Accounts Payable 3-Way Matching
Paying suppliers on trust alone is a fast route to overpayments and fraud. This Accounts Payable 3-Way Matching SOP secures the procure-to-pay cycle by requiring three documents to agree before money leaves the business — the Purchase Order, the Goods Receipt Note, and the supplier Invoice.
The workflow captures the invoice, retrieves the matching PO and GRN, and compares line items, quantities, and prices. Anything inside your tolerance threshold flows straight to payment scheduling; anything outside it is held as an exception and routed to a clerk or purchaser to resolve or dispute — so automation handles the routine and humans handle the edge cases.
Import this template into Essoflo to set your own variance tolerances, wire in your ERP and AP automation tools, and assign the AP clerk, purchasing, and receiving roles — turning invoice approval into a controlled, auditable process.
- Purpose
- Verify every invoice against its purchase order and goods receipt within tolerance before approving payment.
- Scope
- Applies to invoices for physical goods and inventory, from invoice capture through payment scheduling or dispute.
- Steps
- 6 steps & decisions
- Roles & tools
- AP Clerk, Purchasing Manager, Receiving TeamAP Automation Software, ERP, OCR Document Capture
Step-by-step walkthrough
The same procedure as the diagram above, in reading order — decisions show where each answer leads.
- 1
Capture invoice (OCR)
Ingest the invoice into the financial system via OCR or direct integration.
Who: AP Clerk·Tools: AP Automation Software, OCR Document Capture
- 2
Matching PO & GRN found?
Locate the corresponding purchase order and goods receipt note.
True → Three-way comparison (PO / GRN / invoice)·False → Notify receiving to confirm delivery
Who: AP Clerk·Tools: ERP
- 3
Three-way comparison (PO / GRN / invoice)
Compare unit prices, descriptions, and received quantities across all three documents.
Who: AP Clerk·Tools: AP Automation Software
- 4
Within tolerance threshold?
Do the figures match within the organisation's allowed variance (e.g. under 5%)?
True → Code to GL & schedule payment·False → Discrepancy resolved or approved?
Who: AP Clerk·Tools: AP Automation Software
- 5
Discrepancy resolved or approved?
Investigate the variance — over-billing, partial delivery, or damage — and resolve or approve.
True → Code to GL & schedule payment·False → Reject & dispute with vendor
Who: AP Clerk, Purchasing Manager
- 6
Code to GL & schedule payment
Code the invoice to the general ledger and schedule payment per net terms.
Who: AP Clerk·Tools: ERP
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Prefer to start from scratch? Try the free RACI matrix builder or the onboarding program builder — no sign-up needed.