Transform accounts payable into a strategic business differentiator through intelligent automation that delivers control, speed and insight.
Accounts Payable (AP) automation, also known as invoice automation software, uses technology to streamline how supplier invoices are received, processed, approved and paid. It supports finance teams by providing accurate data capture, consistent workflows and clearer visibility across the entire AP lifecycle.
Instead of shuffling paper or manually keying data into your finance system, AP automation digitises each step for greater speed, accuracy and control. This removes repetitive tasks, reduces the risk of errors and allows teams to focus on work that delivers more value.
Xcellerate IT provides AP automation solutions that support organisations across Australia. Our approach helps finance teams create a more dependable and efficient process, whether they manage a few hundred invoices each month or operate at enterprise scale.
Manual AP processes are slow, costly, and error-prone, creating daily challenges for finance, procurement and accounts payable teams.
AP staff spend hours typing up invoice details from paper or PDF invoices. This drudgery delays processing. Manual invoice workflows often take weeks from receipt to payment. Important approvals get held up in email inboxes or on desks, leading to missed due dates.
Human data entry is prone to mistakes. Typos, duplicate entries and coding errors can slip in. These errors cause payment discrepancies and require rework to fix. In fact, manual invoice processing has an error rate around 1-2% per invoice, which adds cost and risk. Lost or misplaced invoices are also common with paper-based systems.
With paper invoices and email approvals, it’s difficult to track the status of each invoice. Teams often don’t know where an invoice is, who has it, or if it’s approved for payment. This lack of visibility makes month-end close and audits a scramble, and answering vendor inquiries becomes a chore.
Slow manual workflows mean organisations often miss out on early payment discounts negotiated with suppliers. Conversely, delays can lead to late payment penalties, straining supplier relationships. Without automation, tracking discount deadlines or preventing overdue payments is challenging.
Between staff labor, paper handling, printing and storage, the cost to process a single invoice manually can range from $15 to $40. These costs add up quickly and eat into your department’s efficiency. Manual AP is simply not scalable without proportional increases in headcount.
Manual AP processes make it difficult to enforce approval policies and maintain audit trails. Missing documentation or inconsistent approvals can lead to failed audits, regulatory issues, or exposure to fraud. Without automation, enforcing internal controls is time-consuming and unreliable.
Contact us to explore how AP automation can resolve these challenges for your organisation.
Adopting an accounts payable automation solution delivers tangible business outcomes. Organisations that automate their AP process achieve transformative results.
Automation accelerates the invoice lifecycle dramatically. Routine tasks that once took days or weeks can be completed in hours. In fact, automated systems can process invoices 3-5× faster than manual methods, enabling you to pay suppliers on time or even early.
By eliminating paper and manual effort, companies reduce their invoice processing cost per invoice by as much as 70-80%. Fewer labour hours and errors mean significant savings. For example, businesses have cut average processing costs from ~$15 per invoice to ~$3 with automation. Early payment discounts can also be captured consistently, further improving the bottom line.
Automated data capture virtually eliminates data entry errors, and built-in validation rules catch duplicates or anomalies. The software can flag potential fraudulent invoices (e.g. mismatched bank details or duplicate invoice numbers) to protect your company. With an audit trail on every invoice, compliance is strengthened.
AP automation provides real-time tracking and reporting. Finance managers gain total visibility into where every invoice stands – pending approval, on hold or paid. Custom dashboards and analytics turn AP data into insights, allowing you to monitor KPIs like invoice cycle times, approver bottlenecks and cash flow impact in one place.
With mundane tasks automated, your AP team can handle higher invoice volumes without adding headcount. Staff can be reassigned from data entry and chasing approvals to more strategic activities like spend analysis or vendor management. The Department of Education Tasmania saw a 37% productivity gain in AP after automation.
When invoices are processed accurately and paid on time, supplier satisfaction increases. Automation helps you avoid lost invoices and late payments that frustrate vendors. Some organisations have even improved supplier loyalty by offering self-service vendor portals (so suppliers can check invoice status and payments), enabled by the automation system.
