The State of ePayables 2025: AP’s Unfinished Journey

For two decades, Ardent Partners’ annual State of ePayables report has chronicled the evolution of accounts payable from a tactical back-office function into a strategic asset for the businesses AP serves. Ardent Partners' 20th annual report is sponsored by Bottomline and highlights how leading AP teams are using automation, data, and AI to drive efficiency, resilience, and increased value.  

According to the State of ePayables 2025 report by Ardent Partners, 79% of AP teams now play an active role in fraud prevention—making it the most common strategic responsibility across the function. 

Why Fraud Prevention Is So Critical  

Fraud in AP can lead to significant financial losses, reputational damage, and operational disruption. Manual processes, paper invoices, lax culture, and weak controls create vulnerabilities that fraudsters exploit. Modern AP teams must evolve from paper-based processors to the front-line fighters of fraud and champions of efficiency.  

Top Fraud Prevention Strategies for AP Teams 

• Automate invoice validation and approval workflows 

• Digitize supplier onboarding and bank detail verification 

• Use AI and machine learning for anomaly detection 

• Implement secure ePayment solutions 

• Collaborate with procurement, treasury, and IT to protect your business 

Technology That Reduces Fraud Risk 

ePayables platforms and B2B payment networks like Bottomline’s Paymode help businesses eliminate manual touchpoints and reduce fraud exposure. By enabling straight-through processing, secure supplier data management, and real-time visibility, these solutions protect your payments and streamline operations. 

Key Metrics That Matter 

• Invoice exception rate: 18.4% (industry average) 

• Electronic invoice submission: 57.4% of suppliers 

• Straight-through invoice processing: 35.4% of invoices 

Elevate AP’s Strategic Role 

Fraud prevention isn’t just about compliance. It’s about enabling smarter cash management, stronger supplier relationships, and better business intelligence, all of which support the organization’s goal of better efficiency and lower costs in addition to fraud prevention. AP teams that embrace this role are earning a bigger voice and a more important role in the organization.  

The Power of Automation 

While this evolution is encouraging, there are still areas in which AP must target improvement. Despite progress, only 51% of invoices are submitted electronically. Paper-based processes continue to slow down AP teams.  

Ardent’s research shows that automating invoice approval workflows, data capture, and ePayments can reduce processing costs by up to 80%. Those cost savings can make it even easier for AP to become a power player in the business and set up the organization for more success.  

Explore the full report or see how Paymode can transform your AP.