a platform that does most of the work for you. The best spend management software is one that not only simplifies financial operations but also contributes to strategic decision-making and the long-term financial health of your organisation.
To find a platform that does all that, you need to make sure you’re making your selection with the unique needs of your business in mind. For example, if you operate in digital commerce, you want to choose a solution like Juni that comes with ecommerce-specific capabilities, like features designed specifically for media buying and online transactions.
So take your time finding the right platform—doing so can lead to significant time savings and valuable insights into spending patterns, helping you improve the overall financial health and success of your business.
Spend less time on spend management
With real-time spend overviews, receipt matching automation and powerful integrations, Juni will make you forget what a hassle managing your expenses used to be.
Spend management software is a platform or tool that helps businesses manage and control their expenses. This type of solution usually includes features for receipt management, expense reporting and approval workflows. Plus, these platforms often integrate with accounting software, as well as sync with banks and credit cards.
There are a number of benefits to using spend management software to control your expenses, including:
The price of expense management software varies depending on the size of your business and what industry you operate in, as this will impact which platform you choose. Prices range from as low as £7 per month to almost £100, and some spend management systems also offer free plans to certain users.
When your team is paying dozens of vendors and collecting payment information in different ways, it can be hard to accurately understand your finances and manage your cash flow. And that’s without considering the errors that can creep in when your team is overstretched.
By automating the process, you can reduce risk and save time while streamlining the entire payment process. But how do you get started?
In this guide, we cover how to automate accounts payable, looking at key steps and considering tasks to automate. We also explore a solution that can help you manage the entire process.
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Manually managing accounts payable can lead to fragmented cash flow management across your different cost centres. It can also cause data entry errors, lost invoices and long-winded approval cycles.
You can solve these challenges by automating manual processes. Automating routine steps such as receiving and matching invoices, coding them into ledgers, and routing for approval frees up time to focus on the bigger picture. You also get centralised visibility into outstanding payments across the whole business.
Meanwhile, payment processes can also be made more straightforward. With automatic settlement and scheduled payments, teams can reconcile accounts rapidly, while making month ends easier with automatic reporting.
By automatically gathering all key data, you get a centralised source of visibility into outstanding payments across your whole business. Platforms with accounts payable solutions like Juni also integrate with your existing financial systems and provide advanced data analytics. This empowers your teams to manage cash flow and identify opportunities for cost savings.
Let’s break down the specific ways in which automating routine workflows can transform your accounts payable function.
Managing paper receipts and manually matching and coding them is both time-consuming and error-prone. Automating everyday AP processes like these eliminates inefficiencies and takes human error out of the equation. This means your team is freed up to focus on big-picture tasks, like increasing working capital and identifying cost savings.
Admin costs and late payment fees can eat into the bottom line and leave AP teams struggling to manage cash flow effectively. Eliminating paper-based processes and manual intervention removes these costs and ensures payments are made on time, every time.
Similarly, manual tasks such as data entry, storage and postage can also strain cash flow and lead to inflated headcounts within the finance team. Accounting automation allows for a clear view of how resources should be allocated.
Removing unnecessary manual work from people day-to-day makes them more fulfilled and productive. Meanwhile, with real-time sharing of financial data, procurement and finance become more closely aligned.
Automation ensures data is consistently captured in a unified way and processed accurately every time. This cuts out the inevitable errors that come with manual data entry, and costly mistakes such as duplicate payments and missed invoices become a thing of the past.
AP dashboards with real-time tracking and reporting give you greater visibility into the status of all invoices and payments across the business. This allows for more proactive financial planning and better decision-making.
Custom workflows can be set up to automatically route invoices to the right approvers. This significantly reduces the time needed for invoices to be approved and paid. These faster cycle times help you maintain strong relationships with vendors.
Automation maintains clear audit trails and comes with advanced security measures built in. Automated AP systems can flag non-compliant invoices and ensure all transactions adhere to the relevant regulatory standards.
Automated accounting software also makes it easy for you to access data down the line as storage of all invoices and payment records is completely digital and standardised. This eliminates the cost and complexity associated with manual record-keeping.
Automation can identify any duplicate or suspicious invoices, significantly reducing your risk of fraud. AP automation software can leverage advanced analytics and machine learning algorithms to detect unusual patterns and automatically flag any potentially fraudulent activities. You’ll then be notified to investigate further.
Custom controls can also be set up to add an extra layer of oversight, helping you eliminate false billing.
