Outdated Finance Processes Are Limiting Business Growth, Say 70% of UK Finance Professionals

Nearly half (47%) of UK finance teams still rely on manual or mostly manual AP processes, as global complexity and economic volatility increase pressure

LONDON, Oct. 28, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Tipalti, the AI-powered platform for finance automation, today released The Global Finance Outlook: Are Teams Equipped for Today's Economy?, revealing that many UK finance teams are struggling to keep pace with the rising complexity of global business.

The UK-focused report, a subset of the broader Global Finance Outlook, is based on feedback from over 600 finance professionals. It highlights how global business complexity, outdated accounts payable (AP) systems, tariffs, and evolving regulations are creating critical risks for organisations. Despite a push for greater strategic influence, many UK finance leaders remain constrained by manual, inefficient systems that slow decision-making, limit growth, and wear down morale.

Key findings include:

• External Pressures Are Disrupting Growth: Economic uncertainty and geopolitical shifts are weighing heavily on UK businesses. More than half (51%) of UK finance professionals say U.S.-related tariffs are directly impacting their international growth plans, while almost a third (29%) report delays in financial decision-making due to budget or headcount adjustments. Only 16% say their organisation has avoided economic impact, underscoring the widespread ripple effect of external pressures on operational agility.
  
  
• Operational Inefficiencies Are Holding Businesses Back: Manual finance processes remain a major obstacle to scalability. Just 6% of UK companies have fully automated their AP operations, while 47% still rely on mostly or entirely manual workflows. As a result, 70% of finance professionals believe this lack of automation could limit their company's ability to scale or grow.
  
  Digging deeper, the report shows the day-to-day consequences of inefficient, manual AP processes, including time spent: resolving errors (40%), processing and coding invoices (32%), chasing invoice approvals (32%), reconciling payments (31%), communication gaps between departments (31%), and dealing with mismatched POs and invoices (30%).
  
  
• Global Expansion Adds to Compliance Complexity: As UK organisations expand abroad, two-thirds (65%) of finance professionals struggle to manage global suppliers in shifting regulatory environments, and 44% admit they lack a clear global compliance roadmap as they scale.

Rob Israch, President of Tipalti, comments on the findings: "Automating accounts payable isn't just about efficiency, it's about unlocking strategic agility. In today's volatile economic landscape, manual processes slow decision-making and limit scalability. As UK businesses navigate both global pressures and internal constraints, the message is clear: manual AP processes are no longer sustainable. Intelligent automation is not just a tool for efficiency, it's a strategic imperative for growth, resilience, and talent retention."

Automation as a Catalyst for Growth and Resilience
Nearly a third (29%) say manual processes have caused errors in financial deliverables, and 26% report compliance and risk issues, which slow down operations and contribute to rising frustration. Shockingly, it is having a negative impact on team morale (27%) and driving greater employee turnover (20%).

However, automation is helping finance leaders build more resilient, future-ready teams. 83% of finance professionals agree that automation supports long-term business goals, and 73% say it helps retain skilled finance talent—critical in a competitive hiring environment.

Teams Embracing Automation Are Seeing the Benefit
Encouragingly, UK finance teams are beginning to embrace change. 59% have fully or partially implemented AI tools, and their top investment priorities for the coming year include AI (33%), AP automation (33%), and fraud detection (24%). Even more promising, 60% of finance professionals say they have a clear plan to modernise AP within the next 12 months.

The benefits are tangible. Teams that have adopted automation report time savings (54%), cost reductions (36%), and productivity gains (34%) without increasing headcount. Automation is also enabling faster invoice processing, improved fraud detection, fewer payment errors, and quicker month-end close, freeing finance teams to focus on strategic analysis rather than transaction processing.

To read the UK-focused report, a subset of the broader The Global Finance Outlook: Are Teams Equipped for Today's Economy? in full, visit here.

Research Methodology
The Global Finance Outlook survey was conducted in partnership with Kickstand between July 10 and August 1, 2025. A total of 2,326 respondents were surveyed across Canada, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States, who work full-time for a company with at least 20 employees as finance professionals across titles and roles covering the breadth of the function.

About Tipalti
Tipalti is the AI-powered platform for finance automation, elevating how finance teams operate in the global economy. We empower our customers to scale faster and smarter by removing the complexities of doing global business and accelerating their finance operations efficiency. Our platform provides a comprehensive suite of finance automation solutions designed for mid-market businesses across accounts payable, global payouts, procurement, employee expenses, corporate cards, supplier management, tax compliance, and treasury. Tipalti partners with leading financial institutions such as Citi, Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan, and Visa, enabling over 5,000 global companies to efficiently and securely pay millions of suppliers and payees across 200+ countries and territories, in 120 currencies. For more information, visit tipalti.com.

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