White Paper: AP Metrics That Matter in 2022
Ardent Partners showcases key AP department metrics that can help establish a performance baseline for AP departments to improve their processes.
The First Step for Improved Compliance and Greater Efficiency in Accounts Payable: Measure Performance
Ardent Partners' surveys of Accounts Payable executives have revealed that the majority believe that their AP teams are highly valuable, strategic parts of their business. It is therefore crucial to the entire organization that Accounts Payable processes are efficient, effective, compliant, and error-free. For this reason, and especially in the face of economic uncertainty and disruptions, AP departments are seeking to automate and digitize their work.
In this report, Ardent Partners provides key metrics that Accounts Payable departments can use to evaluate their success. The report covers:
- The biggest challenges that AP departments face in 2022
- Top B2B payment strategies
- How AP success depends on successful supplier management programs.
While many AP functions were able to adapt to difficult changes and enhance operations in the face of unprecedented obstacles, sizable hurdles still exist for the typical AP department. AP's top hurdles this year remain largely tactical in scope and are linked directly to everyday activities like pushing for approvals and managing exceptions.
Authors
Bob Cohen
Vizepräsident
Ardent Partners
Andrew Bartolini
Gründer und Leiter der Forschungsabteilung
Ardent Partners
FAQ
Who are Ardent Partners?
Ardent Partners is a research and advisory firm focused on defining, and advancing the supply management strategies, processes, and technologies that drive business value and accelerate organizational transformation within the enterprise. Founded in 2010 by Andrew Bartolini, Ardent Partners actively covers the supply management marketplace and produces research to help business decision makers understand (1) industry best practices and how to improve performance, and (2) the technology landscape and how to identify the best-fit solution(s) for their specific budget and requirements. Contact [email protected] if you have any questions about Ardent Partners and their reports.
What are the demographics of the survey, and what is the research methodology used for this report?
The research in the Ardent Partners' AP Metrics That Matter Report was drawn from 187 respondents: 41% of respondents are in Accounts Payable, 23% in Procure-to-Pay, 18% in Finance, 12% in Procurement, and 6% in Information Technology. Regarding job role, 20% were VP-level or higher, 31% were Director-level, 23% were Manager-level, and 26% were Staff-level. Slightly more than half (53%) of the survey respondents work for a large company (revenue >$1 Billion), while 26% work for a Mid-Market company (revenue between $250 Million and $1 Billion), and 21% work at a small company (revenue < $250 Million). Three-quarters of respondents (73%) are based in North America, and the rest are based in EMEA. More than 20 distinct industries are represented. Manufacturing, Healthcare, Financial Services, Technology, and Retail are the largest industries in the survey pool. No industry represents more than 15% of the overall survey respondents.
Ardent Partners follows a rigorous process developed over years spent researching the accounts payable market. The research in this report represents the web-based survey responses of 187 AP and finance leaders captured between March and May, 2021 and includes direct interviews with several key respondents. These 187 participants shared their strategies and intentions, as well as their operational performance results to help us define Best-in-Class AP performance and understand what levers the leading groups pull to obtain their advantage. This primary research effort was also informed by the experience and analysis of the report author and the entire Ardent Partners research team.
Ardent Partners follows a rigorous process developed over years spent researching the accounts payable market. The research in this report represents the web-based survey responses of 187 AP and finance leaders captured between March and May, 2021 and includes direct interviews with several key respondents. These 187 participants shared their strategies and intentions, as well as their operational performance results to help us define Best-in-Class AP performance and understand what levers the leading groups pull to obtain their advantage. This primary research effort was also informed by the experience and analysis of the report author and the entire Ardent Partners research team.
What is this report about?
Over the past decade, Ardent Partners has conducted more ePayables market research studies than any other firm or consultancy in the industry. In that time, Ardent Partners has benchmarked thousands of distinct organizations across all phases of the ePayables framework - Receipt, Process, and Pay. Ardent Partners' ePayable Metrics that Matter in 2022 is a compilation of the industry's best and most widely-used accounts payable benchmarks captured by Ardent's most recent state of the market report, The State of ePayables in 2021: Operating in the New Normal.
