Frequently asked questions

Accounting firms often grow by adding people. A new client means more documents, more communication — and sooner or later, another accountant.

This model is beginning to run into two fundamental problems:

• a shortage of qualified accounting talent,
• and a growing volume of routine work that keeps margins under pressure.

Across Europe, attracting and retaining accounting talent is already a structural challenge. ACCA describes longstanding skills and talent shortages in the profession, while its European talent research also points to considerable employee mobility and retention pressure. (source: ACCA Global)

But the capacity pressure on accounting firms is no longer just a recruitment issue.

Technology, automation and AI are changing which parts of accounting work genuinely require qualified people — and which parts can increasingly be handled by systems.

Value the Time of Scarce, Qualified People

Not every new client creates the same workload for an accounting firm.

One client delivers documents on time and in the right format. Another requires searching, reminders, manual sorting and repeated corrections.

All of this consumes accounting capacity that should be used for higher-impact work: ensuring accounting accuracy, resolving exceptions, improving data quality, checking VAT treatment, communicating with clients, preparing the close or explaining unusual costs.

The real capacity of an accounting firm therefore depends not only on the number of clients, but on how much manual work each client creates.

If accountants are difficult to recruit, the main question is no longer only “Where do we find another person?”

It is also: “What kind of work are we using the people we already have for?”

E-Invoicing Reduces Part of the Input Chaos

The EU defines an electronic invoice as an invoice that has been issued, transmitted and received in a structured electronic format that allows for its automatic and electronic processing.

For accounting firms, the crucial word is structured.

An invoice no longer has to arrive only as a PDF that somebody opens, reads and re-enters.

Increasingly, it can arrive as data that a system can read, validate and pass into the next stage of the process.

That can reduce some of the work that currently consumes accounting firms’ time:

• manually re-keying invoice data,
• checking data extracted imperfectly from PDFs,
• searching for basic information,
• sorting documents by client or accounting period,
• repeatedly correcting the same fields.

At EU level, EN 16931 provides the common semantic standard for structured e-invoices. ViDA will make EN 16931-based structured e-invoicing central to intra-EU B2B transactions from 1 July 2030, while domestic requirements can differ between Member States. (source: Taxation and Customs Union)

Peppol is important in this transition as one of the major infrastructures through which businesses and systems can securely exchange structured electronic invoices.

For an accounting firm, however, the practical impact matters more than the infrastructure itself: more invoices can arrive in a form that software can process earlier, more accurately and with less manual input.

Recommended reading

E-Invoicing in the EU: How Peppol Works and Why It Is About Data, Not Documents

See how Peppol is changing electronic invoicing in Europe and why moving from PDFs to structured data also changes financial processes themselves.

E-invoicing, however, cannot end with invoice delivery.

A structured invoice does not tell you whether an expense has been approved, which project it belongs to, who needs to provide context or whether the transaction represents an exception.

That is why the value of an accounting firm will increasingly lie in the process around the document, not simply in processing the document itself.

Where the Real Value of an Accounting Firm Lies

Accounting firms do not need to recruit more people simply so they can continue re-keying information, correcting the same errors and chasing clients for missing details.

They need to protect the capacity of qualified accountants for work that creates real value for the client.

E-invoicing can help by moving part of the input routine from accountants’ desks into the system: an invoice arrives as structured data rather than as a document that first needs to be manually interpreted.

Ardent Partners reported that the average AP organisation spent USD 9.40 to process a single invoice in 2024, including invoice receipt, processing, approval, people, technology and operating costs.

This is not a European accounting-firm benchmark, so it should not be read as one. But it illustrates an important principle: every manual intermediate step has a cost — and that cost multiplies with document volume.

A similar principle can be seen in the case of accounting firm SMEyo.

This was not an e-invoicing implementation. It was a digitalisation project for document processing with Wflow.

Documents stopped being manually sorted and physically searched for. Instead, they were automatically stored, extracted and prepared for further processing.

The result was a 70% time saving per document, allowing senior accountants to spend more time on professional work rather than invoice re-keying.  

What Accounting Firms Should Do Now

Preparing for e-invoicing does not have to begin with a technical implementation.

The first step should be an audit of the current process.

An accounting firm should map out for its clients:

• how documents arrive,
• how many channels each client uses,
• where information is missing,
• who approves expenses,
• which errors occur repeatedly,
• how much work happens before actual accounting begins,
• which steps should be handled by software.

The audit has one main purpose: identify where accountants’ time is being wasted unnecessarily.

Not everything can be automated immediately.

But it often becomes clear very quickly that a significant amount of work does not arise because the accounting itself is difficult. It arises because of poorly designed document flows between the client, approvers and the accounting firm.

