How Small Businesses Receive Bills — and Why It Matters

Every small business deals with bills. Whether from vendors, service providers, utilities, or rent. Getting bills not only triggers payment obligations, but also sets off bookkeeping, cash-flow planning, and vendor-management tasks. But how you receive those bills can make a big difference: it affects how smoothly your operations run, how reliably you pay on time, and how easy it is to scale as you grow.

The reality is bills arrive in different formats, on different schedules, and require different levels of follow-up – and the way those bills are received can make a big difference in how smoothly your accounting and cash-flow processes run. That’s why Finance Burger’s “Guiding Principles for Efficient Bill Payment” is so powerful by emphasizing efficiency, consistency, and the leverage of technology. It starts from that premise that bill payment isn’t just a manual chore, but a process that becomes a strategic asset when optimized.

In this second post of our five-part series, we walk through how small businesses receive bills, discuss pros and cons, and highlight which methods tend to work best – especially for small businesses seeking to grow without getting buried in paperwork.

Common Ways Small Businesses Receive Bills

Here are the main channels through which small businesses typically receive bills:

• Paper invoices sent via postal mail – traditional, paper-based bills mailed to your business address.

• Invoice attached to email (PDF or other digital format) – Vendors email an invoice (often a PDF) and/or a link to an invoice as soon as services are delivered or goods shipped.  This is sometimes done through their accounting software like QuickBooks Online or Xero, or an online service like Bill.com.

• Vendor portals or billing platforms – some vendors host a secure online portal where all their invoices for you are uploaded and where you can view or pay them.

• Automated billing / recurring billing notifications – for repeat services (rent, utilities, subscriptions), some bills may be generated automatically and delivered via any of the above methods, sometimes with autopay options.

• QuickBooks Online Business Network – accounting software that receives invoices directly into your account if both you and your vendor are in the network.  You get a draft bill in your finance software to approve.

Pros and Cons of Each Method

Paper Invoices (Postal Mail)

Pros

• Some vendors (especially older or smaller ones) may insist on mailing paper – you often can’t avoid it.

• For businesses that prefer or require physical records (e.g. for compliance), paper makes archiving straightforward.

Cons

• Slow – mailing delays can push out when you see the bill – and therefore when you plan payment.

• Easily lost or forgotten – paper can get misplaced, misplaced in filing, or overlooked entirely.

• Labor-intensive – someone must manually open mail, sort, scan or file, and enter invoice data into bookkeeping software. That increases the risk of data-entry error.

• Scales poorly – as volume of bills increase paper becomes a growing burden.

Continuing to rely on paper/physical bills likely means your bill-payment process is inefficient and error-prone.

Email with a Digital Invoice (PDF and/or Digital Attachment)

Pros

• Fast and immediate delivery – as soon as the vendor sends it you get the invoice in your inbox.

• Cheaper and more environmentally friendly – no postage or printing costs.

• Easier to store and search – digital attachments can be archived, tagged, forwarded, or imported into your accounting system.

• Easier to automate and track – You can set up rules in your email or accounting software to automatically tag, store, or forward invoices.

• Better for remote work – if your team is distributed, everyone with access to the inbox can see the invoice.

Cons

• Can still require manual data entry – Someone still has to enter or verify them if invoice PDFs are not structured or integrated well with the accounting software.

• Risk of being overlooked – if your inbox is cluttered, an invoice can go to spam or get buried – especially if the subject line isn’t clear or vendor names are unfamiliar.

• Inconsistent formatting – different vendors may use different templates or conventions, complicating automated data extraction or bookkeeping.

Still – for many small businesses, email with a digital invoice is a vast improvement over paper mail, especially when part of a standardized, well-managed workflow.

Vendor Portals / Billing Platforms

Pros

• Centralized invoice access – all bills from that vendor in one place, making retrieval, review, and payment more consistent.

• Often integrates payment options – vendor portals may allow paying directly (ACH, credit card, etc.), reducing friction.

• Reduces missed/forgotten invoices – because invoices stay accessible even if you don’t immediately download them.

• Good for vendor relationships & compliance – useful for larger vendors or regulated industries where documentation access and auditability matter.

Cons

• Requires login and access management – someone must manage credentials, permissions, and make sure relevant people check the portal with some frequency.

• If you have many vendors each with their own portal, it can become cumbersome – multiple logins, different interfaces, different data export options.

• Not all vendors use portals – smaller vendors or mom-and-pop shops may still default to email or mail.

Automated recurring billing / autopay arrangements

Pros

• Great for predictable, recurring expenses (rent, utilities, subscriptions) – once set up, little ongoing work.

• Reduces risk of late or missed payments – as long as funds are available, payments happen automatically.

• Simplifies accounting and planning – you know what payments are scheduled and when.

Cons

• Can reduce control/visibility – if bills vary or there are changes, autopay might overpay or pay at wrong times.

• Risk if bank account balance isn’t monitored – automatic payments may overdraw or cause fees.

• Not all vendors support autopay – and some bills may require manual intervention (e.g., variable utility bills, one-time invoices, etc.).

QuickBooks Online Business Network (or other Accounting Software)

Pros

• Streamlined billing & invoicing between connected parties – once you and a customer or vendor are connected on the Business Network, you can send invoices or receive bills directly in QuickBooks.  No manual data entry is needed.

• Better accounts-payable (AP) automation and cash-flow visibility – bills received via the network are automatically added to your books, which helps with review, approval, and payment scheduling. Saves time and reduces errors compared with manually creating bills.

• Large network of potential business partners – the directory reportedly includes millions of QuickBooks users/businesses, making it easier to connect with existing customers or vendors who use QuickBooks.

• Automatic sync of contact info – if a connected business updates their contact info, the update propagates to you. That helps avoid outdated vendor/customer details.

• Restricted to QuickBooks users – the network only works if both your business and the other party (vendor/customer) use QuickBooks and have accepted the network invite. Otherwise, the automation benefits don’t apply.

• Feature availability depends on plan – AP automation and bill-payment network features may not be available on the lowest-tier (Simple Start) – so small businesses on entry-level plans might not get full benefit.

• Network data isn’t independently verified – contact and business information for listed members comes from user submissions – not third-party vetting – which implies potential for outdated or inaccurate info.

• Privacy / visibility trade-offs – if listed publicly, some business info becomes visible to other network members (company name, contact info, general location), which some businesses may be uncomfortable with.

Which Ways Are Best – And Why Efficiency Principles Matter?

So what processes are best informed by efficiency principles like those from Finance Burger?

• Digital over paper wherever possible.

• Leverage automation and technology to reduce manual effort – minimize human data-entry wherever possible.  This lowers error risk and frees up your team to do higher-value work. It also helps you scale faster.

• Setup automatic payments wherever you can.

• Standardize invoice receipt and workflow. First, get connected with as many vendors as possible in a business payment network available through your accounting software.  Then, have all remaining vendors send emails with a PDF attachment to a standard email address like AP@yourcompany.com or Finance@yourcompany.com.

In short: for most small businesses seeking to run clean books, reduce admin overhead, and scale, the best approach is digital and automatic, with manual methods used only when unavoidable.  How small businesses receive bills sets them up for more efficient bill entry, which will be the third topic in this 5-part blog series.