Still Matching Invoices Manually? 3 Signs It’s Time for a Change
by The Ottimate Editorial Team
Invoice matching isn’t exactly one of the most glamorous parts of finance. But it’s certainly one of the most important. After all, invoice matching ensures you’re only paying for what you ordered and received, which is critical to protecting your margins.
Yet for many organizations, matching still means manually comparing each invoice line item against its purchase order and receipts. It’s mind-numbing work, especially for teams that process thousands of invoices each month. But the bigger problem is that manual invoice matching drains time and resources and can lead to costly errors that ding the bottom line.
Invoice matching should help protect your margins without draining resources. But how can you tell if your invoice matching process is really setting you up for success?
Read on as we explore three tell-tale signs that your invoice matching process needs an upgrade, along with practical steps to address each one.
Sign #1: You’re spending too much time on manual matching
Let’s face it: today’s AP teams have a lot on their plates. From invoice approvals to payment scheduling to reconciliation, it’s a lot to juggle.
But if your team is spending hours manually comparing invoices, PO, and receipts line by line, it’s a clear sign your invoice matching process isn’t working for you. Manual matching is slow, time-consuming, and prone to error, especially when you’re dealing with a high volume or complex, multi-line invoices.
The impact is easy to see. Invoices start to pile up, approvals lag, and vendors get more and more frustrated by late or inaccurate payments. AP teams feel like they’re constantly playing catch-up, which leaves little time for more strategic or rewarding work.
Fortunately, this is an easy problem to solve.
More AP teams are tapping into automation to handle invoice-to-PO matching. AP automation tools flag mismatches right away and route exceptions for review, which means your team only touches invoices that actually need attention. Invoices are processed faster (without compromising accuracy) and AP teams have more time to devote to strategic work that moves the business forward.
Sign #2: Errors and overpayments keep sneaking through
In the world of AP, accuracy is essential to protecting your margins. So if duplicate invoices, price discrepancies, and missing items are starting to feel like a game of whack-a-mole, it’s definitely time to revisit your invoice matching process.
Sure, a mistake here and there might not seem like a big deal. But a few incorrect numbers or misplaced decimal points across thousands of invoices can quickly add up to major revenue leakage. Also, mistakes can cause you to miss out on early payment discounts and even pay for goods or services you never received.
In addition to chipping away at your bottom line, these problems also strain vendor relationships, tighten margins, and increase audit risk. In other words, they create a whole lot of headaches for everyone involved.
The good news? There’s a straightforward fix, and it centers around strengthening your controls with automation.
Invest in automation technology that validates costs against POs, receipts, or cost files before invoices are exported to your ERP. Automated validation ensures your numbers are aligned at every stage of the process so you’re not left dealing with errors and overpayments later on.
Sign #3: You don’t have visibility into discrepancies
Mismatches happen. It’s just a fact of life. But if you don’t have clear reporting on where mismatches happen and how often they occur, it’s time to take a long, hard look at your invoice matching process.
Without reliable data, it’s nearly impossible for finance leaders to figure out what’s going wrong and why. And if you can’t identify the root cause, the same problems just keep happening. This leads to reactive problem-solving, questionable decision-making, and less leverage in vendor negotiations.
The solution? Choose AP automation tools that offer dashboards and reporting with real-time discrepancy trends. That way, you can identify recurring issues, figure out why they’re happening, and collaborate with vendors and internal teams using reliable data. With the right AP automation tools in place, you’ll have the visibility you need to make confident decisions and nip issues in the bud before they become big problems.
The bigger picture: Why invoice matching matters
All too often, invoice matching doesn’t get the attention it deserves. And quite honestly, that’s understandable. AP teams have a lot to juggle, and invoice matching can feel like an insignificant step in a much larger process.
But the truth is that invoice matching plays a much larger role than most people realize. Here are a few key reasons why it matters so much.
It protects margins by preventing overpayments
Invoice matching is all about keeping your organization as financially healthy as possible. When every invoice is compared to its corresponding PO and receipt, you can be sure you’re only paying for what you actually ordered and received.
It helps build stronger vendor relationships
Vendors expect accurate, on-time payments. When you consistently meet those expectations, vendors take notice and view you as a trusted partner. You’ll notice better communication, fewer disputes, and more collaborative, mutually beneficial partnerships.
It improves cash flow by reducing unexpected hits
A strong invoice matching process means fewer surprises and fewer errors to fix, which enables AP teams to manage cash flow more confidently. Instead of scrambling to fix mistakes as they surface, teams can plan proactively and allocate resources more effectively.
It reduces audit fire drills with clean records
A well-documented invoice matching process means audits are a whole lot easier. When every invoice is validated and traceable, you can walk in to any audit prepared and confident – no last-minute scrambling required.
Automation: The smarter way to manage invoice matching
Sure, invoice matching challenges are common. But they don’t have to be inevitable.
More and more AP teams are turning to automation to tackle these problems at scale. In fact, recent research shows that matching invoices to POs is one of the most common use cases for automation in AP today.
Here’s a closer look at how AI-powered AP automation can address your most pressing invoice matching challenges.
Instant variance detection
The days of manually comparing documents page by page are over. AI-powered invoice matching does the work for you and flags any issues right away, even for complex, multi-line invoices. This eliminates tedious manual work and reduces the chances of an issue slipping through the cracks.
Smarter exception handling
Exceptions are automatically routed for review, which means AP teams can focus on invoices that actually need attention instead of reviewing every single one. Workflows become faster, more consistent, and easier to manage, which is especially important when invoice volume is high.
Clear visibility and reporting
All too often, finance leaders aren’t aware of problems until the damage is done. Automation tools provide real-time dashboards and discrepancy analytics so leaders have full, real-time visibility into trends, bottlenecks, and vendor performance. That way, they can make better decisions and stop issues in their tracks.
At the end of the day, automation transforms invoice matching from a reactive, tedious burden into a proactive layer of protection that’s built right into your existing processes. With an AI-powered AP automation solution like Ottimate, finance teams can catch errors early on, protect margins, and scale AP with confidence.
It’s time to take control of your invoice matching process
Invoice matching is a critical piece of the AP puzzle. But if your team is spending too much time manually matching invoices, errors and overpayments keep sneaking through, or you don’t have clear visibility into where discrepancies are happening, these are all clear signs your current process isn’t working for you.
Now’s the time to take a long, hard look at your invoice matching process and give it the upgrade it needs. Don’t wait until the next costly mistake lands on your desk to take action.
With the right automation in place, invoice matching becomes faster, more accurate, and much more strategic. With Ottimate, finance teams can catch discrepancies early, protect margins, and confidently scale AP operations.
Ready to take control of your invoice matching process once and for all? Learn more about Ottimate’s Catch Cost Discrepancies solution.