What is RPA accounting? Applications, benefits, risks and how businesses optimize accounting costs with automated robots 

Accounting RPA acts as a “virtual employee” that processes quickly, accurately, complies with procedures and has a complete audit trail. Today, accounting RPA is the optimal choice because it solves the real bottlenecks of accounting, which can be measured through ROD.

In this article by Bizzi, let's learn about the nature What is accounting RPA?, can this solution be integrated with other solutions to help businesses upgrade and automate accounting operations?

Why is Accounting the department that needs RPA the earliest?

Accounting is the department that needs RPA the earliest because this is where the core bottlenecks of repetitive workload, rule-based processes and high risk exist, which RPA can effectively address from the outset.

1. Workload increases with revenue

As a business grows, the number of documents, invoices, emails and spreadsheets increases 3-5 times, leading to huge processing pressure for the accounting team. If still done manually, the process becomes overloaded, slow and error-prone.

2. Most accounting work is repetitive.

About 70–80% of accounting work still revolves around manual data entry, reconciliation, and checking. These are repetitive, rule-based tasks that take a lot of time but have little strategic value. This is an ideal opportunity for RPA to intervene, reduce workload, and increase efficiency.

3. Small mistakes can have big consequences

In accounting, a small error can lead to:

• Tax fines, late payment fines
• Balance discrepancies, inaccurate reporting
• Delay in audit or audit issue
  

Therefore, automating repetitive tasks helps reduce the risk of error significantly, protecting the business and CFO from legal and financial problems.

4. RPA solves “core bottlenecks”

RPA appears to Automate repetitive tasks and rule-based processes. It helps:

• Process invoices and documents faster
• Automatically compare data between multiple systems
• Significantly reduces manual workload, increases accuracy and throughput

What is accounting RPA?

Instead of requiring accounting staff to perform operations such as data entry, data copying, information reconciliation, etc., accounting “software robots” (bots) – RPA will simulate human actions on computer systems to complete these tasks automatically, quickly and accurately.

1. Definition of RPA

RPA (Robotic Process Automation) is software robots that perform repetitive tasks like humans.

• Not a physical robot.
• Direct operation on software, web, email, ERP, tax portal…
• Goal: replace manual, time-consuming but repetitive, rule-based tasks.

2. What is accounting RPA?

In accounting, RPA is used to automate financial and accounting operations:

• Enter invoices and documents
• Compare data between systems
• Payment processing and reporting
• Data control, process standardization

The result of automation is reduced manual workload, increased processing speed, and reduced errors and risks.

3. What is the difference between AI and accounting RPA?

• RPA: operate according to rule-based, iterative processing.
• WHO: capable identify, analyze, reason (e.g. OCR, logic check, anomaly detection).

When combined RPA + AI → Intelligent Automation (IA): robots both operate according to procedures and "understand" data for more complex processing.

4. How RPA works in business

Typical RPA process:

1. Receive triggers (e.g. new invoice, email, file upload)
2. Collect data from sources
3. Processing, entering data, and comparing according to rules
4. Push data to ERP, accounting system
5. Log all actions for auditing and control

What accounting tasks can be automated using accounting RPA?

RPA is a powerful tool for automation repetitive tasks, clear rules, but does not completely replace human accountants. The combination RPA + AI + humans New to create optimal efficiency, reduce costs while ensuring quality and strategic analysis.

Here are some accounting tasks that can be automated using accounting RPA:

1. Accounts Payable (AP) – the fastest ROI segment

AP is the fastest ROI segment due to high volume of invoices, repeatable and rule-based processes:

• Automatically load input invoices: from email, tax portal.
• OCR + AI: automatic invoice data extraction.
• Validity check: MST, date, model, symbol, status.
• Check duplicate / check risk: detect illegal or duplicate invoices.
• PO – GRN – Invoice reconciliation: automatically compare with order and receipt.
• Create payment voucher / payment order: standardize and send automatic approvals.
• Push AP entries into ERP: automatic updates, reducing manual errors.

2. Accounts Receivable (AR)

AR can automate many steps involved in collecting payments and managing receivables:

• Automatically send invoices to customers: email, portal, auto log.
• Multi-channel automatic debt reminder: email, SMS, customer portal.
• Compare statements - debts - receipts: automatically compare data from customers.
• Debt aging classification: Overdue debt warning, effective collection support.

3. General Accounting (GL)

RPA helps reduce repetitive operations time and improve accuracy:

• Automatic end-of-period transfer: automatic balance transfer, profit and loss calculation.
• Account balance reconciliation: compare multiple systems, detect differences.
• Mapping data from multiple sources to create P&L reports, BS: shorten report synthesis time.
• Automatically generate GL journal entries: standardize accounting entries, reduce errors.

