Cloud-based AP and AR software for remote finance teams

Remote finance needs control, not paper. Learn what cloud AP and AR software must do, and how Plooto connects accounting to the bank.

Key takeaways

• Cloud-based accounting software is now the default, not the upgrade. In the AvidXchange 2025 Trends Survey, 76% of finance leaders called cloud technology critical or favorable to their operations.
• Remote and hybrid work broke the old AP and AR playbook. Email approvals, shared spreadsheets, and bank portals cannot enforce controls across locations.
• The real requirement is control, not just speed. Distributed teams need enforceable approvals, automatic audit trails, and real-time payment status.
• Accounting software alone leaves a payment layer gap. Systems like QuickBooks and Xero track bills and invoices but do not fully run payments with workflow controls.
• A comparison table inside this guide doubles as a buying checklist for cloud AP and AR tools versus on-premise and manual workflows.
• Plooto sits between your accounting software and your bank, adding approvals, audit trails, and two-way sync that neither the ledger nor the bank provides on its own.

Why cloud-based accounting software matters now for remote finance teams

Cloud-based accounting software matters now because finance work no longer happens in one room. Teams approve bills from home offices, client sites, and different time zones, and the old paper-and-portal habits cannot keep up. In the AvidXchange 2025 Trends Survey, 96% of finance leaders said at least some of their work already runs in cloud tools, and only 4% reported none.

This guide is written for the people who feel that strain first: Controllers, bookkeepers, accountants running multiple clients, and fractional CFOs. It explains what cloud-based AP and AR software must do, where accounting software stops, and how to evaluate the gap. If you want the short version, AP and AR software should give a distributed team the same control a single back office once had.

Remote and hybrid finance work changed the risk profile of AP and AR

Remote and hybrid work did more than move desks. It changed where money decisions happen and who can see them. Accounts payable and accounts receivable are usually the first workflows to crack, because both depend on fast handoffs and clear proof.

What remote finance really means for SMBs and firms

Remote finance means the work is distributed, but the accountability is not optional. A bookkeeper may sit three time zones from the controller who approves a payment. What these teams need is speed plus proof. A payment that moves fast but cannot be traced is a liability, not a win.

The hidden costs of email, spreadsheets, and bank portals

Running AP and AR on email and spreadsheets creates a quiet tax. Version control breaks down, so no one is sure which invoice, approval, or payment status is current. Handoffs stall payments and bury context.

The result is a familiar list of pain:

• Duplicate payments and missed early-payment discounts
• Late fees and avoidable vendor friction
• Approvals that no one can locate during a review
• For firms, the dreaded "who approved this?" that takes hours to answer

Why cloud-based AP and AR is a necessity, not a nice to have

Remote work removes the casual oversight an office used to provide.

• Approvals have to be enforceable across devices and locations. Audit trails have to exist without anyone documenting them by hand.
• Visibility has to be real time, so exceptions surface before cash moves.
• Separation of duties, easy in person, falls apart remotely unless the software enforces it.

For accounting firms, automating these flows also limits liability by keeping a clean record of every decision.

Cloud-based accounting software basics finance leaders should align on

Before comparing tools, align on terms. "Cloud-based accounting software" gets used loosely, and the confusion hides the gap that causes most remote-work pain.

What cloud-based accounting software covers, and what it does not

Cloud-based accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero store your financial data on remote servers and lets your team access it from anywhere, with automatic updates and shared collaboration.

But many systems track bills and invoices but do not fully execute payments with approvals and controls. It helps to separate three layers: The accounting system of record, payment execution, and bank access.

