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Businesses and their accountants are increasingly moving away from manual workflows, opting instead for artificial intelligence (AI) agents and other advanced digital tools provided by BILL. This trend was highlighted by BILL executives during the company's second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings call, showcasing a significant shift towards automated and efficient financial operations for small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
BILL's comprehensive financial operations platform is witnessing robust adoption, now supporting 498,000 businesses, a notable increase from 481,000 recorded a year prior. Complementing this, an expansive network of 9,500 accounting firms and 8.3 million businesses are actively leveraging BILL’s proprietary B2B payment solutions. CEO René Lacerte underscored this success during the recent earnings call, emphasizing how the platform's broad functionalities are effectively driving heightened user engagement and facilitating a greater volume of transactions across its integrated ecosystem.
The latest financial quarter revealed a significant uptick in the adoption of BILL's invoice financing offering. The number of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) utilizing this service surged by nearly 50% year-over-year, demonstrating a strong market demand. Concurrently, the total origination volume for invoice financing experienced an increase of over 30%. Lacerte described this offering as a rapidly expanding, critical payment solution that delivers flexible capital precisely when businesses require it most, directly addressing a vital operational need for many SMBs striving for improved liquidity.
Further diversifying its offerings, BILL introduced the Cash Account during the recent quarter, which has since seen promising early adoption among SMBs. This innovative cash flow management solution empowers businesses to securely hold their operating cash within a high APY (Annual Percentage Yield) account. The company views the Cash Account as a strategic opportunity to transition billions of dollars in monthly offline spending onto its digital network, thereby substantially increasing its wallet share. Initial indications post-launch show that more than 70% of Cash Account users have already boosted their spend volumes on BILL’s network, validating the product's value proposition.
In a significant move to enhance operational efficiency, BILL launched its suite of AI agents in October, which have since commenced automating various back-office tasks for SMBs. These intelligent agents are engineered to perform routine yet critical functions, including the collection and validation of W-9 forms, the reconciliation of receipts, and the acceleration of user onboarding processes. By taking over these historically manual and time-consuming activities, the AI agents enable businesses to reallocate resources and focus on more strategic initiatives, marking a key step in digital transformation.
A specific highlight from the AI agent rollout is the impressive performance of the W-9 agent. Nearly 10,000 customers have activated this particular agent, leading to the successful collection of 40,000 W-9 forms to date. BILL's projections are ambitious, anticipating that this single agent will facilitate the collection and automation of 3 million W-9s by the close of 2026. This level of automation is expected to save thousands of weeks of manual work for their customers, demonstrating the tangible benefits of integrating AI into financial workflows.
Recognizing the evolving landscape of the accounting profession, BILL has also rolled out significant new features tailored for accountants. These enhancements, integrated into the platform's Accountant Console, include expanded capabilities for procurement, multi-entity support, and advanced reporting functions. CEO Lacerte emphasized that these sophisticated tools are becoming increasingly important as AI technologies continue to reshape traditional accounting practices. He highlighted BILL's unique expertise in SMB back-office operations and its broad platform as crucial enablers for accounting firms to transform mundane transactional work into valuable, automated advisory services, thereby elevating their service offerings.