4. Tax accounting

RPA supports legal compliance and reduces tax penalty risks:

• Download input invoices from the tax system: e-invoice, tax portal.
• Validity check: check format, MST, date, symbol.
• Enter data into the declaration form yourself: reduce manual and data entry errors.
• Warning of risky/illegal invoices: early detection, limit fines according to Decree 125.

5. P2P & O2C system

RPA can automate the entire purchase – payment – collection – reconciliation life cycle:

• Purchase-to-Pay (P2P): from order → receipt → payment → ERP recording.
• Order-to-Cash (O2C): from invoicing → collection → reconciliation → reporting.

What are the benefits of accounting RPA? (Quantitative – Qualitative – Measurable KPIs)

Accounting RPA brings many significant benefits to the finance and accounting departments of enterprises. These benefits go beyond saving time and significantly improving the quality of work and overall operational efficiency.

1. Reduce costs

RPA helps convert manual workloads into real monetary value, optimizing direct ROI.

• Quantitative:
  
  • Reduce 30–70% in personnel costs for repetitive tasks.
  • Cost per invoice reduced by 40–60%.
  • Reduce costs due to errors, tax penalties or late reporting.
• Measurable KPIs: CPI, FTE reduction, penalty/reprocessing costs.

2. Increase processing speed

Automated processes help accountants operate faster, shorten decision-making time, and improve cash flow.

• Quantitative:
  
  • Invoice processing cycle reduced from 10 minutes → 45 seconds.
  • Faster closing period 30–50%.
  • Approval is 3–5 times faster.
• Measurable KPIs: Cycle time reduction (%), throughput, % invoice processing on time.

3. Increase accuracy

RPA reduces manual errors, ensuring standard data for financial reporting, taxes and audits.

• Quantitative: First-pass accuracy achieved 98–100%.
• Qualitative: Robot operation 24/7 – no rest, no forgetfulness, no mistakes.
• Measurable KPIs: Accuracy improvement (%), exception rate.

4. Increase compliance

RPA helps businesses process transparency, reducing the risk of tax penalties and legal violations.

• Qualitative:
  • Full audit trail, document version tracking.
  • Prepare for internal and Big4 audits.
    
• Measurable KPIs: number of audit findings, compliance rate, number of legal errors.

5. Free up resources

RPA not only reduces costs but also human capacity building, helping FP&A and accounting teams operate more efficiently.

• Qualitative: Staff were reallocated to analysis, control, FP&A roles – increase strategic value.
• Measurable KPIs: reallocated FTE, employee time spent on high-value work.

What is the Cost & ROI of Accounting RPA?

When calculating accounting RPA ROI, it is important to fully calculate costs, convert benefits into currency, and measure the baseline before implementation, so that ROI reflects the real value, helping CFOs and management make accurate decisions.

1. Costs to be calculated

To calculate ROI accurately, businesses need to fully calculate all costs related to RPA. If any costs are omitted, ROI will be virtual and not reflect the real value.:

• Software subscription: license, updates, annual maintenance fees.
• ERP implementation + integration costs: Set up bot, connect to accounting and ERP systems.
• Training costs: bot operator and manager
• Cost of process change and bot management: write new SOP, monitor bot, maintain, upgrade.

2. Standard ROI formula

ROI = (Time saved × Labor cost) + Indirect benefits – Total investment cost

ROI must convert time saved, error reduction, processing speed increase… into monetary value for accurate measurement.

3. Benefits included in ROI

Direct and indirect benefits should be calculated:

• FTE saved: reduce staffing for repetitive tasks.
• Reduce time-to-process: speed up invoice processing, reporting.
• Reduce errors → reduce repair costs: avoid tax penalties, late reporting, balance errors.
• Reduce invoice processing costs (CPI): for example from 50,000 VND → 3,000–5,000 VND/bill.
• Accelerating cash flow (decreasing DSO): Automatic debt reminders, fast processing, improved cash flow.

4. Payback period

Payback is typically 3–6 months for AP Automation or rule-based, repetitive accounting tasks. Short payback is why many businesses first deploy RPA in AP and Expense Control.

What is the technology behind accounting RPA?

Accounting RPA is not just a “manipulating” robot, but technology ecosystem including OCR/ICR, AI, Machine Learning, Workflow, API, Process Mining. When combined, businesses can End-to-end automation, speed, reduce costs, reduce risk, improve compliance and ROI.

1. OCR / ICR (Optical / Intelligent Character Recognition)

• Function: Recognize characters on invoices, paper documents or PDFs.
• Application: Automatically read information such as tax code, date, invoice number, total amount, model, symbol.
• Benefit: Reduce manual data entry, increase speed and accuracy.

