Key takeaways

• Processing one invoice costs the median organization US$5.83, and bottom-quartile organizations spend US$10 or more, according to APQC benchmarking data.¹

• ERP automation is software that runs routine accounting tasks, such as invoice matching and ledger posting, through preset rules instead of manual entry.

• Airwallex connects to ERPs such as NetSuite to automate multi-currency bill pay, card expense capture, and ledger reconciliation.

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) software keeps a company's accounting, purchasing, and operations data in one system. Many finance teams still enter that data by hand, which can lead to errors. ERP automation takes over much of that manual work. This guide explains how it works, which workflows to automate, what it costs, and how to roll it out.

What is ERP automation?

ERP automation uses software and AI to run routine accounting tasks with minimal manual input. When a vendor bill arrives by email or a customer pays by card, the software records the transaction in the general ledger, which is the company’s primary record of every financial transaction. This recording step is called posting.

How is ERP automation different from ERP integration?

ERP integration connects an ERP to outside tools, such as spend management software, which tracks and controls company spending. For example, an integration brings a bank transaction into the ERP, and automation matches it to the right invoice and records it. Integration moves the data, and automation decides what to do with it.

How does ERP automation work?

ERP automation works by connecting other tools to the ERP through APIs, which let software share data, and webhooks, which are automatic messages one system sends another when something happens. Optical character recognition (OCR), which is software that reads text from documents, pulls the details from each vendor bill. AI then matches each line on the bill to an open purchase order. The software checks the totals against company rules and posts the entry to the general ledger.

If a transaction is missing data or breaks a spending policy, the workflow sends it to a finance team member to review. After the reviewer approves it, the ERP posts the entry and updates the financial reports. Transactions that pass every check post without manual review.

Which ERP workflows can be automated?

The ERP workflows that can be automated include, but are not limited to, purchasing, bill payments, and customer orders. These workflows are suited for automation because they happen often and follow the same rules each time. Specialized spend management software for NetSuite adds to the ERP's built-in tools by capturing expenses and payments, then sends finished journal entries, which are the line-by-line records in the ledger, back to the ERP.

Purchasing, inventory, and supply chain

Procurement software creates a purchase order automatically when inventory falls below a set minimum level, called the reorder point. The ERP sends the order to the supplier and updates inventory records as goods arrive. Operations managers can then track incoming deliveries and record goods received in the ERP instead of in spreadsheets.

Bill payments and invoices

Accounts payable (AP) automation matches vendor bills against purchase orders before any money is sent out. AP software then schedules each payment around the supplier's due date, which helps the business earn any available early payment discounts and avoid late fees. Airwallex Bill Pay, for example, extracts bill data with OCR, routes bills through multi-step approvals, and syncs each paid bill back to accounting software, including NetSuite.²

Month-end close and reconciliation

Automation speeds up the month-end close, the process of confirming that bank balances match the general ledger. Software pulls in bank transactions every day and matches routine ones to ledger entries automatically. Controllers then review only the items the rules can’t match, such as payments that cleared on different dates.

Customer orders, payments, and revenue

Automation sends each confirmed sales order from the customer relationship management (CRM) system to the ERP, which creates the invoice without manual entry. When the customer pays, the payment gateway matches the money to the open invoice in accounts receivable, which tracks what customers still owe. Each month, the ERP also records revenue as it’s earned, for example, spreading an annual contract across 12 months.

How much does ERP automation cost?

ERP automation costs depend on the implementation method, not just the company size. Built-in ERP workflows and pre-built spend integrations cost the least, while custom API builds cost the most. Subscription tools are easier to budget for because the pricing is published. For example, Airwallex lists its Grow plan at US$12 per Spend user per month, plus a platform fee.³

The total cost includes software licenses, fees for outside consultants who set up the system, and internal staff time. Pre-built integrations launch faster and need less upkeep than custom-coded ones because the vendor maintains them. Whether the project pays for itself depends on how these costs compare with the cost of doing the same work by hand.

How to calculate ERP automation ROI

Finance teams calculate ERP automation ROI by comparing the yearly savings from less manual work, fewer errors, and fewer late fees with the yearly cost of the software and setup. Finance teams start by recording a baseline, which is the number of hours spent today on typing invoices, chasing receipts, and reconciling accounts, plus the number of invoices those hours cover. To find the yearly benefit, they multiply those hours by the full hourly cost of each employee, including benefits, and add the late fees and duplicate payments the automation avoids.

