AI for Accounts Receivable Teams: Turning Cash Application Into a Background Process

Cash application is where a lot of Accounts Receivable (AR) time gets spent.

Zuora Cash Application uses AI to help teams:

• Apply payments as they come in
  
• Resolve partial and complex payments
  
• Bring remittance details into the payment matching workflow
  
• Keep AR aging and cash views accurate throughout the day

That’s the work. Here’s how AI is changing it:

Where cash application time actually goes

For most AR teams, cash application isn’t a single task. It’s a constant background process.

Payments arrive throughout the day. Some are straightforward; others come in short. Some include fees or only cover part of an invoice. Remittance details might show up later, or not at all, and often live in email threads or attachments that have to be tracked down.

Each of those moments requires a decision. Someone has to look at the payment, compare it to open invoices, and figure out where it belongs. Multiply that by the number of payments coming in, and a big part of the day disappears into matching work.

Clarity on partial and complex payments

Zuora Cash Application brings payments and remittance details together using AI to suggest where each payment should be applied.

When the match is clear, the payment is applied automatically. When it isn’t, there’s visibility to see the payment details, bank reference, open invoices, and suggested match all in one place.

That’s especially useful for partial payments. Instead of starting from scratch, the context is already there. If a payment only covers part of an invoice, you can see why and and decide what to do next without digging through multiple systems.

The same is true when payments come from a parent account or a third party. Those relationships are recognized, and common payment behavior is learned over time, so the same patterns don’t turn into the same manual work month after month.

Too much of the cash application process is spent finding information.

When remittance details live in an email body or a PDF attachment, Zuora Cash Application extracts that information and ties it directly to the payment. You don’t have to search inboxes or download files just to understand how a payment should be applied.

The details are there when you need them, in the same place you’re already working.

Keeping AR current as cash comes in

As payments are applied, AR stays current. Aging reflects what’s actually been paid. Cash views update as money comes in, not hours or days later.

Cash application still happens every day, and with Zuora it takes less time chasing information to keep things moving. That gives AR teams more confidence in the numbers they’re working with and makes the close more accurate and predictable.

Learn more about Zuora Cash Application or get more information about Zuora AI features