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The AI temptation in finance
Artificial Intelligence is everywhere, from our homes to our phones, from marketing to manufacturing, and it’s solving accounts payable problems. The promise is seductive: imagine AI tools that can automate invoice matching, flag potential fraud, or reconcile complex statements without you or your team lifting a finger. The appeal is understandable: More automation, less manual effort, fewer errors.
But here’s the issue: AP teams don’t just need speed and automation. They need control, visibility, reliability, compliance, security, and the confidence that when something breaks, it can be fixed quickly. AP tools must be more than just intelligent – they must be accountable, transparent, and proven. In this blog, we’ll examine whether generic AI solutions can truly solve AP problems, and the questions you should be asking.
What AI can do for AP
Generic AI does bring some real capabilities to the table:
- Document parsing and data extraction: Pulling information from invoices or PDFs.
- Pattern recognition and anomaly detection: Identifying trends and outliers based on transaction history.
- Initial reconciliation suggestions: Giving possible matches or flag inconsistencies.
- Workflow automation: Helping remove repetitive, low-value tasks from daily work.
These features offer clear benefits:
- Time savings over manual or Excel-based workflows.
- Faster throughput and fewer errors (in theory).
- 24/7 operation potential.
- Tools that learn from your data (but that may also lock you into just your data).
This sounds appealing, until you realise what’s missing.
Why DIY or generic AI tools fall short
AI tools are not a wonderful magic wand that outputs the perfect response ever time. In AP, where stakes are high and errors are costly, the limits of generic AI become painfully clear.
Lack of financial domain knowledge
Generic AI tools don’t understand the intricacies of P2P or ERP systems. They optimise for patterns in your data, but only your data. And this means they can’t detect things that you won’t necessarily know to look for, or learn from other data in the way purpose-built tools can.
Opaque and error-prone
AI hallucinations can be risky. When AI generates flawed outputs, you may not be aware until it’s too late. Debugging is often hard unless you’re a developer: Can your internal team troubleshoot AI when it breaks?
Hidden costs
DIY AI solutions come with hidden burdens:
- Tool subscriptions, developer time, system maintenance
- Security and compliance management
- Testing, refining, and retraining models
- Continuous upkeep and bug fixing
Often seen as a cost-saving strategy, in-house AI can end up draining time and resources, and still not match the quality of a mature software solution.
High cost, low reward
What you get may not be truly worth the time you invest in it, especially on the first try. Plus, because it takes so long to develop solutions, there will be no immediate ROI or results. Compounding that, the results may be much worse than an existing software alternative because it is only working off your own data.
Auditability concerns
What you need is a tested, transparent and predictable solution, but what you get is a black hole. There’s a concerning lack of transparency in how AI decisions are made. You may have control at the beginning, but without upkeep and bug fixing, it may soon spit out unhelpful results, and in the code, you may not know what to discard and what to keep.
Security and data governance risks
Generic tools often lack rigorous data governance. Internal access controls might fail, sensitive supplier data might be at risk, and it only takes one breach to damage trust and reputation.
Time to value is low
Building a robust statement reconciliation solution with AI? Expect development of a sophisticated solution to take years. Even a simple prototype could take months, while commercial solutions deliver ROI within weeks.
Assurance and competency
What happens if your internal AI champion leaves? Who picks up the pieces? With a specialist partner, you’re not left holding the bag.
The specialised solution advantage
When you choose a specialised solution like FISCAL’s software, you’re not just buying a solution. You’re investing in:
Domain expertise: Built-in financial risk knowledge, refined from years of AP and P2P experience.
Purpose-built algorithms: Not general-purpose code and guesses, but instead designed from the ground up for AP tasks.
Speed to value: Immediate results, not months of setup.
Robust security: Benefit from stringent security testing and certification, smooth ERP integration, SSO, and comprehensive audit trails.
Scalable learning: Benefit from thousands of anomalies, patterns, and resolutions identified across sectors and hundreds of users, not just your own data.
Assurance and support: Choosing a solution directly from a SaaS provider means that they maintain the software, monitor issues, and fix bugs so you don’t have to. At FISCAL, our team do all this and develop the software continually. It is always evolving and keeping up with the latest technological developments.
Considerations for AP leaders
Before diving into building your own internal AI solution, ask the following questions:
- Security: Can it be hacked? Who tests it? Where is your data stored and who can see it?
- Cost: Are you truly saving money, once development and risks are factored in?
- Speed to value: Will it help this quarter, or next year? Will it realistically live up to the value of an alternative product?
- Opportunity cost: Could your team be doing more impactful work?
- Skill and maintenance: Do you have the internal knowledge to develop, test, and refine AI systems long term?
- Accountability: Who is responsible when AI fails? What happens when your expert leaves?
Conclusion: Choose confidence over experimentation
AI is powerful, but not yet plug-and-play for complex finance workflows. Instead of building from scratch, invest in a partner that delivers trusted, secure solutions with built-in intelligence and financial insight.
FISCAL gives you the power of AI without the pain of becoming a developer. Our software is already helping AP teams achieve fast ROI, reduce fraud risk, and cut cost.
Get results. Not risks. Let us help you protect your spend.
