A research agenda, not completed reporting. These are the original topic questions and leads. Named companies, dates and outcomes require verification. Editorial operations and internal schemas remain private.

2. Getting paid: SMB acceptance and receivables

2.1 Acceptance stacks

  • In-person POS (Square, Clover, Toast, Shopify POS, Lightspeed, SumUp, Zettle, Stripe Terminal, Tap to Pay on phones — verify)
  • Online checkout (Stripe, PayPal/Braintree, Adyen, Shopify Payments, Checkout.com, Authorize.net, Helcim)
  • Invoicing and payment links (QuickBooks Payments, Xero with Stripe/GoCardless, FreshBooks, Wave — verify Wave ownership changes, Square Invoices, PayPal Invoicing)
  • Pay-by-bank and ACH for invoices (lower cost; link to Parts 02 and 03)
  • Marketplaces and creator platforms (payouts, holds, 1099-K)
  • Vertical SaaS with embedded payments (restaurants, salons, fitness, home services, healthcare, nonprofits)

2.2 Cost and risk topics

  • Flat-rate vs. interchange-plus for small merchants (link to Part 02 worked examples)
  • Surcharging and cash discounting (state rules — verify)
  • Payout timing, instant payout fees, rolling reserves, account terminations
  • Chargebacks for small merchants
  • 1099-K reporting thresholds: phased changes and 2025 legislation restoring $20,000/200-transaction threshold (verify)
  • Sales tax automation (Avalara, TaxJar/Stripe Tax) — explain, no tax advice

2.3 Accounts receivable automation

  • AR platforms (verify): Bill AR, Versapay, HighRadius, Billtrust (taken private — verify), Chaser, Upflow, Tesorio
  • Dunning, cash application, credit management; B2B BNPL/net terms (Resolve, Balance, Slope, Mondu, Hokodo, Tratta — verify)
  • Invoice factoring and receivables finance (link to Part 06)

3. Paying others: AP automation and B2B payments

3.1 Payment methods in B2B

  • Paper checks (still significant in U.S. B2B; AFP data — verify trend), ACH/CCD+/CTX, wires, virtual cards (supplier acceptance economics; card-acceptance fees borne by suppliers), RTP/FedNow for B2B, cross-border (link to Part 03)
  • Supplier enablement and virtual card monetization by AP platforms (rebate/interchange revenue)

3.2 AP platforms (seed list — verify)

Bill (incl. Divvy), Tipalti, AvidXchange (take-private by TPG — verify), Melio (acquired by Xero 2025 — verify), Stampli, Coupa (private), Airbase (acquired by Paylocity — verify), Ramp Bill Pay, Brex bill pay, Routable, Paystand, Corpay, Payoneer, Esker, Basware, SAP Concur Invoice

3.3 E-invoicing mandates (build tracker; verify all dates)

  • EU VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package adopted (March 2025 — verify) with digital reporting requirements for intra-EU B2B by 2030 (verify)
  • Germany: B2B e-invoice receipt obligation from January 1, 2025; issuance phased 2027–2028 (verify)
  • France: phased mandate starting September 2026 (verify)
  • Belgium: B2B e-invoicing from January 1, 2026 (verify)
  • Poland: KSeF mandatory from February 2026 (verify phases)
  • Spain: Crea y Crece and Verifactu timelines (verify)
  • Italy SDI (since 2019), Latin American clearance models (Mexico CFDI, Brazil NF-e), India GST e-invoicing thresholds, Saudi Arabia ZATCA phases, Malaysia MyInvois phases, Singapore InvoiceNow, Australia/NZ Peppol (verify)
  • U.S.: Business Payments Coalition e-invoice exchange framework and Federal Reserve pilot (verify), no federal mandate

3.4 B2B fraud

  • Business email compromise and vendor impersonation (FBI IC3 — verify figures), payroll diversion, check fraud, invoice fraud using AI-generated documents (link to Part 09)
  • Controls: vendor master data verification, callback procedures, positive pay/ACH debit blocks, dual approval, account validation services (link to Part 02 Nacha rules)

4. Business banking and corporate cards

4.1 Business banking for startups and SMBs

  • Fintech business accounts on partner banks (Mercury, Brex business account, Relay, Novo, Found, Bluevine, Lili, NorthOne, Rho, Arc — verify partner banks)
  • Deposit sweep networks for larger balances (IntraFi ICS/CDARS and fintech sweeps; how "up to $X million FDIC coverage" claims work — verify conditions)
  • Mercury's move from Evolve to Choice/Column (verify) and OCC charter application (link to Part 04)
  • SVB failure (March 2023): startup exposure, payroll disruption, FDIC systemic-risk exception; lessons on concentration

4.2 Corporate cards and spend management

  • Company profiles (verify): Ramp (valuation milestones — verify), Brex (acquisition agreement with Capital One — verify announced date, terms, and closing status), Navan (IPO — verify), Mercury IO card, Rippling Spend, BILL Spend & Expense (Divvy), Airbase/Paylocity, Center, Emburse, Expensify, American Express corporate (Nipendo, Center acquisition — verify), Pleo, Spendesk, Payhawk, Moss, Soldo, Jeeves, Clara, Airwallex
  • Business model: interchange on commercial cards (higher than consumer), SaaS fees, float, FX, bill pay, travel booking commissions
  • Underwriting models: cash-balance-based charge cards vs. personal guarantees; Brex's 2022 SMB offboarding (verify)
  • Features: receipt capture, policy controls, accounting sync, procurement, AI expense auditing (verify claims)
  • Evidence: savings claims (Tier 5) vs. verified outcomes