ROI equals the yearly benefit minus the yearly cost, divided by the yearly cost. The payback period, or how long the project takes to cover its cost, equals the total setup cost divided by the monthly savings. Indirect gains, such as early payment discounts and less time spent preparing for audits, should count only if the team actually measures them. A company’s own baseline gives a more reliable payback period estimate than an industry average because payback depends on invoice volume, error rates, and project scope.

What tools are used for ERP automation?

The tools used for ERP automation are built-in ERP features and outside integration and spend tools; most finance teams use both. Built-in tools handle accounting rules inside the ERP. Outside tools connect other systems to the ledger and handle work the ERP can’t do on its own.

Built-in ERP automation tools

Built-in ERP automation tools are the features that come with the ERP, such as workflow builders, scheduled tasks, and approval routing. NetSuite, for example, includes SuiteFlow, which builds custom approval workflows with conditional and non-sequential routing.⁴ These features handle internal approvals well, but international payments and real-time expense tracking usually need a separate tool.

Integration and spend tools from other providers

Integration and spend tools from other providers connect outside systems to the ERP and automate specialized workflows such as international bill payment, corporate card management, and employee expense management. Finance teams look for two-way sync, which keeps account codes, vendor lists, and tax categories the same in both systems without exporting files. A direct API connection also avoids the failures common in screen-reading bots.

What are the benefits of ERP automation?

The main benefits of ERP automation are fewer data entry mistakes, real-time financial data, and a faster month-end close. Automation also applies approval limits and spending policies to every transaction before money leaves company accounts. Finance staff can then spend the time saved on analysis and cash planning instead of data entry.

Fewer manual entry mistakes

Automation cuts manual entry mistakes by capturing invoice data digitally and validating totals before posting. Rule checks flag mismatched amounts, duplicate invoice numbers, and unknown vendors before any payment goes out. This prevents payments to the wrong vendor, duplicate bills, and entries recorded in the wrong account.

Real-time financial data

Because automation posts payments and purchases to the general ledger as they happen, reports show current balances instead of yesterday's numbers. Treasurers can see total cash across all subsidiaries and move money to the companies in the group that need it. Executives then make spending decisions based on current numbers.

What are the challenges of ERP automation?

The main challenges of ERP automation are data quality, connection reliability, and security. Finance leaders add checks early because a wrong rule can copy the same mistake into every connected part of the ERP. IT teams also review security settings and user permissions before turning on any automated workflow.

Bad source data copied across systems

Automated workflows copy wrong vendor details, incorrect account codes, and duplicate bills into every connected system. Poor primary data, meaning the core records for vendors, customers, and accounts, also stops bank transactions from matching correctly. That means data cleanup has to happen before any automated workflow goes live.

Bots and connections that break easily

Robotic process automation (RPA) bots copy data by reading the screen the way a person would. When a screen’s layout changes, they can stop working.⁵ A third-party software update or a modified web form can stop a script mid-process. Finance teams avoid this problem by choosing direct API connections between spend software and the ERP.

Audit trails and access controls

Automated workflows replace paper sign-offs, which creates compliance risk if user permissions are weak. Security teams set role-based access controls that limit each user to seeing and approving only what their role allows. They also require two approvers for high-value payments. The ERP then logs every transaction, approval timestamp, and data edit for internal and external audits.

How Airwallex works alongside ERP automation

Airwallex offers spend management, business accounts, and card products that connect to ERPs such as NetSuite. Airwallex is a money services business licensed in applicable states, not a bank. Finance teams use Airwallex to pay international vendors, manage employee card spending, and hold cash for several entities in one place, then sync the results to the ledger.

Direct two-way sync with the ERP

Airwallex syncs with NetSuite in both directions, as explained in the guide on how the NetSuite integration with Airwallex works. Airwallex imports the chart of accounts, vendors, tax codes, departments, and locations from NetSuite., Cardholders and bill approvers can then assign each transaction to the right account when it happens. Approved card expenses, bills, and payments then sync back to the ledger without manual uploads.

Bill pay in multiple currencies with purchase order matching

Airwallex Bill Pay pays vendors in their own currency from multi-currency accounts that hold balances in 20+ currencies. If the business already holds a balance in that currency, Airwallex pays from it without converting.⁶ Finance teams can match each bill to its purchase order (two-way matching) or to both the purchase order and the delivery receipt (three-way matching).⁷ Purchase orders move between NetSuite and Airwallex in both directions, keeping purchasing and payment records the same in both systems.

