Ardent Partners’ Accounts Payable Metrics that Matter in 2026 benchmarks AP performance based on research with nearly 200 finance and AP leaders worldwide. Built on 17 years of primary research, the report reveals what separates Best-in-Class AP teams from All Others and how AI is starting to close the gap.
Ardent Partners Industry Benchmarks
- $2.67 per invoice: Best-in-Class AP teams process a single invoice for $2.67. All Others pay $12.50, nearly 4.7 times as much. At 50,000 invoices, that difference adds up to almost half a million dollars a year.
- 4.1 days to approve: Best-in-Class organizations approve an invoice in 4.1 days. All Others take 15.4 days, nearly four times longer to complete the same process.
- 55.2% touchless processing: Best-in-Class AP teams move 55.2% of invoices straight through with no manual touch. All Others manage just 31.4%, leaving most invoices to manual processing.
- 58% using or piloting AI: More than half of AP organizations are already using or piloting AI, testing it in areas such as invoice capture, exception handling, and fraud detection.
Who This Is For
AP, finance, and shared services leaders benchmarking invoice performance and building a business case for automation and AI investment.
