Accounts payable (AP) is becoming a strategic driver of payments performance, fraud prevention, working capital, and AI-enabled finance transformation.

The reinvention of accounts payable (AP) continues. According to a new Ardent Partners study, AP is rapidly becoming a strategic contributor to financial performance, cash management, fraud prevention, and business intelligence.

Based on a survey of 194 AP, finance, and procure-to-pay leaders, the report suggests that organizations seeing the strongest results are no longer treating payments as a transactional activity. Instead, they are viewing them as a source of competitive advantage.

The report, “AP in 2026: Performance, Payments, and the Path Forward,” highlights a profession under growing pressure to improve efficiency while taking on expanding responsibilities. AP teams are expected to support working capital objectives, strengthen supplier relationships, improve financial visibility, and help protect from sophisticated fraud threats. Yet many organizations continue to wrestle with slow approvals, invoice exceptions, manual processes, and limited visibility into payment activity.

 

AP Wears a Strategic Hat

One of the report's clearest findings is that AP has become far more strategic than many organizations may realize. Two-thirds of respondents said their AP department is viewed as very or exceptionally valuable to the enterprise.

AP is no longer limited to processing invoices and issuing payments. Today's teams are increasingly involved in fraud prevention, payment platform selection, supplier relationship management, and broader financial decision-making.

However, the research also uncovered a notable gap between AP's growing influence and its strategic planning maturity. While many departments set performance targets, only 35% operate with a formal annual strategic plan. Even fewer report having plans formally approved by senior finance leadership. This disconnect suggests that AP's operational importance is expanding faster than many organizations are able to manage it strategically.

 

Data and Analytics are Top Priorities

When asked about current priorities, respondents identified improved reporting and analytics as their number one objective. This finding reflects a broader shift in how AP leaders view their function.

Modern AP platforms generate a significant amount of operational and financial data. Organizations increasingly recognize that invoice, payment, supplier, and exception data can help improve forecasting, identify risk, support working capital decisions, and provide actionable business insights. Better visibility is becoming a foundational requirement for high-performing finance operations.

Automation remains another major focus area. More than 40% of respondents identified AP automation as a top priority, while many continue to push for increased electronic invoicing adoption and reductions in processing costs. The report makes it clear that analytics, automation, and digitization are closely linked. Companies cannot effectively improve performance if core processes remain fragmented or heavily manual.

 

Electronic Payments Are Now the Standard

The transition away from paper-based payments continues at a rapid pace. The report found that 77% of organizations made more electronic payments in 2025 than they did the previous year. Electronic payment capabilities are now common across the market, with three-quarters of respondents reporting they can efficiently process ACH payments, cards, wires, and other digital payment types.

That progress represents a significant milestone, but Ardent Partners maintains that simply making electronic payments is no longer enough.

Most respondents have modernized payment execution, yet many still lack a true payment strategy. More than 60% of respondents said they pay invoices when due or after they are already late. Twenty-two percent said they have no formal payment strategy, while more than a quarter routinely delay payments to preserve cash.

By contrast, relatively few organizations optimize payments to capture supplier discounts, earn rebate revenue, or maximize working capital performance.

What comes across is that fact that many enterprises have built the infrastructure for digital payments but have not yet developed the disciplines needed to extract maximum financial value from those payment flows.

 

AI Is Moving from Experimentation to Execution

Artificial intelligence is one of the most important drivers of AP transformation today. The research shows that 58% of organizations are actively using or piloting AI, while 65% expect AI to have a significant or transformational impact on AP within the next two to three years.

Most organizations remain in the early stages of their AI journey. Roughly one-third are piloting select use cases, while another 23% have begun deploying AI across multiple AP functions. Very few have fully embedded AI into everyday operations, suggesting there is still significant room for growth and innovation.

Potential applications for AI include intelligent invoice processing, automated coding, exception management, fraud detection, workflow optimization, and predictive analytics. As AI capabilities mature, AP teams are expected to spend less time on repetitive administrative tasks and more time focusing on analysis, supplier relationships, and strategic finance initiatives.

 

Fraud Prevention, and the Way Forward

Fraud continues to be a growing concern for finance organizations. Per the report, 41% of respondents said fraud activity increased over the previous year. Perhaps even more concerning, one-quarter of those surveyed were unsure whether fraud activity had risen, suggesting visibility gaps remain widespread.

Findings like that reinforce why fraud prevention emerged as the area where AP departments are most involved. Because AP manages supplier records, payment workflows, and outgoing funds, it occupies a critical control point for identifying fraudulent invoices, supplier impersonation attempts, and payment diversion schemes. The report says that AP's contribution to enterprise financial integrity has never been more important.

Ardent Partners' overarching conclusion is that AP's future will be defined by organizations that treat payments as a strategic capability rather than an administrative necessity. High-performing teams are investing in automation, improving data visibility, strengthening payment strategies, and leveraging AI to improve both efficiency and decision-making.

This all suggests that the next phase of AP evolution will be less about processing transactions and more about creating business value. Organizations that combine strong leadership, modern technology, disciplined planning, and data-driven decision-making will be best positioned to improve working capital, strengthen supplier relationships, reduce risk, and contribute more meaningfully to enterprise performance.

Get the report: The State of ePayables 2026: Performance, Payments and the Path Forward

FAQs

Why is accounts payable becoming more strategic?

Accounts payable now influences cash management, supplier relationships, fraud prevention, payment strategy, and financial visibility. As AP teams gain access to better data and automation, they can help finance leaders make more informed decisions rather than simply process transactions.

What makes electronic payments important for AP performance?

Electronic payments reduce reliance on manual, paper-based processes and can improve speed, control, and visibility. The next opportunity is not just making digital payments, but using payment timing, supplier preferences, rebates, and working capital goals to create more value.

How will AI affect accounts payable teams?

AI can help AP teams automate invoice processing, improve coding accuracy, manage exceptions, detect fraud patterns, and generate better analytics. As adoption grows, AP professionals are likely to spend less time on repetitive tasks and more time on analysis, controls, and strategic finance work.