5. Payroll, contractors, and global employment

5.1 U.S. payroll

  • Providers (verify): Gusto, Rippling, ADP (RUN, Workforce Now), Paychex, Paylocity, Paycom, Justworks (PEO), OnPay, QuickBooks Payroll, Square Payroll, Wave Payroll, TriNet, Deel US Payroll
  • Payroll funding flows (ACH debit from employer, direct deposit), same-day payroll via RTP/FedNow, EWA integrations (link to Part 06)
  • Payroll tax filing responsibility and penalties when providers err; notable payroll-provider failures or outages (verify, e.g., Kronos Private Cloud ransomware 2021, MyPayrollHR fraud 2019 background)
  • Worker misclassification rules (DOL independent contractor rule 2024 and 2025 non-enforcement — verify; state ABC tests)

5.2 Contractors and Employer of Record (EOR)

  • EOR vs. PEO vs. contractor-of-record; permanent establishment and misclassification risks
  • Providers (verify): Deel, Remote, Rippling Global, Oyster, Papaya Global, Velocity Global, Globalization Partners (G-P), Multiplier, Wise for contractors, Payoneer
  • Pricing: per-employee EOR fees, FX margins on payouts
  • Rippling v. Deel litigation (filed March 2025, corporate-espionage allegations — verify status) and related proceedings

5.3 Freelancers and creators

  • Payment and invoicing stack; platform fees (Upwork, Fiverr, Etsy, Patreon, Substack, YouTube, Stripe Connect payouts — verify)
  • Holding taxes aside, estimated taxes (explain concepts only; no tax advice)
  • Cross-border freelancer receipts and FX costs

6. Treasury and cash management

  • Treasury management systems (Kyriba, GTreasury, ION/Reval, Trovata, Nilus — verify) vs. payment operations platforms (Modern Treasury, Increase, Column — verify)
  • Startup treasury: money market funds, Treasury bills via fintech platforms (Mercury Treasury, Brex Treasury, Rho, Meow, Arc, Treasure — verify structures: brokerage accounts via partner broker-dealers, sweep to MMFs), yield claims vs. risks, SIPC vs. FDIC
  • Concentration risk and multi-bank strategies after SVB; insured cash sweep networks
  • Bank APIs and real-time treasury (JPMorgan, Citi, Wells Fargo APIs — verify), ISO 20022 rich data for reconciliation
  • FX risk tools for SMBs
  • Tokenized money market funds and stablecoins for corporate treasury (link to Part 11; verify real adoption)

7. Accounting and finance operations

  • Accounting platforms: QuickBooks Online, Xero, NetSuite, Sage Intacct, FreshBooks, Wave, Zoho Books, Pennylane (France), Puzzle, Digits (verify)
  • Bookkeeping services and failures: Bench shutdown (December 2024) and acquisition by Employer.com (verify), customer data retrieval, lessons
  • AI in close, reconciliation, AP coding, FP&A (claims vs. audited evidence; link to Part 11)
  • Integrations and data sync failures

8. Stack templates (illustrative cost budgets)

Build itemized annual budgets with sourced fee inputs and labeled assumptions for:

  1. Solo freelancer (U.S.) invoicing domestic clients
  2. Freelancer receiving international payments
  3. Etsy/Shopify e-commerce seller at $5K, $50K, $500K monthly volume
  4. Brick-and-mortar café with online ordering
  5. Home-services business with field payments
  6. Venture-backed startup (10 employees, U.S.) — banking, cards, payroll, accounting, treasury
  7. Remote-first startup with contractors in 5 countries
  8. Mid-market company (200 employees) AP/AR modernization
  9. Nonprofit accepting donations and paying grants
  10. UK/EU SME facing e-invoicing mandates

For each: vendors by function (as examples, not endorsements), fees, integration notes, security checks, and switching costs.

9. Evaluation protocols

  • Pricing transparency score: public pricing availability, completeness of fee schedule, contract-only fees, FX disclosure; published rubric.
  • Switching-cost review: data export, contract terms, card/customer migration, ACH mandate portability.
  • Security baseline check: SOC 2 Type II availability, MFA/SSO, role-based access, approval workflows, audit logs.
  • Vendor viability check: funding, profitability signals, ownership changes, partner bank stability, shutdown history in category.
  • Claimed savings audit: record vendor savings claims, methodology disclosed, independent evidence (usually none).

10. Workflows

Use the master workflow format for:

  • Setting up a small-business payment stack
  • Choosing a payment processor and reading fee statements (link to Part 02)
  • Moving from spreadsheets to spend management and AP automation
  • Onboarding vendors securely and preventing payment diversion
  • Running payroll for the first time (U.S.) and verifying tax filings
  • Hiring an international contractor compliantly (EOR vs. contractor)
  • Building a startup treasury policy (concentration limits, insured sweeps, approvals)
  • Preparing for an e-invoicing mandate (EU country examples)
  • Offboarding a failed or shutting-down finance vendor (data export, account migration)

11. Timeline 2020–2026

  • PPP and SMB fintech adoption (2020–2021)
  • Corporate card boom and Brex SMB exit (2022)
  • SVB failure and business-banking shifts (2023)
  • Bench shutdown (2024)
  • M&A: Airbase/Paylocity, Melio/Xero, AvidXchange take-private, Brex/Capital One, Center/Amex, Guideline/Gusto (verify each)
  • Rippling v. Deel litigation
  • E-invoicing mandate go-lives
  • Nacha 2026 fraud-monitoring rules
  • 1099-K threshold changes
  • Navan and other B2B IPOs (verify)