Art of Problem Solving Calculates a Solution to Global Contractor Payouts

• Removed five days from manual contractor payment processes 
• Eliminated 20 days from the monthly close process
• Achieved tax compliance through the self-onboarding of partners and contractors

HQ San Diego, CA
Customer Since 2020
Industry Online Services

It started with a game. On the YouTube video “Art of Problem Solving: Least Common Multiple,” CEO & Founder Richard Rusczyk invited viewers to clap every twenty-four seconds and jump every forty-five seconds. At seven minutes, viewers found themselves jumping and clapping simultaneously. Rusczyk’s exercise is a mathematical practice designed to entertain and educate young students. 

Jessica Hardy, Art of Problem Solving’s VP of Finance, explains, “[Art of Problem Solving] books classes and online resources to help students become creative, successful problem solvers. Over time, the company has expanded into subjects like physics, programming, and language arts.” 

With its curriculum spreading to physical classrooms and learning centers in California, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, AoPS was growing exponentially. But they were starting to see the cracks in the payables process. 

“Our monthly close was slow because we couldn’t record contractor expenses until we could figure out the payments. That was a 20-day process. At the same time, if we wanted to offboard a contractor, there wasn’t a good way to ensure they didn’t submit and get paid.”

Managing W-8BENs and updating payment information with international contractors took up the finance team’s entire workday.

“We’d have to wire through the bank account manually. The manual nature was cumbersome and open to human error. That was the first thing on my chopping block: to figure out how to pay contractors better.”

AoPS took conscious steps to maintain visibility into its performance and financial operations. They enlisted Tipalti for paying their marketing affiliates, artists, and contractors.

“Now, with Tipalti, payments flow smoothly. It took four to five business days for one person to take care of all the contractor payments. And now it takes me an hour.”

Onboarding partners to help students on its network was the lifeblood of AoPS’ mission. Hardy wanted to ensure onboarding these partners occurred in a digital, compliant way to move forward. 

“I appreciate that when you process a payment for contractors, they need to be fully set up or payable. If something is wrong, it alerts them to set up their bank account or finish providing tax information, and then the payment will be deposited.”

Now, AoPS can retain and attract partners to ensure their students receive an outstanding education.

“I spend my time focusing on putting together dashboards and getting data so that we can decide the best way to utilize our funds, to be able to reach our goals of attracting and training the problem solvers of tomorrow.”