Optimize Payment Processes in Finance: A Step-by-Step Guide for 2025

Most finance teams know their payment processes are too manual, but modernizing them often seems impossible without engineering support.

This guide shows how finance teams are simplifying approvals, reducing errors, and automating flows using low-code tools that they can own and manage themselves.

Why Payment Processes Are Still Broken (Even in 2025)

If you're still chasing approvals via email, checking supplier bank details in spreadsheets, or wondering where an invoice is in the approval chain, you're not alone. Despite the proliferation of financial tools and digital solutions, most payment processes within mid-sized companies are sustained by a patchwork of manual steps, workarounds, and legacy systems that were never designed to scale.

And here's the uncomfortable truth: most finance teams already know these processes are broken. The problem isn't lack of awareness, it's inertia.

For years, the standard answer to process problems was "talk to IT" or "wait until next quarter." But today, finance teams are expected to move faster, do more with less, and still ensure accuracy, compliance, and security. The old ways — passing PDFs, managing approvals in Slack, synchronizing supplier records by hand — simply don't keep up with the complexity and speed required in 2025.

The Illusion of "It's Working Fine"

You might hear this internally:

"Sure, it's a bit manual, but it works."

"We know where everything is, we have a good spreadsheet system."

"It's only a few invoices a week."

But the friction hides in the gaps:

• An early payment discount missed because someone was on vacation.
• A supplier paid twice because of a mismatch in reconciliation.
• A controller staying late to check chart of accounts codes manually.

These aren't just inconveniences. They are symptoms of fragility. And as companies grow (or face unexpected events like audits, cash flow squeezes, or fraud) these small problems accumulate into big risks.

Why Has Nothing Changed?

Ironically, it's not for lack of solutions. There are powerful payment automation platforms, but most require technical implementation, long deployment cycles, or a level of budget and IT support that simply doesn't exist in most finance areas.

So what happens? Teams keep improvising, patching, and building fragile flows using tools never designed for this job, because the alternative seems too heavy, too complex, or too dependent on other departments.

The Hidden Costs of Manual Payments

Manual payment processes don't just waste time, they silently erode financial health. On the surface, it's just a few more clicks or emails. But underneath, the costs accumulate:

1. Late Payments = Lost Opportunities

Delays can mean lost early payment discounts, strained relationships with suppliers, or worse: service interruption. When approvals live in inboxes and spreadsheets, delays are inevitable.

2. Risk of Error = Financial Exposure

Manual entry and reconciliation open the door for duplicate payments, incorrect amounts, or payments to the wrong accounts. These aren't just errors, they're audit signals and potential fraud vectors.

3. Team Burnout = Loss of Talent

Highly qualified financial professionals spend hours copying and pasting invoice data, chasing signatures, or verifying bank details, instead of analyzing spending or improving forecasts. This drains morale and strategic delivery.

4. No Visibility = No Control

When payment flows are dispersed, financial leaders lose real-time visibility into obligations, cash outflows, and bottlenecks. This makes it harder to manage working capital, especially in volatile markets.

5. Compliance Gaps = Risk Exposure

Manual systems often lack audit trails, role-based access, or consistent documentation, leaving companies vulnerable in audits or compliance reviews.

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The real cost isn't in the minutes wasted, it's in the risks that accumulate and the potential wasted. Manual payments silently tax your speed, accuracy, and agility. And the longer they go unattended, the more they limit your ability to lead finance proactively.

What a Truly Optimized Payment Process Looks Like

It's easy to throw around terms like "streamlined" or "automated," but what does that really mean for a finance team in the real world? One with shifting priorities, a lean team, and no engineering support?

Let's define it clearly: an optimized payment process isn't about fancy tools. It's about control, transparency, and speed — without introducing complexity or reliance on other departments.

Here's how that translates in practice:

1. Invoices Enter Automatically

Invoices are captured from email or submitted through a simple form. No manual typing. No inbox triage.

2. Clear and Dynamic Approval Paths

Rule-based routing ensures the right people approve at the right time. No more chasing signatures.

