Larkspur Industrial Supply is a 60-person distributor of industrial fasteners and MRO parts in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Prepared November 7, 2026.
How to make Larkspur's AP specialists unreasonably productive with AI
Larkspur has one accounts payable specialist and is hiring a second at $48,000 to $54,000. With the 6 ways below, the specialist it already has handles 3.4x the work.
The biggest of the 6 ways is that an inbox agent enters every invoice, which takes back 11.1 hours a week. Together the 6 ways take back 28.3 of the role’s 40 hours.
The AP specialist’s 40-hour week, task by task. Raspberry is the time that comes back.
28.3 of the AP specialist’s 40 weekly hours go to work AI can carry
One AP specialist costs $66,300 a year: the $51,000 salary midpoint plus 30% for payroll taxes and benefits. The posting lists six tasks, and this table shows the hours each one takes and how many of those hours AI and better process take back.
Hours a week by task, and how much AI and better process can take
What the posting asks for
Hours a week
AI and process can take
Hours back
Invoice entry in QuickBooks Online
13.0
85%
11.1
PO and receipt matching
8.0
65%
5.2
Vendor emails and statements
6.0
70%
4.2
Payment runs
5.0
50%
2.5
Month-end close and AP aging
5.0
70%
3.5
Vendor setup, W-9s and 1099s
3.0
60%
1.8
Total
40.0
28.3
Hours estimate: built from the tasks listed in the posting and the time those tasks take at a company of 60 people. On a call we replace them with your person’s real week.
Cost per invoice today
$8.50
Cost per invoice with the 6 ways
$2.50
Invoices one person handles per week
150 to 510
The 6 ways take 28.3 hours a week off the role
An inbox agent enters every invoice.
11.1 hours a week back
Today Invoice entry in QuickBooks Online, 13 hours a week.
Invoices arriving by email or PDF get read, coded to the right GL account and drafted in QuickBooks Online. Your specialist reviews a batch and approves it with one click.
Matching runs on its own.
5.2 hours a week back
Today PO and receipt matching, 8 hours a week.
Every invoice is checked against its purchase order and the receiving record automatically. Only quantity and price mismatches reach your specialist, with the difference already worked out.
Vendor emails come pre-answered.
4.2 hours a week back
Today Vendor emails and statements, 6 hours a week.
Payment status questions, statement reconciliations and remittance confirmations get drafted from your own AP data. Your specialist reads each one and hits send.
Month-end close is drafted for them.
3.5 hours a week back
Today Month-end close and AP aging, 5 hours a week.
AP aging, accruals for received-not-invoiced goods and the close checklist are prepared from live data, so AP close takes an afternoon instead of three days.
Payment runs build themselves.
2.5 hours a week back
Today Payment runs, 5 hours a week.
The weekly run is assembled from due dates, terms and early-pay discounts, then routed to Dana for approval in one step.
New vendors onboard themselves.
1.8 hours a week back
Today Vendor setup, W-9s and 1099s, 3 hours a week.
A setup packet collects the W-9 and banking details, checks the TIN format and flags anything missing. 1099s are ready to file in January.
The inbox agent codes and matches a morning’s invoices before the AP specialist starts work
This is the inbox agent’s queue for one Tuesday morning. It reads each invoice that arrived overnight, codes it to the right account, matches it to its purchase order and receiving record, and queues it in QuickBooks Online. The AP specialist approves the clean ones in one click and spends the morning on the two that need a decision.
Inbox agent: invoices received overnightRasberry Advisory
4 ready to approve in QuickBooks Online
2 sent to your specialist with the difference worked out
Inbox agent: invoices received overnight
Invoice
Vendor
Amount
Coded to
PO match
Status
INV-20931
Midwest Fastener Co.
$4,812.60
5010 Inventory purchases
PO 4471, received in full
Ready to approve
88214
Red River Freight
$1,186.00
6120 Freight in
BOL 30917
Ready to approve
INV-7740
Prairie Steel Products
$9,304.25
5010 Inventory purchases
PO 4459, 12 units short
Check: quantity
T-55102
Tulsa Packaging
$642.18
6210 Shipping supplies
PO 4480
Ready to approve
OZ-1187
Ozark Industrial Supply
$2,275.40
5010 Inventory purchases
PO 4476, price $0.40 over
Check: price
10442
Green Country Electric
$318.90
6410 Utilities
Recurring, no PO needed
Ready to approve
Approve 4 bills
The AP specialist can use these two prompts today
Paste either one into Claude or ChatGPT with this week’s vendor email or exception list, with bank and tax numbers removed. Both work whether or not you hire us.
Answer a "where's my payment" email
Use it when a vendor asks when they'll be paid.
You are the accounts payable specialist at Larkspur Industrial Supply. Below is a vendor's email and our current AP aging export. Find every open invoice for this vendor, tell me which are scheduled in the next payment run and which are past terms, and draft a short, friendly reply with exact invoice numbers, amounts and expected pay dates. Do not promise a date that is not in the export. If an invoice is missing from our records, say so and ask the vendor to resend it.
Vendor email:
[paste]
AP aging export:
[paste]
Summarize this week's invoice exceptions for the owner
Use it when you are preparing the Friday payment run.
Below is this week's list of invoice exceptions (price mismatches, quantity mismatches, missing POs, duplicates). Write a five-line note for the owner: total dollars on hold, the three largest items with what we need from whom, anything that will cost us an early-pay discount if not cleared by Tuesday, and one line on any vendor that shows up repeatedly. Plain language, no bullet symbols, numbers exact.
Exceptions:
[paste]
Multiplying the specialist you have saves the $66,300 a year a second specialist would cost
A second AP specialist costs $5,525 every month you employ them, for as long as you employ them. A Role Multiplier Sprint is one fixed fee, paid once.
Hiring another AP specialist compared with a Role Multiplier Sprint
Measure
Hire another AP specialist
Multiply the role you have
What it costs
$51,000 salary, $66,300 a year with taxes and benefits
One fixed fee per role
When you pay it
Every year you employ them
Once
Time to full speed
Recruiting, then three months of ramp-up
30 days, or 14 working days on Fast Track
Who carries the risk
You do, if the hire does not work out
We do: at least 2x more productive in 30 days, or we keep working for free
What you keep
A second salary on the payroll
Skills, agents and a trained person, all inside your own accounts