OmniPATH vs Spreadsheets: Why it’s time to upgrade

The short answer

Spreadsheets are flexible, free and familiar, but they were never built to control purchasing. Research by Raymond Panko found errors in 83% of audited operational spreadsheets. It’s time to upgrade when you have several sites or buyers, more than a few dozen invoices a month, or no single place that shows what you’ve ordered, received, owe and paid.

Why do so many businesses still run purchasing on spreadsheets?

Because spreadsheets work, until they don’t.

They cost nothing extra, everyone knows how to use them, and they bend to any process. For a single site with a handful of suppliers, a well-kept sheet is often enough.

The problem is growth. Every new site adds a tab, every new buyer adds a version, and every month adds rows nobody checks. In a June 2026 survey of 200 UK finance leaders, 85% said they still rely on manual input at some stage of accounts payable.

How common are spreadsheet errors?

Very. University of Hawaii researcher Raymond Panko’s review of field audits found errors in 83% of 163 operational spreadsheets across nine studies. In one set of audits, 49 out of 54 spreadsheets contained errors (Computerworld).

Some errors are expensive. The same Computerworld report cites a $1.2bn spreadsheet error at Fannie Mae and a $24m cut-and-paste mistake at Canadian power firm TransAlta.

Most are not headline news. They are a formula that stops one row short, a price typed with the decimal in the wrong place, or a duplicate invoice entered twice from two inboxes.

What do spreadsheets really cost a finance team?

Time, mostly. And time is the part nobody budgets for.

Spreadsheets vs OmniPATH: what changes?

Signs you’ve outgrown your spreadsheet

• More than one person updates it, and they disagree.
• Invoices arrive faster than anyone can key them.
• You’ve paid an invoice twice, or nearly did.
• A supplier raised a price and nobody noticed for months.
• Month-end means a day of chasing approvals and reconciling tabs.
• You can’t answer “what do we owe this week?” without opening three files.

Two or more of these, and the spreadsheet is costing more than it saves.

Key trends

• AI is reaching the AP desk. Ardent’s 2026 State of ePayables found 58% of AP teams using or piloting AI.
• Touchless processing is the new benchmark. Best-in-class teams process 51% of invoices straight through without human touch, against 29% for others (Ardent, 2025).
• Line-level data is becoming standard. Totals in a cell are being replaced by item-level data that shows price movement.
• Making Tax Digital is pushing record-keeping online. MTD for Income Tax became mandatory for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 from April 2026, falling to £30,000 from April 2027 (HMRC).

How to move off spreadsheets without disruption

1. Connect your accounts software so existing suppliers and bills come across automatically.
2. Forward new invoices to one inbox instead of keying them.
3. Map your account codes once.
4. Set up sites and approval limits.
5. Run the spreadsheet in parallel for one month, then retire it.

Keep the spreadsheet for what it’s good at: ad hoc analysis. Export from OmniPATH when you want to model something.

Where OmniPATH fits

OmniPATH replaces the purchasing spreadsheet with one live record. Connect Xero or QuickBooks and your suppliers, spend and upcoming bills appear before you type a thing. Every invoice is read to the line, checked against what you paid before, routed to the right approver and coded your way.

Related reading

• OmniPATH vs Hubdoc & Dext: document capture isn’t procurement automation
• AP automation
• Bridging the Gap between Operations and Finance

FAQ

Can I manage purchase orders in Excel?

You can, and many small businesses do. It becomes risky once several people raise orders, because there is no enforced approval, no automatic price check and no reliable link between the order, the delivery and the invoice.

How common are spreadsheet errors?

Very common. Raymond Panko’s review of field audits found errors in 83% of 163 operational spreadsheets across nine studies. Most errors are small, but they compound over thousands of rows.

When should a business stop using spreadsheets for invoices?

When invoices arrive faster than they can be keyed, more than one person updates the file, or you can’t see what you owe without opening several sheets. Multi-site operators usually reach this point early.

Is AP automation expensive compared with spreadsheets?

Spreadsheets look free, but the cost is staff time and missed errors. Ardent Partners found best-in-class AP teams process invoices for $2.65 each, against $12.42 for others, largely through automation.

Will I lose my historic data if I move off spreadsheets?

No. Connecting your accounts software brings recent invoices, suppliers and bank activity across automatically. Your spreadsheet stays as an archive, and you can export data from OmniPATH whenever you need it.

Sources

• Raymond Panko – spreadsheet field audits
• Computerworld – spreadsheet error examples
• CFOtech UK – Unit4 / Vanson Bourne research
• CFOtech UK – Kefron survey of UK finance leaders
• Ardent Partners – State of ePayables 2025 (PDF)
• Ardent Partners – State of ePayables 2026
• HMRC – Making Tax Digital for Income Tax