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- Accounts Payable Automation
- Features
- Invoice matching
Invoice matching
Invoice matching connects each billed line with the order and receipt evidence behind it. The AP Clerk can see quantity and price differences before they enter a payment run. A match result supports review; it does not create a missing receipt or authorize a bill that the approval matrix still requires a person to decide.
OverviewThree-Way Match Mismatches×
Accounts Payable Automation · Invoice matching
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Three-Way Match Mismatches
Three way match results
| Bill | Matched at | PO match | Receipt match | Quantity variance percent | Dollar variance percent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron Vale lift repair, August | 11 Oct | Match | Match | 11 | 26 | |
| Cedarline bearings invoice, April | 25 Oct | No PO found | No receipt found | 21 | 21 | |
| Blue Orchard janitorial service | 21 Oct | Mismatch | Partial receipt | 27 | 14 | |
| Cedarline bearings invoice, April | 18 Oct | Match | Mismatch | 26 | 12 | |
| Northgate cartons invoice, June | 28 Oct | No PO found | Match | 0 | 8 |
6 of 6 records
Iron Vale lift repair, AugustThree way match results · TWM-38909
MatchMatched at11 Oct
Receipt matchMatch
Quantity variance percent11
Dollar variance percent26
Line discrepancy count23
What you can do
Connect order, receipt and invoice
Purchase orders and PO line items hold the ordered quantities, prices and references. Goods receipts and receipt line items describe the received quantities. Where procurement is connected, these are reference mirrors of the upstream records. In a standalone setup, their permitted entry and ownership are agreed during implementation. Do not let two systems independently overwrite the same receipt or purchase-order identity.
The bill links to its purchase order and its lines link to the relevant order lines. Compare the actual line quantities and unit prices, including partial deliveries. An order total that happens to equal the invoice total is insufficient when individual lines or receipt quantities disagree. Keep the supporting receipt reference available to the reviewer alongside the supplier document.
Apply the relevant tolerance
Match tolerances carry the applicable quantity, percentage and absolute-value limits, with scope and effective dates. The matching workflow evaluates the correct rule for the bill’s department or project and records the outcome in three way match results. Reviewers can inspect the PO result, receipt result, variance percentages and discrepancy notes instead of relying on a single unexplained colored status.
A full match moves the bill into the approval path. A mismatch opens a dispute and preserves the reason. Partial receipt, missing receipt and price disagreement need different follow-up even when all prevent immediate approval. Do not repeatedly recompute a result against changing source data without keeping the evidence that supported the previous decision.
Resolve the underlying difference
The AP Manager coordinates a supplier correction, vendor credit or confirmation from the receiving team. Correcting the bill is different from changing the purchase order, and neither action should be used to manufacture evidence of goods that were never received. A corrected invoice enters the appropriate review path with its relation to the original retained.
Non-PO bills are identified explicitly and rely on their permitted approval route. They are not described as fully three-way matched. When a discrepancy is resolved, the bill returns to the documented decision stage; closing the dispute alone does not release money. That separation lets the team explain both the operational resolution and the financial authorization.
What your team sees
- Three-Way Match Mismatches. Review the underlying records within your permitted scope.
What it keeps track of
Data model- Purchase orders
- PO header. Read-only mirror from scm-procurement when that app is present; primary master here when AP runs standalone. Drives the PO leg of three-way match.
- PO line items
- PO lines — what was ordered. The line-level grain for three-way match.
- Goods receipts
- Goods-receipt header. Read-only mirror from scm-procurement when that app is present; primary master here when AP runs standalone. Drives the Receipt leg of three-way match.
- Receipt line items
- Receipt lines — what physically arrived. Joins to PO line items by PO + line number for match.
- Bills
- Vendor bill header. The center-of-gravity table. Lifecycle: Draft → pending match → pending approval → Approved → partially paid / Paid / Voided / Disputed.
- Bill lines
- Bill expense lines. Each line carries its GL account, project / department tags, and optional PO-line link for three-way match.
- Three way match results
- One row per Bill match attempt. Captures the per-line outcome — PO presence, Receipt presence, quantity / dollar variance — and the overall verdict.
- Match tolerances
- Configurable variance tolerances for the three-way match engine. Single active row at a time per cost-center scope; older rows retained for audit. Precedence: most-specific scope wins (project code > Department > Global), ties broken by
EffectiveFrom desc. - Disputes
- Bills under dispute — three-way mismatch, vendor-billing error, quality issue, duplicate-bill flag. Tracked through to resolution with a vendor credits or bill status: Voided outcome.
Who uses it
Permissions- AP Clerk
- Runs the checks and prepares evidence.
- AP Manager
- Handles discrepancies with suppliers and receiving teams.
- Controller / CFO
- Reviews financial exceptions within authority.
- Admin
- Configures matching rules and source integrations without acting as the normal invoice approver.
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