Managing The Accounts Payable Function

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The accounts payable (AP) function is a critical component of every organization's financial operations, yet many companies fail to give it the attention it deserves. When accounts payable processes are managed poorly, organizations can experience significant consequences, including damaged vendor relationships, increased fraud risk, IRS fines and penalties, extended state and federal audits, and unwanted negative publicity. An ineffective AP department can also have a direct impact on the organization's bottom line, making it essential to establish and maintain strong accounts payable controls and procedures.

Organizations that operate a best-practice accounts payable function are better positioned to avoid these costly challenges. However, AP departments often receive attention only when problems arise, making it difficult to gain recognition for the value they provide. This webinar is designed to help accounts payable professionals, managers, and finance leaders strengthen their AP operations, improve efficiency, build stronger internal and external relationships, and prepare their departments for future demands. Attendees will gain practical insights into managing the accounts payable process effectively while implementing proven best practices that support organizational success.

Your Benefits For Attending:
  • Manage the accounts payable process more effectively.
  • Reengineer individual AP tasks that are not aligned with best practices.
  • Supervise accounts payable staff for maximum efficiency and productivity.
  • Take appropriate steps to manage management expectations.
  • Create and maintain positive vendor relationships.
  • Build realistic expectations with AP's internal customers.
  • Prepare for the Accounts Payable Department of Tomorrow.

By attending this webinar, you will gain practical strategies to strengthen your accounts payable operation, reduce risk, and improve overall performance. Whether you are looking to enhance efficiency, strengthen vendor relationships, or position your AP department for future success, this session will provide actionable guidance you can implement immediately.

Level: Basic
Format: Recorded Webcast
Instructional Method: QAS Self-Study (Traditional)
NASBA Field of Study: Accounting (2 hours)
Program Prerequisites: None
Advance Preparation: No
  1. Introduction
  2. Agenda 00:01:22
  3. Introduction 00:02:01
  4. Worst Practice 00:03:20
  5. AP Department’s Today 00:05:03
  6. Invoice Handling Today 00:08:15
  7. Today’s Reality 00:10:07
  8. ACH for B2B Payments 00:11:56
  9. Today’s Reality 00:13:59
  10. Still Lots of Room for Improvement 00:17:46
  11. Managing The Process 00:19:33
  12. A Word about AI and Your Team 00:19:36
  13. The Macro View 00:21:33
  14. The Challenge 00:24:11
  15. Best Practices 00:25:23
  16. The Internal Control Feature 00:29:37
  17. The New Control Example 00:30:27
  18. Duplicate Invoices 00:30:50
  19. How Bad is the Duplicate Problem 00:33:01
  20. Fraud 00:34:04
  21. Data 00:34:42
  22. Managing The Individual Tasks 00:36:20
  23. The Challenge 00:36:22
  24. The Details Matter 00:36:36
  25. EPD, Visibility, and Data 00:37:36
  26. The New Detail: Confirmations 00:38:20
  27. New Best Practice 00:39:23
  28. Easy Ways to Spot Phony Requests 00:40:16
  29. Managing The Staff 00:41:41
  30. The Challenge 00:41:54
  31. The Basic Overview 00:43:22
  32. Training and Directions 00:47:16
  33. Communicating Expectations 00:49:55
  34. Acknowledge Contributions 00:
  35. Motivate and Delegate 00:51:21
  36. Another Term for a Good Manager 00:52:59
  37. Managing Up: Dealing Effectively With Management 00:53:11
  38. A Word about AI and Management 00:53:30
  39. AI and Management: Today’s Reality 00:55:28
  40. AP’s Moment in the Sun 00:59:01
  41. The Challenge 00:59:39
  42. Listen 01:00:44
  43. Make Your Boss Look Good 01:02:04
  44. Their Communication Style 01:03:59
  45. The Problem and A Solution 01:05:07
  46. Communicate Up 01:06:05
  47. Managing Vendor Expectations 01:09:36
  48. The Challenge 01:10:01
  49. The Basics 01:10:26
  50. Setting The Stage 01:11:21
  51. Updates 01:12:18
  52. Keeping up Your End of the Bargain 01:13:29
  53. Good Vendor Relations 01:14:53
  54. Dealing With Ap’s Internal Customers 01:15:56
  55. The Challenge 01:16:02
  56. Expense Report Issue 01:16:49
  57. The New Expense Report Issue 01:18:20
  58. The Two Basic Areas 01:19:39
  59. Data 01:20:00
  60. Payments 01:21:01
  61. Moving Forward 01:21:46
  62. The AP Department Of Tomorrow 01:24:39
  63. Reality of AI: Part 1 01:24:48
  64. Reality of AI: Part 2 01:27:06
  65. Reality of AI: Part 3 01:29:13
  66. The AP Department of the Future 00:30:41
  67. The Challenge 01:33:34
  68. The Technology 01:34:39
  69. The Data 01:36:57
  70. The People 01:38:01
  71. Flexibility 01:38:48
  72. A Word About Fraud 01:39:28
  73. Concluding Thoughts 01:41:38
  74. Tomorrow 01:41:47
  75. Thank You/Questions/Comments 01:43:21
  76. Presentation Closing 01:48:15
  • Mary Schaeffer

    Mary Schaeffer

    Mary S. Schaeffer is the founder of AP Now, a B2B organization focused on creating business intelligence around the accounts payable and payment functions. She has written 18 business books and is a frequent and popular speaker at both online and live events. Schaeffer has created a number of CPE se [...]