Only then does it make sense to address automated document intake, classification, approvals, audit trails, exception handling and transfer into the accounting system.

For firms that want to go further than invoice intake alone, Wflow Accounting Autopilot shows how AI can automate routine document processing while keeping accountants in control of exceptions and decisions.

Wflow Makes Accounting Firms More Efficient

Wflow helps accounting firms reduce the amount of manual work between the client, the document and the accounting system.

Documents are collected in one place, automatically classified and enriched with the necessary context.

They are sent for approval, checked and passed on into the accounting process.

This means accounting teams spend less time searching through emails, chasing clients and manually checking which documents are ready for processing.

For the broader direction of this development, see also Accounting Routine Belongs to AI. Decision-Making Stays Human.

Want to find out where your accounting firm loses the most time before the actual accounting work even begins?

Let’s look at the document flow from your clients to the accounting system and identify where Wflow can help with intake, approvals, control and exception handling.

CFOs do not need to understand every technical detail of e-invoicing and Peppol. They do not need to know exactly how a Peppol Access Point works, how every data field is formatted or how different technical specifications for electronic documents compare.

But they do need to understand what happens to invoice data after introducing e-invoicing and Peppol — and how to turn that change into an advantage for the business.

E-invoicing represents a broader shift from invoices as documents to invoices as structured data. Peppol is one of the major infrastructures enabling the exchange of this data between businesses and systems.

>> Further reading: What Is Peppol? Why E-Invoicing Is Moving From Documents to Data 

The European context matters here. Member States have different domestic e-invoicing requirements, while the EU’s ViDA reform introduces mandatory e-invoicing-based digital reporting for relevant cross-border B2B transactions from 1 July 2030. Peppol is an important European exchange network, but it is not the only permitted infrastructure across the EU.

For CFOs, e-invoicing and Peppol matter because they can change the moment when invoices become usable financial data. That affects when a company sees its liabilities, how quickly it can work with costs and how reliable its data are for decision-making.

CFOs Don't Need to Know How Peppol Works Technically

In many companies, invoices still arrive primarily as PDFs. Someone opens, reads, re-enters, forwards, approves and posts the invoice — and only then does it become part of the financial picture.

Until that point, it may be sitting in an inbox, a folder, an approval queue or simply in someone’s head.

Structured e-invoicing changes this principle. Instead of arriving only as a document intended for a person, an invoice can arrive as structured data that a system can read immediately , validate and feed into the next process.

The European e-invoicing standard EN 16931 defines a common semantic data model for core invoice information, supporting interoperability between systems.

And that is a CFO issue. Not the technical format itself, but its impact on the quality and availability of financial data.

Four Reasons Why E-Invoicing and Peppol Matter to CFOs

1. Data Quality

When an invoice arrives as structured data, the company becomes less dependent on manual re-entry.

That alone does not guarantee perfect accounting, but it creates a better starting point: more consistent information about suppliers, amounts, due dates, VAT and invoice line items.

For CFOs, data quality is fundamental. If the inputs are inaccurate, reporting will always be a more sophisticated interpretation of a flawed foundation.

Peppol can help move invoices from documents that someone has to read into data inputs that systems can process earlier and more consistently.

2. Faster Decision-Making

Financial management often suffers because even when a company has good data, those data only become visible after the fact.

Liabilities enter the financial picture only after manual processing, approval or posting. Costs become visible retrospectively. Reporting waits for the end of the process rather than showing what is happening in the business as it happens.

Structured e-invoicing can bring that moment forward.

If an invoice arrives as structured data and the company has the right workflow in place, a liability can become visible before it appears in the month-end close.

3. Cash Flow Visibility

For a CFO, an invoice is not merely an accounting document. It represents a future cash outflow.

The later an invoice enters the system, the longer the company manages cash flow using an outdated picture.

The liability already exists, but it is not visible in the right report. The supplier is waiting for payment, yet finance may not have a clear view of what has been approved, when payment is due or who is responsible.

Structured e-invoicing can improve liability visibility, but only when it is connected to invoice approvals and accounting workflows  and reporting.

Otherwise, only the delivery method changes — not how the company manages its money.

4. Process Control

For CFOs, Peppol can be the starting point for much better control over what actually happens to invoices inside the business.

It becomes easier to understand who approved an invoice, where a process stalled, which documents are waiting for an exception to be resolved, which liabilities have already arisen and where risks or delays are accumulating.

Combined with Wflow, structured e-invoicing can become part of a wider control layer across the financial process.

The CFO no longer needs to wait until documents have been manually located, re-entered and posted. They can monitor the process continuously and manage finance based on what is happening now, rather than only after the month-end close.

