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“Have I paid that vendor yet?” you ask yourself as you sort through the dozens of invoices you’ve received this month. Definitely not the way you wanted to spend your Friday afternoon.
As your small business grows, manually managing accounts payable (AP) processes becomes more challenging, time-consuming and error-prone.
Enter accounts payable software. These platforms can automate processes like invoice management and payment processing while syncing to your accounting software to ensure nothing slips through the cracks.
This article offers an overview of the six best accounts payable software solutions for small businesses so you can find just the right platform for your needs. We’ll also give you a list of the features you should look for when choosing a platform, plus tips for how to make your decision.*
Financial admin eating up too much of your time? We can take it off your plate
Automate your accounts payable processes with Juni and free up your day for more impactful work.
*The information about all the platforms discussed in this article was collected between 9 January 2024 and 11 January 2024. This article was written and approved by Juni and is intended as marketing material.
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Whenever you’re researching software, whether that be an accounts payable solution or inventory management platform, you need to be clear on what functionalities your business needs. So before we get into our list, here are some features you should prioritise when selecting accounts payable software:
Let’s take an in-depth look at our list of software. For each platform, we’ll list its features (as well as its limitations), explain how pricing works and point out what kind of business it’s best fit for.
Juni’s platform for ecommerce entrepreneurs comes with automated accounts payable features that can help you run simpler, tighter and more accurate financial admin. With Juni, it takes just seconds to auto-collect, pay and even finance your invoices.
By collecting and scanning your invoices automatically, then pre-filling all the important payment details, Juni saves you time and reduces the risk of human error. You can also automatically import your receipts and invoices with your dedicated Juni inbox for effortless spend management, plus match receipts to transactions.
What’s more, if you need to reduce pressure on your cash flow cycles, Juni offers financing options for certain types of payments, giving you up to 120 days to pay.*
The platform goes beyond accounts payable features, also offering business accounts and cards, features to optimise cash flow management, powerful accounting automations, fast transfers and storefront integrations.
Most suitable for: Ecommerce entrepreneurs and small businesses
Juni has two plan options:
You can try our Scale plan for free for the first 30 days.
Based in Copenhagen, Pleo is a business spending solution with built-in AP automation software. Pleo’s invoice management features make it easy to capture, process, approve, pay and bookkeep invoices in a central location. With over 50 supported currencies, Pleo users can seamlessly pay vendors across the world.
Most suitable for: Companies that need to pay invoices in several currencies
Pleo has three plan options:
Spendesk is a spend management platform with accounts payable features like invoice automation and approval workflows, giving you greater control over the invoicing lifecycle and your AP processes. By using Spendesk, you can minimise (or eliminate) manual data entry for your invoicing processes, plus get real-time insights into your spending patterns.
Most suitable for: SaaS, tech and fintech companies
Spendesk doesn’t list its pricing options, so you’ll have to reach out to sales to get a quote
Sage Intacct’s cloud-based invoicing software helps small business owners and finance teams automate invoice management with the power of AI. For example, simply upload or email an invoice, and the software will automatically extract details and populate fields for your approval. The platform can also detect duplicate invoices, helping you stay in control of your expenses and avoid costly errors.
Most suitable for: Businesses that need powerful analytics tools
Sage Intacct has three plans for its accounts payable software. All plans come with three months free:
While SAP Concur isn’t specifically designed for small businesses, it’s still a good fit for solopreneurs and SMBs looking to automate their AP processes. The platform automates invoicing processes, meaning you can pay suppliers quickly without constantly having to double-check invoices and complete transactions yourself.
Most suitable for: Businesses with immediate plans to scale
SAP Concur doesn’t list its pricing options, so you’ll have to reach out to sales to get a quote.
Visma is the parent organisation for a number of accounting and invoicing solutions across Europe. It has designated products for 15 different EU countries, such as Visma eKonomi, its designated Swedish accounting platform. Visma eKonomi has basic AP features for paying vendors, but it has a range of other accounting features that can help you streamline your financial admin as a whole.