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CPE Credit

Continuing Professional Education

Aurora Training Advantage is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org.

For more information regarding administrative policies such as complaint and refund, and cancellation please contact our offices at 407-542-4317 or [email protected].

You must answer all questions during the webinar, view the recording completely and pass the test at the end with 70% correct answers to receive CPE credit.

  • Accounts Payable (AP) 00:01:23, 00:05:20, 00:09:09, 00:20:43, 00:24:18, 00:25:44, 00:37:52, 00:42:20, 00:50:44, 00:53:18, 01:19:49, 01:30:45
  • ACH Debit 00:12:49
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) 00:19:42, 00:53:33, 01:32:07
  • Audit 00:33:54
  • Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) 00:36:14
  • Expense 00:18:09, 01:18:26
  • Expense Reimbursement 01:18:33
  • Expense Report 01:16:42
  • Form W-2 00:39:34
  • From W-9 00:39:49
  • Invoice 00:09:11, 00:10:52, 00:35:15
  • NACHA 00:12:30
  • P-Card 00:35:42
  • SOX -Sarbanes Oxley Act 00:29:46
  • Supplier 00:10:33, 00:12:16, 00:15:17, 00:22:59, 00:32:01, 01:10:09, 01:15:03
  • Unclaimed Property 00:18:25
  • Vendor 00:01:37, 00:56:13, 01:15:25

ACH Debit : An ACH debit transaction occurs when the originator of a transaction authorizes the recipient to “pull” funds from his or her account. For example, say a customer wants to pay an electric bill via ACH debit.

Accounts Payable (AP): The amount of money a company owes creditors (suppliers, etc.) in return for goods and/or services they have delivered.

Artificial Intelligence (AI): Artificial intelligence is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to the natural intelligence displayed by humans or animals.

Audit: A formal examination of an organization's or individual's accounts or financial situation

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP): Refers to a type of software that organizations use to manage day-to-day business activities such as accounting, procurement, project management, risk management and compliance, and supply chain operations.

Expense: Offset (an item of expenditure) as an expense against taxable income.

Expense Reimbursement: Expense reimbursement is a method for paying employees back when they spend their own money on business-related expenses. These expenses generally occur when an employee is traveling for business but can occur in other work-related situations. (www.thebalancecareers.com)

Expense Report: A report that tracks expenses incurred during the course of performing necessary job functions. Examples include charges for gas, meals, parking or lodging. If your employees spend a lot of money in cash, you need to make sure you have them list these expenditures on an expense report form.

Form W-2: Form W-2 is an Internal Revenue Service tax form used in the United States to report wages paid to employees and the taxes withheld from them. Employers must complete a Form W-2 for each employee to whom they pay a salary, wage, or other compensation as part of the employment relationship. - Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/)

Form W-9: Form W-9 (officially, the "Request for Taxpayer Identification Number and Certification") is used in the United States income tax system by a third party who must file an information return with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). It requests the name, address, and taxpayer identification information of a taxpayer (in the form of a Social Security Number or Employer Identification Number). - Wikipedia (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/)

Invoice: An invoice, bill or tab is a commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer, relating to a sale transaction and indicating the products, quantities, and agreed prices for products or services the seller had provided the buyer. Payment terms are usually stated on the invoice.

NACHA: National Automated Clearing House Association manages the development, administration, and governance of the ACH Network, the backbone for the electronic movement of money and data in the United States. It is funded by the financial institutions it governs.

P-Card: A PURCHASING CARD (also abbreviated as PCard or P-Card) is a form of company charge card that allows goods and services to be procured without using a traditional purchasing process. In the UK, purchasing cards are usually referred to as procurement cards

SOX -Sarbanes Oxley Act: The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 is a federal law that established sweeping auditing and financial regulations for public companies. Lawmakers created the legislation to help protect shareholders, employees, and the public from accounting errors and fraudulent financial practices.

Supplier: A supplier is an entity that supplies goods and services to another organization. A supplier is usually a manufacturer or a distributor. A distributor buys goods from multiple manufacturers and sells them to its customers. Similar Terms. A supplier is also known as a vendor.

