Accounts payable vs. accounts receivable: Guide and best practices

Every business needs healthy cash flow to survive, and that depends on how well you manage both accounts payable and accounts receivable.

Accounts payable (AP) tracks what you owe to vendors and suppliers, while accounts receivable (AR) tracks what customers owe you. Together, they form the backbone of your company’s liquidity and day-to-day operations.

Managing both AP and AR effectively keeps your operations smooth, your cash reserves stable, and your profitability on track.

What is accounts payable?

Accounts payable represents the money your business owes to suppliers or vendors for goods and services purchased on credit. It’s recorded as a current liability on your balance sheet because it reflects short-term debts that must be repaid.

Typical accounts payable transactions include expenses like office supplies, utilities, or rent, everyday costs you’ve agreed to pay later under credit terms.

Your accounts payable department processes incoming invoices, verifies charges, maintains vendor relationships, and ensures payments are made accurately and on time. Managing AP effectively builds supplier trust, supports steady cash flow, and reduces the risk of late fees or duplicate payments.

The accounts payable process

The accounts payable (AP) process follows a structured workflow to make sure every payment your business makes is accurate, authorized, and properly documented:

1. Purchase order (PO) creation: You issue a purchase order detailing items, quantities, and agreed prices
2. Invoice receipt: The supplier delivers goods or services, then sends an invoice referencing the PO
3. Invoice verification: Your AP team reviews the invoice for accuracy and matches it to the PO and receiving report, known as 3-way matching
4. Approval: Once verified, the invoice is routed to the appropriate manager or department for payment authorization
5. Payment scheduling: Payments are planned based on supplier terms (commonly net 30, net 45, or net 60) to optimize cash flow and capture early-payment discounts
6. Payment execution: Payments are issued via check, ACH transfer, or corporate card, and the transaction is recorded in your accounting software

Key accounts payable documents

Accurate documentation keeps your AP process organized, traceable, and compliant. The main records you’ll rely on include:

• Purchase order: Sent to a supplier to authorize a purchase before goods or services are delivered
• Invoice: Issued by the supplier to request payment for goods or services they’ve provided
• Receiving report: Used by your team to confirm that goods or services were received as ordered
• Payment receipt: Serves as proof that payment was completed and your supplier’s account was settled

These records are tied together through 3-way matching, which compares the PO, invoice, and receiving report to verify accuracy before payment and provide a clear audit trail.

What is accounts receivable?

Accounts receivable is the money owed to your business by customers who’ve purchased goods or services on credit. It’s recorded as a current asset on your balance sheet because it reflects cash that’s expected to flow into your business soon. For example, if your company completes a $5,000 project for a client and sends an invoice due in 30 days, that amount appears as accounts receivable until payment arrives.

Your accounts receivable department manages the entire collection process—from issuing invoices to tracking payments and following up on overdue balances—to keep cash coming in and records accurate.

The accounts receivable process

Once a sale is made, your accounts receivable (AR) process ensures every transaction is documented, tracked, and collected efficiently. Here’s how it typically works:

1. Sale and invoice generation: After delivering a product or service, your AR team issues an invoice detailing the amount due, payment terms, and due date
2. Invoice delivery: Invoices are sent electronically or by mail, often referencing the original sales order or contract
3. Payment terms: Set clear payment terms and offer early-payment discounts to encourage faster collection
4. Payment tracking: Your AR team monitors payments received and updates your general ledger to reflect partial or full settlements
5. Follow-up and collections: If payments are late, your team sends reminders, applies late fees when necessary, or escalates to collections based on company policy
6. Reconciliation: Once payments are received, your team reconciles records to confirm accuracy and ensure all outstanding balances are current

Key accounts receivable documents

Documentation keeps your receivables organized and helps you stay on top of customer payments. Key AR records include:

• Sales invoice: The formal document you send to request payment for goods or services you’ve sold
• Credit memo: Issued when you need to adjust or reduce a customer’s balance
• Payment reminder: Sent to customers when invoices approach or pass their due date
• Customer credit application and agreement: Outline the terms under which you extend credit, including limits and repayment expectations
• Aging report: A detailed list of unpaid invoices organized by how long they’ve been outstanding; aging reports help you monitor collection performance and identify potential bad debts early

Maintaining these documents gives your team visibility into customer behavior, payment timelines, and credit risk, all of which are essential for consistent cash flow.

Accounts payable vs. accounts receivable: Key differences

Together, accounts payable and accounts receivable help you manage cash flow and maintain financial health, ensuring you stay on top of what’s owed and what’s coming in. Here’s a quick comparison of their differences:

Balance sheet classification

Both accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) appear on your company’s balance sheet, but on opposite sides.