Most suitable for: Small businesses in Sweden
Visma platform prices range depending on which country you operate in and the Visma product you select. Visma eEkonomi has three plans that come with supplier invoicing features:
You can have all the software comparison guides in the world available to you, but if you aren’t intentional about your decision, you may end up choosing software that falls short for your needs. Here are a few steps you can take to help you make the right decision when selecting an accounts payable platform for your small business.
By digitising the traditionally paper-intensive process of handling invoices and payments, AP software is not only more efficient than manual processes, but also minimises the possibility of errors, like a missed or incorrect payment. Having more visibility over invoices, due dates and your general spending patterns can help you maintain tighter control over your financial operations.
But to get the most out of a platform, you need to make sure you’re choosing the right one for your needs. For example, if you run an online storefront, you’ll want to choose a solution like Juni that has the specific needs of ecommerce entrepreneurs in mind.
By choosing a software solution that’s a good fit for you, you’ll make your business more agile, resilient and competitive. Meanwhile, you’ll get back more time in the day to focus on what you most love about running your company, whether that’s marketing your product, interacting with customers or finding ways to scale.
Financial admin eating up too much of your time? We can take it off your plate
Automate your accounts payable processes with Juni and free up your day for more impactful work.
*Juni Invoices is available for EU-based companies only. Media financing is available for companies registered in NL, SE, DE, FR, ES, IT, FI and NO, upon eligibility. Fees and terms and conditions apply. Click here for more details.
Accounts payable automation software helps businesses manage and track the money they owe to suppliers, vendors and other parties. Essentially, this type of software helps business owners and finance departments handle their payment processes by recording invoices, tracking due dates and organising information.
While you can manually manage your accounts payable process, this approach can be time-consuming and error-prone. A better way to keep track of accounts payable is by using specialised accounts payable software that tracks and pays your invoices for you.
You can automate accounts payable processes by using specialised software. These platforms handle a number of tasks, including:
"Only six more to go," you tell yourself as you upload yet another receipt to your accounting software. We all know the pain of searching for receipts across emails and platforms and trying to match them to expenses.
This becomes even more challenging the larger your business becomes and the more vendors you have to pay. You can avoid most of that frustration and wasted time with the right spend management software.
But not all spend management platforms will be a good fit for your business. For example, digital commerce companies need solutions that take into account sector-specific expenses like ad receipts and multiple platform payments, while small businesses need tools that simplify their financial admin, not complicate it.
This article takes a look at the six best spend management software solutions so you can find just the right platform for your needs. We’ll also give you a list of the features you should look for when choosing a platform, plus tips for how to make your decision.*
Spend less time on spend management
With real-time spend overviews, receipt matching automation and powerful integrations, Juni will make you forget what a hassle managing your expenses used to be.
*The information about all the platforms discussed in this article was collected between 17 January 2024 and 19 January 2024. This article was written and approved by Juni and is intended as marketing material.
Before taking a closer look at the tools on our list, here are six features your spend management software (also known as expense management software) should come with:
Bonus: Look out for spend management platforms that come with built-in accounts payable and invoice automation features, which will help you centralise your financial admin and save time.
Now, let's explore the solutions on our list in depth. For each platform, we’ll list its key features (as well as its limitations), explain how pricing works and point out what kind of business it’s best fit for.
Juni helps businesses in digital commerce manage their cash flow, track their expenses and optimise their profits with features that are specifically designed with ecommerce companies in mind.
While it’s not specifically expense management software, you can use the platform for your spend management needs. Juni's goal is to give everyone in digital commerce, from the CFO to the accounting team to marketing managers, everything they need to focus on business growth.
Juni’s expense management features are especially valuable for users who have multiple receipts coming from different media buying channels and online transactions. With Meta and Google Ads integrations, plus powerful receipt matching, expense management suddenly becomes easy. On top of that, you can also manage your unpaid invoices and accounts payable processes within Juni, bringing your financial admin under one roof.
