Procure to pay
Match supplier commitments to real deliveries, accepted subcontract work and payment.
8 stages · 4 approvals
Roles and responsibilities
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Step 1Define the need
Commitment NumberProjectCost CodeCurrency
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Step 2Approve commitment
Purchase Order NumberSupplierCurrent TotalApproval Basis
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Step 3Record delivery or work
Acceptance NumberSubcontractApplicationOccurred At
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Step 4Accept the source
Acceptance NumberSubcontractApplicationOccurred At
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Step 6Review exceptions
Retention NumberSideContractSubcontractSupplier
Process steps
Follow the process from start to finish. Select a step to see who acts and what changes.
Define the need
Project Manager prepares the required material or subcontract scope against the project, site and cost code. Retain quantity, unit, timing and budget basis. Purchasing Manager develops the supplier document and its price, currency, advance and retention terms where applicable.
Approval required
Approve commitment
An independent Purchasing Manager reviews eligible commitments within authority; Finance Manager decides above-limit or required financial exceptions. The reviewer excludes the preparer and material editors. Bind the current scope, original approved value and cumulative gross increases, including changes that offset an increase with a reduction elsewhere.
Record delivery or work
Warehouse Operator records actual material arrival independently of the buyer. Site Supervisor records actual subcontract work facts and supporting evidence. Preserve partial quantities and outstanding scope. A supplier application or bill may request review, but neither substitutes for the actual work or delivery evidence.
Approval required
Accept the source
Warehouse Operator independently confirms eligible material acceptance tranches from the recorded arrival. For subcontract work, independent Project Manager accepts technical scope, excluding its recorder, supplier performer and commercial preparer. Finance Manager additionally reviews valuation or financial exceptions. Accepted material creates stock and receipt accrual; accepted subcontract work creates job cost and its accrual.
Match the bill
Accountant allocates the bill to exact available acceptance sources. Existing posted and active claims reduce availability. Material and subcontract bills clear their corresponding accruals, preserving the original cost. Any difference retains its review rather than turning the entire bill into another expense.
Approval required
Review exceptions
Independent Finance Manager decides financial matching exceptions, retained amounts or other protected treatment. Ordinary eligible matches follow the approved posting policy. Advances and recoveries consume their own remaining balances; retention release changes an existing obligation rather than manufacturing additional accepted work.
Approval required
Authorize payment
Independent Finance Manager reviews the exact payable scope, beneficiary, currency, amount and required source decisions. Active payment claims reduce the amount another request can consume. A changed bank instruction or stale decision returns the request for review before execution.
Reconcile settlement
Accountant reconciles actual bank evidence to the authorized payment. Confirmed settlement clears the allocated payable using its current carrying value. An uncertain result remains pending reconciliation. Rejected or returned effects follow their actual evidence and linked correction, preserving original cost and settlement history.
Approvals and exception handling
4 approvals required in this process
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Approve commitment
Purchasing Manager or Finance Manager signs · record delivery or work waits
PurchaseOrders, PurchaseOrderLines, Subcontracts, SubcontractLines, ApprovalDecisions -
Accept the source
Warehouse Operator or Project Manager signs · match the bill waits
ReceiptAcceptances, SubcontractAcceptances, SubcontractAcceptanceLines, SubcontractAccruals, StockEvents -
Review exceptions
Finance Manager signs when required · authorize payment waits
Bills, RetentionBalances, AdvanceAllocations, ApprovalDecisions -
Authorize payment
Finance Manager signs · reconcile settlement waits
PaymentRuns, Payments, PaymentAllocations, SupplierBankAccounts, ApprovalDecisions - Actual acceptance consumes only the remaining arrival or authorized work scope.
- Unperformed commitmentAccepted accrual, billed liability and paid amount remain distinct.
- Suspended suppliers cannot receive new or increased commitments; blocked activity follows its hold and resolution policy.
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Returns and corrections trace acceptanceBill and payment dependencies before changing consumed scope.
Returns
When the process needs attention
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exception
Approve commitment
An independent Purchasing Manager reviews eligible commitments within authority; Finance Manager decides above-limit or required financial exceptions.
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exception
Accept the source
Finance Manager additionally reviews valuation or financial exceptions.
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exception
Review exceptions
Independent Finance Manager decides financial matching exceptions, retained amounts or other protected treatment.
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reject
Reconcile settlement
Rejected or returned effects follow their actual evidence and linked correction, preserving original cost and settlement history.
Records and postings
Process reports
All reportsCommitments and Subcontract Cost
Reconcile approved PurchaseOrderLines and SubcontractLines through ProjectCommitments, receipt or subcontract acceptance, SubcontractAccruals and BillMatches by supplier/project/cost code and source currency; show gross increases, reductions already included in net current authority, fulfilled scope, active claims and unperformed remainder separately from accepted expense, remaining accrual, billed AP and payment, with known-zero accepted work visible and unknown valuation unresolved.
Retention and Advances
Reconcile RetentionBalances/RetentionMovements and AdvanceAllocations with their original contract, invoice/bill, cash and settlement sources by entity/counterparty/currency at the cutoff; disclose total outstanding, held and released-unsettled retention, conditional versus unconditional entitlement, actual funded assignments, prior recoveries, purpose releases and active claims, treating ordinary retention release as redistribution rather than settlement and an unpaid billed advance as non-spendable until its separately evidenced cash path occurs.
Receivables and Payables Aging
Age remaining Invoices and Bills by company, counterparty, source currency and actual due-date bucket after posted applications, credits and signed corrections at the cutoff; show held retention, released-unsettled amounts, unapplied receipts, customer or supplier advances and surplus credits separately, reconcile source balances and current functional carrying including prior FX, and exclude unbilled contract assets and accepted-but-unmatched subcontract accruals from ordinary invoiced AR/AP totals.
Material Availability and Use
Reconcile InventoryPositions, StockLayers, reservations and StockEvents with project requirements, material usage and transfer/return history by entity/product/location/required lot or serial at a retained cutoff; report owned quantity and current carrying separately from customer/vendor custody, available versus held or claimed stock, actual job consumption and issued production WIP, excluding internal transfers and repeat supplier billing from new project expense.
Run by an agent
Agent support
An assistant cannot provide a required independent human decision or invent customer certification, accepted site work, actual delivery or payment. It cannot treat unused stock as consumed, turn intermediate production progress into finished goods or bill the same source twice.
# Example after configuration
$ curl -fsSL https://www.erp.ai/skill.md | paste into your agent
› procure to pay · define the need on Requisitions, RequisitionLines, ProjectMaterialRequirements, ProjectCommitments
✓ Project Manager prepares the required material or subcontract scope against the project, site and cost code.
› procure to pay · approve commitment on PurchaseOrders, PurchaseOrderLines, Subcontracts, SubcontractLines, ApprovalDecisions
⏸ approval · waiting for the purchasing manager or finance manager
# 6 more stages after approval: record delivery or work, accept the source, match the bill, review exceptions, authorize payment, reconcile settlement
Other processes
5 moreOrder to cash
Carry an approved goods order through actual shipment, billing and collection.
5 stages · 2 approvals
Estimate to contract
Carry a reviewed estimate into an agreed scope, budget and financial basis.
8 stages · 4 approvals
Record and certify work
Connect accepted site activity to a reviewable customer progress application.
7 stages · 4 approvals
Prefabricate to stock
Make accepted assemblies from released work, traced material and actual workshop cost.
8 stages · 5 approvals
Bill and collect
Bill eligible contract scope and keep advances, retention and cash reconciled.
7 stages · 4 approvals