Throughout this process, the AP team has full visibility. They can see dashboards of invoices at each stage, and intervene only when the system flags an exception. Everything else flows automatically from capture to posting, enabling a truly touchless AP process for the majority of invoices.
Supplier invoices are captured as soon as they arrive. Paper invoices are scanned (or sent to a digital mailroom), email invoices are forwarded to a dedicated address, and e-invoices flow in via the network. The system gathers all invoices into a single queue regardless of format.
The solution’s intelligent capture engine reads each invoice and extracts the data – supplier name, ABN, invoice number, date, line items, totals, etc. It automatically checks for common errors (missing fields, invalid ABN or GST amounts, duplicate invoice numbers) and applies business rules (e.g. detecting if tax exceeds a threshold). If any data fails validation, the invoice is flagged for review.
For PO-based invoices, the software instantly checks the ERP for the corresponding purchase order and receipt information. If everything matches within defined tolerances (for example, quantity billed matches quantity received), the invoice is validated straight through. For non-PO invoices, the system can auto-suggest GL account codes or route to an AP clerk or business user to code the expense.
Invoices that require approval (such as non-PO invoices or exceptions) are routed electronically to the responsible managers. Approvers receive an alert with a link to review the invoice image and details in a browser or on mobile. They can approve, reject or add comments. The workflow includes escalation rules. If someone is out of office or misses a deadline, it can automatically forward to an alternate approver to keep things moving.
Once approved, the invoice data is exported to your ERP or financial system (e.g. as a validated invoice voucher or bill) and queued for payment in the normal payment run. The status is updated in real time. All invoices and their approval history are archived digitally, with a full audit trail for each step. You can search and retrieve any invoice and see exactly who approved it and when – no more filing cabinets!
AI strengthens AP automation by improving data accuracy, reducing manual verification work and supporting consistent decision-making across the invoice lifecycle. It analyses invoice formats, patterns and historical data to handle tasks that previously required manual judgement.
Machine learning extracts header and line-item data from PDFs, email attachments and scanned documents without templates. It validates fields against supplier and ERP data to reduce manual correction.
AI suggests GL codes, tax classifications, cost centres and approvers based on historical patterns. It improves coding consistency and reduces the time spent on manual allocation.
AI compares invoice data with purchase orders and receipts, recognising tolerances and common variances. It increases match rates and reduces the number of invoices requiring manual review.
The system flags duplicates, unusual amounts, supplier detail changes and out-of-pattern transactions. This allows teams to focus only on exceptions that require intervention.
AI assistants can answer questions such as “show invoices pending approval today” or “list invoices over the budget threshold.” This provides on-demand visibility without running manual reports.
AI identifies patterns in invoice volumes, approval cycle times and processing delays. These insights support cash-flow planning and help teams anticipate resourcing needs.
Models adapt as users approve, reject or correct invoices. Accuracy improves over time, reducing rule maintenance and supporting long-term scalability.
AI monitors supplier information for unexpected changes, irregular bank details or unusual billing patterns. It helps strengthen financial controls by identifying potential risks before payments are released.
AI improves data accuracy throughout the AP workflow. Machine learning reduces errors in invoice capture by recognising layouts, extracting data more accurately and validating fields against supplier and system records. It supports more consistent coding and matching decisions by learning from historical patterns and previous corrections, which lowers the amount of manual rework required.
AI helps identify issues earlier and prioritise exceptions. By detecting duplicates, unusual amounts and out-of-pattern transactions, AI flags the invoices that genuinely require attention. When combined with structured workflows, this early visibility helps teams resolve exceptions more efficiently and maintain a more controlled and predictable accounts payable process as volumes grow.
Xcellerate IT’s accounts payable automation solutions offer the full set of capabilities needed for efficient, touch-free invoice processing. Our team applies deep AP workflow expertise to design, deploy and optimise each solution for maximum impact.
