AP automation built for professional services firms at scale

What holds professional services AP teams back

• Project-based cost allocation
  A single contractor invoice may need to be split across three client engagements, two cost centres, and four GL codes. Generic AP tools push data into GL accounts but bypass the project cost structure entirely. Wrong coding means wrong profitability reporting, and decisions made on bad data.
• High contractor and subcontractor volume
  Professional services firms rely heavily on external talent. Australia alone has 1.1 million independent contractors, and that number is growing. Each contractor submits invoices for time-based work that needs validation against rate cards, approved hours, and scope, none of which maps to a standard PO.
• Non-PO invoices dominate the spend mix
  Consulting fees, subcontractor hours, software subscriptions, travel reimbursements, and office services. The majority of professional services invoices have no purchase order to match against. Each one requires manual judgment on coding, approval routing, and project allocation.
• Rate card validation across engagements
  Contractor rates vary by engagement, seniority level, and sometimes by project phase. Validating every line item against the agreed rate card is manual, error-prone, and the most common source of overpayment.
• Slow contractor payments damaging supplier relationships
  Professional services has the longest contractor payment cycle of any sector, 52 days on average. 85% of freelancers experience late payments. Contractors factor payment reputation into their rates and availability.
• Intercompany billing across offices
  Multi-entity firms with offices in different cities and countries, must reconcile intercompany transactions across different charts of accounts, currencies, and tax regimes.
• Multi-entity, multi-jurisdiction compliance
  Australia's "Closing Loopholes" legislation introduced a new "employee-like worker" category. The UAE has its own evolving freelancer framework. Cross-border tax withholding rules differ by jurisdiction. Manual AP processes can't scale to handle the compliance burden across every office and entity.
• Travel and expense volume
  T&E is the second largest controllable expense after payroll for most professional services firms. Consultants travel constantly. At volume, this is a significant AP burden with no connection to project cost tracking.
• Rapid contractor onboarding demands
  New engagements, project ramp-ups, and seasonal workload spikes require onboarding new contractors quickly, tax forms, bank details, compliance documents, rate card validation, all before the first invoice arrives. Slow onboarding delays project delivery.
• Limited visibility into project-level spend
  CFOs and financial controllers need spend data by project, client, engagement, and office. AP teams need exception and cycle time metrics. When data sits in disconnected systems, ERP, project management tools, email, no one has a complete picture.