Remote finance needs control, not paper. Learn what cloud AP and AR software must do, and how Plooto connects accounting to the bank.
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 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.
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.
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:
Remote work removes the casual oversight an office used to provide.
For accounting firms, automating these flows also limits liability by keeping a clean record of every decision.
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.
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.
A remote-ready finance stack has four parts working together:
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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
| Capability | Manual and bank portal | On-premise add-ons | Cloud AP and AR with payment layer |
| Remote access and device flexibility | Limited | Partial, VPN dependent | Full, browser based |
| Approval routing and enforcement | Manual, easy to skip | Configurable, rigid | Rule based and enforced |
| Audit trail completeness | Fragmented across inboxes | Partial | Automatic and complete |
| Real-time payment status | None | Delayed | Live |
| Attachment and documentation | Scattered | Local storage | Linked to each item |
| Accounting sync and reconciliation | Manual re-entry | Batch export | Two-way sync |
| Vendor and customer experience | Inconsistent | Dated | Modern, self-serve options |
| Implementation time and IT burden | Low setup, high ongoing | High, IT heavy | Low, no servers |
| Business continuity and key-person risk | High | Moderate | Low |
| Security signals (SOC 2, ISO 27001) | Owner dependent | Owner managed | Vendor certified |
| Cross-border payments (CAD and USD) | Wires and workarounds | Add-on dependent | Built in |
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
A clean rollout follows one rule: Fix the process before you automate it. Automating a broken workflow just makes the mess move faster.
Three objections come up in nearly every evaluation. Each has a clear, evidence-based answer.
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.
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.
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.
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.