Spend control and reconciliation across entities

Airwallex Expense Management works with Airwallex Corporate Cards so finance leads can control employee card spending across all entities from one place. Finance managers issue virtual and physical Visa cards in seconds, each with its own spend limit and approval policy. AI agents collect receipts and match them to card charges. The Expense Policy Agent approves expenses that follow company policy and flags the ones that don't. Matched charges reach the ledger with less manual review.

How to choose tools for an ERP automation setup

When choosing tools for ERP automation, finance teams should weigh sync depth, multi-currency support, multi-entity coverage, and pricing. Sync depth means how much data the tool can read from and send to the ERP without file exports. Multi-entity coverage means one setup handles every subsidiary, which avoids the cost and upkeep of separate setups or custom middleware, the connecting code engineers write between two systems.

Pricing also needs a close look, because per-user fees and platform fees add up as teams grow. Tools should also support multi-currency accounts and local payment rails, the networks banks use to move money within a country. That way, international payments follow the same approval rules as domestic ones. With direct integrations, spending rules and ledger entries run on the same data, and teams don't have to reconcile two systems.

How to roll out ERP automation

ERP automation works best when it rolls out in phases, starting with one high-volume workflow and expanding from there. A phased rollout gives each department time to adopt the new workflows. Starting with repetitive, high-volume tasks also produces the quickest time savings.

1. Map the workflows to automate

Project leads write down how the accounting team handles each process today to find delays and unnecessary paper approvals. Mapping how invoices, expense claims, and bank reconciliations move through the team shows which tasks suit automation. Recording how long each task takes and what it costs at this stage gives finance directors a baseline to measure against after launch.

2. Clean primary data and map the chart of accounts

Data teams review vendor lists, customer records, and account codes to remove duplicates. Using the same chart of accounts across every entity lets the software post each transaction to the right account. Clean primary data stops automated workflows from copying bad entries into leadership reports.

3. Run a 30- to 60-day pilot in a high-volume workflow

Implementation teams pick one core process, such as accounts payable or card expense tracking, for the pilot. Running the automated workflow next to the manual process for 30 to 60 days shows whether the rules are accurate and the data syncs correctly. Finance staff also check how the workflow handles problems, routes approvals, and posts entries with real transactions.

4. Monitor results and scale across entities

Project managers compare invoice processing time, error rates, and close speed during the pilot with the baseline. Once results meet the agreed benchmarks, teams extend the automation to more workflows and subsidiaries. Ongoing tracking keeps controls in place as transaction volume grows and more entities join.

Frequently asked questions about ERP automation

Can ERP automation work with an on-premises ERP?

Yes, ERP automation can work with an on-premises ERP through custom API integrations, secure middleware connectors, and scheduled database scripts. Older systems usually need a secure cloud gateway allowing outside spend tools and bank feeds to connect without exposing the company's internal servers. Many companies use a hybrid integration platform, which is software that links cloud apps to on-premises systems, to connect modern spend tools to an older ERP.

What is the difference between ERP automation and business process automation?

The difference between ERP automation and business process automation is scope. ERP automation covers finance and operations workflows inside the ERP, such as purchasing, accounts payable, and order-to-cash, which is the path from a customer order to a collected payment. Business process automation covers the wider business, including HR, customer service, and sales. Many companies run both, with ERP automation handling finance workflows.

Will ERP automation replace finance teams?

No, ERP automation will not replace finance teams, because it takes over repetitive data entry, not the judgment finance professionals provide. The time saved on invoice keying and reconciliation moves to analysis, cash flow management, and planning. Finance teams spend less time processing transactions and more time managing risk and advising the business.

What is the difference between ERP automation and RPA?

The difference between ERP automation and robotic process automation (RPA) is how each moves data. RPA bots copy the typing and clicks a person makes on screen, while ERP automation uses direct API connections and the rules built into the ERP. Many teams keep RPA only for legacy systems that offer no API.

Sources

1. https://www.cfo.com/news/metric-of-the-month-accounts-payable-cost/659393/

2. https://www.airwallex.com/en-us/spend-management/bill-pay

3. https://www.airwallex.com/en-us/terms/fee-schedule

4. https://docs.oracle.com/en/cloud/saas/netsuite/ns-online-help/section_N2396465.html

5. https://www.cio.com/article/3449242/are-zombie-bots-killing-your-rpa-roi.html

6. https://www.airwallex.com/en-us/business-account/global-accounts

7. https://help.airwallex.com/hc/en-gb/articles/14384977702799-Setting-Up-2-way-and-3-way-matching-rules