All of this comes with easy access to media and inventory financing for up to 2 million EUR, helping you free up your cash flow and grow your business.*
*Juni Invoices is available for EU-based companies only. Media financing is available for companies registered in NL, SE, DE, FR, ES, IT, FI and NO, upon eligibility. Fees and terms and conditions apply. Click here for more details.
Most suitable for: SMBs and mid-market companies in digital commerce
Juni has two plan options:
SAP Concur helps you streamline processes to deliver efficiency savings, with a focus on eliminating manual data entry, lost receipts and unclaimed VAT refunds. As such, it’s best suited to larger organisations. The platform helps you reduce the risk of human error and compliance issues with automations, plus the software can identify potential mistakes and discrepancies in real-time.
Most suitable for: Larger and enterprise organisations
SAP Concur doesn’t list its pricing options, so you’ll have to reach out to sales to get a quote.
Zoho Expense is the business expense tracking app from the Zoho suite of business tools, which means it integrates with Zoho’s other financial management apps. It’s a reasonably priced platform suited to handling all aspects of expense management and reporting for SMBs. Zoho Expense automatically records expenses from receipts, simplifying and automating the expense reporting process.
Most suitable for: People already using other Zoho products (namely Zoho Books)
Zoho Expense has three plans for its spend management software:
Expensify is a spend management solution for keeping track of business expenses on the go. Most of the expense management functionality can be done on your phone, while a series of handy integrations help to automate and streamline processes around uploading and allocating receipts. Plus, it’s easy for employees to create and submit expense reports for quick reimbursement.
Most suitable for: Small businesses with lots of employee expenses
Expensify has two plans:
One of the many features of smart accounting software QuickBooks is its built-in expense management tool. There are obvious advantages to expenses being handled via your accounting platform, like how easy it is to claim business expenses for tax purposes. And when you connect your bank to the platform, QuickBooks automatically matches and organises your receipts to transactions.
Most suitable for: Businesses who want more comprehensive accounting tools built into their spend management software
Quickbooks has five plans:
Fortnox is a cloud-based accounting software platform based in Sweden that helps businesses manage their accounting and bookkeeping processes, as well as other financial admin like spend management. Users can take photos of receipts and instantly upload them via a mobile app, and the platform automatically fills in date, amount and VAT.
Most suitable for: Businesses that operate in Sweden
Fortnox has three plans:
The information in this guide can help you make your decision, but ultimately, you need to factor in considerations about your business and its needs when choosing a platform. Here are three things you can do to ensure you’re choosing an ideal solution.
As you’ll notice from the list above, different software solutions are more suitable for different business industries and sizes. For example, Juni is spend management software built with the needs of ecommerce companies in mind. So when researching a platform, pay close attention to what type of business (big or small, ecommerce or SaaS) it’s best suited for.
While it shouldn’t be the only factor that guides your decision, you can’t ignore pricing when choosing a solution. You need to find a healthy balance between a platform you can afford (and doesn't go over budget) that still gives you all the key features and functionalities you need to run smarter, more efficient financial admin.
You may be a small business now, but if you have plans of scaling in the future, you want to make sure your expense management solution can scale with you. Juni, for example, caters to both SMBs as well as mid-market companies, meaning we can provide the solutions you need from the time your business is founder-led to when it has 100+ employees.
While you can never remove expense management from your to-do list, you can find a platform that does most of the work for you. The best spend management software is one that not only simplifies financial operations but also contributes to strategic decision-making and the long-term financial health of your organisation.
To find a platform that does all that, you need to make sure you’re making your selection with the unique needs of your business in mind. For example, if you operate in digital commerce, you want to choose a solution like Juni that comes with ecommerce-specific capabilities, like features designed specifically for media buying and online transactions.
So take your time finding the right platform—doing so can lead to significant time savings and valuable insights into spending patterns, helping you improve the overall financial health and success of your business.
