Glossary

The B2B payments glossary.

Plain-language definitions of the accounts payable and B2B payment terms that come up most.

Accounts Payable (AP): The money a business owes suppliers for goods and services already received. AP teams manage invoices, approvals, payment timing, and supplier questions.
Accounts Payable Automation: Software that reduces manual AP work such as invoice capture, coding, matching, and approvals. It often stops before payment delivery and supplier support.
ACH (Automated Clearing House): A U.S. bank-to-bank electronic payment network used for direct deposits, vendor payments, and recurring business payments.
AML (Anti-Money Laundering): Controls that help detect and prevent money movement tied to illegal activity, sanctions exposure, or suspicious parties.
AP Payments as a Service: A fully managed model where a provider runs payment delivery, supplier enablement, support, exceptions, fraud controls, and reporting after the buyer approves payments.
Approval Workflow: The steps a company uses to review, code, and authorize an invoice or payment before money is released.
Bank Account Validation: Checking supplier bank details before payment to reduce failed payments, misdirected funds, and account-change fraud.
Buyer-Supplier Network: The connected set of buyers and suppliers that exchange invoices, remittance data, payment preferences, and payment status.
Card by Mail: A virtual card delivery method where secure card details are mailed to suppliers that accept card but not digital delivery.
Cash Flow Management: The work of planning cash inflows and outflows so a business can meet obligations while protecting liquidity.
Check Fraud: Fraud involving paper checks, including stolen checks, altered payees, counterfeit checks, and intercepted mail.
Check Payment: A paper payment instrument that is slower and more manual than electronic rails and often carries higher fraud exposure.
Commercial Card: A card product used by businesses to pay suppliers, manage spend, and carry remittance data.
CVV (Card Verification Value): A card security code used to help verify that the payer has access to the card details during a transaction.
Days Payable Outstanding (DPO): The average number of days a company takes to pay suppliers after receiving goods or services.
Dynamic Discounting: A supplier payment strategy where buyers receive variable discounts for paying invoices early.
Early Payment Discount: A price reduction offered by a supplier when the buyer pays an invoice before the standard due date.
Electronic Payment: A payment sent through a digital rail such as ACH, virtual card, wire, or real-time payment instead of paper check.
ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning): Core business software used to manage finance, accounting, procurement, inventory, and operational data.
Exception Handling: The process of resolving failed payments, returned funds, missing information, supplier questions, and other items that need manual attention.
Faster Payments: Payment methods designed to move funds more quickly than standard payment rails, often with faster settlement and status visibility.
Fraud Prevention: Controls that reduce the chance of unauthorized, misdirected, duplicated, or manipulated payments.
Interchange Fee: A fee associated with card transactions that supports card network economics and can create value on card-eligible supplier payments.
Invoice Matching: The process of comparing invoice details with purchase orders, receipts, or contracts before approval and payment.
KYC (Know Your Customer): The process of verifying the identity of a business or individual before providing financial services or moving money.
Net Terms: Payment terms that define how many days a buyer has to pay an invoice, such as Net 30 or Net 60.
OFAC Screening: Checking payees against U.S. sanctions lists to help prevent funds from being sent to prohibited parties.
One-Time-Use Card: A virtual card number generated for a specific payment or supplier, reducing exposure if card details are intercepted.
Payment Delivery: The operational work of sending approved payments to suppliers through the right rail with accurate remittance information.
Payment Hub: A centralized system or service used to route, track, and manage multiple payment methods from one workflow.
Payment Monetization: The practice of turning eligible supplier payments into measurable financial value through optimized card and electronic payment adoption.
Payment Operations: The people, process, systems, controls, and support work required to move approved payments from buyer to supplier.
Payment Rails: The methods used to move money, such as virtual card, ACH, accelerated ACH, check, wire, or real-time payment.
Payment Reconciliation: Matching payment activity against invoices, bank records, and accounting data so the books stay accurate.
PCI DSS: The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, a set of controls for protecting cardholder data.
Purchase Order (PO): A document a buyer issues to authorize a purchase, often used later to match invoices and receipts.
Remittance Information: Payment detail sent to a supplier that explains which invoices, credits, or account items a payment covers.
Payment Value Sharing: A commercial arrangement where value from eligible electronic payments is shared with the buyer under program terms.
Settlement Time: The time between payment initiation and the point when funds are final and available to the recipient.
SOC 2 Compliance: An independent audit framework for evaluating how a service organization manages security, availability, confidentiality, and related controls.
Straight-Through Processing (STP): Completing a payment process end to end without manual intervention, from instruction through settlement and reconciliation.
Supplier Enablement: The work of enrolling suppliers into preferred electronic payment methods and supporting them through payment setup and questions.
Supplier Portal: A digital place where suppliers can manage payment preferences, view status, and access payment support.
Three-Way Matching: Comparing the purchase order, goods receipt, and supplier invoice before payment approval.
TLS (Transport Layer Security): A security protocol that encrypts data moving between systems, browsers, and services.
Touchless Invoice Processing: Invoice processing that moves from capture to approval with little or no manual AP intervention.
VARM (Visa Account Relationship Management): A Visa capability used to support card account relationships, acceptance, and payment operations in commercial card programs.
Virtual Card: A digital card number used for a specific supplier payment, often with controls for amount, merchant, timing, and remittance data.
Virtual Card Adoption Rate: The percentage of eligible supplier spend successfully moved to virtual card payments.
White-Label Payments: Payment capabilities delivered under a partner or platform experience while another provider handles the payment infrastructure and operations.
Wire Transfer: A bank-to-bank payment method often used for urgent or high-value transfers, typically with higher cost and less reversibility.
Working Capital: The cash available to run day-to-day operations after accounting for current assets and current liabilities.
FinexioExpress: Finexio's accelerated ACH option for suppliers that prefer bank deposit and want faster settlement than standard ACH.

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