Guide

Invoice doesn’t match the purchase order: the common discrepancies, and what to do

When an invoice does not match its purchase order, find which line differs before deciding anything. A total out by less than an agreed tolerance can be approved; a wrong quantity, a product that was never ordered or a price that is not the agreed one needs a corrected invoice or a written agreement; and a customer name spelled differently needs the customer confirming by account or tax number, not by eye.

First, find which kind of difference it is

Compare the invoice with the order in this order: the customer, the order reference, then each line — product, quantity, unit price — and only then the total. A total that is wrong is a symptom; the line beneath it is the cause, and the cause decides what you do.

Rounding tax per line rather than on the whole invoice, or a currency conversion done at a slightly different rate, leaves a total a few cents away from the order. That is not worth a corrected invoice. Agree a tolerance once, write it down, and approve anything inside it.

checafatura starts every account with a tolerance of 1.00 on the total: inside it the check passes, outside it a person looks. An administrator can make it stricter or looser. Anything outside the tolerance is no longer rounding — look for the line that explains it.

More units invoiced than ordered is the most expensive mismatch to miss, because the total moves with it and still looks plausible. Fewer units can mean a part delivery invoiced honestly, or a full delivery invoiced short.

Compare with what was delivered as well as what was ordered. Approve the units that were both; ask for a credit note or a corrected invoice for the difference. checafatura’s default tolerance on quantity is zero: one unit off sends the invoice to a person.

A substitution — a different vintage, size or pack — or an extra line nobody ordered. Sometimes it was agreed by phone and the order was never updated; sometimes it was not agreed at all.

Ask whether it was agreed. If it was, amend the order so the records say what was sold, and check again. If not, ask for a corrected invoice. checafatura expects every product on the invoice to be on the order, and sends any that is not to a person. To try it, open the clean example and change one product code on the invoice.

An old price list, a discount left off, or a price rise that was never agreed for this order. Each of these is small on one line and large across a year of invoices.

Check the price agreed for this order, not today’s list price. A cent of rounding per unit is reasonable; anything more needs a corrected invoice or the agreement in writing. checafatura tolerates one cent per unit by default and sends anything beyond it to a person.

“Garrafeira do Bairro, Lda.” on the order and “Garafeira do Bairo” on the invoice are very probably the same customer, and the probability is the problem: two customers can have names that close. A misspelling, a dropped legal suffix or missing accents should never be the only thing a match rests on.

Confirm the customer by account number or tax number. checafatura matches approximate names and reports them as approximate, with a confidence score and the reason for it; an approximate name alone never scores high enough to approve without a person looking.

Whatever the difference, record why

If you approve an invoice that did not match, write down what differed and why it was acceptable. The next person to look at that invoice — or the auditor — should not have to rediscover it. The invoice approval checklist lists every check and what to do when each one fails.