The best way to understand what accounts payable actually does is to follow four invoices, because they take four completely different paths through the same process. Together they account for most of what a payables team encounters, and the contrast between the first and the other three explains where all the effort goes.
The clean one, and the one with no order
An invoice quoting an order, with a receipt recorded, agreeing within tolerance: captured, matched, routed, approved, paid, with almost no human attention. An invoice quoting nothing: somebody must establish what it was for and who authorised it, then route it for a fuller approval. Same process, many times the effort.
The price mismatch
Order at one price, invoice at another, outside tolerance. The exception carries the reason and both numbers and goes to purchasing, who either recall agreeing a change or query it with the supplier. Resolution updates the order as a dated revision or produces a credit note, and the invoice then clears. The cost here is elapsed time rather than work.
The suspected duplicate
Same supplier, similar amount, near date, different invoice number. Flagged rather than blocked, because occasionally both are genuine. Somebody compares the two documents and either releases one or contacts the supplier. Catching this before payment is minutes; discovering it afterwards is a recovery conversation and a reconciliation.
Questions people ask about accounts payable examples
Which path is most common?
The clean one by count, in a healthy process. The other three by effort, which is why counts and workload feel so different.
How do we get more invoices onto the clean path?
Raise purchase-order coverage and record receipts promptly. Both are upstream of payables and neither is a software setting.
What other paths exist?
Disputes, credit notes and unrecognised suppliers. Each deserves its own named owner rather than being pooled with the rest.