Effectiveness in AP is as American as, well, apple pie

Posted by Diane Sears


It turns out the United States leads the way – at least for now – in effectiveness and efficiency in accounts payable. That’s according to the latest figures from the AP Productivity Index, a quarterly gauge of performance among AP shops worldwide.

Researchers from International Accounts Payable Professionals (IAPP), APQC, and PRGX raised their eyebrows at the results, which show the United States has the highest median score with 55.8 – a full 16.3 percent higher than the next-closest region, which is the rest of North and South America.

Could it be true? Especially when it’s long been known that Europe is ahead of the United States when it comes to implementing automation?

Yes, the researchers say. The biggest reason? Efficiencies of scale. The United States is simply larger, and it breeds larger companies. It’s easier to be more effective when you have bigger tools.

“In the United States, because of its geography, we have a huge domestic market,” says Evert Hulleman, who works in Advisory Services at PRGX, a business analytics and information services firm. “On average, American companies are bigger than companies around the world.”

The larger the company, the more it will lean toward a shared services center to gain efficiencies of scale, Hulleman says.

Our team is crunching numbers for the next AP Productivity Index figures, which will be released in a month or so, according to Mark Brousseau, our vice president of research at the IAPP, IARP, and TAWPI. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, the IAPP, APQC, and PRGX continue to enlist AP departments to participate in gathering research to create the quarterly index. Participating is as easy as pie. Sorry, I couldn’t resist – can you tell I’m still on a diet?

To learn more about the index, read the latest news article here. To get your AP department involved in producing this important measure for our industry, find out how here.