{"id":1124,"date":"2019-07-01T15:08:13","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T15:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.test\/en-au\/blog\/?post_type=sage_glossary&#038;p=1124"},"modified":"2026-01-29T17:41:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T15:41:00","slug":"what-is-accounts-payable","status":"publish","type":"sage_glossary","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/glossary\/what-is-accounts-payable\/","title":{"rendered":"What is accounts payable?"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/glossary\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">Glossary definition<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat is accounts payable?\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"What is accounts payable?\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/glossary\/what-is-accounts-payable\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n\n<p>Accounts&nbsp;payable is a phrase referring to the debts owed by a company, typically in exchange for goods or services and due within a short period of time. Business practices are simplified by the use of accounts payable \u2013 a company essentially has an open line of credit with a vendor, which is paid within a specified time period. This avoids frequent invoicing by assembling all transactions into a single account to be settled regularly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A more general accounts payable definition refers to the short-term debts of a company as well as to the department that manages those debts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What does accounts payable mean for a business\u2019s accounting department? It means any money the company owes is to be recorded as a liability until it is paid. Companies often find success using&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/accounting-software\/accounts-payable\/\">accounts payable software<\/a> to ensure proper management of this important item of business and to avoid potential default with creditors.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to the Sage Advice enewsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Get a roundup of our best business advice in your inbox every month.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-84fe79b5-668d-41f8-a0cc-6229018c4ac9\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1181404518-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1181404518-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Accounts&nbsp;payable is a phrase referring to the debts owed by a company, typically in exchange for goods or services and due within a short period of time. Business practices are simplified by the use of accounts payable \u2013 a company essentially has an open line of credit with a vendor, which is paid within a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":708,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1124","sage_glossary","type-sage_glossary","status-publish","hentry"],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice South Africa","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/sage_glossary\/1124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/sage_glossary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/sage_glossary"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/sage_glossary\/1124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-za\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}