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    By process · Validation and matching

    The invoice arrived. Does it really match what was purchased?

    Abstra compares every invoice against the purchase order, the receipt and the contract, applies your policy tolerances and separates what is compliant from what needs a human decision.

    Automate my matchingSee how it works
    01

    Receive invoice data

    02

    Find the purchase order

    03

    Check the receipt

    04

    Apply rules and tolerances

    05

    Classify the discrepancy

    06

    Release for approval and posting

    Matching is usually the invisible bottleneck in accounts payable

    When comparing invoice, order and receipt happens by eye, the error only shows up later: at payment, at closing or at audit.

    Someone opens the ERP in one tab and the invoice PDF in another to check line by line.
    A price above the agreed purchase order slips through because the difference looked small.
    A service invoice arrives without an approved measurement and stalls with no clear owner.
    A partial receipt gets paid as if it were complete and the gap shows up in inventory.
    Duplicates are only noticed when the supplier reports being paid twice.
    Each analyst applies a different tolerance criterion, with no record of why.

    What matching automation solves

    Automatic 3-way match

    Invoice, purchase order and receipt are compared field by field, with no typing and no juggling screens.

    Explicit tolerances

    Acceptable differences in price, quantity and freight are defined as rules, by supplier, category or entity.

    Classified discrepancy

    Each deviation gets a type and a destination, instead of becoming a loose email asking for context.

    Duplicate blocking

    Access key, number, supplier and amount are checked to prevent the same payment twice.

    Contract and measurement in the flow

    Recurring services are checked against contract, measurement or approved timesheet, not just the invoice amount.

    Audit-ready evidence

    The matching result stays recorded with the rule applied, the documents compared and who decided.

    Process flow

    From structured invoice to verified release

    Matching sits right after capture and before approval. The goal is simple: only what truly needs judgment goes up for a human decision.

    01

    Receive invoice data

    Automation starts from the data already structured at capture: supplier, line items, quantities, amounts, taxes and due date.

    Tax invoicesLine items and taxesDue date
    02

    Find the purchase order

    The flow looks up the matching order in the ERP by number, supplier, item or reference stated on the invoice, including partial-order cases.

    ERP lookupPartial orderMultiple orders
    03

    Check the receipt

    Invoiced quantity is compared with what was actually received, or with the approved measurement when the item is a service.

    Goods receiptService measurementPartial receipt
    04

    Apply rules and tolerances

    Price, quantity, taxes, payment terms and cost center run through policy rules, with tolerance bands by supplier or category.

    Price toleranceTax ruleCost allocation
    05

    Classify the discrepancy

    Anything outside tolerance gets a discrepancy type and is routed to the right owner, with the comparison already assembled.

    Exception queueAssigned ownerSide-by-side view
    06

    Release for approval and posting

    Verified invoices move on to the approval tier and to ERP posting with the matching result attached.

    Approval tierERP postingAudit trail

    Related documents

    • Goods, service and import invoices
    • Purchase order and its revisions
    • Goods receipt and receiving note
    • Contract, amendment and price list
    • Measurement, timesheet and service report
    • Payment slip, bill and freight document

    Fields checked automatically

    • Supplier, tax ID and registration status
    • Item, code and description
    • Invoiced versus received quantity
    • Unit price versus order price
    • Total amount, freight and discounts
    • Taxes and expected withholdings
    • Payment terms and due date
    • Cost center, project and allocation

    Discrepancy types handled

    • Price above the agreed tolerance
    • Invoiced quantity above the received quantity
    • Item not present in the purchase order
    • Partial receipt or pending delivery
    • Invoice with no associated purchase order
    • Possible duplicate document
    • Divergent tax or withholding
    • Service without approved measurement

    Illustrative matching operations panel

    412

    Invoices matched today

    87%

    Compliant with no human touch

    23

    In discrepancy queue

    1,4 min

    Average matching time

    6

    Duplicates blocked

    Connect automation to the stack you already use

    ERPs and management systems
    SAPTOTVS/ProtheusNetSuiteOmie
    Banks and payments
    ItaúSantanderBradescoBanco do Brasil
    Portals, documents and tax
    Qive/ArquiveieNotasADN NFS-eNota Paulistana
    Communication and collaboration
    GmailOutlookSlackMicrosoft Teams
    See all integrations

    Where automated matching usually starts

    Industry with formal purchase ordersDistribution with partial receiptsServices with contract and measurementRetail with high invoice volumeMulti-unit operations with per-branch rulesRecurring supply purchasesMaintenance and facilities contractsFreight and logistics services

    Automation patterns that show up in real operations

    Industry

    Fiscal document capture and validation, purchase-order matching and ERP posting preparation.

    Services

    Recurring billing, expense approval and receivables follow-up.

    Distribution

    Document checks, slips, suppliers and payments by due date.

    Multi-unit operations

    Different rules by entity, cost center, branch and approval tier.

    Growing companies

    Document intake automation without growing the ops team at the same pace.

    Automation with control, not a black box

    Every step can have rules, owners, approvals and evidence. The team tracks what came in, what was extracted, which rule ran, who reviewed, who approved and what the outcome was.

    Access control

    Each user only sees and approves what matches their role.

    Audit trail

    Decisions, changes and evidence stay recorded.

    Human exception

    Ambiguous cases go to review without stopping the whole queue.

    Idempotency

    The flow prevents duplicates in postings, payments and reprocessing.

    Which step of your finance process still depends on a spreadsheet?

    Bring an inbox, an approval flow, a matching routine or a remittance. Abstra helps turn the process into an automated, auditable pipeline.

    Automate my matching

    Frequently asked questions

    What is a 3-way match and when is it needed?+

    A 3-way match compares the invoice, the purchase order and the receipt. It fits any purchase with a formal order and a physical receipt or service measurement, because it guarantees you pay what you ordered, in the quantity you received and at the agreed price.

    What happens when there is no purchase order?+

    The flow applies a 2-way match, comparing the invoice with the contract, the price list or the supplier history. Expenses without an order can follow their own rule, with mandatory approval from the cost center owner.

    How are discrepancy tolerances defined?+

    Tolerances are configured with your policy, as absolute values or percentages, and can vary by supplier, category, entity or amount range. They are versioned, so you can tell which rule was in force for each match.

    What happens when there is a discrepancy?+

    The invoice is not silently blocked. It goes to an exception queue with the discrepancy type, the compared documents and the assigned owner, who can accept, reject, request a correction from the supplier or approve with a recorded justification.

    Start with the process that slows your operation the most

    Invoice capture and extraction

    Turn documents into structured data.

    See process

    Approval workflows

    Route each decision to the right person.

    See process

    Payment scheduling and execution

    Organize due dates, remittances and confirmations.

    See process

    Supplier management

    Control onboarding, compliance and bank data.

    See process

    Reimbursements and expenses

    Automate expense reports and payouts.

    See process

    Automate the finance routine that consumes the most team time.

    From document intake to payment or collection, connect people, rules and systems in one process.

    Automate my matching