3. Clean and Pre-Validated Payment Data

Supplier data, chart of accounts (GL) codes, and amounts are automatically verified. Errors flagged before payment.

4. Real-Time Visibility Across the Flow

You know what's approved, what's pending, and what's been paid at any moment. No more guesswork.

5. Audit-Ready from Day One

Every action is logged. Every approval is traceable. Nothing gets lost in email.

The result? Faster cycles. Fewer errors. Tighter cash control. And a finance team that can finally move from reactive to proactive.

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This is the north star: a payment process that's not just functional, but a strategic asset — giving finance teams the confidence, speed, and clarity they need to lead.

Modern Tools Made for Finance (Not for Developers)

The biggest misconception about automation in finance?

That it's a technology initiative.

For years, the moment you said "workflow automation," a predictable response arose:

"We'll need to involve IT."

"Do we have budget for an implementation partner?"

"Let's wait until we finish migrating to the new ERP."

And so, the conversation stalls.

But something fundamental has changed. Modern automation platforms aren't made for developers; they're built for the people who own the process: finance professionals.

These tools aren't just easier to use, they represent a shift in mindset: automation as self-service.

Minimum code. Maximum control.

Modern platforms like Abstra give finance teams the ability to design, launch, and improve their own payment flows without relying on engineers, integrations, or months of deployment.

You don't need to be "technical." You just need to understand your own process, and frankly, no one understands it better than you.

Whether it's to:

• Automate supplier approvals based on value bands
• Ensure payment steps are triggered only after accounting coding (GL) is complete
• Notify stakeholders based on payment status
• Pull payment data automatically for reports

These are flows you can now own end-to-end. Directly.

Finance-Led Means Finance-Smart

The best part about these modern tools isn't just the interface, it's the built-in assumptions. Tools made for finance are designed to handle edge cases like partial approvals, exception routing, audit trails, and field-level validations.

This means they don't just "let you build things." They guide you to build the right things, safely, and in a way aligned with how finance actually works.

That's a huge leap from off-the-shelf systems and Excel spreadsheets. You're not stuck adapting generic tools and hoping they fit. You operate in a purpose-built environment that speaks your language: amounts, approvals, suppliers, deadlines, compliance.

From Dependence to Autonomy

When automation becomes a function under the responsibility of the finance area, something powerful happens:

You stop waiting. You start designing. You stop scaling. You start refining.

You become a team that not only keeps the lights on but actively shapes how the business works.

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Step-by-Step: How to Simplify Your Payments Without IT Help

You don't need a total overhaul to fix your payment process. You need a smart and scoped approach: something designed to generate traction, not perfection. The goal here isn't to automate everything on day one. It's to start automating the right things, fast.

Here's a proven approach we've seen work with modern finance teams, even those without technical support.

Step 1: Map the Real Flow (Not the Ideal)

Start by writing down how a single payment flows through your system now, not how it "should" be. Be brutally honest.

• Where does the invoice land first?
• Who touches it, and in what order?
• How are approvals requested, and how often do they stall?
• Where do decisions go unrecorded or unclear?
• How is the payment actually triggered?

You're not documenting for posterity, you're diagnosing the friction.

Step 2: Identify Bottlenecks and Repetitive Tasks

In almost every team, the same problems appear:

• Delays waiting for manual approvals
• Errors from copying and pasting invoice data
• Unclear responsibility for the "to-from" and final acceptance of the payment
• Inconsistent accounting coding (GL)
• Suppliers calling to "check payment status"

Highlight the moments when:

• People are waiting
• Information is being re-typed
• Emails or Slack messages are being sent just to get things moving

These are perfect candidates for automation.

Step 3: Design a Simple Flow in an Automation Tool

Using an automation tool like Abstra, you can recreate your flow, this time structured and automated.