Spend less time on spend management
With real-time spend overviews, receipt matching automation and powerful integrations, Juni will make you forget what a hassle managing your expenses used to be.
Spend management software is a platform or tool that helps businesses manage and control their expenses. This type of solution usually includes features for receipt management, expense reporting and approval workflows. Plus, these platforms often integrate with accounting software, as well as sync with banks and credit cards.
There are a number of benefits to using spend management software to control your expenses, including:
The price of expense management software varies depending on the size of your business and what industry you operate in, as this will impact which platform you choose. Prices range from as low as £7 per month to almost £100, and some spend management systems also offer free plans to certain users.
Whether you’re buying stock from your manufacturer and shipping it to your warehouse or investing in marketing to get your products in front of your customers’ eyes, some costs simply need to happen before you can actually make any sales.
Imagine you’ve just made a huge order to one of your suppliers and are now patiently waiting for some stock to start moving off your warehouse shelves. In this situation, you’re dealing with a lag between costs incurred and revenue earned.
While this doesn’t necessarily mean your business is in trouble, you need to be smart about how you manage your working capital and cash flow if you want to build a healthy, scalable business. This article covers everything you need to know about working capital, including:
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Negative working capital means a business has more bills due soon than cash or assets that can quickly be turned into cash.
For example, imagine you order products from suppliers on 60 days credit but sell out your inventory within 15 days of receiving it, collecting payments immediately through online sales.
In this case, you would have negative working capital, as your current liabilities (money you owe suppliers) are higher than your current assets (cash and inventory on hand) at any given moment. Essentially, you’re relying on sales revenue to cover short-term debts.
On the flip side, if you were to pay for your stock upfront and always have both cash and inventory on hand, even if you’re selling at a slower pace, you would be operating with positive working capital.
There are a number of factors that impact working capital, including inventory management, payment terms, operational efficiency, liquidity, access to financing, seasonality and market volatility.
The time it takes for a business to turn inventory and other resources into cash flow from sales is called the cash conversion cycle.
Negative cash conversion is when a company sells inventory before they have to pay for it. Another way to look at this is that your vendors are financing your business operations, indicating strong financial health for a business.
You can use this straightforward working capital formula to calculate your position and see whether you’re operating with positive or negative net working capital:
Working Capital = Current Assets - Current Liabilities
As you can see, if your company’s current assets are less than your current liabilities, you will be operating with negative working capital, and vice versa.
For example, if your online store has €25,000 in current assets (cash, receivables and inventory) and €30,000 in current liabilities (supplier payments and short-term debts), your working capital would be:
In this case, you would be operating with negative working capital. While it may seem this situation is cause for concern, it doesn’t necessarily have to be. Let’s take a look at why.
At first glance, negative working capital might sound like your ecommerce business is in hot water, spending more than it has. However, for many nimble and fast-moving online businesses, it can be used as a strategy for growth.
For example, if you have negative cash flow conversion, meaning your company collects payment from customers before having to pay suppliers, you may choose to reinvest the money from those sales into running ads or buying more inventory.
While this places you in a position of negative working capital, it doesn’t mean your business isn’t profitable—rather, you may be investing available cash in growth or other activities that can benefit your business.
Just be sure you’re still planning for regular and unplanned expenses, as you don’t want to reach a point where you can’t pay your suppliers on time.
You want to be as capital efficient as possible by maximising the return from the money invested in working capital. That means keeping the amount of cash tied up in it low while increasing sales growth and keeping the cash conversion cycle fast. We know that might sound like a daunting task, so let’s break it down.
Here are five ways to improve your position when it comes to managing your company’s working capital:
Here we’ll take a closer look at how you can use software, financing and operational improvements to kickstart your journey to positive working capital and better cash conversion.
“Having extended payment terms while maintaining sufficient inventory turnover (such that accounts receivable is lower than accounts payable) is a good way to optimise cash flow. In practice, this means selling your inventory faster than when your payments are due. Conversely, extending payment terms for vendors (accounts payable) will also mean less pressure on the speed of the sales cycle.”
