Tips and Tricks

The Commercial Payments Bill would cap most UK business payment terms at 60 days, with a new power to shorten that limit later, make statutory late payment interest impossible to contract out of, and let the Small Business Commissioner investigate and fine persistent late payers. It is not yet law. For buyers, the practical shift is that payment performance becomes something you must evidence, not something you describe.

Most accounts payable controls frameworks are written for organisations with an internal audit function and a segregation-of-duties matrix nobody in a ten-person finance team can staff. This is a proportionate version: supplier verification, bank detail change control, realistic segregation of duties, three-way match, dual authorisation, reconciliation, and audit trail, built for UK SMEs rather than SOX compliance.

The UK government has confirmed Peppol as the framework behind mandatory B2B and B2G e-invoicing from April 2029. The decision settles how structured invoices will move between businesses. It also reshapes what an accounts payable network needs to do, well before the mandate takes effect.

Paying suppliers abroad adds currency, cost, timing and verification challenges that domestic payments do not have. Here is a practical guide for UK finance teams on managing multi-currency supplier payments without losing control of cost or fraud risk.

A change of supplier bank details is the single most exploited moment in accounts payable fraud. Here are five red flags that a request is not genuine, and the simple checks UK finance teams should run before sending money to a new account.

Making Tax Digital and accounts payable are usually treated separately, but they depend on the same thing: clean, digital, well-structured records. Here is how MTD connects to AP, where the overlap with e-invoicing sits, and why getting supplier data right serves both.

UK e-invoicing is moving from consultation towards a mandate, and accounts payable teams that prepare early will treat it as an upgrade rather than a scramble. Here is a practical readiness guide: what is coming, what PEPPOL means in practice, and the steps to take now.

The EU Digital Identity Wallet is rolling out across member states, and it will change how European counterparties prove who they are. Here is a practical timeline and what UK businesses trading in Europe should do now to be ready to accept and verify wallet-based credentials.

eIDAS 2.0 introduces a European Digital Identity Wallet and verifiable credentials that will reshape how businesses prove who they are. Here is what it means for B2B supplier verification, why portable identity matters for accounts payable, and where UK businesses fit.

PSD3 and the EU Payment Services Regulation are reshaping payments in Europe, while the UK pursues its own reforms through the FCA and the Payment Systems Regulator. Here is what the changes mean for UK accounts payable, and why the acronyms are easy to confuse.