A global organisation operating across several markets found itself managing accounts payable (AP) with a single, overstretched processor and no clear succession plan when that person departed. The result was a backlog of more than 200 unresolved tickets, delayed event and supplier payments, and a finance function that had become a source of daily friction rather than quiet reliability.  

Through Colleague-as-a-Service (CLaaS), Denova deployed an embedded AP specialist to step into the role as a backfill whilst the client searched for a permanent hire. From day one, he was tasked with stabilising the function. 

The question was whether a single person with minimal handover could turn the noise into calm before the search for a permanent hire concluded. What followed was rebuilt trust, one invoice at a time.

Strain in the Function

• Backlog at scale: Over 200 tickets sat unresolved when the engagement began, with no clear prioritisation in place. 

• Thin handover: The previous processor left with only a single day of knowledge transfer and no documented transition plan, leaving significant gaps in institutional knowledge. 

• Late payments on time-sensitive items: A number of event-related invoices were paid late, creating pressure on business counterparts who depended on those payments landing before an event took place. 

• Manual, reactive processing: Invoice data was entered manually rather than captured automatically, and invoices were often left sitting once submitted, with no one following up if an approver had not acted. 

• Audit exposure: Company audits regularly required supporting documentation that took time to track down, particularly for sensitive or confidential invoices, creating recurring pressure on the team. 

• International payment friction: Payments to foreign suppliers were sometimes flagged or rejected by the banking system even when the underlying data was correct, requiring manual verification and a manual transfer at times. 

Our Solution and Approach

Rather than attempting to overhaul the client’s systems, Denova’s AP specialist focused on operating and strengthening the existing process, recognising that the client’s own finance transformation team already owned system-level change. 

• Diagnose before acting: Early weeks were spent understanding where invoices typically stalled in the workflow, rather than assuming the backlog was simply a volume problem. 

• Shift from reactive to proactive control: Instead of leaving invoices to sit once submitted, the specialist began actively tracking each one through Workday and reaching out directly to approvers whenever something stalled. 

• Strengthen supplier categorisation: A close review of supplier records uncovered miscategorisations, most notably suppliers tagged under the wrong payment terms, which had been quietly causing delays. 

• Introduce a verification safeguard: A bank letterhead requirement was introduced for any supplier bank-detail changes, adding a layer of assurance to a previously informal process. 

• Prioritise same-day resolution: Given how quickly tickets could multiply overnight, the working principle became clearing what could be cleared today rather than letting anything carry over. 

In practice, this meant close daily coordination with procurement colleagues, business counterparts and cost-centre approvers across multiple regions, often via Slack, to keep invoices moving and everyone informed of status.  

The specialist also built a categorised supplier list, used during weekly payment runs to quickly confirm payment terms and reduce the risk of future misclassification. Where automation existed, such as Workday’s OCR capability for invoice capture, it was used fully to reduce manual entry and free up time for the higher-value work of chasing approvals and resolving audit queries.

The Results

The biggest result is a finance function that runs quietly in the background: one where business counterparts trust that invoices will be handled without the need to chase, and where the eventual permanent hire inherited a stable, well-documented process rather than a fresh backlog to untangle. 

Key Takeaways

Small process fixes can outweigh big system changes Correcting how suppliers were categorised had an impact on payment timeliness, more than any system upgrade could have delivered on its own. 

Proactive control beats passive processing Simply tracking invoices through to resolution, rather than waiting for approvers to act, transformed how reliable the function felt to the wider business. 

Soft skills are operational assets Communication style and attention to detail were central to this engagement’s success, shaping how quickly others responded and how few errors made it through.