CFOs perceive accounts receivable (AR) and accounts payable (AP) as the most important factor in creating a healthy balance sheet, according to Business Payments Digitization, a PYMNTS and Corcentric collaboration based on a survey of 400 CFOs representing companies that earn between $400 million and $2 billion in annual revenue.

Get the report: Digitization of business payments: large companies are setting the tone

Ninety-nine percent of CFOs at the largest companies included in the study said AR/PA is “very” or “extremely” important to creating healthy balance sheets, as did 96% of those at medium-sized enterprises, 93% of those of small enterprises and 94% of those of the smallest enterprises included in the survey.

Investments in assets follow closely and are ranked as the second most important factor. Ninety-three percent of CFOs at the largest companies said it was “very” or “extremely” important, as did 87% of those at midsize companies, 88% of those at small companies, and 93 % of those in the smallest companies. investigation.

Fifty-nine percent of surveyed CFOs are focused on digitizing payments. The larger their company, the more likely CFOs are to say digitalization is a “very” or “extremely” important strategy for improving balance sheets.

This is the opinion of 74% of the CFOs of the largest companies, 59% of those of medium-sized companies, 54% of those of small companies and 50% of those of the smallest companies included in the survey.

CFOs are focusing on digitizing payments for different reasons. Overall, CFOs said they believe digitalization is synonymous with transformation. There were, however, differences between CFOs of companies of different sizes.

The larger the company they represent, the more likely CFOs are to see their digitization plans as an opportunity to transform their payment processes. Small business CFOs are more likely to see digitization as something smaller – a way to automate existing manual processes or eliminate some altogether to streamline operations.