Accounts Payable (Kreditorenbuchhaltung)

Accounts payable (AP, Kreditorenbuchhaltung) is the sub-ledger that tracks supplier invoices, payment terms, open items and outgoing payments. AP sits in the second half of the Procure-to-Pay process and is the area of ERP most transformed by AI-based automation since 2022. Modern AP teams in DACH mid-market handle 5-10x the invoice volume per FTE compared with the early 2010s, driven by structured e-invoicing, intelligent document processing and three-way-match automation.

Core AP functions

Supplier master data with bank details, payment terms, tax classification, certifications
Invoice receipt and capture — structured e-invoice ingestion, OCR for PDF/paper, AI-driven field extraction
Three-way match — invoice + PO + goods receipt matching with tolerance-based exception routing
Approval workflows — routing for exceptions, indirect-spend invoices, contracts without PO
Payment runs — scheduled batch payments via SEPA, optimised for Skonto (early-payment discount)
Bank-file generation — SEPA CT, SEPA DD, foreign-currency payments via SWIFT
Cash forecasting — combining AP open items with expected receipts and other liabilities

DACH-specific requirements

Steuerlich relevante Belege: AP invoices count as tax-relevant business records under GoBD — 10-year retention in original electronic form, audit-trail integrity. Vorsteuer-Abzug: input VAT deduction requires the invoice to meet all §14 UStG (German VAT Act) formal requirements: supplier and customer addresses, tax IDs, sequential invoice number, date, performance period, taxable amount, tax rate and amount. ERP must validate these elements during posting. Reverse-charge handling: intra-EU B2B and certain domestic services need reverse-charge accounting with the recipient self-accounting the VAT. Skonto (early-payment discount): typical terms 2/10 net 30 (2% discount if paid within 10 days, otherwise net 30). ERP-side payment-run logic must consider Skonto vs interest-cost trade-offs.

AI-driven invoice processing

AP-invoice processing is the most-automated ERP-adjacent process in 2026. The classical OCR-based approach is being displaced by LLM-augmented Intelligent Document Processing (IDP). Leading platforms: Rossum, Hyperscience, ABBYY FlexiCapture, Esker AP Automation, Microsoft AI Builder, SAP Document and Reporting Compliance, Oracle Cloud AP Automation. Capabilities: read structured e-invoices (XRechnung, ZUGFeRD) and unstructured PDFs equally; extract header data, line items, tax breakdown, banking details; route to the right approver based on content; flag discrepancies versus PO and goods receipt; learn from human corrections. Mature implementations reach 80-95% straight-through processing for routine invoices. For mid-market AP operations processing 20,000+ invoices per year, IDP investment pays back within 12-24 months.

DATEV integration

DATEV is the dominant tax-software ecosystem in Germany, with the majority of German Steuerberater (tax advisors) using DATEV for client bookkeeping. Many German companies outsource bookkeeping to tax advisors, requiring ERP-to-DATEV integration. Standard interfaces: DATEV-CSV format (legacy), DATEVconnect online API, DATEV Unternehmen online (cloud platform). ERP must export postings in DATEV format with the right account structure (SKR 03 or SKR 04 chart of accounts). DATEV Unternehmen online plus DATEV Belegtransfer increasingly handle invoice ingestion and pre-categorisation, with the result flowing to the ERP or directly to bookkeeping. For DACH mid-market organisations using external tax advisors, DATEV integration is typically a knockout criterion during ERP selection.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much can AP automation save?

For a 100,000-invoice-per-year AP operation, mature automation reduces processing cost from 15-30 EUR per invoice to 2-5 EUR per invoice — saving 1.5-2.5 million EUR per year while accelerating cycle time from days to hours. Implementation cost: 300,000-700,000 EUR including software licences and integration. Payback: 6-18 months.

Will e-invoicing replace AP automation?

It changes AP automation rather than replacing it. Structured e-invoices skip the OCR step (data is already structured), but downstream processes — three-way match, approval routing, exception handling — remain. The shift simplifies but does not eliminate AP automation investments.

Should we standardise on Skonto across all suppliers?

No — Skonto economics depend on capital cost. At 2% / 10 days versus net 30, the implied annualised cost is about 37%. For companies with low cost of capital, taking Skonto pays. For working-capital-constrained companies in high-interest-rate environments, the trade-off changes. Most German mid-market still defaults to taking Skonto where available.