Outsourcing the Accounts Payable Function: A New Look at the Current Demand and Key Decision Criteria

New research examines ways that companies can improve performance and add value by offloading the accounts payable (AP) function to a third party, and the report's authors say Microsoft Dynamics users in the small- to midsized business segment could be prime candidates to benefit from the growing trend.

Dynamics ERP solutions are particularly well suited for AP outsourcing (APO) because the data and file structures of the solutions are very well recognized within the outsourcing industry, "For Dynamics users, the process of outsourcing couldn't be any easier thanks to the solutions' simple-to-use input and output modes," says Henry Ijams, managing director at Charlotte, NC-based PayStream Advisors, which published the new report Optimizing Accounts Payable: Improving Performance & Creating Added Value Through Outsourcing. "Service providers on either the invoice or the payment side of the equation can bring their solutions to bear very quickly and with no IT resources or complexities." 

Counting the Reasons

The reasons for outsourcing the accounts payable function are compelling. According to PayStream's report, as companies search for ways to improve overall performance and create added value, outsourcing non-core business processes such as low-value functions in the AP process is a perfect place to start. The market for APO has witnessed many changes in recent years and what was once an emerging trend is now becoming a natural element of corporate services.

"In the past this was something that a large company like Wal-Mart or IBM would do," says Ijams. "Now, with automation becoming more popular for smaller firms many of them are asking themselves why they really want to open ...