Invoices are captured from all sources – paper, PDF, email attachments or e-invoices – and converted into digital data. The system uses OCR and AI to extract all critical fields (supplier, invoice number, amounts, line items, etc.) with a high degree of accuracy, even from complex or multi-page invoices. No more manual keying of data from invoices.
Digital workflows route invoices to the right approvers based on your business rules (department, amount thresholds, project codes, etc.). Approvers receive email notifications or can approve invoices via a web portal or mobile device. The workflow engine enforces your Delegation of Authority policy and sends automatic reminders to approvers, eliminating the need to chase approvals. You always know exactly who has the invoice and how long they’ve had it.
For purchase order based invoices, the system automatically matches the invoice to the PO and goods receipt records in your ERP. It performs 2-way or 3-way matching to verify quantities, unit prices, and totals. Discrepancies or exceptions are flagged for review. This means most PO invoices can go straight-through for payment without AP intervention, while errors (like price mismatches or missing receipts) are caught early and resolved within the system.
Invoices that don’t match or that have no PO (expense invoices) are automatically routed to the appropriate person for coding and exception handling. The solution can suggest General Ledger codes based on vendor or past entries, speeding up coding. All conversations and approvals around exceptions are tracked in one place for a clear audit trail.
Our AP automation includes dashboard analytics that give you real-time insight into your AP performance. Monitor metrics like invoices processed per day, pending approvals by person, average cycle time and early payment discount capture rate. Identify bottlenecks quickly and make data-driven improvements. You can also generate reports for month-end accruals, cash requirements and supplier spend with a few clicks.
The solution integrates directly with your ERP or accounting system to post approved invoices for payment. Whether you use SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics 365, TechnologyOne, NetSuite, MYOB, Xero, or another system, our platform ensures a smooth data flow. Invoice data and approval statuses sync back to your ERP in real time via certified connectors or APIs – no double entry. This tight integration means you continue using your primary finance system of record, with AP automation working alongside it to turbocharge your processes.
Xcellerate IT offers a flexible portfolio of AP automation options. Whether you need rapid deployment with minimal IT lift, or a fully customisable platform to support enterprise-wide automation, we’ll help you find the ideal fit.
Core invoice automation to eliminate manual data entry.
Tungsten AP Essentials is a cloud-based invoice automation solution that uses AI-powered capture, validation and approval workflows to streamline every stage of invoice processing. It extracts data from paper, PDF and emailed invoices, applies business rules and routes them for approval, then posts clean data into your ERP or finance system. Use it as a focused AP automation solution today, with the option to expand into broader InvoiceAgility capabilities later if you need global e-invoicing and compliance.
Global e-invoicing and compliance built into your AP automation.
Tungsten InvoiceAgility unifies e-invoicing, AI-powered invoice capture, supplier onboarding and global tax compliance in one platform. It handles structured e-invoices, PDFs, emails and scanned documents, applying country-specific rules, PEPPOL and network connectivity so every invoice flows through a consistent, controlled process. AP Essentials acts as the capture and validation engine for paper and PDF invoices inside InvoiceAgility, giving you a single, compliant invoice workflow across regions, entities and supplier networks.
End to end AP automation with AI and analytics.
Xstream AP is Xcellerate IT’s cloud-based accounts payable automation solution built on Tungsten TotalAgility. It captures invoice data, applies your validation and approval rules, and gives finance teams real-time visibility into every transaction. With embedded AI, tiered plans and straight-through processing for high-volume invoices, Xstream AP delivers fast deployment, scalable automation and clear performance dashboards. Ideal for organisations that want proven AP automation tailored to Australian and New Zealand requirements.
Enterprise automation platform when AP is just the beginning.
Tungsten TotalAgility brings together AI-powered document processing, low-code workflow design, orchestration and analytics to automate complex, document-driven processes across the organisation. It captures and transforms information from a wide range of sources, then routes it through configurable workflows that support accuracy and efficiency at scale. TotalAgility gives teams a flexible and scalable foundation to streamline work in Finance, HR, Procurement and shared services, and it can extend to any other process that relies on structured information and repeatable steps.