The modern stack for remote AP and AR

A remote-ready finance stack has four parts working together:

1. An accounting system of record, such as QuickBooks Online or Xero
2. Document capture and bill processing
3. A payment layer with controls, approvals, and an audit trail
4. Bank rails and a reconciliation loop back to the ledger

Cloud-based accounting software for small business vs. firm use cases

The same software serves different masters. An SMB controller has fewer staff and a higher need for automation and guardrails. An accounting firm needs repeatable workflows and permission boundaries across many clients, which is why accountants and bookkeepers weigh client-level controls heavily. A fractional CFO cares most about visibility, forecasting, and cash discipline. Cloud-based accounting practice management software earns its keep when it serves all three without forcing a compromise.

The practical benefits of cloud-based AP and AR for remote workflows

The benefits of cloud-based accounting software show up fastest in the daily grind of a distributed team. Each one removes a specific source of friction that remote work makes worse.

Real-time visibility that ends status chasing

Real-time visibility gives everyone one view of bills, invoices, approvals, scheduled payments, and exceptions. That single source ends the Slack and email loop of "is it approved, did it send, did it clear?" Month-end gets faster because there are fewer unknowns and fewer reconciliation surprises.

Approval automation that still respects policy

Approval automation routes each payment by amount, vendor, department, entity, or client, then captures the evidence automatically. Approvers traveling or offline can delegate without breaking the chain.

Higher-risk payments can require multiple sign-offs, and the approval record is easy to export when a reviewer asks for it.

Audit trails and accounting sync that remove rework

A strong audit trail records who created, edited, approved, scheduled, released, and voided every payment, with documents linked to each bill or invoice. Two-way accounting integrations then push bills in and pull payment status back, which kills the "split brain" between your accounting records and the bank portal. The payoff is a faster close and reporting you can trust.

Cross-border and multi-currency realities for distributed SMBs

Distributed businesses often pay vendors in both CAD and USD. Cloud-based AP and AR should handle that without manual workarounds or a stack of wire forms, while keeping approvals consistent even when a payment crosses a border. For Canadian and US teams, this is often the single biggest source of saved hours.

What to look for in the best cloud-based accounting automation software

Use this section as a requirements list. The best cloud-based accounting automation software is not the one with the most features; it is the one that closes your specific control gaps.

Remote-ready permissions and separation of duties

Look for role-based access that separates the preparer, the approver, and the releaser. Firms should be able to run client approvals without exposing bank credentials. Granular controls, such as payment thresholds, vendor restrictions, and entity segmentation, let you enforce policy at scale.

AP and AR capabilities that eliminate manual steps

On the AP side, prioritize invoice capture into a centralized bill inbox, batch payments and scheduling, vendor onboarding, and recurring payment runs. A guide to AP automation is a useful starting point, as is dedicated automation for QuickBooks. On the AR side, look for invoice creation and delivery, recurring invoices, automated reminders, low-friction payment options, and status tracking that supports collections without spreadsheets.

Security and compliance signals buyers can validate

You can confirm the security of solutions based on their certifications. SOC 2 indicates a vendor has been assessed against the AICPA's trust services criteria for controls. ISO/IEC 27001 signals a formal information security management system. Both align with the controls catalog in NIST SP 800-53. At the access level, confirm multi-factor authentication, least privilege, and logging.

Cloud-based vs on-premise vs manual AP and AR

The fastest way to make a decision is to compare the three models side by side. The table below works as a requirements checklist during demos.

For firms, client permissions, repeatable workflows, and oversight matter most. For SMB operators, the priorities are speed, control, and fewer admin hours.

The payment layer gap: Why accounting software alone is not enough

Accounting software alone is not enough because the ledger and the bank were never built to talk to each other. The bills live in your accounting system, but the payment happens somewhere else. That gap is where remote AP and AR struggle.

Where AP and AR breaks between the ledger and the bank

Bank portals lack workflow context. They do not know the invoice, the coding, the policy, or who approved what. This creates a "two systems" problem, where reconciliation and audit evidence become manual chores. The Deluxe and Strategic Treasurer 2024 AP Automation Readiness Survey found that manual processes and fraud rank among the top AP pain points, and the ledger-to-bank gap is where both thrive.

