Cut Invoice Processing Time up to 83% and Saved $60K+ Annually
$60,000+
estimated annual savings
1,300
Annual AP hours saved
83%
83% less processing time
Limited Run Games had grown into a 600,000-customer business with hundreds of suppliers—but its AP operation was still highly manual. CFO Brendan Madigan knew the answer couldn’t simply be adding finance headcount as volume grew.
Having built the company’s finance operations, Madigan recently stepped into a broader leadership role to guide the team’s “LRG 2.0” vision—a curated, fan-focused approach to product development and delivery. Building a finance function to scale alongside the expanding business required automating routine processes and tax compliance rather than adding headcount.
Tipalti saves us at least $60,000 a year, and that is a conservative estimate. That is the equivalent of a full-time employee, and it gives us room to invest in higher-value work.
Brendan Madigan
General Manager and CFO, Limited Run Games
Challenge
50 weekly AP hours and 30-minute invoice processing hindered growth
As Limited Run Games added licensors and expanded its supplier base to 300-500 vendors, manual accounts payable workflows began to bottleneck growth.
The finance team reviewed every invoice line by line, re-entered data into Bank of America’s CashPro platform, chased manual approvals, and filed records in Dropbox. Email-based supplier onboarding and banking updates drove up administrative overhead and fraud risk.
Manual operations created six immediate challenges:
- 50 weekly AP hours split across an AP employee, a finance assistant, and the CFO
- 30 minutes spent per invoice from initial review through filing
- Up to 500 suppliers supported through manual workflows
- Complex W-8 requirements that the team could not reliably validate internally
- $300+ hourly accounting fees projected spend for outsourced compliance support
- Increased fraud exposure from managing sensitive banking changes over email
Tax compliance automation became the breaking point. While managing W-9s was straightforward, validating international W-8 forms would require specialized tax expertise from an outsourced accounting firm—a cost conservatively estimated at $10,000 annually, though likely to be higher.
To eliminate these rising costs, risks, and manual tasks, Madigan needed to implement AP automation, invoice processing automation, and AI accounts payable capabilities.
We were at a point where it was either a system like Tipalti, or we were going to need to pay an accounting firm to do that for us. An accounting firm doesn't pick up the phone for less than $300 an hour.
Brendan Madigan
General Manager and CFO, Limited Run Games
Decision
Tax compliance and AP automation to reclaim 1,300 annual hours
Limited Run Games needed a platform to automate tax compliance, reduce repetitive AP tasks, and support continued growth without expanding the finance team as invoice volume increased.
At the same time, the company was working with MetaComet to improve its royalty operations, using MetaComet for royalty calculations and statements while Tipalti addressed payee onboarding, tax compliance, invoice processing, and payments.
To eliminate 50 weekly manual hours, Limited Run Games prioritized AP automation capabilities that:
- Automated W-9 and W-8 compliance, including collection, validation, and retention
- Absorbed higher invoice volume without proportional AP headcount growth
- Reduced manual data entry through automated invoice capture
- Strengthened financial controls with purchase order matching and duplicate detection
- Protected supplier banking data by moving updates out of email
- Connected with Microsoft Dynamics Business Central to keep vendors, invoices, and payments synchronized
- Complemented MetaComet’s royalty expertise with secure onboarding, compliance, and payment capabilities
- Delivered a true operational partnership rather than just another AP software platform
Tipalti’s Invoice Capture Agent, Duplicate Bill Detection Agent, tax capabilities, and established Business Central connection addressed the operational requirements. The relationship model closed the deal.
MetaComet helps us manage a complicated royalty operation, while Tipalti takes much of the friction out of payments and compliance. More importantly, both teams treat us like a partner, not just another customer.
Brendan Madigan
General Manager and CFO, Limited Run Games
Solution
Tipalti and Business Central integration supports 15–20% more invoice volume, as the team reclaims 1,300 AP hours
Integrating Tipalti with Business Central created a centralized workflow that eliminated manual bank entry, Dropbox filing, spreadsheet onboarding, and email-based banking updates.
Key capabilities delivered by the new workflow
- Invoice processing automation: Invoice Capture Agent extracts invoice and line-item data automatically, cutting processing from approximately 30 minutes to five
- Self-service supplier onboarding : Vendors complete their own setup, tax forms, and banking details through the portal
- Secure banking updates: Sensitive banking changes are not communicated via email to prevent fraud
- Automated three-way PO matching: Check invoices against approved purchase orders without manual cross-referencing
- Duplicate bill detection: The Duplicate Bill Detection Agent flags potential duplicate submissions before payment
- Tax compliance automation: Collects, validates, retains, and retrieves W-9 and W-8 forms on demand
- Automatic ERP synchronization: Keeps vendor records, invoices, and payments aligned with the Business Central ERP
- Supplier payment visibility: Allows vendors to check payment status without contacting the AP team
Invoice processing shifted from entry to review
Tipalti now captures the invoice data and checks it against existing records. The AP analyst primarily reviews exceptions, eliminating manual entry, and freeing up time to do more strategic work.
