“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. Mediefinansiering är tillgängligt för behöriga företag som är registrerade i Nederländerna, Sverige, Tyskland, Frankrike, Spanien, Italien, Finland och Norge. Avgifter och villkor gäller. 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. Mediefinansiering är tillgängligt för behöriga företag som är registrerade i Nederländerna, Sverige, Tyskland, Frankrike, Spanien, Italien, Finland och Norge. Avgifter och villkor gäller. 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.
I samarbete med Marcel van Oost från Connecting the dots in FinTech… har vi pratat med finansexperter för att undersöka nyckeltrender som finansteam bör vara uppmärksamma på och värdefulla råd till CFOs inför 2024.
Olika typer av AI-verktyg förväntas fortsätta att omdefiniera landskapet nästa år, inte bara inom fintech utan över en rad olika användningsområden. Vi kan förvänta oss mindre manuellt arbete, mer automatisering och bättre förutsägelser av kundernas beteende.
Brice Groche från Skaleet SaaS Core Banking Platform tror att det kommer att bli en “boom av genAI-verktyg dedikerade till FinTech för att hjälpa finansteam, försäljning och marknadsföring" under hela året. Hans främsta råd för finansteam är att tillämpa “maskininlärning för prediktiv analys”, som kan hjälpa till med uppgifter som prognostisering och scenarioplanering.
Panagiotis Kriaris delar denna uppfattning. "AI kommer att vara centralt för att driva praktiska förändringar över tre huvudsakliga områden: effektivitet, prognostisering och hjälpa aktörer inom alla områden att leverera högst personaliserade upplevelser i stor skala."
Samir El-Sabini, VD och grundare av Juni håller med om hur AI kan hjälpa fintech-bolag att konkurrera och leverera automatiserade tjänster till sina kunder. “Alla interna processer kan dra nytta av AI, från att förbättra och förenkla compliance till att skapa bättre resultat från ingenjörer. Detta kommer innebära att fintech-bolag lättare kan konkurrera med etablerade banker och stora teknikföretag."
“AI kan ge företag bättre finansiella verktyg också. Det kommer fortsätta att automatisera de olika delar företag behöver för att få en fullständig ekonomisk översikt, inklusive insikter om riktlinjer, kostnader, finansiella processer, kostnadshantering, bokföring, kort och kontroller.”
Ett viktigt område som kommer att dra nytta av AI automatisering och tekniska framsteg är betalningar.
Lex Sokolin från Generative Ventures anser att "Vi kommer att se mer automatiserade betalningar och transaktioner mellan människor och programvara än någonsin tidigare, inklusive handel mellan maskiner – både hårdvara och programvara.”
Hur ska vi uppnå detta? "Blockchains kommer att användas mer inom automatiserad finansiering, där artificiell intelligens och andra mjukvarurepresentationer av mänskliga intressen konkurrerar om finansiella resultat."
Exakt vad vi betalar med kan också förändras. Nya digitala valutor ökar i användning, och Arthur Bedel från Nuvei tror att det nästa år kan "skapas en ny decentraliserad valuta som möjliggör gränsöverskridande transaktioner omedelbart, backad av de största regeringarna i världen.”
Nya betalningssystem lanseras redan, och hur vi gör transaktioner kan förändras globalt.
Marcel van Oost förutspår “en global expansion av system för omedelbar betalning 2024, framgången med Brasiliens PIX och Indiens UPI indikerar en betydande förändring mot effektivare och mer tillgängliga finansiella transaktioner över hela världen."
Orkestrering av betalningar, det vill säga integrering och hantering av betalningsprocessen, blir alltmer populärt. Marcel van Oost erbjuder följande råd: “Under 2024, råder jag CFOs för e-handelsföretag att notera den stigande trenden av 'betalorkestreringar.' Denna nya strategi vinner mark på marknaden, och jag förutspår att allt fler handlare kommer att utforska denna lösning under det kommande året."
Eftersom sättet vi hanterar betalningar på genomgår drastiska förändringar, föreslår Lex Sokolin att CFOs bör "ta reda på vilka digitala leverantörer för banktjänster och betalningar ni har" för att vara förberedda inför 2024.
Kundresan och betalningsenheterna hamnar i fokus.
"Unified commerce, vilket innebär en holistisk plattformsstrategi och omnichannel-kundresor som betonar sömlösa upplevelser, är i fokus," säger Panagiotis Kriaris.
