If The Money Movement Conundrum exposed the structural complexity of managing client cash flow, this next chapter focuses on the duct tape: the patchwork systems RIAs and family offices have stitched together to survive in a world without purpose-built infrastructure.

For years, advisors have cobbled together workflows using general ledger software, bill pay tools, and custodial portals, forcing operational and accounting teams into daily acts of reconciliation heroism. The results work—mostly—but at an immense cost: accuracy, scalability, and the confidence to answer, yet again, “Where did my money go?”

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The Frankenstack: How Firms Get Here

Most wealth managers didn’t choose their systems—they inherited them.

A typical “bill pay tech stack” for an RIA or MFO today looks something like this:

• Bill.com or AP platform for processing vendor payments

• Excel or Google Sheets for tracking approvals and invoices

• QuickBooks, Archway or Sage for entity-level general ledger accounting

• Addepar, Orion, Black Diamond, or Tamarac for portfolio reporting

• Custodian portals (Schwab, Fidelity, BNY, etc.) for initiating wires or ACHs

Each of these tools is fine in isolation. Together, they create operational entropy. None of them speak natively to custodians. Each relies on different data formats, timelines, and permissions models. And while every platform claims “integration,” what they really mean is export and re-import, not true bi-directional sync.

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Why the Patchwork Falls Short

1. No Direct Custodian Integrations
AP tools like Bill.com were built for corporate finance, not advisory workflows. They can’t directly connect to Schwab, Fidelity, or BNY systems for execution or balance validation, forcing advisors to manually rekey data into custodian portals. This gap introduces both friction and risk, particularly for firms managing multiple entities or cross-custodian payments.

2. Limited Transaction Support
Even where “bill pay” exists, it’s almost always limited to ACH transactions. Real-world wealth management requires wires, checks, journals, and intra-entity transfers, with each payment method governed by its own custodial rules, permissions, and documentation. Existing tools simply can’t cover the full spectrum of money movement that RIAs and MFOs handle daily.

3. Broken Reconciliation Loop
General ledgers may record payments, but they rarely reconcile automatically with portfolio management systems like Addepar or Tamarac. This leaves teams maintaining parallel data sets: one for investment reporting and another for cash activity, each perpetually out of sync. The result is delayed, manual reconciliation and an incomplete view of client liquidity.

4. Fragmented Audit Trails
Every disconnected tool produces its own audit trail, stored in its own silo. When auditors, clients, or compliance teams request transaction-level transparency, firms scramble to piece together email approvals, Excel logs, and custodian confirmations. The manual paper trail can be longer than the actual payment process.

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The Industry’s Turning Point

As wealth management margins compress and clients grow more sophisticated, bill pay is no longer a “nice-to-have.” It’s quickly becoming a defining component of the advisor value proposition, especially for firms managing complex households, foundations, or entities.

Where portfolio management systems created clarity for what clients own, the next generation of RIA infrastructure will create clarity for how money moves. That evolution won’t come from legacy accounting or AP vendors but from platforms purpose-built for this industry.

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The Road Ahead: Custodian-Native Infrastructure

The future of scalable bill pay and money movement is clear:

• Custodian-Native Execution: Direct connectivity to move money—not just record it—across wires, checks, journals, and ACH.

• Integrated Data Fabric: Seamless reconciliation between custodial data, general ledgers, and portfolio management tools.

• Unified Operational Hub: One dashboard for all payments, entities, and authorizations, regardless of custodian.

• Automation with Oversight: Configurable approvals, permissions, and audit controls that meet both regulatory and operational needs.

RIAs and family offices that embrace this model will not only de-risk their back office, but also differentiate on client experience, operational speed, and transparency.

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Conclusion: From Patchwork to Platform

The firms that win the next decade of wealth management won’t just manage portfolios better, they’ll manage cash better. As the industry moves upmarket and downmarket simultaneously, the ability to execute every transaction with precision, speed, and clarity will separate the scalable from the stagnant.

At Atomic Insights, we believe bill pay should not be relegated to the back office, but highlighted as the connective tissue of the client relationship. With true custodian integrations and unified workflow automation, the days of duct-taped systems and spreadsheet reconciliations are finally numbered.