Automation can leverage advanced analytics and data management to provide unparalleled visibility into cash flow. Having all AP activities within one unified platform means that cash flow management across every cost centre can be understood easily. It also means you can optimise cash reserves and readily identify early payment discounts.
Before working with Juni and implementing automation, Digital Agency Savvy Moves was struggling with fragmented cash flow management, long-winded processes, and difficulty managing spend. Here’s what Rémon de Muijnck (Co-Founder) had to say:
"Implementing automated rules has simplified and reduced errors in the receipt matching process. Before getting Juni, we invested considerable time in this task. Now, our accounts are accurately reconciled and closed each month with remarkable efficiency."
Here we look at the main tasks in the accounts payable process and how automation can help:
Data entry. Automating data entry massively reduces the manual effort of coding and recording invoices. You can extract key invoice data automatically with Optical Character Recognition (OCR).
Invoice matching. Automated two and three-way matching improves accuracy and speed while helping you identify discrepancies early to avoid payment delays.
Coding invoices. Automated tools can accurately code invoices to their corresponding accounts. This reduces the risk of misclassification and ensures all expenses are accurately recorded.
Approval routing. You can set up custom automated workflows to route invoices to the right invoices based on your own predefined rules.
Payment scheduling and execution. Setting up scheduled payments also means you can take advantage of early payment discounts while avoiding late payment penalties.
Vendor management. Automation helps you maintain accurate vendor records and timely communication around invoice status and payments.
Expense reporting and reimbursement. Automated systems streamline the process of submitting, approving, and reimbursing employee expenses. They can also automatically pull data and generate reports such as month ends.
Reconciliation. Accounts payable software automatically validates and pays invoices based on purchase orders and invoices.
Analytics and reporting. Automated tools can generate detailed reports on spending patterns, approval times, and vendor performance.
Ready to automate your AP function? Read on for a step-by-step guide.
Start by auditing all current processes and systems. Identify pain points, inefficiencies, and bottlenecks in workflows. Pay close attention to areas with recurring data errors.
Then, thoroughly evaluate the volume of invoices and payments processed each month. This is also a good time to review the duties of each role involved in the process and find out where time is being lost.
Look out for an automated solution that’s suited to your business size. The software you choose should be scalable as the business grows and also offer excellent customer support during and after implementation. It should incorporate strong automations and offer enhanced insights into cash flow.
It’s also crucial to look into software with customisable workflows. This means you can tailor the solution around existing processes and the unique needs of your business.
Once you have the right software solution, use it to create automated approval workflows. Start by defining the hierarchy of approval for each cost centre in the business. Then, set up automated workflows to make sure all invoices are routed to the right approvers. You can set your own parameters based on factors like who sent the invoice.
With manual interventions eliminated, you can set up custom notifications and reminders to ensure the approval process stays on track and approvers are always aware of their responsibilities.
The software you choose should offer smooth integrations with your existing ERP or bookkeeping software. This will let you automatically sync data between systems to ensure accuracy.
Once all integrations are set up you should have a unified platform that streamlines AP processes and frees up the accounts payable team for more strategic tasks.
Offer comprehensive training to your team on how the new software works, making sure every user understands their responsibilities and how to use the system.
Training should cover all aspects of the software, including how to monitor automatic invoice scanning, set up approval workflows, and manage integrations.
Work closely with the solutions provider to help address any queries or challenges that come up.
Regularly monitor the performance of your AP automation solution, gathering feedback from staff to identify areas for improvement. Use the functionality within the software to monitor KPIs such as processing times, approval cycle length and error rates.
Juni makes it easy for you to automate accounts payable. Here’s how:
By automating accounts payable, you can reduce the time it takes to process invoices and make payments. You’ll also gain more control over your finances with real-time insights into your spend.
Automated accounts payable systems use software to capture invoices, match transaction details, and schedule payments. This reduces manual work, minimises errors, and boosts vendor relationships.
To automate accounts payable, you need the right solution. Juni integrates with your existing financial systems to ensure seamless operations and improved efficiency.
When choosing an accounts payable solution, you should look out for invoice scanning functionality, automated approval workflows, integration capabilities, real-time tracking, and reporting and analytics.
Yes, accounts payable automation facilitates compliance by maintaining audit trails, flagging problematic invoices, and ensuring transactions adhere to regulatory standards.
You can improve vendor relationships by automating accounts payable and ensuring that every payment is made on time.
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