Apexanalytix has released its 2026 Global Overpayment Report, a data-driven analysis examining overpayment risks across large enterprise Accounts Payable (AP) operations. The report identifies the top five causes of lost profit in global enterprises and highlights key areas where organizations can improve financial controls and reduce payment errors.
As rising operational costs impact global businesses in every industry, enterprises must be exceedingly diligent in protecting their profits. Based on records of $3.25 trillion in spend and more than 400 million invoices from a cross-section of the world’s largest companies, the report reveals where overpayments originate, why they persist in mature AP operations, and where leaders should look first to recover value.
According to the report, the top causes of overpayment include:
- Duplicate payments for the same goods or services, accounting for 18% of lost profit
- Payments for canceled invoices, contracts or services, accounting for 14% of lost profit
- Pricing discrepancies, accounting for 13% of lost profit
The findings show a disconnect between the source of the problem and the party expected to solve it: while AP teams are left to process the transactions, most of the leading causes of overpayments originate elsewhere in the business. Canceled services, pricing changes, returned goods, unclaimed rebates, supplier-record issues, fragmented approvals, and low visibility can all create exposure before an invoice reaches AP or after payment has already left the business.
“AP leaders are responsible for making payments accurately and efficiently, but many overpayments begin in operational handoffs they do not fully own,” said Phil Beane, President, Global Transaction Compliance Solutions at apexanalytix. “This report gives leaders a practical way to see where that exposure originates, which common issues deserve attention, and how recovery findings can inform stronger prevention. For AP and Financial Shared Services teams, the value is benchmarking their potential process gaps against peers, knowing where to look and how to recover cash for the business.”
The report also examines why mature controls do not eliminate overpayment risk. Large AP environments typically include multiple ERPs, supplier records, invoice channels, approval paths, and geographies. Existing controls can catch many errors, but they are not always designed to identify losses that emerge across systems, supplier accounts, contracts, and business units that rarely self-correct.
The apexanalytix 2026 Global Overpayment Report is available here.
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