The Biggest Risk: Delegating Peppol as a Purely Technical Project

If a company implements structured invoice reception, meets the relevant requirements but changes almost nothing internally, it misses an opportunity to make its accounting and finance operations more efficient.

Invoices still sit in queues. Approvals remain difficult to track. Cost centres are still completed manually. And CFOs continue receiving data too late, even though invoices now arrive through a more modern channel.

IT can handle the integration, but finance leadership must define the operational outcome the change is supposed to deliver.

1. Will we see liabilities earlier than we do today?
2. Will we reduce manual accounting work between invoice receipt and posting ?
3. Will the quality of reporting data improve?
4. Will invoice approvals become faster?
5. Will we have a clear audit trail and accountability for financial decisions ?
6. How will exceptions be handled?

These questions matter more than the technical configuration. E-invoicing creates an opportunity for CFOs to improve how their company is managed.

Want to find out whether your company treats e-invoicing as a format requirement or an opportunity to improve its financial processes?

Let’s examine your current invoice workflow and identify where structured data could deliver faster approvals, stronger control and clearer reporting.

FAQ

Why Should CFOs Care About Peppol?

CFOs do not need to understand Peppol’s technical configuration, but they should understand its impact on financial management.

Peppol can influence when invoice data become available, how quickly liabilities become visible, how reliable reporting inputs are and how much manual work remains between invoice receipt and accounting.

Is Peppol Just a Technical Topic for IT or Accountants?

IT, the accounting team or a software provider can handle the technical integration.

But the CFO should determine what the change must achieve for the business: faster approvals, better liability control, higher-quality reporting, an audit trail and less dependence on manual invoice processing.

How Is Peppol Related to E-Invoicing?

E-invoicing is the broader shift towards invoices in structured, machine-readable form.

Peppol is an infrastructure that enables the secure exchange of structured electronic documents between businesses and systems.

For CFOs, what matters most is what happens to invoice data once they reach the company.

Is Peppol Mandatory Across Europe?

No. E-invoicing requirements vary by country and transaction type. The EU’s ViDA reform introduces harmonised requirements for relevant cross-border B2B transactions from July 2030, but does not make Peppol the sole mandatory transmission network.

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Wflow Accounting Autopilot is an AI layer for automating routine document processing.

It automatically collects, classifies, reads and checks documents, prepares them for accounting and highlights where accounting expertise is needed.

Accountants step in mainly where experience, control or decision-making is required.

For modern companies, this shift matters for a simple reason: the volume of documents, data and control requirements is growing faster than the capacity of finance teams.

If accounting is expected to support business management rather than merely process administration retrospectively, routine work needs to move from accountants’ desks into automated workflows.

What Accounting Autopilot Does

Accounting Autopilot covers the document journey from receipt through to preparation for accounting.

After receiving a document, it recognises and classifies it, extracts data, checks their accuracy, flags inconsistencies and prepares an accounting entry.

The document is then ready to be sent to the ERP or accounting system.

Why Accounting Autopilot Exists and Who It Is For

Accounting routine needs to be automated not because it is unimportant, but because it unnecessarily consumes the time of people who should be creating greater value for the company.

Accounting Autopilot is being developed because data extraction alone is no longer enough.

An invoice should not end as a completed set of fields that accountants still need to process manually.

It should move through the whole process: from receipt through checks and accounting suggestions to a clear signal showing whether it can continue automatically or requires human expertise.

A single simple document can involve several manual steps today: finding it in an inbox or folder, identifying who it belongs to, retyping information, adding an account, cost centre or project, checking it and passing it on.

For one document, this may seem minor.

Across hundreds or thousands of documents every month, those small steps become a significant process burden.

Accounting Autopilot gradually reduces that burden.

Standard documents move through the process almost independently, while accountants step in where their experience actually adds value: exceptions, ambiguity, inconsistencies or sensitive cases.

How Accounting Autopilot Works

Accounting Autopilot is built around five main functions: Smart Inbox, Data Extraction, Dynamic Accounting, Validation and Control, and the Traffic Light.

Together, these functions cover the entire document lifecycle from receipt to the decision on whether it can continue automatically.

1. Smart Inbox Classifies All Incoming Documents

Smart Inbox automatically collects incoming documents, recognises their type and assigns them to the correct client or folder.

Invoices, receipts, contracts and emails no longer remain scattered across different inboxes, folders and attachments.

The aim is for accountants not to begin their day sorting through incoming mail and searching for what arrived.

Documents are ready for processing immediately after receipt.