2. AI Extraction

• Function: Extract important data from complex invoices and documents.
• Application: Classify information, auto-populate into ERP or accounting system.
• Benefit: Ensure data integrity, reduce logic errors, and handle various invoice formats.

3. Machine Learning

• Function: Learn from previous data to predict, detect anomalies, and reduce errors.
• Application: Identify risky invoices, detect duplicates, and warn of exceptions.
• Benefit: Increase accuracy, reduce error correction costs, and limit the risk of tax penalties.

4. Workflow Automation

• Function: Automate approval processes and relay information between departments.
• Application: Create payment request, payment voucher → send for approval → record in ERP.
• Benefit: Shorten approval time, reduce bottlenecks in the process.

5. ERP connection API

• Function: Connect RPA with ERP systems such as SAP, Oracle, Odoo, Bravo, Misa…
• Application: Push transactions, update data, synchronize data.
• Benefit: Eliminate manual data entry between systems, increasing speed and accuracy.

6. Process Mining

• Function: Analyze current processes, measure automation levels, identify bottlenecks.
• Application: Track RPA performance, evaluate ROI, optimize processes.
• Benefit: Help businesses improve automation rates, identify areas for improvement, and increase RPA efficiency.

Which processes are best suited for automation? (Assessment Checklist)

The appropriate process for automation is repetitive, high volume, error prone, need audit, multiple departments, relying on Excel. Applying this checklist, businesses can Quickly identify “low-hanging fruit” points to deploy RPA effectively, fast ROI, reduce risk.

1. Repetitive operations → rule-based

• The process has the same steps, following fixed rules, easy to program for robots.
• For example: enter invoice data, compare PO - GR - Invoice, create payment voucher.
• Why it works: RPA is good at handling operations that are based on clear, inflexible rules.

2. High-volume

• Large number of transactions (thousands of invoices, receipts, reports…).
• Why it works: Automation delivers the fastest ROI on repetitive tasks, significantly reducing FTE workload.

3. Prone to errors when doing it manually

• Manual processes are prone to errors due to data entry, copy-pasting, and checking data.
• For example: wrong balance calculation, wrong tax code entry, forgetting to sign invoice.
• Suitable reasons: RPA increases accuracy, reduces the risk of tax penalties and audit issues.

4. The process needs a clear audit trail

• All operations must be fully logged for auditing and internal control.
• For example: approving payments, processing invoices, recording journal entries.
• Rationale: RPA automatically logs 100% actions → meets compliance.

5. Process involves many departments → easy to get stuck

• Many components involved → delays or bottlenecks are likely to occur.
• For example, AP needs accounting, management, treasury approval.
• Why it works: RPA incorporates workflow automation to help transfer information automatically, reducing bottlenecks.

6. The process is Excel dependent

• Data is mainly on Excel, CSV, PDF, no synchronized ERP system yet.
• Suitable reason: RPA operates directly on Excel/portal/email → reduces manual work, standardizes data, creates a foundation for switching to ERP.

What are the risks and challenges that businesses often encounter when applying RPA accounting?

Accounting RPA brings great efficiency, but businesses must Standardize processes, clean data, manage bots and people, while avoiding “shadow automation” and RPA fatigue to ensure ROI, accuracy, and compliance.

1. Non-standard process

• If SOP, approval flow, data are not standardized, it leads to bot is difficult to run or runs incorrectly.
• For example, PO – GR – Invoice checking steps are not consistent between departments.
• Solution: Standardize processes before implementing RPA.

2. Dirty data

• Non-standard input data, missing information, inconsistent format leads to OCR / AI extraction incorrect, bot entered wrong data.
• For example: blurry PDF invoices, missing tax codes, strange symbols.
• Solution: Clean data, standardize invoice format, control data before bot processing.

3. ERP or system change

• When ERP, accounting software changes structure → bot must be re-edited.
• If not → bot works incorrectly, causing data errors.
• Solution: Set up governance, version control, and regular testing.

4. Employees are not familiar with technology

• Low adoption → staff do not know how to monitor and intervene when bot errors.
• Result: RPA deployed but not effective.
• Solution: training, change management, clear SOP instructions.

5. Weak Vendor Implementation

• If the RPA partner is not specialized, it will lead to unstable bot deployment, difficult to scale, and low ROI.
• Solution: choose a reputable vendor with experience in accounting and business ERP.

6. Rare but dangerous risks

• RPA fatigue: the robot runs incorrectly but no one detects it, leading to incorrect data and audit issues.
• Shadow automation: a department that develops bots sporadically, without governance, making it difficult to manage and lacking control.
• Solution: set up RPA governance, log and audit regularly, standardize bots and processes.