-Ruben Arnbert, CFO of Juni
Getting a better price is also about being a good customer. For this, think about the 3 R’s: reliability, regularity and relationships. In the same way you’d be more inclined to give a discount to loyal customers, suppliers give better prices to their best customers.
By forecasting orders early, sticking to plans and having good, open communication, you can see a notable impact on the price you’re paying for your goods. You can even negotiate better prices for early repayment terms on your invoices—Juni will settle them for you, and you can get up to 120 days to repay them.* It’s also well worth investing in good technology that helps you communicate better with your suppliers (more on this later).
A UK-based credit customer told us they pay for stock 30 days after delivery.
How? They source and manufacture in the UK, meaning they are closely involved in the process and are able to meet the people involved whenever they need. When looking for manufacturers, cultivate meaningful relationships, even if that means going with a slightly more expensive supplier—doing so will pay itself off down the line.
When it comes to ad spend there are two options: Spend enough to get on invoicing terms with the big platforms, which may give you 30 days to pay for ads depending on how much you spend, or use cards which will give you anywhere from 30 days to 60 days to pay.
Alternatively, by using a capital solution like Juni, you can access flexible business credit lines to spend on your ad campaigns. Whichever option you end up going for, you will see that having a buffer of an additional month or two before payments are due will significantly help with cash flow flexibility and working capital availability.
Turn first-timers into repeat customers to bring in revenue without having to spend more on new leads. This should reduce your cash conversion cycle, as it means less money required upfront spent on marketing and outreach efforts.
Building out post-purchase funnels is a vital part of maximising your customers lifetime value, as it ensures that they stay engaged with your brand and become return customers. Again, software is your friend here—check out tools like Braze to maximise your engagement with existing customers.
Consider this: In the last decade, ecommerce has seen over a 200% rise in customer acquisition costs. That’s why focusing on retaining your existing customers and turning them into loyal, repeat buyers can have such a positive impact on your working capital position.
The quickest way to improve your working capital position is through financing. For example, Juni offers financing options for certain types of payments, giving you up to 120 days to pay.* This frees up your cash flow and lets you reinvest capital in ways to further grow your business.
It’s also a question of minimising the time that cash sits with your payment processors and merchant accounts. Regularly speak to your account manager and ask what they need in order to give you access to your cash more quickly. Most will disburse cash faster for bigger/longer-serving customers, so being aware of what performance hurdles you need to reach to reduce your hold days is crucial—and it never hurts to ask.
The ecommerce industry faces a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing working capital. Luckily, there is no shortage of great software and services to facilitate the transition to positive working capital. For example, you can:
Operating with negative working capital isn’t necessarily a red flag for ecommerce businesses, but if you’re going to do so, you need to be strategic. That means you should also have a negative cash conversion cycle, or at least have tactical reasons for why you’re spending more than you’re bringing in.
Ultimately, you want to keep the cash you have tied up to a minimum while maximising sales and speeding up your cash conversion cycle. To do so, leverage the five strategies we discussed above:
When it comes to specialised software, Juni can help you spend smarter and optimise your working capital. With spend management and accounts payable features, the platform helps you track your expenses and automate cumbersome, error-prone financial processes.
Plus, when you sign up for Juni, you get access to capital for inventory and invoicing, helping you finance ads and stock before they’ve paid off. That means you can invest in what your business needs to grow without worrying about being too tight on cash.
*Juni Invoices is available for EU-based companies only. Media financing is available for companies registered in NL, SE, DE, FR, ES, IT, FI and NO, upon eligibility. Fees and terms and conditions apply. Click here for more details.
When working capital is negative, that means a company finds itself with more bills than available cash. While this can be a bad sign for certain businesses, for others, it’s not necessarily a negative. For ecommerce businesses, for example, this is a pretty common situation.
Businesses with negative working capital often operate in sectors with quick inventory turnover and strong bargaining power over suppliers. This includes ecommerce businesses, retail chains and fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies.
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