Xcellerate IT supports organisations across Australia and New Zealand with AP automation that improves accuracy, speed and control. Our solutions are used by universities, government, non-profits and private companies.
See how GME improved accounts payable efficiency and compliance by automating invoice processing with Tungsten TotalAgility integrated with Epicor.
Yarra Ranges Council partnered with Xcellerate IT to modernise accounts payable with a cloud-based automation solution, improving efficiency, visibility and remote access across finance operations.
VicTrack automated accounts payable to reduce manual invoice handling, improve processing efficiency and gain end-to-end visibility.
Automating accounts payable results in a more efficient, controlled and cost-effective process than the old manual way. The investment in AP automation quickly pays for itself in the form of saved time and money, fewer errors, and happier staff and suppliers.
Invoices arrive by post or email. Staff must open mail, sort paper, and manually key in data from each invoice into the system. PDFs must be printed or manually entered.
Invoices are captured digitally (scanned or emailed to an automated queue). Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and AI extract data automatically. E-invoices feed directly into the system with no human intervention.
AP clerks type invoice details line by line into the accounting system, and manually code GL accounts and cost centers. High chance of typos or duplicate entries, especially under time pressure.
No manual data entry. The system populates all invoice fields. It can apply default GL codes or smart suggestions. Validation rules check for errors (like mismatched totals or invalid supplier IDs) and flag issues instantly.
Physical paper invoices are routed via interoffice mail, or PDFs are emailed around for approval. Approvals get delayed if someone is on leave or misses the email. It’s hard to track who has approved what.
Digital workflow automatically routes each invoice to the right manager(s) based on your rules. Approvers click to approve online or on mobile. The system sends reminders and can escalate overdue approvals. Every action is timestamped, providing a full audit trail.
Little transparency. It’s difficult to know the status of a given invoice without calling or emailing individuals. Invoices can get lost on someone’s desk. Month-end accruals and audits require combing through files.
Real-time visibility into the AP pipeline. A dashboard shows all pending, approved, and paid invoices. You can search any invoice in seconds. Management can track KPIs like approval cycle times and bottlenecks. Auditors can be given read-only access to the digital archive, simplifying compliance.
Errors are common (missing info, wrong amounts, duplicate invoices) and are caught late – often after payment or during reconciliation. Resolving exceptions is labor-intensive, requiring back-and-forth emails and corrections in multiple systems.
Exceptions are minimised and handled efficiently. The system catches errors up front (e.g. mismatches) and routes exceptions to the right person with all details attached. Duplicate invoices are automatically flagged, preventing duplicate payments. Fewer errors mean fewer supplier disputes and corrective journal entries.
End-to-end processing can take weeks. A paper invoice might sit in an in-tray for days, spend more days in inter-office mail for approvals, and not get entered/paid until the next cycle. This delay can incur late fees and missed discounts.
End-to-end processing can take days or even hours. Many invoices process straight-through with no touches. Approvals happen in parallel and promptly. Faster processing means more early payment discounts captured and no last-minute scrambles to meet payment deadlines.
High – labour-intensive processes result in costs that can be $15 or more per invoice, especially when including overheads for printing, storage, and error correction. Scaling up means hiring more AP staff.
Much lower – automation drives cost per invoice down significantly (often to just a few dollars). The ROI grows with volume: the more invoices you process, the more you save per invoice. AP staff can handle a far larger volume without extra hires, focusing instead on exceptions and strategic tasks.
Suppliers often face delayed payments or lack information on payment status. They might call or email your AP team frequently to chase invoices and remittances. Discrepancies take time to investigate due to paper trails.
Suppliers are paid on time consistently. The automation system can send automatic acknowledgment emails or allow suppliers to view invoice status via a portal, reducing inquiries. A faster, transparent process improves supplier relationships and trust, as they know they’ll be paid accurately and on schedule.
A critical success factor for any AP automation project is ensuring the solution works smoothly with your existing IT landscape. Xcellerate IT’s AP automation is designed to seamlessly integrate with all major ERP, accounting and procurement systems used by Australian organisations.
