With 82% of enterprises investing significantly in B2B payment automation, CFOs are rethinking how payments, procurement and treasury work together. From optimising supplier payment terms to improving liquidity and cash flow visibility, payment innovation is becoming a strategic tool for unlocking working capital and strengthening financial performance.
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Working capital remains at the centre of the CFO agenda. Persistent economic pressure, uneven payment cycles and the cost of financing are forcing finance leaders to look beyond balance-sheet management towards the operational processes determining how efficiently cash moves through the business.
The American Express CFO Survey 2026 shows that cash flow and finance management now accounts for 74% of the CFO remit, up from 65%. Financing is top of mind for 51% of executives, while working capital or top-line growth is a priority for 34%. In response, 64% intend to improve cash flow forecasting and 60% plan to optimise working capital, both markedly higher than the previous year.
Increasingly, those efforts extend into the payment infrastructure connecting finance with procurement and suppliers. Some 82% of enterprises surveyed agree they are making significant investments in B2B payment automation, positioning payments not simply as the final step in procurement, but as an active working capital lever.
Traditional procurement models often separate commercial negotiation from financial execution. Procurement negotiates price, supplier relationships and contractual terms; finance manages liquidity and accounts payable; payments execute the resulting obligation.
Working capital optimisation increasingly requires those functions to operate as a connected system.
A supplier agreement securing the lowest unit price does not necessarily create the strongest financial outcome if its payment terms constrain liquidity. Equally, extending terms indiscriminately can improve days payable outstanding (DPO) while transferring financial pressure onto strategically important suppliers.
Gartner argues that optimising payment terms requires procurement organisations to balance supplier relationships with cash flow objectives rather than treating the two independently.
In a connected model, procurement decisions establish future cash commitments; accounts payable provides visibility into upcoming obligations; forecasting determines the expected liquidity position; and payment infrastructure controls when funds leave the organisation.
The result is a continuous working capital loop:
Procurement commitment -> AP obligation -> cash forecast -> liquidity assessment -> payment decision -> supplier settlement
Rather than optimising procurement and treasury independently, finance teams can manage the procure-to-pay cycle as part of the organisation’s wider liquidity architecture.
This transition is already accelerating.
The American Express research finds that 82% of organisations agree they are making significant investments in automating B2B payments, while 83% say they have completed the automation process. The most frequently identified benefits are better cash flow and liquidity (49%), greater efficiency (49%), faster payments (45%) and lower costs (43%).
The operational dividend comes from removing friction between an approved obligation and its eventual settlement.
Manual payment environments introduce multiple touchpoints across invoice receipt, validation, approval, reconciliation and execution. Automation can connect these stages, reducing manual intervention while giving finance greater visibility into when cash is scheduled to leave the business.
External research points in the same direction. The 2025 AFP Digital Payments Survey found that reduced manual processes were the most frequently cited benefit of payments technology, identified by 81% of respondents, followed by reductions in fraud and errors at 74% and enhanced AP process automation at 63%.
For CFOs, however, process efficiency is only one part of the equation. The greater opportunity lies in connecting payment execution directly to liquidity management.
Working capital pressures are changing the tools CFOs deploy when capital becomes constrained.
Among executives surveyed by American Express, the proportion turning to improved forecasting to address a potential lack of working capital has risen from 32% to 44%, while the proportion increasing automation has climbed from 32% to 43%. More broadly, 64% identify improving cash flow forecasting as an important strategy.
These capabilities become considerably more powerful when connected.
A cash forecast provides visibility over expected liquidity. Procurement provides visibility over future commercial commitments. Accounts payable establishes when those commitments become payable. Payment infrastructure determines when cash actually leaves the organisation.
Instead of executing supplier payments according to static batch schedules, finance can assess upcoming obligations against current and projected liquidity. Where cash positions are strong, organisations may have greater scope to capture early-payment economics or accelerate settlement for strategic suppliers. Where liquidity tightens, finance and procurement can evaluate payment timing and commercial priorities together within agreed contractual terms.
PwC’s 2025 Global Treasury Survey similarly highlights centralised payment models, real-time liquidity tools and AI-enhanced forecasting among the approaches being used by treasury organisations to improve working capital management.
Closer integration also changes the relationship between finance and procurement.
Procurement decisions influence working capital long before an invoice reaches accounts payable. Contract terms establish payment windows. Supplier selection determines concentration and continuity risks. Negotiations influence opportunities for discounts, while purchasing patterns shape future cash requirements.
Finance therefore has an incentive to become involved earlier in the procurement cycle, while procurement increasingly requires visibility into the financial consequences of commercial decisions.
This does not mean maximising DPO at every opportunity. American Express’s survey identifies a relatively tight DPO-to-DSO split of 54% to 46%, alongside competing pressures around the timing of supplier and customer payments.
A more integrated finance-procurement model instead allows organisations to segment supplier strategies.
Strategic suppliers, smaller businesses and vendors exposed to liquidity pressure may require different approaches from large suppliers with stronger balance sheets. Similarly, suppliers offering economically attractive early-payment discounts can be evaluated differently from those where preserving buyer liquidity creates greater value.
Digital payment infrastructure makes that segmentation more practical. Procurement can categorise suppliers according to strategic importance, contractual terms, financial resilience and available discounts. Finance can overlay those categories with forecast liquidity to determine an appropriate settlement strategy.
When liquidity is strong, accelerated payment may allow the business to capture attractive discounts or support strategically important suppliers. When liquidity is constrained, flexible contractual terms can preserve cash. Routine payments can meanwhile be automated for settlement at the appropriate contractual date.
Payment timing consequently becomes a commercial decision rather than simply an administrative one.
Greater automation also increases the importance of governance.
More than half (54%) of CFOs in the American Express survey identify regulatory compliance, transparency and accountability as the most critical aspect of payment innovation strategy.
Automated payment environments therefore require clear approval thresholds, auditable transaction histories and controls governing exceptions. Procurement data, supplier records and payment instructions must remain synchronised, while finance needs visibility into both committed expenditure and executed cash movements.
Transparency becomes particularly important where organisations introduce supplier finance arrangements. S&P Global Ratings notes that these programmes can support working capital for customers and suppliers, while warning that insufficient transparency can obscure the financial effects of extended payment terms.
Payment innovation should consequently increase visibility rather than simply increase speed.
Working capital management has traditionally required CFOs to balance competing objectives: preserving buyer liquidity, maintaining supplier relationships and ensuring operational continuity. Payment automation does not remove those tensions. It provides more precise mechanisms for managing them.
The strategic opportunity comes from connecting the functions controlling different stages of the cash conversion cycle.
Procurement determines commercial commitments and supplier terms. Forecasting establishes future liquidity. Accounts payable validates obligations. Payment infrastructure controls settlement. Connecting those layers gives CFOs greater ability to determine when capital should remain inside the business and when deploying it creates greater commercial value.
With 82% of organisations already investing significantly in B2B payment automation, the competitive distinction is shifting from whether payments are digitised towards how intelligently that infrastructure is deployed.
For finance leaders, closer integration with procurement moves payment strategy beyond back-office efficiency. It turns the procure-to-pay cycle into an active working capital mechanism, balancing liquidity, supplier resilience and commercial opportunity across the enterprise.