Top AP Trends to Know in 2026: Agentic AI, Global Compliance, Cash Intelligence, and More

With agentic AI, artificial intelligence (AI) is moving from pilot phase to fixture in top-performing accounts payable (AP) operations. Tax and e-invoicing mandates are making global invoicing compliance a real-time instead of periodic responsibility. AP teams, sitting on a wealth of valuable data, increasingly must  contribute forecasting and analysis – cash intelligence – that fuel bottom lines and resilience. Those are just a few of 2026’s top AP trends to watch and are helping drive the transformation of the AP function.

AP Trends and Predictions to Build Knowledge and Guide Strategy

Each year analysts at Ardent Partners put their heads, research, and observations  together to identify AP trends and make predictions for the times ahead. Their report, Accounts Payable 2026: BIG Trends and Predictions, goes beyond surveying the field to deliver recommendations that help organizations hone strategy and decision-making.

In this blog, we’ll examine some of the 10 AP trends and 20 predictions they see:

• Agentic AI has surpassed the pilot stage and become a foundational part of AP operations.
• Global invoicing compliance has become a continuous task requiring real-time auditing.
• AP data is rich in cash intelligence, helping drive forecasting and cash flow management.
• Tariff instability is here to stay, the year of “data cleansing,” and the death of checks.
• How all of the above are redefining AP’s role from basic invoice management to strategic hub.

Accounts Payable 2026: BIG Trends and Predictions

Explore key AP trends and predictions from Ardent Partners and learn strategies for your organization to take advantage.

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Has Agentic AI Moved from Test Project to Fixture?

For top-performing organizations, AI adoption has been a thoughtful, incremental process. But agentic AI – with its ability to work autonomously, make decisions, solve problems, and improve AP workflows – has significantly expanded the intelligence of their tools.

Agentic AI moves beyond flagging errors to scrutinizing discrepancies and communicating with suppliers for resolution. AP professionals can intervene and supply human judgment only when needed, while gaining time back for higher-level work. Making the most of agentic AI requires stable processes and mature AP data, so analysts recommend piloting the technology on forecasting and exception management before attempting broad adoption.

AI Enables and Fights AP Fraud on an Industrial Scale

The fraudsters haven’t gotten smarter; they’ve just obtained a powerful tool: AI. With AI-enabled fraud attempts exploding, AP teams must be continually vigilant for email compromise attacks, fake identities, and other sophisticated methods. The good news is that AI also can help neutralize bad actors, so seek integrated AP automation and B2B payment solutions with AI-fueled detection abilities.

How Can Businesses Manage Global Invoicing Compliance?

ViDA in Europe, CFD 4.0 in Mexico, and InvoiceNow in Singapore are just some of the e-invoicing frameworks coming in across the globe, and they make global invoicing compliance a responsibility AP teams cannot escape. To handle diverse mandates and digital structures, the AP function must be gatekeepers for global invoicing compliance, integrating checks into invoice management and B2B payment processes to ensure every transaction satisfies local requirements. They also must ensure their solutions can adjust in real time as requirements shift — because they will.

Audits Must Shift to Real Time Instead of Retroactive

Annual audits and the monthly and quarterly closing of the books once consumed AP operations. AI-fueled solutions now can autonomously provide continuous auditing of transactions, making validation a part of daily AP workflows. As a result of this evolution, audit is shifting from backward-looking to a constant occurrence while simplifying global invoicing compliance and elevating AP fraud detection.

What Can AP Contribute to Cash Intelligence?

AP teams are awash in valuable data that can boost the cash intelligence of organizations. But key steps are required to make the most of the information and strengthen forecasts and analysis. First, they must take ownership of the data and adopt a strategy-focused mindset instead of being passive processors. Second, they must move to ensure AP data is accurate, available, and actionable.

B2B Payments Are a Strategic Source of Intelligence and Collaboration

With AP and treasury working together, organizations can mine AP data for payables information that lets them optimize working capital and take advantage of early payment discounts. By strengthening the links between the two functions, it’s another opportunity for AP to be strategic, bottom-line contributors.

