Off-the-shelf AP software makes you adapt your process to their product. We build the automation around the process you already run: reading invoices, routing approvals, reconciling spend, and preparing entries for the accounting system you already use. No new subscription, no re-training your team on a new tool.
Most invoice and AP work still runs on a person opening PDFs, re-keying line items, and chasing the right approver by email. The obvious fix looks like AP software: Bill.com, Tipalti and similar tools promise to automate all of it. They do, but only inside their own workflow.
If your approval chain, your accounting package, or your reconciliation logic does not match their template, you end up changing your process to fit the tool, on top of a recurring per-seat cost. A custom build goes the other way: it reads what you already have and automates around your actual process.
We trace how your invoices really move, automate the reading and the routing, and keep a person on the decision that matters.
Every business routes invoices differently: who approves what, which fields matter, which system it has to land in. We trace the real flow first, exceptions included, the same way we do for any workflow automation build.
Line items and totals get extracted from invoices and vendor documents, approval requests route to the right person automatically, and planned figures get checked against actuals. The routing runs on fixed logic. AI only reads documents and drafts text, it never decides what gets approved.
Nothing reaches your accounting system without a person signing off first. That is a deliberate line, not a limitation: extraction and drafting are automated, the decision to approve or post stays with your team.
Pulls line items, totals, vendor details and dates out of PDFs and emailed invoices, so nobody re-types a total by hand.
Sends each invoice to the right approver automatically, escalates if it stalls, and records the decision.
Compares what was quoted or ordered against what was actually billed, and flags the variances instead of leaving them buried in a stack of PDFs.
If your invoicing runs out of spreadsheets with hardcoded fees and inconsistent rows, we fix the structure underneath first, the same move that made the Engage Media system possible.
Drafts are generated automatically, and nothing posts to accounting until a human approves it.
If invoicing spans many clients, vendors or business units, we build one tracker that aggregates them instead of leaving each in its own file.
A custom n8n build is the right call when your invoicing has real shape to it: multiple approval layers, spend that needs reconciling against a separate source, data trapped in spreadsheets or workbooks that no software can read out of the box, or a process specific enough that a template tool would force you to work around it.
It is also the right call if you want to own the system outright. It runs on your own infrastructure, with no per-seat licence that scales against you as volume grows. If you are weighing that trade-off in general, our build vs buy comparison covers it.
One system we built for a media-buying agency turned a three-day manual invoicing grind across 35 client workbooks into a 30-minute review, with a human approval gate that never auto-posts to accounting. The full story is in the Engage Media FinOps case study.
n8n is the automation engine, Gemini or Claude read and extract from documents, and the system writes into the spreadsheets, warehouse and inbox your team already runs.
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Claude
Gemini
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No. AP software is a subscription product you adapt your process to fit. We build the automation around the process, approval chain and accounting system you already have, on your own infrastructure rather than a per-seat licence. If a standard off-the-shelf tool genuinely fits your case better, we will say so.
Yes. We build extraction that pulls line items, totals, vendor details and dates out of PDF invoices and email attachments, using AI models to read the documents while the routing and the maths stay on fixed logic. That combination is what replaced hand re-keying with an automated read in a system we built for a media-buying agency.
No. We build a human approval gate in front of accounting by default: invoices are drafted and extracted automatically, but nothing posts until someone signs off. For a real client, that system now takes about 30 minutes of review a month instead of three days of manual work.
Yes, when there is a planned figure to check against. We built a reconciliation layer for one client that compares planned versus actual spend and flags the variances automatically, instead of leaving someone to open several vendor PDFs side by side to catch a mismatch.
Most Otimiz builds go live in 7 to 14 days, depending on complexity, and we favour a phased rollout so you see value early.
Not ready to talk yet? Get a free written automation audit: three automations worth building for your business, with rough hours on each. No call. Request your audit.
Book a free audit. Tell us how your invoices move today and we will map where the time goes, what a custom build would take off your plate, and whether off-the-shelf AP software would suit you better. Confidential and obligation-free.
Book My Free Audit bastien@otimizagency.com