At a minimum, your payment process can include:

• Invoice entry form or integration (pulls PDFs or structured data)
• Validation checks (are the required fields complete? Is the supplier information correct?)
• Automated routing logic (e.g., amounts below $5,000 go to Manager A; above $5,000, to the CFO)
• Escalation rules (if there's no approval in 48 hours, notify the next approver or send a reminder)
• Approval tracking (real-time status, with timestamp and history)
• Final delivery to the payment system (trigger the payment or notify Accounts Payable to execute)

You're not building from scratch, you're assembling from familiar components.

Step 4: Test Internally Before Going to Production

Choose a handful of future invoices and run them through the new flow. Observe:

• Confusion in the interface
• Errors in approval routing logic
• Missing data
• Team feedback on usability

Don't strive for perfect. Strive for reliable and usable. Iterate quickly; that's the beauty of owning the tool.

Step 5: Launch, Monitor, and Continuously Improve

Once it's live, make it a habit:

• Review approval lag times weekly
• Track exceptions (and why they happen)
• Ask the team: "What still feels manual?"

Since it's under your control, you don't need to open a ticket to fix a step or adjust a rule. You can adjust it in minutes.

Conclusion:

It's not about transforming finance teams into developers, but about giving them the power to lead the transformation without intermediaries. The steps are simple, but the impact is profound: faster payments, fewer errors, and a more confident team.

You already know your process. Now you can own it, end-to-end.

Optimize Payment Processes: Real-World Example

It's one thing to read about frameworks and best practices. It's another to see a finance team like yours take control of the process and transform it in days, not months.

Meet Mercos, a growing B2B software company that was drowning in a manual accounts payable (AP) process. The finance team (about 10 people) processed approximately 400 invoices per month, mostly by hand. Each invoice required someone to:

• Open the email and download the PDF
• Read and interpret the information manually
• Rename the files and enter them into the ERP
• File everything in the correct folder

Even with experience and good organization, the team constantly faced delays, long nights, and an overwhelming backlog. Time per invoice? About 7 minutes.

The Turning Point: Empowerment Through Automation

Instead of requesting help from IT or looking for expensive platforms, the finance team used Abstra to build its own AP automation flow (internally, with zero engineering support).

Here's what they automated:

• Extraction of invoice PDFs directly from the finance area's inbox
• Use of AI to read and validate invoice details (CNPJ, amounts, due dates)
• Automatic insertion of data into the ERP
• Notification of responsible parties in Slack when an invoice needed attention
• Separation of exceptions for manual review

It wasn't a side experiment. It became the new normal for the payment process, 100% under finance's responsibility.

The Results:

• 70% of all invoices fully automated
• 60% faster processing
• Time per invoice dropped from 7 minutes to less than 3 minutes
• Manual errors and rework? Almost eliminated

But the most important change wasn't technical, it was cultural.

"Today, when we encounter a new financial task, our first thought is: how can we automate this?"

Head of Financial Operations, Mercos

They went from surviving a rigid system to leading a smarter one, on their own terms.

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Conclusion: You don't need to be a large company or have a dedicated technology team to optimize your payments. You need a team that understands the pain and the right tools to act.

Mercos didn't wait. They built. And today, their finance team is faster, sharper, and more focused on what really matters.

The First Step for This Week

You don't need a transformation roadmap or an approved budget to start optimizing your payment process.

You just need to start.

And the best first step? Choose a flow: a painful and repetitive process that your team faces every week, and map it with brutal honesty.

It could be:

• Approving vendor invoices above a certain amount
• Forwarding payment requests to managers
• Synchronizing invoice data in your ERP
• Tracking incomplete submissions

Then ask a simple question:

What would it be like if this ran on its own?

From there, choose a no-code tool, like Abstra, and try building the first version yourself. Don't aim for perfect. Aim for a win. You don't need to automate everything. You just need to show that you can automate something. Internally. Without IT.

That first win builds confidence. And confidence spreads.

The reality is this:

The biggest risk isn't trying and failing, it's getting stuck in a fragile system because change seemed too distant.

But the tools already exist. The path is clear.

And finance teams like yours are already doing it.

You're closer than you think.