{"id":6237,"date":"2026-11-13T17:41:01","date_gmt":"2026-11-13T17:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.peeriosity.com\/shared-services\/articles\/?p=6237"},"modified":"2026-11-13T17:41:01","modified_gmt":"2026-11-13T17:41:01","slug":"accounts-payable-fixing-the-detail-issues-that-cause-process-problems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.peeriosity.com\/shared-services\/articles\/2026\/11\/accounts-payable-fixing-the-detail-issues-that-cause-process-problems\/","title":{"rendered":"Accounts Payable: Fixing the Detail Issues That Cause Process Problems"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n\n
Date<\/strong><\/td>\nJuly 2026<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Facilitator<\/strong><\/td>\nMichael Hostetler, Peeriosity<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Panelists<\/strong><\/td>\nManager of Accounts Payable, Company A (U.S. industrial products distributor owned by a global parent company); Senior Accounts Payable Manager, Company B (global automotive supplier)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Format<\/strong><\/td>\nPrivate member discussion; recorded and available to Peeriosity membership, along with this executive summary<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n

This Peercast brought together accounts payable leaders from Company A and Company B to share practical, detail-level fixes for common AP friction points. The discussion, facilitated by Michael Hostetler of Peeriosity, was organized around four themes: friction points in the current process, talent and reskilling, technology integration, and measuring success.<\/p>\n

Note that this document is a summary. Peeriosity-100 members have full visibility to company names, presenters, Peercast attendees, and a recording of the Peercast discussion.<\/p>\n

Company & Organization Snapshots<\/strong><\/p>\n

Company A<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • AP organization is centralized in South America; a large team given high invoice volume.<\/li>\n
  • ERP: SAP. Uses OpenText for invoice imaging and Talia as the vendor portal (also handles EDI\/e-flip invoices).<\/li>\n
  • Purchasing is based in the U.S., split into a Central\/Eastern group and a West Division group to cover time zones.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Company B<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Global shared services model operating across 20 countries and 67 legal entities (Europe, North America, Mexico, China, India); roughly 80 people in AP globally, with the majority based in Poland.<\/li>\n
    • ERP: SAP, with Coupa used for indirect purchases.<\/li>\n
    • No vendor portal yet \u2014 one is in early development.<\/li>\n
    • Processes differ meaningfully between North America and Europe (e.g., North America allows short-pay or invoice rejection on discrepancies; Europe requires a credit note for each disputed invoice).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Theme 1: Identifying Friction Points<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      • Missing POs, price\/quantity discrepancies, and outdated supplier master data (especially banking changes) were cited as the biggest sources of manual work at Company B.<\/li>\n
      • Regional differences complicate resolution: in Europe, unresolved discrepancies require a credit note per invoice; in North America, short-pay or rejection is possible.<\/li>\n
      • Company A\u2019s primary pain point is the continued volume of non-PO invoices, which require more manual handling.<\/li>\n
      • Invoice intake channels vary by company: Company A receives under 2% by mail\/scan, with the remainder split roughly 50\/50 between Talia (EDI\/e-flip) and email into OpenText. Company B receives most European invoices by PDF email into OCR, is adopting e-invoicing (already required in Poland, Serbia, and Romania; coming to France in September 2026 and Spain in 2027), and uses EDI\/ERS for more automated North American invoices.<\/li>\n
      • Both panelists still route OCR-scanned invoices through human validation before posting; neither has full touchless processing outside of EDI\/ERS-based North American flows.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Theme 2: Talent & Reskilling<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        • Company B is prioritizing internal upskilling over external hiring, using an in-house training \u201cuniversity\u201d and leader-led sessions; the biggest challenge is shifting employee mindset and easing fear of job displacement.<\/li>\n
        • Company A\u2019s AP team is leaning on AI tools (including Gemini) to build training documentation and support continuous improvement, alongside company-wide encouragement to adopt AI.<\/li>\n
        • Both organizations frame automation as freeing staff for higher-value, exception-based work rather than eliminating roles \u2014 a message being actively reinforced with teams.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          Theme 3: Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n

            \n
          • Both companies describe their automation as partial: OCR captures data but still requires human validation, and full touchless posting is largely limited to EDI\/ERS invoices in North America.<\/li>\n
          • Company B sees room to improve OCR field recognition and to expand automatic posting for invoices already routed correctly in SAP.<\/li>\n
          • Company A is focused on improving OCR first-pass rates and expanding vendor adoption of the Talia portal, which has a much higher first-pass rate than OCR.<\/li>\n
          • E-invoicing mandates are an emerging factor in Europe for Company B (Poland, Serbia, Romania now; France and Spain upcoming); not currently a factor for Company A.<\/li>\n
          • Vendor onboarding and master data are owned by separate teams at both companies. Company B uses a ticket-based process with strict controls (sanctions checks, banking detail verification) and a dedicated help-desk team; a system migration is underway but unnamed. Company A uses the Graphite portal for vendor-submitted updates, which then flow into SAP.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            Theme 4: Measuring Success<\/strong><\/p>\n

              \n
            • Company B tracks a broad KPI set: cost per invoice, touchless\/first-touch invoice rate, invoices posted per FTE, ticket volume and cycle time, invoice cycle time, backlog, and T&E audit\/rejection rates. KPIs are shared with team leaders and reviewed quarterly; the focus is improving productivity with a stable headcount rather than hiring.<\/li>\n
            • Company A tracks first-pass\/no-touch rates, exception monitoring (with root-cause tagging such as OCR training gaps or tax issues), and cycle time, with particular attention to invoices tied to strict contract payment terms.<\/li>\n
            • On prioritizing fixes, both panelists described a case-by-case evaluation of effort, cost, and benefit; larger initiatives typically require formal budget approval, while smaller enhancements can be made directly by the AP team. At Company B, major system changes (e.g., the ticketing platform migration) are largely IT-driven, though AP provides input, especially on issues spanning multiple departments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

              Key Takeaways & Quick Wins<\/strong><\/p>\n

                \n
              • Standardize before automating, and invest in clean master data as a foundation \u2014 named by both panelists as the top recommendation for AP success.<\/li>\n
              • Reducing non-PO invoice volume remains a priority friction point for Company A.<\/li>\n
              • Company B\u2019s recent quick win: improving supplier accountability for providing correct POs on invoices and improving PO creation ratios upfront, which had an outsized positive impact on AP processing.<\/li>\n
              • Company A\u2019s recent quick win: continuously retraining its OCR system, which incrementally improves first-pass, no-touch invoice rates over time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                Looking Ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n

                Michael Hostetler noted an upcoming Peercast in August, featuring a global consumer products company discussing the use of GenAI for auto-posting in accounts payable, building on a recent example that company shared about intelligent automation success in GBS.<\/p>\n

                <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                Date July 2026 Facilitator Michael Hostetler, Peeriosity Panelists Manager of Accounts Payable, Company A (U.S. industrial products distributor owned by a global parent company); Senior Accounts Payable Manager, Company B (global automotive supplier) Format Private member discussion; recorded and available to Peeriosity membership, along with this executive summary Overview This Peercast brought together accounts payable […]<\/p>\n

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