Key Findings

  • According to an analysis of invoice data by Basware, a financial automation company headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, global businesses received 272 million invoices in the first quarter of 2025, with a rejection rate of 6.95%, compared to just 1.86% in the same period last year.
  • The rise in rejection rates roughly coincides with the onset of the U.S. trade war—launched by U.S. President Donald Trump in February, about one-third into the quarter. Basware noted in a press release providing the analysis to CFO Dive that fluctuating tariff rates and price changes require additional administrative processing and must be reflected in invoices, making the invoicing process more complex.
  • "The U.S. tariff situation is creating pressure in an unexpected place—the finance operations function, particularly invoice processing," Basware CEO Jason Kurtz said in a statement accompanying the press release. "Similar to the supply chain disruptions experienced during the pandemic, this indicates that businesses are using payment delays as a financial buffer against economic uncertainty."

Deeper Analysis

Days Sales Outstanding (DSO), the average number of days it takes a business to collect payment after completing a sale, is a cash flow health metric closely monitored by CFOs and accounts receivable professionals.

On the other side of the transaction are businesses that review invoices before paying. According to Basware, these businesses sometimes reject payments for legitimate reasons, including administrative or commercial issues such as incorrect purchase order numbers, missing tax information or regulatory inconsistencies, disputed statement amounts, or suspicious supplier information.

Kurtz said in an email response that businesses need to manage transactions properly and address the actual issues causing legitimate rejections to avoid long-term damage to buyer-supplier relationships. "While rejection may cause delays, it does not mean the supplier will ultimately not receive payment," he said.

Basware believes the surge in rejection rates indicates that the increase is not driven by simple administrative errors, but rather that some businesses are attempting to renegotiate agreements or hoard cash by blocking payments. "This is a signal that businesses are under significant pressure," Kurtz said.

These findings are included in Basware'sInvoice Rejection Analysis Report. The report examines the flow and rejection rates of a total of 272 million invoices across the full year of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.