Unclaimed Property: Unclaimed property (sometimes referred to as abandoned) refers to accounts in financial institutions and companies that have had no activity generated or contact with the owner for one year or a longer period. Common forms of unclaimed property include savings or checking accounts, stocks, uncashed dividends or payroll checks, refunds, traveler's checks, trust distributions, unredeemed money orders or gift certificates (in some states), insurance payments or refunds and life insurance policies, annuities, certificates of deposit, customer overpayments, utility security deposits, mineral royalty payments, and contents of safe deposit boxes.

Vendor: A vendor is a person or business that supplies goods or services to a company. Another term for the vendor is the supplier. In many situations, a company presents the vendor with a purchase order stating the goods or services needed, the price, delivery date, and other terms.

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Frequently Asked Questions

The accounts payable function is far more critical than many organizations recognize—it controls the outflow of cash, manages vendor relationships, ensures tax compliance, and serves as a key internal control point against fraud. When managed poorly, AP becomes a source of significant organizational harm: duplicate invoice payments drain cash, fraudulent submissions go undetected, late payments alienate critical vendors and trigger penalties, and non-compliance with IRS reporting requirements (W-9s, 1099s) opens the door to costly audits and fines. Unclaimed property obligations from outstanding checks add another layer of regulatory exposure. AP expert Mary Schaeffer's Managing the Accounts Payable Function webinar, available through Aurora Training Advantage, provides AP managers, controllers, and finance professionals with a comprehensive best-practice framework for running a high-functioning AP operation that protects the organization on every front—from fraud prevention to vendor relations to compliance.
Duplicate invoice payments are one of the most common and costly accounts payable errors—and they are frequently exploitable by both internal fraudsters and opportunistic vendors. Duplicate payments typically arise from invoices entered multiple times (paper and email copies), multiple vendors with similar names in the master vendor file, inconsistent invoice numbering practices, or inadequate controls in ERP matching processes. Best practices to prevent duplicates include: establishing a strict three-way match process (purchase order, receipt, and invoice); normalizing invoice data entry standards (consistent handling of spaces, dashes, and leading zeros in invoice numbers); running pre-payment duplicate checks within the ERP system; conducting periodic post-payment audits; and maintaining a clean, deduplicated vendor master file. Vendors who receive duplicate payments often do not proactively notify the buyer—recovery requires audit firms or manual research. Mary Schaeffer's Managing the Accounts Payable Function webinar provides a practical framework for building duplicate prevention controls into everyday AP workflows.
Artificial intelligence is transforming accounts payable from a largely manual, transaction-processing function into a strategic, data-driven operation. AI-powered invoice processing tools can automatically extract data from paper, PDF, and electronic invoices with high accuracy, significantly reducing manual data entry and the associated error rate. Machine learning models identify duplicate payment patterns, flag anomalies that indicate potential fraud, and route exceptions for human review with much greater speed than manual review processes allow. AI also enables predictive analytics—forecasting cash outflow, identifying early payment discount opportunities, and optimizing payment timing for working capital benefits. Natural language processing tools are beginning to handle vendor communication and inquiry resolution. However, AP leadership expert Mary Schaeffer notes that AI augments rather than replaces the need for skilled AP professionals who understand the controls, relationships, and exceptions that technology alone cannot manage. Aurora Training Advantage's Managing the Accounts Payable Function webinar addresses AI's current and future role in the AP department alongside the human expertise required to leverage it effectively.
Positive vendor relations in accounts payable are built on a foundation of reliability, transparency, and mutual respect—and they directly affect the organization's supply chain resilience, pricing negotiations, and ability to resolve problems quickly. The most impactful AP strategies for vendor relationship management include: paying on time and communicating proactively when there will be delays; providing clear, responsive answers to invoice status inquiries rather than leaving vendors to follow up repeatedly; establishing a single point of contact for vendor communication; addressing disputes quickly and fairly rather than letting them drag; and building payment terms that reflect the strategic importance of each vendor relationship. Organizations that are known as 'good payers' attract better pricing, priority service during supply constraints, and more cooperative partners during disputes. Mary Schaeffer's Managing the Accounts Payable Function webinar provides AP professionals with practical vendor relations strategies that transform AP from a necessary function vendors tolerate into a department they appreciate and prioritize.
The accounts payable department of tomorrow will look dramatically different from today's: more automated, more data-driven, more strategically integrated with broader finance and procurement functions, and smaller in headcount for routine transaction processing. AP managers who want to prepare their teams must invest in three areas: technology (understanding and evaluating AP automation tools, ERP capabilities, and AI solutions), data competency (developing the ability to analyze AP metrics, identify process improvements, and report meaningful KPIs to leadership), and people development (cross-training staff for higher-value analytical and relationship management roles as routine tasks are automated). Establishing a continuous improvement mindset—regularly reviewing AP processes for inefficiency and redesigning workflows—is equally critical. Building strong relationships with IT, procurement, and treasury ensures that AP's needs are represented in technology and policy decisions. Mary Schaeffer's Managing the Accounts Payable Function webinar, available through Aurora Training Advantage, provides a forward-looking roadmap for AP leaders building departments that will thrive in an AI-enabled finance environment.