What are the questions users often ask about accounting RPA?

Below is summary, coherent, easy to understand For frequently asked questions about accounting RPA:

1. Does RPA replace accounting?

Not quite. Combining RPA + humans increases efficiency and reduces errors.

• RPA handles repetitive, rule-based, manual tasks like data entry, reconciliation, and invoice checking.
• People are still needed for analysis, decision making, strategic advice, risk assessment.

2. How many % invoices can RPA process?

• Depending on the level of process standardization and data quality.
• With standard AP, OCR + AI: 80–95% invoices can be processed automatically.
• The rest are exceptions that require human intervention.

3. Can RPA integrate Misa / Bravo / Odoo?

Yes. RPA can operate directly on the software, web or via ERP connection API including: Misa, Bravo, Odoo, SAP, Oracle... This integration helps push accounting entries, synchronize data, and reduce manual operations.

4. Should SMEs implement RPA?

Yes, if the business is repetitive and high volume. For example: AP, Expense, Payroll, periodic reporting. What are the benefits of implementing accounting RPA? Reduce personnel costs, speed up processing, improve cash flow.

5. Is RPA or AI more important?

• RPA = process execution, rule-based.
• AI = recognition, analysis, and processing of complex data.
• When combined → Intelligent Automation (RPA + AI) → optimal efficiency.

Therefore, it is not necessary to choose one of the two, but to combine RPA + AI to be strong.

6. Does RPA work 24/7?

Yes. Software robots can operate 24/7, without rest or forgetfulness, as long as the IT infrastructure and data are available. This is an advantage that helps speed up processing and reduce backlog at the end of the month/quarter.

7. Does RPA ensure tax compliance?

RPA ensures rule-based & data control. RPA helps:

• Check tax code, invoice form, validity status.
• Detect risky, duplicate invoices.
• Save full audit trail, audit ready.

However, new/complex tax policies still require human oversight.

Bizzi – Accounting RPA solution for businesses

Bizzi provided The Ultimate AI + RPA Ecosystem for finance and accounting, helping to automate, reduce costs, speed up processing and ensure compliance with Vietnamese standards.

1. Bizzi IPA + 3WAY Matching

Function:

• Automatically download invoices from email, tax portal.
• OCR + AI invoice data extraction.
• Check e-invoice validity: MST, tax status.
• Compare PO – GRN – Real-time Invoice.

Benefit:

• Sharp decrease Cost per Invoice (CPI), reduce FTE workload.
• Reduce errors, limit the risk of tax penalties.
• Speed up AP processing, improve on-time payments.

2. Bizzi Expense / Travel

Function:

• Control spending before - during - after.
• Over budget warning, internal policy check.
• Tracking & audit trail according to tax standards.

Benefit:

• Ensure spending compliance.
• Reduce internal fraud, increase transparency.
• Assist CFO and FP&A in tracking and reporting accurate expenses.

3. Bizzi ARM – Accounts Receivable Management

Function:

• Automatic debt reminder.
• Statement reconciliation 24/7.

Benefit:

• Reduced Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), improve cash flow.
• Reduce data entry errors, speed up debt collection.
• Increase efficiency in customer and debt management.

4. Bizzi Integration

Function:

• ERP connection in just days.
• Synchronize standardized data, avoid double entry.

Benefit:

• Ensure data is accurate and consistent across all systems.
• Accelerate RPA deployment, reduce integration costs.
• Create a platform for end-to-end automation between AP, AR, Expense, Travel.

In short, Bizzi is a comprehensive RPA + AI solution for Vietnamese businesses, from invoice automation, expense control, debt management to ERP integration, helping to reduce costs, increase processing speed, improve compliance and ROI.

Many Vietnamese businesses have deployed Bizzi to optimize AP Automation, Expense Control and upgrade modern financial processes.

Conclude

Above is all the information related to what is RPA accounting and the aspects related to this content. In general, RPA accounting does not replace people, but upgrades the capacity of the accounting team. Other solutions cannot replace RPA in repetitive, time-consuming tasks but directly determine the cost, speed and accuracy of accounting.

Accounting RPA is a solution that helps businesses reduce costs, increase processing speed and data transparency. At the same time, it is also a mandatory foundation for moving towards digital accounting and smart finance (Smart Finance).

In this context, Bizzi To be the most suitable choice for Vietnamese businesses because:

• Fast and accurate automation.
• Optimal cost, clear ROI.
• Comprehensive support from AP, Expense, AR to ERP integration, meeting modern financial and accounting needs.

Businesses that deploy Bizzi not only automate, but also build a sustainable Smart Finance platform, improving efficiency and competitiveness. Register here to receive advice and experience a specialized solution set specifically for your business.