Straight-Through Processing (STP)
Straight-through processing (STP) in AP payments refers to the automatic processing of a virtual card or electronic payment without any manual intervention by the supplier's accounts receivable team.
STP rate is the percentage of virtual card or electronic payments that process automatically through the supplier's accounts receivable system without requiring manual data entry, phone calls, or exception handling. It is the primary operational metric for AP payment program quality.
High STP (40–50%) means: suppliers have configured their AR systems to automatically accept and process virtual card payments; remittance data arrives in the right format; and the payment posts to the invoice automatically. Low STP (5–15%) means every payment requires manual handling by the supplier's AR team — creating friction that leads suppliers to decline future VCard enrollment.
STP improvement levers: integrated supplier AR solutions (platforms that auto-process VCard), standardized remittance data formats, supplier enablement programs that train AR teams, and ERP integrations that connect payment data to invoice records automatically.
STP and revenue: programs at 15% STP miss 70%+ of their VCard interchange opportunity. Moving from 15% to 40% STP on $50M annual payment volume at 175 bps generates an additional $2.2M in annual interchange — without increasing payment volume.