Kundupplevelser med fokus på omnichannel har varit en trend de senaste åren, men av goda skäl: det förbättrar kundupplevelsen, och kunderna börjar förvänta sig det. Det kommer vara avgörande för företag att lyckas med detta under 2024.
En del av kundupplevelsen är betalningar och hur detta fungerar i butik kan fortsätta att utvecklas nästa år.
Arthur Bedel föreslår att “nya enheter ska användas för betalningar i butik, utöver telefoner och vanlig hårdvara.”
Vad människor köper förändras snabbt också, vilket banar väg för startups eller företag att skapa nya intäktsströmmar. Lex Sokolin förutspår att “handel med digitala objekt” kommer att vara en viktig trend nästa år.
Inbyggd finansiering, vilket innebär att finansiella produkter integreras inom icke-finansiella områden, växer i popularitet. Hur detta fungerar kan förändras nästa år.
Arthur Bedel förväntar sig att "inbyggd finansiering kommer vara helt white labelled, med globala leverantörer för inbyggd finansiering i centrum för initiativet istället för lokala leverantörer."
Han anser att en nyckeltrend för nästa år kommer att vara "användning av inbyggd finansiering och behovet för återförsäljare att ha tillgång till fler produkter," så håll koll här för att se hur inbyggd finansiering kan förändra ditt erbjudande.
När det kommer till att hantera dina finanser har han detta råd: "gör betalningar till en ny intäktsström, inte en kostnadsbesparande lösning." Inbyggd finansiering är ett sätt att hantera detta.
I år mötte Banking as a Service (BaaS) en nedgång i investeringar och en regleringsuppgång som riktade sig mot enskilda företag.
Sam Boboev, COO och grundare på Botcommerce, tror att BaaS kommer att genomgå en del stora förändringar i år.
"Den kommande gruppen av BaaS-bolag är redo att prioritera integrationen av compliance och åtgärder mot penningtvätt (AML) som kärnan i sin operativa ram för att navigera det intensifierande regleringslandskapet. Det strategiska skiftet mot förbättrad compliance kommer sannolikt att medföra ökade operativa kostnader och därigenom ökad finansiell press. Som ett resultat förväntas en justering av prissättningsstrategier som ett pragmatiskt svar på det föränderliga regleringsklimatet och de ökade operativa kraven."
Hans råd till finansteam för att hantera dessa förändringar? “Det är absolut nödvändigt att integrera robusta ramverk för regelefterlevnad i sina operativa strukturer.”
"För att navigera genom den potentiella ökningen av regelmässig granskning och relaterade kostnader bör finansteam strategiskt granska och optimera sin resursallokering. Detta kan innebära investeringar i avancerad complianceteknik, främjande av en kultur av regelmedvetenhet inom organisationen och säkerställande av att finansiella strategier överensstämmer med de kommande förändringarna i BaaS-modellen."
"Vidare bör CFOs genomföra en noggrann utvärdering av sina befintliga partnerskap med BaaS-leverantörer, med beaktande av deras compliancekapacitet, ekonomiska stabilitet och förmåga att anpassa sig till regeländringar. Att etablera kontinuitetsplaner och främja öppen kommunikation med BaaS-partners kommer att vara avgörande för att mildra potentiella störningar inom finansiella tjänster."
Två nyckelfunktioner i den ekonomiska hanteringen kommer att träda in i rampljuset under det kommande året.
Marcel van Oost förutspår att likviditet kommer att stå i centrum. "Jag förväntar mig att likviditetsförvaltning kommer att bli ett primärt fokus för CFOs under 2024. Detta kommer att driva dem till att hitta flera bankpartners och utforska samarbeten med fintech-bolag och neobanker som erbjuder innovativa lösningar för likviditetsförvaltning."
Likviditet har länge varit ett fokusområde för finansteam, men nästa år kommer det att bli en prioritering för alla företag. Panagiotis Kriaris anser att ”hanteringen av likviditeten kommer att förbli en viktig fråga och fortsätta att öka i betydelse, överallt, både på stora bolag och för små och medelstora företag."
Likviditet utgör en stor del av den finansiella pusselbiten för CFOs inom e-handel, och att ta hänsyn till säsongsmönster kan göra det ännu mer utmanande. Att maximera din kredit kan vara ett sätt att förbättra din likviditet. Juni är en finansiell plattform som ger företag inom e-handel de finansiella verktyg och insikterna som behövs för att hantera och förbättra kassaflödet och fatta smartare beslut – snabbare. Läs mer om hur vi kan hjälpa dig att hantera din likviditet här.
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