• Accounts payable: Recorded as a current liability representing short-term debts owed to suppliers
• Accounts receivable: Recorded as a current asset representing cash expected from customers

Because AP increases liabilities and AR increases assets, together they show how effectively your business balances what it owes against what it earns. Managing both carefully helps maintain strong working capital and healthy liquidity.

Impact on cash flow

Managing accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) directly influences how money flows through your business.

• Accounts payable management focuses on timing payments strategically to preserve cash and avoid liquidity crunches
• Accounts receivable management focuses on collecting payments quickly to bring cash in faster

Together, they determine how efficiently cash circulates through your operations, a balance often reflected in your turnover ratios. A high accounts payable turnover ratio shows you’re paying suppliers promptly, while a high accounts receivable turnover ratio signals strong collection performance.

Coordinating AP and AR timing is also central to your cash conversion cycle, the metric that tracks how long it takes to turn supplier purchases into customer payments. Monitoring all three—AP, AR, and CCC—helps you anticipate cash needs and maintain healthy liquidity.

How AP and AR work together in cash flow management

Accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) are two halves of your company’s cash flow cycle. One tracks money going out to suppliers, the other tracks money coming in from customers. When both are managed in sync, you maintain steady liquidity—enough to cover expenses while still funding growth.

Timing and coordination are key. If payments to suppliers go out faster than customer payments come in, your cash position tightens. But when AP and AR align, cash flows smoothly through your business, shortening your cash conversion cycle and improving working capital efficiency.

Best practices for managing AP and AR

Managing payables and receivables strategically helps you keep cash moving and avoid shortfalls.

• Streamline AP: Automate invoice capture and approvals, schedule payments based on supplier terms, and set reminders to capture early-payment discounts
• Accelerate AR: Invoice immediately after delivery, send payment reminders before due dates, and offer early-payment incentives to speed up collections
• Forecast regularly: Analyze real-time AP and AR data to project cash needs and anticipate timing gaps between inflows and outflows
• Leverage automation: Integrate AP and AR systems to give your team unified visibility into payables, receivables, and working capital for faster, data-driven decisions

Common challenges in AP and AR

Even well-managed teams face challenges that affect how money moves through the business. Here’s what to watch for on each side of the ledger.

Accounts payable challenges

Common AP issues include duplicate payments, missed early-payment discounts, and manual processing errors that slow approvals. These problems can lead to wasted cash, strained supplier relationships, and poor visibility into expenses.

Automating invoice capture and approvals, implementing 3-way matching to prevent duplicates, and setting payment reminders for discounts all help prevent these issues. Regularly reconciling vendor statements also ensures accuracy and strengthens supplier trust.

Accounts receivable challenges

On the AR side, the biggest hurdles are late payments, bad debt, and difficult collections. Delayed invoices disrupt cash flow, and weak follow-up processes increase the risk of write-offs.

Establish clear credit policies, send invoices immediately after delivery, and use automated reminders before due dates. Offering early-payment incentives speeds up collections, while reviewing aging reports helps identify high-risk accounts early. Together, these practices stabilize incoming cash and improve liquidity visibility.

How can technology improve AP and AR processes?

Automating accounts payable (AP) can transform how your business manages outgoing cash. Tools that streamline invoice capture, payment scheduling, and data entry reduce manual work and ensure every payment is accurate and on time. Modern accounts payable software also improves visibility into spending and approval workflows.

On the receivables side, automation speeds up collections by handling invoice delivery, payment reminders, and digital payment processing. It minimizes delays, prevents write-offs, and simplifies reconciliation, keeping your books up to date with less effort.

When AP and AR systems are connected, your finance team gains real-time insight into payables, receivables, and working capital. Integrated automation helps forecast cash flow more accurately, reduce manual errors, and create a single source of truth for your financial data. This connected approach sets the stage for smarter, more strategic cash management.

Automate your AP process with Ramp

Ramp's AI-driven accounts payable software transforms how your business manages its finances by simplifying and optimizing every step of the AP process. With cutting-edge automation, we help your team work smarter, while ensuring payments are accurate, on time, and strategically managed.

With Ramp, you can:

• Power through invoices: Our AI automates data entry and coding, using optical character recognition (OCR) to capture details in seconds and smart suggestions to classify every line item accurately
• Keep your systems in sync: Integrate your enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to automatically sync bills, vendors, and purchase orders in real time
• Custom fit to your process: Build flexible approval flows, add multiple review layers, and get instant alerts for errors, overbilling, or exceptions
• Pay in one place: Handle all domestic and international vendor payments, by check, card, ACH, or wire, right from one platform
• Control and visibility: Track every dollar leaving your account, manage recurring bills and batch payments automatically, and give your team the right access with customizable user roles

Get started with a free interactive product demo.