AP audit for SaaS subscriptions: find the software nobody owns.
An AP audit for SaaS subscriptions starts from the money, because that's the one record nobody can forget to update. Every tool the company pays for shows up in accounts payable or on a card statement. The audit turns that list into owners, contracts and decisions.
How to find unused software subscriptions in accounts payable.
This works in a spreadsheet, with or without any tool. Plan for the first pass to turn up questions, not answers.
Pull twelve months of spend
Export accounts-payable history and every company card's transactions for the last twelve months. Annual subscriptions only show up once a year, so a shorter window misses them.
Clean up the payee names
The same vendor shows up under a billing entity, a payment processor and a product name. Collapse them to one vendor per row.
Keep what repeats
Filter to charges that recur monthly, quarterly or annually. That's your real software list, whatever the IT inventory says.
Put an owner on every row
One named person per vendor: whoever relies on it or holds the budget. Start with the approver or cardholder, then confirm with them.
Find the contract
Match each vendor to its agreement, order form or the terms that were clicked through. A recurring charge with no agreement on file is a finding in itself.
Ask the owner about use
Is it still used? By how many people? Would anyone notice if it stopped tomorrow? A vendor nobody will claim is a ghost contract.
Decide before the notice deadline
Keep, renegotiate, or cancel, and check the notice deadline before you act. Cancelling the card doesn't end the contract.
The columns that make the audit work.
One row per vendor. These columns are enough to turn a spend export into decisions:
| Column | What goes in it | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | One name per vendor, after cleanup | AP and card exports |
| Billed per period | The recurring amount and how often it's billed | AP and card exports |
| Paid by | AP, or which card | AP and card exports |
| Owner | One named person | The approver or cardholder, confirmed |
| Agreement on file | Yes, no, or clicked-through terms | Contract folders, inboxes, the vendor's portal |
| Renewal and notice deadline | The renewal date and the last day to give notice | The agreement |
| Decision | Keep, renegotiate or cancel, and by when | The owner |
Matching charges to contracts and owners.
When the name doesn't match
Search the contract folders and inboxes for the billing entity, the product name and the domain on the invoice. Receipts usually carry the account email, which points to the person who signed up.
When nobody claims it
Ask the cardholder or the AP approver first. If nobody would notice it gone, it's a candidate to cancel, after you check the notice terms.
When there's no contract
Ask the vendor for the agreement or order form tied to your account. Software bought on a card usually runs on online terms; save a copy of the version you're on.
Where Sidecar takes over from the spreadsheet.
The vendor list, with owners
Import your vendors from a CSV with an owner-email column, up to 200 rows at a time. Owners who are already in your workspace are matched by email; renewal and deadline alerts for that vendor go to them.
The contracts, read
Upload each agreement and the renewal date, notice deadline, price terms and out clauses come back with the clause quoted.
The invoices, against the contract
On paid plans, drop vendor invoices in the Upload Center or a Drive folder named Invoices, or paste a CSV of charges, and Sidecar reads what each one billed.
What the invoices turn up
A vendor billing you with no agreement on file. Invoices above the contract's stated annual value. A unit price that rose past the contract's cap. Billing after your notice took effect, or the same bill twice. Each with the arithmetic and the clause.
What the Vendor Portfolio looks for
Rather hand it off? The Vendor Stack Audit is $1,995, fixed, for up to 10 agreements. Book a stack audit
AP audit questions
How far back should a SaaS subscription audit look?
Twelve months. Annual subscriptions bill once a year, so anything shorter can miss the most expensive ones entirely.
Card statements or accounts payable: which matters more?
Both. Larger contracts usually run through AP on invoices; smaller tools are often bought on company cards and never reach AP. An audit that only checks one misses the other.
What if a vendor bills us but we can't find a contract?
Treat it as a finding. Ask the vendor for the agreement or order form on your account, or save the online terms you're on. Until you have it, you don't know the renewal date or how to leave.
Does Sidecar connect to our accounting system?
Not directly. You import vendors from a CSV, drop invoices in the Upload Center or a Drive folder, or paste charges as a CSV. A connected AI that can see your spend system can record them too.
Why does Sidecar say billed rather than paid?
Because an invoice shows what a vendor billed, not what you paid. Sidecar reads the invoices you give it; it doesn't see your bank or your payment runs.
Definitions and negotiation guidance here are educational business decision support, not legal advice. Consult an attorney about how any clause applies to your own agreement.
Put a name on every recurring charge.
Import the vendor list with an owner for each, upload the agreements, and every renewal and notice deadline lands in one place. Your first review is free.