Every business wants to get paid faster—but outdated accounts receivable (AR) processes make that harder than it should be. Manually chasing down payments, reconciling records, and generating invoices can create friction between you and your customers and delay cash flows.
Process automation can change all that. Automation digitizes and streamlines AR for fewer errors, improved working capital, and shorter payment cycles. This article walks through what AR automation entails, how to implement it, and how to use it to its fullest advantage.
Let’s start off by defining accounts receivable, or AR. J.P. Morgan defines accounts receivable as the funds owed to a business after goods or services are delivered. Managing these receivables efficiently is critical to maintaining liquidity and operational stability. Automation platforms step in to handle repetitive AR tasks, offering faster processing, fewer errors, and better visibility into what’s owed and when it’s coming due.
Accounts receivable (AR) automation refers to the use of software to manage invoicing, payment tracking, and collections with minimal manual input. Instead of relying on spreadsheets or scattered tools, businesses use integrated platforms that generate invoices, send reminders, apply payments, and update ledgers in real time.
Vital tools like Epicor Financials Core, Cash Collect, Epicor Prism, and Epicor Payments use automation to standardize the invoicing and payment processes. With fewer late payments and healthier customer relationships, businesses can make the entire payment experience smoother and more predictable.
Slow payments create real-world consequences: missed payroll, strained supplier relationships (including lost accounts), and delayed investments. Even a small improvement in DSO (days sales outstanding) can significantly boost cash flow.
Instead of waiting on manual invoice approvals or tracking aging balances by hand, finance teams can rely on real-time dashboards and smart workflows. As a result, invoices go out faster, payments come in sooner, and reporting becomes less of a scramble.
Deloitte points out that cash flow pressure is one of the top reasons businesses fail, and notes that improving the receivables cycle is one of the fastest ways to unlock working capital. Automating AR protects operational continuity and overall financial health. Additionally, automation frees up business leaders to focus on high-value strategic tasks for long-term growth.
At a fundamental level, AR automation takes the manual steps of the billing and collection process—like generating invoices, emailing reminders, and applying payments—and quietly runs them in the background. Once a sale is recorded, the system creates a compliant invoice, sends it to the customer, tracks when it’s opened or paid, and reconciles the payment with your accounting records. No more chasing PDFs or manually updating spreadsheets.
Modern AR systems also integrate with your ERP or financial software. That means customer data, invoice terms, service agreement, and payment history all live in one place. These systems can also automatically apply job codes, purchase order numbers, and other metadata to billing documents. The result is faster processing with fewer errors and secure, easy-to-retrieve document storage. Instead of relying on end-of-month reporting, your team can see historical receivables performance in real time—and act on it.
Epicor Financials, the financial management suite within Epicor, includes native billing capabilities. Invoices requiring review can be flagged using the “hold invoice” feature, and any related cases can be tracked in CRM. Tasks for disputes or collections can be assigned and linked directly to the associated AR invoice. While the setup is simple, it provides an effective and straightforward framework for managing disputes.
Epicor AR tools, like its organic Accounts Receivables module within Epicor Financials and Cash Collect, can also layer on smart collection workflows, so you don’t need to wait until an account is several months in arrears before you request payment. Instead, an automated communication flow can be triggered when an account becomes overdue by a certain number of days. This may include a past due notice, a grace period offer or renegotiation of terms, or a notice of conversion to prepayment terms.
Business owners need prompt remittance, but often feel awkward about pressing a client (and struggling business) to pay up. AR automation removes uncomfortable phone conversations from the equation so you can focus on more important tasks.
Epicor Cash Collect can pull from live ERP data and seamlessly sync customer service records, AR activity, and other account service history in one central hub. It can even negotiate white-glove, custom payment plans for high-value businesses.
—> Explore how Epicor Cash Collect can help your team get paid faster—with less manual work.
Manual AR processes create predictable headaches such as delayed invoices, scattered documentation, and inconsistent follow-ups. They often rely on overworked staff bouncing between systems, trying to keep customers happy while staying ahead of internal deadlines. And in some uncomfortable instances, companies rely on the account delivery reps to extract payment or pull product from shelves.
Beyond hard feelings and resentment, errors creep in. Requests go unsent—or unasked. Payments slip through the cracks. These issues delay cash and erode trust with customers.
