Accounts payable automation used to require enterprise software costing thousands per month. Today, UK small businesses can build a nearly fully automated AP workflow for £29/month. Here's how.
| Manual process | Automated equivalent |
|---|---|
| Open email, download PDF | Email forwarding rule |
| Read invoice, type data into software | AI extraction |
| Email manager for approval | Approval queue with one-click approve |
| Enter bill into accounting software | Auto-sync to FreeAgent |
| File PDF somewhere | PDF attached to bill record automatically |
| Chase overdue payments | FreeAgent due date tracking + cash flow |
InboxBill for capture and extraction
Forward supplier invoice emails. AI extracts all fields. Review and approve in seconds.
FreeAgent for accounting
Bills sync automatically. Bank feed matches payments. Reports update in real time.
Bank transfer for payment
Pay directly from your bank account using FreeAgent's payment export or Bacs integration.
Start with InboxBill and FreeAgent — the UK's most popular AP automation combo.
Get started freeThe Complete Guide to Purchase Invoice Management
Purchase invoice management — handling the bills from your suppliers — is one of the most time-consuming back-office functions for small businesses. Done poorly, it causes missed payments, tax errors, and bookkeeping chaos. Done well, it's nearly invisible.
How to Automate Invoice Processing for Your Small Business
The average small business spends 5–10 hours per month manually processing supplier invoices. That's time spent copy-pasting figures into spreadsheets, chasing down PDFs, and reconciling mistakes. Automation cuts this to minutes.