Supplier onboarding became nearly hands-off
Vendors complete their setup, enter banking details, and track payments independently through the self-service portal. Madigan estimates that 99.9% of suppliers onboard without the AP team’s intervention, significantly reducing administrative overhead and mitigating fraud risk.
Automated controls improved accuracy
With 300- 500 monthly invoices, automated duplicate detection flags duplicate submissions immediately. The PO Matching Agent also eliminates manual reconciliation between finance and production, tightening controls and improving cross-functional efficiency.
Tax documentation became available on demand
Automated compliance turned complex audit requests into a five-minute process. When tax authorities requested W-8 documentation, the team retrieved the records within minutes without needing outside accounting assistance.
AP is a clean operation now. Suppliers are getting paid on time, we are not missing invoices or due dates, and I do not have to be involved. Before Tipalti, I was far too deep in the day-to-day work.
Brendan Madigan
General Manager and CFO, Limited Run Games
Impact
$60K+ annual savings, faster close, and a finance team driving strategic value
The operational improvements translated into measurable financial and organizational gains.
Even with higher invoice volumes, Limited Run Games reduced weekly AP effort by roughly 50%. The new workflow sped up invoice processing, tightened the AP close window, and accelerated the overall month-end close.
Measurable results include:
- $60,000+ in estimated annual savings
- 1,300 AP hours reclaimed annually
- 83% less processing time per invoice
- Weekly AP effort reduced from 50 hours to approximately 25
- Invoice processing reduced from 30 minutes to approximately five
- AP close reduced from 6-7 workdays to 1-2
- Month-end close reduced from 20 workdays to 8
- 15% to 20% more invoice volume supported without added AP headcount
The bigger win was not doing the same work faster. It was changing what the finance team could spend its time doing.
Limited Run Games now employs an AP analyst rather than a traditional data-entry-focused AP clerk. Approximately half of that role supports analysis and staff accounting work for the controller. The capacity and budget generated by AP automation also enabled the company to invest in a dedicated finance data analyst. Instead of scaling finance by processing more transactions, Limited Run Games redirected resources toward better reporting, stronger analysis, and smarter business decisions.
Tipalti saves us at least $60,000 a year, and that is a conservative estimate. That is the equivalent of a full-time employee, and it gives us room to invest in higher-value work.
Brendan Madigan
General Manager and CFO, Limited Run Games
FAQs
Still Have Questions?
What business impact has Limited Run Games seen with Tipalti?
By switching to Tipalti, Limited Run Games saved over $60,000 annually in labor while eliminating costly third-party tax compliance fees. Invoice processing time dropped from 30 minutes to about five, and the AP close window collapsed from nearly a week to 1-2 days. Crucially, the team was able to handle a 15–20% surge in invoice volume without hiring additional AP staff.
Why did Limited Run Games choose Tipalti for AP automation?
Automating W-8 and W-9 collection, validation, and retention was the primary driver for tax compliance. The company also needed Tipalti’s Invoice Capture agent to scale AP without a proportional increase in staff. A referral from royalty partner MetaComet and Tipalti’s partnership-oriented approach reinforced the decision.
How does Tipalti integrate with Microsoft Dynamics Business Central for Limited Run Games?
Tipalti operates via a direct, real-time sync with Business Central. Vendor profiles, incoming invoices, and executed payments flow automatically between systems, along with automated three-way PO matching. This removes manual data entry and cross-referencing, providing a single, unified source of truth for all AP data.
How did Tipalti improve supplier onboarding and relationships?
Tipalti’s self-service portal handles 99.9% of vendor setups automatically, eliminating the need for manual AP intervention. Moving bank updates to the secure portal removed email-based workflows and mitigated fraud risk. Additionally, self-serve payment tracking stopped the flood of status inquiries—even from major manufacturing partners managing $5M+ in annual spend.
Is Tipalti a good fit for lean finance teams at e-commerce or gaming companies?
Yes. Limited Run Games processes 300–500 invoices per month with just one AP analyst. Tipalti’s AP automation, including the Invoice Capture agent, supplier self-service onboarding, the PO Matching agent, the Duplicate Bill Detection agent, and tax compliance, enabled the company to handle a growing volume without adding finance headcount. By automating these processes, team members who used to spend hours on repetitive manual work shifted their focus to strategic analysis and business partnering.
How does Tipalti help to prevent duplicate payments?
Tipalti blocks duplicate payments at three distinct checkpoints, each catching a different type of risk before money moves: The Duplicate Bill Detection Agent catches duplicate invoices at submission, flagging duplicates and anomalies before they enter the payment queue. Batch payment controls reject duplicate payees in payment files. The Tipalti Detect Module maps payee networks and flags potential fraudsters associated with previously blocked payees.