Accounts payable in United States
By OCTA Finance Team — Finance automation research & guides, reviewed by OCTA
Accounts payable guidance for United States, using a USD calculator, cited local payment context, and one practical action for this week.
Evidence for United States
Atradius reports that about half of US B2B sales are on credit, terms average 45 days, 43% of credit-based B2B invoices are overdue, and bad debts are 5%.
Collection complexity: Allianz Trade rates the United States at 56, Very High, in its 2026 Collection Complexity Score.
Regulatory and invoice context
US federal framework: There is no federal OpenPeppol B2B mandate and no federal commercial net-30 rule. Contract terms and state law govern private commercial payment terms; the federal Prompt Payment rules apply to government payments to vendors. IRS e-file is tax-return filing, not B2B e-invoicing.
Confirm contractual and state-law obligations for a private transaction rather than treating an IRS e-file process as an e-invoicing mandate.
Payment rails and credit context
- ACH, FedNow and Fedwire: US payment rails include ACH, FedNow (live 20 July 2023), and Fedwire.
One action for this week
Have the finance team sample ten supplier invoices, confirm the PO–receipt–invoice match, and record each exception before the next United States payment run.
Sources
- Atradius: United States B2B payment practices, 2025 (source date: 2025)
- Allianz Trade: United States Collection Complexity Score 2026 (source date: 2026-01-27)
- Internal Revenue Service: US B2B e-invoicing and payment terms (source date: 2026)
- Federal Reserve: US payment rails (source date: 2023-07-20)