Stretched Thin? 4 Ways to Lighten the Load on AP Teams as the Year Comes to a Close
We hear this every year: “December always hits harder than we think.”
Leaders are pulled into budgeting and planning. Vendors want to settle their books. Team members take well-earned time off. Meanwhile, invoice volume rarely slows down.
It’s often the Accounts Payable (AP) team that absorbs that pressure. Closing out open invoices, preparing for audits, gathering 1099 data, reconciling vendor balances, and handling last-minute payment requests — all of it lands on an AP department that may already be understaffed or juggling extra responsibilities.
But relief doesn’t necessarily come from hiring more people. Many teams find that small process improvements and a bit of targeted automation create enough breathing room to move through the busiest season with greater ease. With the right steps, you can lighten the load and move into the new year with confidence.
Here are four practical ways to reduce AP workload without expanding headcount
1. Keep Approvals Moving (Even When Leaders Are Offline)
December is the single most challenging month for approval bottlenecks. Executives are traveling, stacked with planning meetings, or taking PTO. Meanwhile, invoices and payments keep arriving.
Some practical ways to keep approvals flowing:
Create a predictable approval rhythm - Send approval requests at the same time each day or batch them into two clear windows. Consistency reduces delays.
Clarify approval thresholds - Make it clear which invoices require leadership review, and which don’t. When approvers only see the items that truly need their attention, turnaround times improve.
Offer a simple way to approve on the go - Even if most work is done on a desktop, having a mobile-friendly option for urgent items helps prevent pileups.
Use digital tools where possible - Electronic signatures and secure, embedded ERP approval tools help leaders review and sign off even when they’re traveling.
These small changes can cut approval delays significantly and bring welcome predictability to a month that rarely feels predictable.
2. Standardize Payment Runs to Reduce the “Last-Minute Rush”
As year-end approaches, December often becomes one long check run, and AP teams often experience more pressure around payment timing. Last-minute requests, shifting priorities, and invoice corrections can mean teams have to adjust or rebuild payment batches more than usual.
Here are a few ways to simplify payment runs:
Create a year-end payment calendar - Share payment cutoff dates proactively with leaders, internal teams, and vendors so everyone stays aligned.
Communicate cutoffs early - Vendors and internal teams usually adapt quickly when deadlines are clearly communicated.
Group similar work - Build batches using consistent criteria, so the process becomes lighter and more routine.
Review recurring exceptions - If the same vendor or department delays the process every month, now is a good time to address the root cause.
For teams ready to automate part of this work, embedded tools like Mekorma Payment Hub can help create payment batches with less repetitive effort. But even without new tools, standardizing the payment cycle can improve clarity and reduce the overall time-to-pay and help keep things moving smoothly.
3. Bring Multi-Entity Work Under One Clear Process
For organizations with multiple legal entities, year-end can feel like managing several AP cycles at once. Each company might have separate approval rules, checkbooks, vendor requirements, or timing expectations.
What helps most is consistency:
Document the process for each entity - Keep workflows in a shared location, so no one has to guess what happens next.
Centralize what can be centralized - Vendor updates, compliance checks, and approval thresholds are common places to start.
Align timing across entities - When possible, schedule similar tasks, such as payment runs or approval cycles, on the same day across entities. This reduces the stop-and-start switching that slows teams down.
Create a single view of priorities - A clear list of what must be handled first helps the team stay focused and reduces mental load.
If your team manages many companies, a centralized tool like Mekorma Action Board for Shared Services can simplify approvals, group batches, and maintain consistent controls from one place. Some teams see up to a 75% reduction in repetitive effort.
Even modest alignment can reduce duplicated work, something AP teams feel acutely at this time of year.
4. Remove or Outsource Tasks That Don’t Require AP Expertise
One of the easiest ways to give AP teams breathing room is to remove tasks that don’t require their judgment or skill.
Teams often find relief by:
Reducing paper-based steps - Mailing, stuffing envelopes, and managing supplies takes more time than people realize. Shifting to digital payments or reducing check printing can save hours each week.
Automating repetitive steps - Batch-building, routing, and compliance checks are common candidates for automation. Using embedded tools like Action Board, Remote Payment Services, or Vendor Validation can remove many repetitive or manual tasks and help reduce compliance risk.
Updating recurring reports - Year-end often reveals reports that are outdated or unused. For those that remain essential, build a recurring export or template, so the team isn’t recreating them from scratch each month.
Removing even a few of these tasks can feel like adding an extra staff member during peak periods.
A Calmer, More Predictable New Year Is Within Reach
Year-end will always bring extra demands, but it doesn’t have to feel overwhelming. Small improvements add up, especially for teams that already know their process well. Whether you simplify intake, reduce approval delays, standardize payment runs, or remove repetitive tasks, each step helps create a more sustainable way of working.
When AP feels supported, the whole organization benefits. And there’s still time to make meaningful improvements before next year begins.
If you’d like help identifying which steps would make the biggest impact for your Business Central or GP environment, our team is happy to explore options with you.
Reach out at sales@mekorma.com to start the conversation. We’re always happy to talk through your workflow and share what we’re seeing across the AP community.
