How Purpose Accounting cut its AP stack from three tools to one with Weel

When you're the finance team behind more than 80 non-profits, expense management and accounts payable processes need to be efficient. Purpose Accounting knows that better than most.

As a CPA public practice firm, Purpose works exclusively with not-for-profits, right across Australia. Acting as an extended finance team for clients, Purpose provides CFO and strategic advisory services; accounting; financial compliance; bookkeeping and payroll - with more than $255 million in client budgets under its care. The firm also delivers finance technology, compliance and advisory projects.

Purpose has long used Weel internally, realising the benefits of virtual cards and streamlined reimbursement processes. The firm has also helped a range of clients implement Weel’s virtual cards, simplifying and streamlining spend management in these for-purpose organisations, allowing them to focus more on their missions.

When Weel expanded its accounts payable capabilities, the Purpose team saw an opportunity to test this functionality within its own finance operations, before considering where it might add value for clients.

We sat down with Ricardo Medeiros, Senior Finance Associate at Purpose, to hear how the firm moved its own accounts payable onto Weel, then turned the same workflow into one that clients can utilise, where it suits their operations.

The internal challenge: reducing handling without reducing oversight

It started at home. In the early days, accounts payable at Purpose involved multiple stages of handling before an invoice was approved and paid. Each stage added time and bookkeeping effort, particularly when an urgent payment needed to move outside the normal processing cycle.

"There were multiple steps. Getting the data from external software for the extraction, then from there to Xero, Xero to the bank. So going to three different places." - Ricardo Medeiros, Senior Finance Associate, Purpose Accounting

Purpose already ran its cards on Weel, so moving accounts payable onto the same platform was the natural next step. The previous three-tool routine became one workflow that nobody has to chase: invoices arrive in Weel, approval policies route each one to the right person, payment goes out from Weel, and the transaction syncs to Xero ready to reconcile.

Because the team already knew Weel from their cards, the change barely registered internally.

"Once the approval policies are all set up, it flows automatically. From the end user's perspective it's really easy. They simply send an invoice, and from there it gets paid. It was very intuitive and everyone embraced it really quickly." - Ricardo Medeiros

Rollout to clients where Weel AP is a strong fit

With the workflow proven on its own books, Purpose considered where it might recommend the Weel AP solution to clients.

The result isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution for Purpose’s client base. While every client values process efficiency, Purpose believes that the right level of automation in the non-profit sector depends on each client’s risk profile, approval requirements and need for human oversight.

For the majority of its clients, Purpose continues to play a central coordination role in the accounts payable workflow because additional expert oversight can help to mitigate risk of fraud or user error. However, Weel AP can be a strong option for clients where urgent response times are needed (outside the normal cycle); lower bookkeeping cost is a necessity; and the organisation is comfortable with lighter-touch human involvement.

"Weel AP is particularly suited to non-profits with simple approval workflows, urgent processing requirements outside the normal cycle, and delegated authorities and banking policies that allow for streamlined payments. In some cases, Weel's '2 to approve' feature can add an extra approval control and mitigate some of the risk arising from less handling within the workflow. Where this model works for a client, the role of Purpose in AP can potentially shift from manual data handling, towards higher level review and oversight" - Ricardo Medeiros, Senior Finance Associate, Purpose Accounting

Starting on Weel from day one. One long-standing client wanted a highly streamlined accounts payable process from the start, and was willing to reduce the human involvement in AP, to achieve cost savings. The client launched on Weel AP with an approval flow designed around its own internal requirements, giving the organisation direct control over approval timing and payments.

Streamlining an established process. Another Purpose client is moving across from a multi-tool process, with a clear commercial goal: streamline invoice processing and reduce the associated bookkeeping time. An invoice that passed through seven manual handoffs now takes two: submit it, approve it. By replacing multiple layers of data handling, the workflow requires less manual processing while retaining the client's chosen approval controls.

Where Weel AP suits Purpose’s clients, the biggest shift is who holds the workflow. Project teams at client organisations now submit invoices straight into the Weel app, add a description and coding, and send them for approval. Payment goes out as soon as the approver signs off, giving more flexibility around urgent invoices - which can have an incredibly valuable outcome for charities supporting vulnerable clients with urgent needs.

For Purpose's bookkeeping team, this changes the nature of their work. Where Weel AP is used, less time is spent on manual handling, allowing Purpose to focus more on financial oversight.

"For clients using Weel AP, the benefit is a workflow that can respond urgently but with less human judgement in the process. For Purpose, it means the finance team's involvement can be concentrated on the areas where professional review and oversight add the most value" - Ricardo Medeiros

The results: faster response where less handling is appropriate

• Tools: OCR tool, Xero batches and a bank portal → Weel, synced to Xero
• Handoffs per invoice: 7 → 2
• Urgent payments: the next fortnightly run → paid on approval
• Approvals: forwarded emails → 100% recorded in Weel. Finance role: greater focus on review and oversight rather than data entry.
• New approvers: a process with the bank → added in Weel

The outcome: another option in the finance toolkit

Weel AP is now part of how Purpose modernises internal finance operations. The firm also benefits from efficiency gains through Weel’s immediate out-of-pocket expense reimbursement, alongside its long-standing use of Weel virtual cards.

The firm’s own use of Weel AP now provides practical experience to draw on when assessing whether the platform suits a client's operating model.

If clients decide Weel AP is for them, each rollout follows a similar playbook. Purpose runs a launch workshop with the client's organisation, then shares Weel's guides and videos so people have something to refer back to.

Where Weel AP suits its clients, Purpose supports configuration and onboarding so the workflow reflects the organisation's approval requirements and risk settings. The aim is not to automate for its own sake, but to remove human handling where it is not a necessary control measure.

Purpose Accounting is a Weel partner, helping Australian not-for-profits assess and implement virtual cards, reimbursement workflows, and accounts payable where the technology is a good fit.

See whether Weel works for your practice

If reducing manual handling and improved response times are priorities for your clients, explore whether Weel's AP, virtual card and reimbursement tools fit their approval model and risk settings. Book a demo or explore Weel for yourself.