2. Data Extraction Ends Manual Re-Keying

Data Extraction automatically reads important information from invoices and documents: amounts, VAT, suppliers, due dates and other fields.

Accountants only check the extracted information and correct it if necessary.

Feedback matters as well.

When an accountant corrects a value, the system learns from that correction for similar documents in the future.

A correction therefore becomes more than a one-off task.

It becomes an investment in the accuracy of future processing.

3. Dynamic Accounting Suggests the Accounting Entry

Dynamic Accounting pre-fills the account, cost centre or project based on how the company processed similar documents in the past.

The Autopilot therefore does not rely only on a universal rule.

It learns from the real history and habits of the specific company.

For a known supplier, the system can immediately suggest the usual accounting treatment.

Recurring cases are processed more consistently, and new team members can understand the company’s usual accounting practice faster.

4. Validation and Control Find Errors Before They Become Problems

Validation checks for inconsistencies before posting.

It runs in the background and only requires accountant attention when the process reaches step 5.

It can flag:

• a duplicate invoice,
• an unusual amount,
• a change in the bank account of a known supplier,
• or another pattern that deviates from normal operations.

5. The Traffic Light Shows Where Human Attention Is Needed

The Traffic Light is the final stage of the control layer.

For each document, it shows how confident AI is about the individual steps and what should happen next.

A green document can continue automatically.

An amber document needs only a quick check.

A red document means something does not fit and the document requires accountant review.

This means the team does not need to check everything with the same intensity.

It can focus attention where it is genuinely needed.

The Traffic Light separates documents that can continue automatically from cases where accountant involvement has real impact.

Routine invoices do not need to wait for manual review.

But a changed supplier bank account, an unusual amount, incorrect VAT treatment or a recurring error for a particular client is sent directly to a person.

Accountants therefore no longer deal only with whether “the document is correct”.

They can actively help the business: flag a risky supplier, identify duplicate or suspicious invoices, standardise accounting across the team, accelerate month-end preparation, explain unusual expenditure to management or suggest better rules for the future.

That is no longer document re-keying.

That is financial control.

What Wflow Accounting Autopilot Brings to Companies

Accounting Autopilot has clear goals:

1. reduce the cost of document processing,
2. increase team capacity without additional hiring,
3. accelerate closing and reporting,
4. reduce errors,
5. and give finance teams more time for management rather than operations.

For accounting firms, this means the ability to serve more clients with the same team and improve margins.

For small companies, less administration and better financial control.

For mid-sized companies, the ability to grow without routine work increasing at the same pace.

For large and international companies, greater standardisation, better data-quality control and scalable finance operations without adding further complexity.

This is therefore not only about faster document processing.

It is about increasing the capacity of the finance team.

Routine work shrinks while the space for control, exceptions, financial management and decision-making grows.

Control Remains With Accountants

Accounting Autopilot is not built on the idea that AI should be given free rein.

Quite the opposite.

Its principle is that AI prepares suggestions and people make the decisions.

Every record should remain auditable.

Accountants can see what AI did and why.

AI learns from the specific company’s data, while sensitive or disputed cases are automatically routed for review.

For every suggestion, it should be possible to trace what the AI based it on.

This matters because accounting is not merely an administrative process.

It has legal, tax and financial consequences.

Accounting Autopilot is therefore not designed to automate responsibility.

It is designed to automate the routine work that prevents accountants from focusing on responsible work.

How the Rollout Will Work

Wflow Accounting Autopilot is being rolled out gradually.

Each new function is intended to take over another part of manual work without forcing companies to redesign their existing processes or make one major change at once.

Right now, we are improving data extraction using Wflow AI, and Smart Inbox will launch in autumn 2026.

Further stages will follow over the coming months.

There is a practical reason for the gradual rollout.

Companies do not introduce AI into every step at once.

They gradually learn what the system can do, where it provides the greatest benefit and where human control should remain.

FAQ

What Is Accounting Autopilot?

Accounting Autopilot is an AI layer in Wflow that automates routine document processing from receipt through to preparation for accounting.

It classifies, reads and checks documents, suggests accounting entries and shows where accountant intervention is required.

Does Accounting Autopilot Replace the Accounting System?

No.

Wflow does not replace your accounting system.

It works as an AI layer above the existing accounting or ERP system and prepares documents so they can continue to be processed in the environment you already use.

Who Keeps Control of the Decision?

Control remains with the accounting team.

AI prepares suggestions, but the final decision remains with a person.

Sensitive or disputed cases are automatically routed for review.

Want to find out how much routine work Accounting Autopilot could take over in your accounting process?

Book a Wflow demo and see how AI can prepare documents, check exceptions and keep the final decision in your hands.