Automation standardizes the process for everyone: accountants, account managers, delivery reps, and business owners.
Invoices go out on time, reminders are triggered by real due dates, and payments are applied as they’re received to the correct cycle.
Payment processors emphasize major efficiency gains in timely remittance, predictable cash flow, and increased customer satisfaction. Your customers want consistency as well, and prioritize business partners who maintain clear expectations.
Picture this: If a business client is going through a slow period and only has enough cash to pay four of six vendors, will they prioritize the vendor who expects regular, timely payment and will hold them to it? Or will they prioritize paying the “understanding” vendor who lets them skirt by?
Unfortunately, the latter scenario is how companies can get several months behind on some vendor bills while remaining up-to-date with others. And the further behind a business falls, the more untenable its recovery becomes.
Not quite. AI isn’t replacing accounts receivable teams, but the technology can make teams faster and more effective. Instead of haphazardly sending out payment reminders or guessing when a client might pay, teams can rely on AI tools to analyze behavior patterns and forecast payment dates with more accuracy.
AI can uncover helpful insights, like Company A never pays until they receive a notice that their account may be charged off to a collection agency, Company B never pays email invoices (they only pay notices in the mail), or accounts are paid an average of 38 days late in some months but only 2 days late in others.
AI platforms use predictive models to flag high-risk accounts and automate reminder timing based on past responsiveness rather than following a strict, calendar-based progression. This means you can send out the sequence or combination of payment requests that is most effective for each account instead of following a one-size-fits-all flow.
In these scenarios, AI is a productivity multiplier. It handles pattern recognition, task optimization and automation, and manual entry while humans manage customer relationships, policy decisions, and edge cases. With AI collaboration, people can make smarter decisions that benefit everyone involved.
Epicor builds AR automation directly into its financial systems. If you’re already using Epicor ERP tools, the transition is seamless. There are no duct-tape integrations to hack together or messy data exports.
With solutions like Epicor Financials Core, Cash Collect, and Prophet 21 Financials, Epicor supports all accounting activity from invoice automation to aging reports, credit policy enforcement, and real-time dashboards. Because it’s connected to your core ERP data, there’s no lag between when a payment comes in and when your team sees it reflected in reports.
When it comes to AI, Epicor Prism enhances visibility across the invoice to cash process by making it easy to query and filter. You can ask questions like, ´How many invoices are past due for more than 15 days?' and get instant answers. You can filter by date, customer, or amount, and even ask in English or Spanish. Prism delivers real-time metrics. With metric agents, you can see the average number or days customers are overdue or the average open order amounts, calculated on the fly based on any criteria set. Prism also offers dashboard summaries to help give a clear synopsis across financial areas, helping you spot trends and overdue items quickly. Finally, it has interactive filtering. You can use the Prism icon to sort and filter data grids, like narrowing invoices by status, without digging through menus. All these capabilities give teams the visibility they need to act faster, smarter, and with confidence.
Epicor also offers customer-specific tools for retail and distribution environments, including role-based dashboards and compliance tracking; these features are especially important for teams managing high volume or tight margins.
→ Ready to reduce DSO (Days Sales Outstanding) and improve visibility? See what Epicor AR automation can do for your cash flow.
Before jumping into automation, take a close look at your current AR process. Where are payments falling through the cracks? Are invoices going out late? Do your aging reports give you real insights you can act upon?
The best place to begin is with the numbers. Metrics like DSO, AR turnover ratio, and aging buckets can show you exactly how long it takes to get paid and where delays happen.
From there, you can identify where automation will have the biggest impact.
Transitioning doesn’t need to be an overwhelming, all-or-nothing process. Most modern AR platforms—Epicor included—offer modular rollouts, onboarding support, and templates you can configure to match existing workflows already in place.
It’s usually easiest to start with invoice automation and payment reminders, then layer on advanced features like cash application and analytics over time.
For businesses looking to grow or improve their balance sheets, automating accounts receivable is one of the fastest ways to improve cash flow, reduce stress, and create a better experience for your team and your customers. And if you're already using Epicor financial systems, you're halfway there.
→ See how Epicor automates invoicing, payments, and collections—so your team can focus on what matters most. Book a demo now.