What a modern payment layer should provide

A modern payment layer closes that gap with four things: Centralized payment execution with workflow controls, a clear audit trail for every action, real-time status for remote stakeholders, and tight sync so the ledger reflects reality quickly. If your accounting system tracks bills and invoices but your approvals and payments live in email and the bank portal, a payment layer is the missing piece.

Plooto as the cloud payment layer for remote AP and AR

Plooto is the cloud payment layer that sits between your accounting software and your bank. It turns scattered approvals and bank logins into one controlled workflow that a distributed team can run from anywhere.

How Plooto fits between accounting software and the bank

Plooto acts as a central hub for AP and AR workflows and payments. Approval workflows are built for distributed teams, audit trails and linked documentation cut follow-up work, and two-way sync with QuickBooks and Xero keeps the ledger current. On the receivables side, accounts receivable automation software automates invoicing and collection, while accounts payable automation software handles bills, approvals, and vendor payments.

Remote approval workflows that keep payments moving

Plooto lets approvers sign off from anywhere, which removes the bottleneck when a leader is traveling. Tiered approvals match the payment's size and risk, and clear separation means staff and firms do not need direct bank access for routine flows. Approvals and documentation stay consistent even when a payment crosses from CAD to USD, so cross-border runs stop requiring special handling. Teams that work remotely can pair this with the remote bookkeeper's checklist to standardize how reviews happen.

Implementation for remote teams: A rollout plan that avoids chaos

A clean rollout follows one rule: Fix the process before you automate it. Automating a broken workflow just makes the mess move faster.

1. Map your current state. Identify every handoff from intake to coding to approval to payment to reconciliation. Pinpoint where approvals stall, invoices go missing, or status is unclear, and set success metrics like cycle time and late payments.
2. Set policy, then automate it. Define approval thresholds, who owns vendor master changes, payment methods by vendor type, and documentation standards before turning anything on.
3. Tighten data and access hygiene. Assign user roles with least privilege, require multi-factor authentication, and set an audit-log review cadence for controllers and firm owners.
4. Manage the change. Train approvers to approve with context, standardize naming and attachments so remote reviews are fast, and publish a payments calendar to cut last-minute urgent requests.

Common objections and how finance leaders can evaluate them

Three objections come up in nearly every evaluation. Each has a clear, evidence-based answer.

“Cloud is less secure than on-premise."

The honest reframe: Security is about verifiable controls, not where the server sits. In the AvidXchange survey, more than three-quarters of finance departments had detected or fallen victim to a cyberattack in the past year, regardless of their setup. Ask vendors for their security page, certifications, uptime history, and incident process. A SOC 2 Type 2 report and a published security posture tell you more than a server location ever could.

“We can already do this in QuickBooks or Xero."

These tools are excellent at bookkeeping, but they were not built for payment execution governance. The gap shows up in approval enforcement, audit-trail completeness, real-time payment status, and bank separation. Native features are fine until your payment volume, control needs, or client count outgrow them. That tipping point is when a payment layer becomes necessary.

“Implementation will take too long."

It does not have to. Phase the rollout: AP first, then AR, then optimization. Attack the highest-friction vendor and approval paths first. Within the first month, the signals of success are simple and visible: Fewer emails, fewer exceptions, and faster approvals.

Next steps for remote finance teams

The non-negotiables for remote AP and AR are visibility, enforceable approvals, automatic audit trails, and tight accounting sync. Put plainly, your payments should never depend on one person being online in one location.

Run a quick audit this week. Find which processes still rely on email approvals or bank-only workflows, where unclear status causes rework, and where separation of duties is weakest. Those three answers are your roadmap.

If you want cloud-based AP and AR controls that keep payments moving from anywhere, a purpose-built payment layer is the cleanest path. Compare Plooto pricing and try Plooto for free to see how a distributed finance team can run with the control of a single back office.

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