BETHESDA, Md. -- The high cost of check transactions is driving treasury and finance professionals away from paper checks for business-to-business (B2B) payments, according to new research by AFP.

The 2015 AFP Payments Cost Benchmarking Survey, underwritten by Bottomline Technologies, found that nearly 80 percent of organizations are in the process of transitioning their B2B payments from checks to electronic payments. In addition, more than two out of three organizations would replace checks with e-payments if there was a cost benefit of doing so, while 88 percent cite increased efficiency as the primary reason for transitioning to electronic payments from paper checks.  

“Treasury and finance departments are increasingly tasked with innovating and adapting to better serve their organizations, and moving from paper to electronic is one way to do so,” said Jim Kaitz, president and CEO of AFP. “AFP looks forward to tracking how payment trends and the associated costs will evolve over time.”

AFP conducted its inaugural 2015 AFP Payments Cost Benchmarking Survey to provide more granular information on the costs of making payments through checks, ACH, wires and cards, as well as to gauge payment trends by organization size. The report provides transaction volumes and detailed cost data for key payment methods. Results distinguish between external and internal costs and highlights median ranges for various demographic categories and payment methods.  The survey includes responses from 534 treasury and finance professionals.

“The report findings reinforce what we hear every day from our clients—that check-based payments are costly and inefficient and automation is a critical to support business growth,” said Jessica Moran, general manager of cloud payment solutions at Bottomline Technologies. “Leveraging this credible benchmark data is extremely useful for finance professionals making the case for automation.”

Read the full results of the survey here.