Accounts payable, or AP, is a branch of accounting concerned with the recording, managing, and paying money due by a firm to its suppliers or creditors. However, in a firm, these payments are many and come in various forms or modalities, necessitating accounts payable software.
Using AP software to automate these operations has a clear advantage. Account payable services can save your accountants an hour every day, allowing them to focus on other duties rather than submitting tedious paperwork. This article will explain what accounts payable software is, how much it can help you, and present some examples to select the most suitable one for your business.
What is Accounts Payable Software?
Accounts payable software is a program that helps you keep track of, handle, and automate your business’s payables. Since an AP division in any accounting and bookkeeping service deals with large volumes of information, such as customer orders, bank statements, agreements, and reports, AP can automate the workflow affiliated with each by eliminating repetitive, mind-numbing projects. It leaves just the ones that require human involvement to its users. These solutions provide several features that cater to various degrees of experience, organization size, and requirements.
Top 10 Software Applications
- Freshbooks
FreshBooks is an accounting solution for smaller firms and freelancers that helps them automate client invoicing, tracking, cost management, and scheduled payments. FreshBooks has double-entry accounting features, automated account reconciliation, payables automation, digital payments, mileage tracking, electronic receipt capturing, user-friendly visual reporting capabilities, and more than 100 built-in connections. FreshBooks has live customer service representatives and delivers weekly training demos.
- Xero
Xero is a wonderful option for sole business owners, freelancers, and small enterprises because it has an easy-to-use, freshly designed user interface, and total cloud accessibility. Xero has a strong accounts payable feature set, such as the ability to send bills straight to the files inbox, as well as a side-by-side functionality that allows users to view all of their accounts payment files with the supplier record.
In Xero, the Bills screen displays all bills that have been submitted, including the date of invoice, due date, the invoice paid, and if yes, the date of payment. In Xero, you may also create recurring bills with the flexibility to adjust the amount due at any time.
- Netsuite
Oracle’s NetSuite is a cloud-based enterprise resource planning system. By linking and automating crucial activities, including financial planning, revenue management, inventory control, order tracking, invoicing, e-commerce, and CRM to establish a single source of information, NetSuite helps businesses make their financial and operational procedures more effective and visible.
Some of the NetSuite modules are customer relationship management (CRM), financial statements and accounting, inventory management, supply chain management, order management, human capital management (HCM), human resource management software (HRMS), procurement, project management, and material requirements planning.
- Quickbooks
Since its inception in 2001, QuickBooks Online has grown to over 3.2 million subscribers in the United States alone. This constant growth is likely due to a significant expansion in features and functionality, which has transformed a simple bookkeeping software into a solid accounting program suitable for sole owners, freelancers, and small businesses. To use QuickBooks Online’s accounts payable services, you will need to buy the Plus plan, one of five QuickBooks Online options. The Spending tool in QuickBooks Online makes it simple to track expenses, set up bills paid, and keep track of vendor information. The software also provides a variety of accounts payable reports, including aging details, unpaid bill lists, bill payment lists, and check detail reports.
- Bill.com
Bill.com is cloud-based accounting software that helps you manage your payables and receivables. Bill.com supports several payment methods, including virtual cards, ACH, and international wire transfers, which has led to the platform being used by thousands of customers, including several banks and accounting companies. Moreover, machine learning automatic data entry features help avoid errors such as duplicate invoices, resulting in cost savings. Users can also save invoices, develop custom invoices, and cooperate on financial procedures from clearance to collections using the platform.
- Sage 50cloud Accounting
Sage 50cloud Accounting is a fantastic solution for small and growing organizations since it provides all of the features of a desktop version with easy cloud access to essential features. Sage 50cloud Accounting handles accounts payable in the Vendors and Purchases Center, where all corporate purchases and vendor details are kept. You can also maintain much information in the center, so you won’t have to hurry at year’s end to get the information you require. The software also provides up to ten payment methods: PayPal, internet payments, credit card payments, and classic check runs.
- Zoho Books
Zoho Books is cloud-based accounting software that is included in the Zoho product suite. Zoho Books is a user-friendly tool that improves cash flow control and visibility for organizations. Its features allow users to build quotes and invoices, transfer automated payment alerts, accept payments online, generate and submit sales orders, upload receipts, track payments, manage inventory, keep track of the time, optimize stock reordering, manage suppliers, customer contacts, and create detailed reports.
- FreeAgent
FreeAgent is a cloud-based accounting solution with many features that are renowned among small firms and freelancers (and their accountants). FreeAgent has a user-friendly design with a straightforward dashboard that includes time management, logbook generation, invoicing, payroll processing, cash flow management, and tax compliance management functions. It comes with built-in connections with CRM, payments, and other finance software.
- Stampli
Stampli is an easy-to-use automated account payable platform that automates the process of paying and receiving payments. The comprehensive paperless procure-to-pay system has features like duplicate detection, purchase order to bill matching to identify fraud and errors, and built-in collaboration systems that allow customers to ask each other questions to ensure everyone is on the same page.
- SAP Concur
SAP Concur is a corporate accounts payable process that connects, automates, and simplifies the management of expenditure, travel, and invoices for enterprises. Concur SAP Concur is part of a more extensive SAP ecosystem that includes SAP Invoice Capture, Purchase Request, and Consultative Intelligence tools.
