Best practice lists in payables are usually written at a level of abstraction that makes them impossible to act on. Stated concretely, as things somebody could do this week, the list is short and most of it is free. Here are the practices as instructions rather than as principles, with what each one prevents.
One billing address, told to every supplier
Write to your suppliers with a single invoicing address, redirect anything that arrives elsewhere, and record the date each invoice reaches the organisation. This prevents the invoice that sits in an individual's inbox for three weeks and surfaces as a chasing call after the payment terms have already run out.
Five checks before anything expensive
Supplier exists in your records. Invoice number is new for that supplier. Lines sum to the net and net plus tax equals the total. Date is plausible. Bank details agree with what you hold. Each takes milliseconds, and between them they catch most accidental duplicates and the commonest shape of payables fraud.
Route exceptions to whoever can resolve them
Price variances to purchasing, missing receipts to whoever takes deliveries, unrecognised suppliers to whoever maintains records. Payables acting as intermediary for all of them is slow and puts the resolution furthest from the knowledge. Each exception should carry its reason and the numbers that disagree.
Verify bank detail changes by calling a number you already have
Not the number on the request. Somebody other than the person who received it makes the call, and the verification is recorded against the supplier. This single practice prevents the largest single loss most payables teams are exposed to, and it costs one phone call.
Questions people ask about accounts payable best practices examples
Which of these needs software?
None to start. All four can be done with a shared mailbox, a spreadsheet and a written procedure, and doing them first makes any later software purchase more effective.
How do we get suppliers to use one address?
Tell them, redirect what arrives elsewhere, and be consistent for a quarter. Most comply readily because a correctly addressed invoice is paid sooner, which is their interest too.
What if purchasing will not record receipts?
Report the count of invoices arriving with no receipt behind them, by department, monthly. Numbers presented as a shared measure change behaviour where reminders do not.