Procure to pay software: what each type covers

Procure to pay runs from the moment someone needs to buy something to the moment the supplier is paid. Under the “P2P software” label you’ll find tools that cover the whole cycle and others that solve just one part. Before comparing products, work out which part hurts. What procure to pay is, step by step.

The stages of the cycle

• Purchase request and approval: who asks for what and who authorises it.
• Purchase order: agreed price, quantities and terms.
• Receipt: the delivery note that confirms what actually arrived.
• Invoice: receiving, reading, matching against order and delivery note, approving and posting it.
• Payment: payment runs, due dates and bank reconciliation.

The types of tool

• Full P2P suites: cover everything from request to payment. They are designed for large companies with a purchasing department and many requesters, and usually take months to implement and change how you buy.
• Your ERP itself: handles orders, receipts, accounting and payments. It records very well, but capturing PDF invoices and matching them against orders and delivery notes usually stays manual.
• Accounts payable automation: focuses on the invoice stage, from email to ERP: capture, matching, approval and posting. It relies on the ERP for everything else.
• Payments and expenses: company cards, supplier payments and expense claims. They solve the last stage, not the invoice.

How to choose

• Where does your time go? If it goes on typing, matching and chasing invoices, what you need is accounts payable, not a suite.
• Does your ERP already handle orders and receipts? Then you don’t need another tool for that: you need invoices to reach it already validated.
• How many people raise purchases? A suite makes sense with many requesters across the company. With a small purchasing team it is usually too much.
• How long can you spend implementing it? Ask how long it takes to run with your real documents, not in a demo.
• How is it priced? Per user or per document. If you want the whole team on board without paying more, per-document pricing usually fits better.

Six criteria for choosing accounts payable software.

Where Finaro fits

Finaro covers the invoice stage: it receives the invoice, reads it, routes it to its entity, matches it against the order and delivery note, sends it to whoever needs to approve it and posts it to your ERP. It doesn’t replace the ERP or change how you buy: it makes sure what reaches the ERP arrives right.