a worked example · finance

Have you ever settled a supplier's bill for goods that never arrived?

It wasn't careless. The bill looked fine, and nobody had an hour to set it beside the delivery note.

Is this you?

Supplier bills reach you by the hundred each month, some on paper, some by email.
Every bill sits until someone confirms the goods came in.
On a heavy week, short shipments and quietly raised rates get through.

When we'd advise against it

A few dozen bills a month? One careful clerk can check those. No purchase orders yet? Begin there, because a bill needs an order to be checked against.

Where it goes wrong

Need
Purchase order
Delivery
Invoice
Matched
Approved
Paid

Each step passes from one inbox to the next. The bill sits until the buyer says the goods came in.

Rates drift upward between order and bill. The same bill gets paid twice. Tracing one payment takes three conversations.

In distribution, freight charges go unchecked. In manufacturing, steel turns up billed at an old rate. In construction, a subcontractor bills with no lien waiver attached.

What we would build: an invoice match desk

Before payment, it checks each bill against the order behind it and the delivery that came in.

What would change

Bills are read and checked on the day they land.
Raised rates, short shipments and repeats are stopped before payment.
Bills that agree are coded and lined up for one sign-off.
Anyone can look up where a payment stands, and why.

What it's worth to you

Pull last quarter's bills. Count the repeats, short shipments and raised rates you paid.

Add the early-payment discounts that lapsed. Then add your team's weekly matching hours, at their hourly cost.

Invoice match · Thursday

158 invoices received

Agree with order and goods-in, lined up for sign-off: 139
Stopped: rate above the order: 8
Stopped: more billed than received: 6
Possible duplicates, none paid: 4
Missing a lien waiver: 1

This is the shape of the output, with names left out. A person decides on every line.

How it would run

Read every step

What it reads

Your payables inbox, your accounting or ERP system, and your goods-in records. It goes to work as each bill lands. We confirm each source with you in the first conversation.

The steps

Reads each bill in whatever format it comes.
Looks up the order and the goods-in record.
Compares quantities, rates, freight and terms on every line.
Spots repeats and missing paperwork.
Codes the clean bills as you've coded similar ones.
Stops mismatches and lays the evidence out together.

Where a person signs off

Your payables lead releases each stopped bill and signs off each batch.

What it never does

It never makes a payment. It never touches a supplier's bank details. It never argues a bill with a supplier.

What we'd need from you

Read access to the payables inbox and the books. Your sign-off rules. About a hundred old bills, including the ones you disputed.

What usually comes with it

Supplier chasing, so late orders surface before they hold up work.
A month-end close that begins with clean payables.
An evidence log, so every approval is on file.

You become the owner whose payments match the deliveries.

Every bill is checked before it's paid, and none is paid twice.

Yours won't look exactly like this. A first conversation is where we work out what it should look like.

If this sounds like your week, write to us.

We'd suggest a first conversation with one of our co-founders. It's free, about an hour, and needs no access.

Ask for a first conversation

A person replies, usually within one working day.