The efficiency and accuracy of the accounts payable activity of a company determines its reputation among the suppliers and builds credibility. If the company pays its bills on time, it keeps the relations with suppliers strong and avails early payment discounts. The CEO must calculate and monitor the crucial accounts payable metrics to track the performance and improve where they lack. These metrics spot the accounts payable process's inefficiencies and allow firms to correct them by studying the Key Performance Indicators. Some of the crucial KPIs CEO's must consider optimizing their payable workflows include:
Average cost per invoice processing:
It means that companies should track the expenses associated with the processing of each invoice. If there are many steps involved, eliminate the unnecessary to keep the cost minimum. Higher costs per invoice can shake the budget allocated towards the AP department. You can compare your expenses with the benchmark and peers in the industry to see where you stand. 
Average invoice and payment processing time:
Analyze how much time it takes your AP department to process your invoices. Higher time reflects that you are using labour-intensive techniques that disallow your staff to focus on strategic and judgement-based activities. The processing time varies for every organization, but every firm should employ a system that allows their staff to access the accounts payable anywhere at any time.
Capturing early payment discounts:
Often vendors offer discounts for early payments that increase with the accounts payable amount. Therefore, CEOs must focus on the discount opportunities that a company avails of and their failures. It will give them an insight into where they lack. Also, they can implement a system that will trigger alerts when the discount window is about to expire. 
Penalties suffered:
Similar to discounts, CEOs must also notice how often they suffered penalties due to late payments. A higher percentage hampers the company's reputation and leads to unnecessary cash outflow. CEOs need to ensure that the outsourced bookkeeping services offer 100% timely payments. 
Disagreements with suppliers:
Another aspect where CEOs must focus on is the discrepancies, disagreements, and inquiries raised by the suppliers. Similar to how a company treats its customers, it must fulfill the supplier's requirements to survive in the market. If you face numerous issues and disputes with suppliers, realize the cause and correct it as soon as possible. Otherwise, it will consume massive resources. 
Straight-through invoices: 
The accounts payable invoices usually go through steps before companies pay them off. The manual work allows businesses to detect discrepancies and correct them early. However, it consumes the considerable time of the personnel. Therefore, companies need to automate their processes and reduce friction between AP and procurement. 
ROI on automated invoice processing:
Since many businesses still haven't automated their accounts payable processes, an ROI calculator allows them to see the visible savings by implementing digitization and driving efficiency and growth. It offers real-time visibility and transparency.