Accounts Payable (AP) and Accrued Expenses are both terms used to characterize business expenses. Accounts payable is a short-term obligation; accrued expenses are long-term. Accounts payable are short-term financial obligations, or the money owed to creditors for goods or services received by the company within 12 months, while accrued expenses are financial obligations that have already been paid, but have not yet been reported in the financial statements or tax returns.