If you already use an ERP to manage your property accounting, you might think your tech stack is in a good place. After all, your ERP tracks budgets, tenants, and financials across your portfolio. But when it comes to processing invoices, managing approvals, and paying suppliers, our real estate customers find their ERP alone can’t keep up.
That’s where accounts payable (AP) automation comes in. Instead of replacing your ERP, it extends what your ERP can do: helping you process invoices faster, pay suppliers on time, and scale your property portfolio without adding headcount, among other things.
Let’s look at how they work together and why real estate and property management companies are using both to scale their companies and navigate changing market conditions.
What is an ERP?
Your ERP (enterprise resource planning) system is designed to manage business processes across finance, HR, procurement, inventory, and more. For property managers and real estate companies, ERPs bring structure to day-to-day operations and provide insight into property performance.
But AP functionality within ERPs is often pretty basic—it’s focused on recording transactions rather than eliminating manual work. If you’re managing thousands of invoices from landscapers, plumbers, HVAC technicians, and utility providers every month across dozens or even hundreds of properties, then those invoices can span several bank accounts, approval chains, and ownership entities.
In other words, your ERP keeps your books balanced, but it might not be enough to handle the volume and complexity of modern real estate payables.
What Is AP Automation?
AP automation digitizes the entire invoice-to-pay process. Platforms like AvidXchange capture, code, route, and can even pay invoices automatically, while syncing all that data back to your ERP in real time.
AP automation has a narrow focus: it can help manage your payables, but it doesn’t work if you ditch your ERP for an Excel sheet. Instead of managing your day-to-day real estate operations like an ERP, AP automation tools have different benefits:
- Faster invoice processing and approvals with AI-enabled data capture and customizable routing across properties and regions
- Security of digital payments that reduce check fraud risk
- Real-time visibility into invoices and payments—no matter where your team works
For example, Security Properties Residential, which manages more than 100 multifamily properties across the U.S., shortened its invoice approval process by several weeks after adopting AvidXchange. With integrated invoice and payment automation connected to Entrata, the company scaled its portfolio without hiring additional AP staff.
Your ERP tracks what’s owed. AP automation helps make sure it gets paid—accurately, securely, and on time.
Why do I need AP automation on top of my ERP?
Real estate finance teams live in a world of high invoice volume and high expectations. Every late payment can delay a roof repair or frustrate a supplier—and this ultimately affects resident satisfaction.
Without automation, even the most robust ERP can leave teams buried in manual work: typing in invoice data, matching POs, reconciling payments, and sorting through paper during audits.
What if my real estate ERP already includes AP automation capabilities?
Some real estate ERPs offer free, built-in AP tools or add-ons—and they can be “good enough” for smaller organizations or less complex workflows. But as your portfolio grows and your approval chains become more nuanced, those native features often reach their limits.
Before assuming your ERP covers everything, it’s worth asking a few key questions. You should confirm whether your ERP includes the following capabilities that a purpose-built AP automation platform like AvidXchange provides:
✅ Invoice capture accuracy
Does your ERP offer more than basic, self-service OCR? Many native AP modules require your team to open, scan, and key in invoice data manually—then review the results line by line to catch errors.
AvidXchange’s AI-powered invoice capture is trained on millions of real estate invoices, so accuracy improves automatically over time, helping your team move invoices straight to approval.
✅ Advanced approval workflows
Can your system handle nuanced, multi-entity routing rules—like one approver for invoices under $5,000, and another if they’re above that? Can you easily assign a proxy approver when a property manager is out of office? AvidXchange lets you build those rules into customized workflows that reflect your exact organizational structure.
✅ Full-service payments
Does your ERP require you to maintain supplier payment details and preferences? Does it require you to track check aging, and follow up if a check isn’t cashed? Most native ERP systems do.
AP automation through AvidXchange offers a service model that can help streamline supplier payments. For standard payments, our supplier services team supports supplier onboarding, manages payment preferences where applicable, and helps convert many payments to ePayment options.
When your ERP handles payments directly, your company’s bank information is often stored within the system. With AvidXchange, payments are issued through our own licensed money transmitter entity, which means funds movement is handled under strict regulatory oversight and established compliance standards. We also include features like positive pay and payment authentication for added security.
✅ Scalability and support
As your property portfolio expands, will your ERP’s AP tools scale with you? AvidXchange integrates seamlessly with your ERP as you grow—supporting multiple entities, complex ownership groups, and different accounting structures.
In other words, your ERP may handle the basics, but a dedicated AP automation platform can give you the flexibility, accuracy, and security to manage portfolio growth.
Can I get rid of my ERP if I adopt AP automation like AvidXchange?
No—your ERP remains your accounting system of record for things like general ledger, vendor master record, and budget. AP automation works with your ERP, not instead of it.
AvidXchange integrates through APIs or file-based connections, syncing invoices, suppliers, GL codes, payments, and purchase orders. That means no double entry, no missing records, and no disruption to how your accounting team already works.
What Real Estate ERPs Integrate with AvidXchange?
AvidXchange integrates with hundreds of accounting systems, including strategic partnerships with leading real estate and property management platforms such as:
- MRI Software
- Yardi
- RealPage
- Rent Manager
- ResMan
- AppFolio
- Entrata
- SS&C Technologies
- NetSuite
- QuickBooks
and more.
Final thoughts on ERP vs AP Automation in real estate
For real estate and property management companies, your ERP and AP automation platform aren’t competitors—they’re collaborators.
ERPs are designed to support the full spectrum of real estate operations—everything from accounting and budgeting to leasing, CRM, and marketing. AvidXchange, on the other hand, has a singular focus on being the best AP automation solution for mid-market real estate professionals. With more than 25 years of experience in the real estate industry, AvidXchange understands the unique challenges of processing high invoice volumes across multiple properties and entities.
Together, both tools give you the efficiency, visibility, and scalability you need to grow your portfolio and deliver better service to residents and owners alike.
Now that you understand the difference between your ERP and AP automation, next you might be asking, “Is it time to automate my real estate AP?” Read these 5 signs for real estate pros.