Whether you’re optimizing accounts payable (AP) in Chicago or reassessing accounts receivable (AR) in the Bay Area, best practices for automation, fraud defense, compliance, payments, and talent development have never mattered more. Those attending the Institute of Finance & Management’s (IOFM) Fall Conference & Expo are seeking actionable strategies to boost the golden goose -- payments.
That’s a key point at the IOFM conference this year: automation isn’t just about new tech. It’s about better processes. That message was on display everywhere at IOFM 2025.
Conversations around automation are changing fast, with AI’s “autonomy” (Agentic AI) the hottest buzz. But Josh Barrett, IOFM Director, insisted that the journey starts long before introducing cutting-edge tech. “Teams often don't take a step back to identify their existing processes,” he said. “Automating a flawed or broken process only makes bad outcomes happen faster. It’s why Agentic AI is so much on the minds of attendees this year.
Barrett emphasized change management, encouraging finance teams to understand how (and why) their work is changing, and to sell the value of change to everyone involved.
Starting small is a smart move, he advised, suggesting that practitioners “begin with AI for exception handling, invoice matching, predictive analytics before moving on to full autonomy.” Data quality has become the bedrock of AI success, he said, because “Clean data drives accurate, trustworthy AI outputs.”
And if you’re not measuring, you’re not improving. “Without baseline metrics, improvement and return on investment are very, very difficult, if not impossible, to prove,” Barret said, underscoring the necessity of ongoing benchmarking.
Aligning with vendors is another priority. While IOFM steers clear of picking providers, Barrett said, “Being able to clearly articulate business goals and… ensuring that integration across systems is possible is critical.”
The Fraud & Compliance Arms Race Gets Smarter (and Riskier)
Fraud isn’t just multiplying. It’s getting sharper. IOFM Senior Content Manager Jess Scheer warned that two-thirds of AP teams were targeted by fraudsters in the past year, with one-third getting hit in the previous month. It’s a sobering reality for payments professionals.
“Fraudsters are getting smarter, and so AP professionals have to get smarter, too,” Scheer said. He described chillingly patient tactics, where criminals lay groundwork months in advance to exploit account changes, then “plant the seed, and wait for it to grow.”
The rise of AI voice fraud, for example, where scammers craft messages mimicking CFOs and others with authority to authorize payments, should prompt strong skepticism whenever something “just doesn’t add up.”
Scheer cautioned, “Never rely on conversations that they send to you; go to the company website, validate from the website that the information is correct. Validate that it’s someone you know.” AI’s ability to create realistic fraudulent correspondence (deepfakes) means processes can’t be sidestepped for the sake of speed.
On the compliance front, business payments teams are contending with sunsetting legacy systems and a bushel of regulations. With the U.S.’s FIRE system for 1099s ending, Scheer said organizations must use third-party solutions, and the rules can change fast.
Upskilling Talent with Certifications and Soft Skills
Talent shortages persist as baby boomers retire, and top professionals change jobs. Filling those empty positions with the ideal candidates is getting more difficult. Barrett described how AI is reshaping staffing needs, saying that “AI reduces dependency on manual work and allows smaller teams to manage higher volumes,” he said.
Certifications and peer-tested best practices have become the backbone of successful AP/AR teams, as organizations invest heavily in onboarding and upskilling. IOFM adheres to this view of how to hire finance pros in the age of Agentic AI.
“Certification helps fill skill gaps and ensure consistent best practices,” Barrett said. “These credentials speed up onboarding and shift staff from data entry to more analytical roles.” That’s a critical pivot, as those roles that are not backfilled increase the pressure on existing team members. Technical skills still matter, certainly, but soft skills are rising in value, especially as cross-functional collaboration becomes the norm.
Barrett noted that more organizations are now onboarding new hires through intensive certification programs, many authored with input from more than a hundred seasoned practitioners. “That is the gold standard in terms of peer-tested best practices across AP, AR, procure to pay, payments, reporting, and order to cash,” he said.
AR, Credit, and Next-Level Vendor Strategy
Managing accounts receivable is a balancing act, especially now, Scheer explained. “A sale isn't complete until the cash is received and applied,” he said, describing the new rigor required as AR professionals dig deeper into payment patterns and cash flow risks.
Red flags aren’t confined to just late payments. When clients who used to pay early now only pay on time, teams have to dig in and start tough conversations. Sometimes that means asking for payment plans or partial payments upfront.
Scheer added that traditional reports like DSO and invoice aging don’t reveal the whole picture. Success is heavily reliant on relationship-building in a digital B2B. “Think about who you're more likely to pay. Is it the person that sends you an autonomous, anonymous email, or someone that you've built a relationship with over months or years?”
AR teams with strong alliances may get paid first when customers face those decisions. But the culprit could be a possibly temporary slump in healthy payments management.
As IOFM sees it, for example, early-pay discounts have “collapsed.” They find that half of all companies seized those opportunities last year; now only a quarter do. “People are… more efficient than ever before, but they're just stopping short of actually sending the payment,” Scheer said. The new reality is driven by cash conservation, where businesses hang onto their funds as long as possible, pressured by payroll or strategic investment needs.
Vendors are turning more to dedicated business payments solutions like Bottomline’s Paymode network to select optimal payment windows to apply discounts and rebates, which offset a chunk of the costs associated with large B2B payments with high security.
In this climate, vendor and ERP strategies have adapted as well. Barrett identified five major practitioner priorities for 2026: speed to value (integration with measurable results in weeks, not years), real-time visibility, AI-driven functionality that works across data environments, interoperability, and solutions that scale with regulatory and business shifts.
From automation readiness to talent strategy and fraud vigilance, IOFM leadership is pushing for a more modern payments playbook: fix processes before digitizing, measure relentlessly, never stop sharpening your team’s skills, and build real relationships with partners and payers.