Seamless connectivity with modern and legacy systems. Our platforms provide pre-built connectors, APIs and even RPA integration to link with any ERP or finance application. During implementation, we configure real-time data flows so approved invoices automatically create payable transactions in your ERP and trigger the next step in the process.
Accurate, consistent data across all systems. Supplier details, purchase orders and payment statuses can sync directly from your ERP into the AP automation platform, ensuring finance teams always work from a single, up-to-date source of truth.
Enhances your environment. Your team continues using your ERP for payment runs and vendor management, while AP automation handles capture, coding, and approvals. This creates end-to-end automation without disrupting your existing finance landscape.
AP automation strengthens and accelerates core accounts payable processes, helping finance teams reduce manual work, improve consistency and maintain clearer control over day to day activities.
Automation helps finance teams manage large numbers of invoices with consistent accuracy. Data capture, validation and routing rules support predictable processing times and reduce the effort required to keep up with daily demand.
Invoices can be routed to the right people based on supplier, cost centre or amount. This creates a clear and reliable approval path that supports compliance and provides visibility for finance, operations and leadership teams.
Structured workflows support both PO-based and non-PO invoices. Matching, exceptions and coding rules are applied consistently, helping teams maintain accurate records and reduce delays caused by missing or incomplete information.
Automation helps maintain accurate supplier details and consistent compliance checks. This supports correct coding, reduces rework and provides a clear source of truth for payment information and vendor documentation.
Reliable data capture and workflow tracking help finance teams prepare reporting packs and reconciliations with fewer delays. Visibility into invoice status supports smoother month-end cycles and clearer forecasting.
AP automation helps distributed or multi-entity organisations manage invoices through consistent processes. Centralised workflows provide standardisation while still supporting the variations needed across business units.
Xcellerate IT works with finance and IT teams across Australia to implement reliable, well supported AP automation solutions. Our experience, approach and long-term focus help organisations simplify processes and build a stronger, more dependable accounts payable function.
More than 25 years supporting Australian organisations with process automation and document-driven workflows.
Strong experience integrating AP solutions with SAP, Oracle, TechnologyOne, Dynamics 365 and other major systems.
Projects delivered by Australian teams with ongoing support designed for your IT and finance environment.
Options that support simple invoice capture, global e-invoicing and enterprise-wide automation.
An approach that focuses on understanding your processes and delivering solutions that work in the real world.
Support that extends beyond go live to help refine workflows, improve efficiency and adapt to changing needs.
Clarify what you want AP automation to achieve. A useful first step is to define the problems you want to solve, such as reducing manual work, improving visibility or creating more consistent approvals. This makes it easier to assess which approach and solution set will suit your organisation.
Understand what is possible in your environment. Every finance and IT landscape is different. Reviewing your current systems, integration points and internal processes helps identify where automation can provide the most value without creating unnecessary complexity.
Plan a practical path forward with the right partner. Once priorities are clear, you can shape a roadmap that fits your budget, team capacity and timeline. Xcellerate IT can support this planning work and help you move from initial ideas to a realistic accounts payable automation project.
Find quick answers to the most common questions about AP automation.
Accounts payable automation refers to using software and digital workflows to handle AP processes (invoice capture, approval, and payment) without manual intervention.
In an automated AP process, invoices are received electronically or scanned, then an intelligent system extracts the data, routes the invoice for approval, and posts it to your finance system, all with minimal human touch.
AP automation is essentially an invoice processing software that replaces paper-based, manual tasks with faster and more reliable digital methods.
AP automation software works by digitising and orchestrating the entire invoice process.
First, it captures invoices from various sources (email, paper, e-invoice networks) and uses OCR/AI to read the contents. Next, the software validates the data and matches invoices to purchase orders or receipts if applicable. It then electronically routes invoices to the right approvers based on rules you set. Approvers click to approve or reject, and once an invoice is approved, the software automatically sends the data to your ERP for payment.