What Other Trends Should AP Professionals Be Watching?

Ardent Partners analysts cover extensive AP ground in their 10 trends and 20 predictions. You can explore them in the report and gain insights by watching a recent webinar featuring Ardent Partners founder and chief research officer Andrew Bartolini, SAP Concur experts, and an AP industry veteran. Read on for a quick look at several that could be relevant to your organization.

2026: The Year to Clean Up Your Organization’s AP Data

It’s challenging for AP teams to maximize the benefits of intelligent automation and strengthen forecasting if data isn’t complete, accessible, and accurate. They cannot be effective partners with treasury, procurement, and others if AP data is fragmented and outdated, a challenge integrated platforms can overcome. Businesses should make 2026 the year to cleanse AP data and establish strong data governance.

AP Can Help Businesses Navigate Tariff Instability

By collaborating with procurement and finance, AP teams can help businesses manage the unpredictability of U.S. tariffs. AP is well positioned to help establish the true, final price of goods instead of just the negotiated price. They can become a “verification” anchor that ensures businesses don’t overpay or underpay tariffs, bringing accuracy and some predictability amid the instability.

Paper Checks Are Close to an Extinction Event

Paper checks are closer to fulfilling long-made predictions that their death is near. With the high costs and fraud risks  involved, it’s time for organizations to give them a shove. By phasing out the paper B2B payment, organizations can close the last gap in their digital payment strategies and gain speed, security, and integrated AP data.

Accounts Payable 2026: BIG Trends and Predictions

Discover important AP trends and forecasts from Ardent Partners and find out how your organization can leverage these strategies for success.

Get the report

Conclusion: AP Role Shifts from Moving Invoices to Moving Insights

To navigate agentic AI, global invoicing compliance, cash intelligence, and other challenges and opportunities, AP teams and their organizations require a new perspective of the function and the skills needed to perform it. AI has now accelerated the pace of evolution, and modern AP operations require:

• An organizational mindset that values experience and the ability to navigate and maintain relationships, rather than seeing AI and automation as just workforce-reduction tools.
• AP professionals who are data-fluent, strategic advisers who can interpret AI-powered insights. This progression will necessitate reskilling existing employees and recruiting for analytic and communication skills.
• Leaders capable of managing complex digital AP workflows, fostering cross-functional relationships, and aligning AP goals with the organization’s holistic financial objectives.

As Bartolini observes: “The rise of the AP function into a professionally managed, strategic operation is no longer a prediction, it is a requirement.”

Watch On-Demand: AP BIG Trends and Predictions

Hear from industry experts how your accounts payable team can become a strategic hub for efficiency, insight, and control.

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FAQ: What Will 2026 Bring for AP?

Q: What are the key AP trends for 2026?

A: Agentic AI, real-time global invoicing compliance, AP-driven cash intelligence, and tariff volatility are among the trends reshaping AP into a strategic business function.

Q: How has agentic AI changed accounts payable?

A: Agentic AI now can autonomously resolve discrepancies, engage suppliers, and support AP fraud prevention, allowing AP teams to focus on judgment, global invoicing compliance, and higher-value strategic work.

Q: Why is global invoicing compliance now continuous?

A: New mandates such as ViDA, CFD 4.0, and InvoiceNow require real-time validation, requiring AP to embed compliance checks directly into invoice and B2B payment workflows.

Q: What role does AI play in audits and AP fraud prevention?

A: AI enables continuous auditing and advanced fraud detection, shifting AP from periodic, backward-looking reviews to constant, automated validation of transactions.

Q: How does AP contribute to cash intelligence?

A: With accurate, accessible data, AP strengthens forecasting, improves cash flow visibility, and partners with treasury to optimize working capital and B2B payment timing.

Q: How is AP’s role fundamentally changing?

A: AI, data, and global invoicing compliance demands are pushing AP beyond invoice processing into a professionally managed, insight-driven function critical to an organization’s financial strategy.