Finance Teams Still Process 64% of Payments Line by Line

Finance automation remains incomplete

Finance departments have invested heavily in automation tools over the past several years, but the majority still depend on spreadsheets for core operations. According to a recent AutoRek survey, 90% of finance teams continue to rely on spreadsheets, and 64% still process and report payment data line by line rather than working from aggregated data in their ERP systems.

This transaction-level approach creates measurable inefficiencies. Each closing cycle takes longer, and manual-entry error rates increase as transaction volume grows. While 82% of survey respondents indicated automation is on their roadmap and 43% plan to implement it within six to 12 months, the gap between planning and execution remains wide.

Why it matters

The persistence of manual processes carries direct financial consequences. For accounts payable alone, manual invoice processing costs approximately $15 per invoice with error rates between 3% and 4%. A finance team handling 5,000 invoices monthly faces nearly $1 million in annual avoidable costs—a significant drag on operational efficiency that automation could eliminate.

Teams choose Excel even when alternatives exist

Budget constraints don't fully explain the automation gap. A 2025 Rossum survey of 470 finance leaders across the U.S., UK, and Germany found that 58% choose Excel over AI-powered tools even after their companies have invested in automation. Another 26% reported using no automation tools whatsoever in their finance departments.

This pattern suggests implementation challenges beyond budget. When teams have access to automation but still default to spreadsheets, integration difficulties and risk concerns are typically the culprits. The Rossum research supports this: 27% of finance leaders believe AI's risks outweigh its benefits.

Accounts payable shows the cost of manual work

The manual processing problem is particularly acute in accounts payable. HighRadius's 2025 AP research found that more than two-thirds of businesses still manually key invoices into their ERP or accounting systems. Paper receipts remain common as well, with 37% of companies still relying on them, adding mailing costs and administrative overhead to the manual entry burden.

Progress is occurring, though gradually. Automation adoption in AP has nearly doubled over two years, rising from approximately 10% to 20% of teams. An additional 41% expect to implement automation by the end of 2026, according to the HighRadius data.

The incremental automation path

The survey findings point to a more measured reality than typical automation narratives suggest. Finance teams aren't making binary choices between spreadsheets and AI. Instead, they're prioritizing which repetitive manual processes create sufficient cost and risk to warrant automation first.

For most departments, the highest-impact opportunities lie in automating the most time-consuming, error-prone tasks rather than attempting wholesale replacement of existing workflows. Transaction reconciliation, invoice processing, and payment data entry represent clear targets where automation delivers measurable ROI without requiring teams to abandon familiar tools entirely.

These findings were first reported by Resourceful Finance Pro, drawing on survey data from AutoRek, Rossum, and HighRadius.