Throughout, the system tracks every action and stores all documents, so you have full visibility. In short, it automates the receive → approve → pay workflow that AP staff used to do manually.
Automating accounts payable brings numerous benefits. It speeds up invoice processing dramatically (from weeks to days), which means you can avoid late fees and capture early payment discounts. It cuts processing costs by reducing manual labour and paper. Many companies see 60-80% cost per invoice savings after automation.
Accuracy improves as well. The software eliminates keying errors and flags duplicates or fraudulent invoices, so you pay the right amounts. You also gain real-time visibility into liabilities and cash flow, since you can see all pending and approved invoices instantly.
Finally, AP automation frees your staff from data entry drudgery to focus on higher-value work like vendor management, financial analysis and ensuring policy compliance.
The net effect is a more efficient, controlled, and cost-effective AP operation.
Yes. Modern AP automation solutions (including Xcellerate IT’s) are built to integrate with your existing ERP, accounting or financial systems.
Whether you use SAP, Oracle, Microsoft Dynamics, TechnologyOne, MYOB, Xero, or almost any other system, the AP automation software can connect via standard interfaces or APIs.
Integration ensures that approved invoice data flows straight into your ERP for recording and payment, and that your vendor master data and purchase orders flow into the AP system for matching.
In many cases, pre-built connectors or certified adapters are available for popular systems, which accelerates the integration setup. Even if you have a home-grown or legacy system, integration can be achieved via web services or file exchange.
Bottom line: you won’t need to switch your core finance system. The AP automation will work alongside it seamlessly, improving its efficiency.
The implementation timeline can vary depending on the complexity, but most AP automation projects are completed in a matter of weeks to a few months.
For a cloud-based solution handling a standard process, implementation can be as quick as 6-8 weeks. This includes configuration, integration to your ERP and user training.
More complex deployments (for example, an on-premise enterprise platform with extensive custom workflows or multiple system integrations) might take a few months to design and roll out.
Xcellerate IT follows an agile implementation approach, often starting with a pilot phase that automates a subset of invoices or a single business unit, then scaling up. This means you can start seeing benefits (and processing live invoices automatically) early in the project.
We work closely with your team to ensure a smooth go-live, including testing, user onboarding and change management. Our experience with dozens of AP projects helps us avoid pitfalls and keep timelines on track.
AP automation is beneficial for organisations of all sizes, not just big enterprises.
If your business processes as few as a couple hundred invoices a month, you can still gain efficiency and cost savings from automation (and free your small team from tedious manual work). In fact, smaller organisations often see a quick impact because their AP staff can then focus on other finance tasks as automation takes over the grunt work.
Modern cloud AP automation solutions are scalable and can be cost-effective for mid-market and growing businesses. You can start with what you need and expand as you grow.
For large enterprises dealing with tens of thousands of invoices, AP automation is almost essential to handle volume and complexity.
Ultimately, any company that wants to improve accuracy, control and efficiency in accounts payable can benefit from automation, regardless of size.
Xcellerate IT offers options tailored to different scales, from quick-start cloud solutions to enterprise-wide platforms, so you can choose what fits your organisation.
Automating accounts payable inherently improves compliance and audit readiness. Every invoice processed through the system leaves a detailed digital audit trail. You can see who viewed it, who approved it, when it was paid and so on. This makes internal and external audits far easier, since you can pull up records in seconds and be confident they’re complete.
Automation also allows you to enforce business rules and approval hierarchies consistently (no invoices get paid without the proper sign-off, for example), which strengthens internal controls.
Many solutions include features to ensure tax compliance as well, for instance, validating ABN numbers for GST or ensuring the tax calculations on invoices are correct. Documents are stored electronically according to retention policies, eliminating the risk of lost paperwork.
Finally, by flagging duplicate or suspicious invoices, the system helps prevent fraud and ensures policy compliance (e.g. catching cases where someone might try to bypass a process).
All told, AP automation provides transparency and control that manual processes struggle to achieve, keeping you confidently compliant.
Connect with an AP automation specialist for advice tailored to your organisation.