Three-Way Matching

Three-way matching is an accounts payable control process that compares three separate documents before a payment to a vendor is approved: the purchase order (what you ordered), the receiving report (what you actually received), and the vendor invoice (what you are being charged for). All three documents must agree on the items, quantities, and prices before the payment is authorized. If any discrepancy exists between the three, the invoice is flagged for review rather than paid automatically.

The purchase order is the original document your business created when placing the order with a supplier. It specifies exactly which items you requested, in what quantities, and at what agreed-upon price. The receiving report, sometimes called a goods receipt, is the record created by your warehouse or receiving team when the shipment actually arrives. It documents what was physically delivered, including any shortages, damages, or substitutions. The vendor invoice is the bill sent by the supplier requesting payment for the goods they shipped.

For the match to succeed, the invoice line items must correspond to what was ordered on the PO, the quantities must match what was recorded as received, and the prices must align with the terms originally agreed upon. When all three documents agree, the invoice is approved for payment. When they do not, someone needs to investigate why.

OrderSync Pro automates the three-way matching process by connecting your purchase order system, your receiving and inventory data, and your incoming vendor invoices into a single automated workflow. When a vendor invoice arrives, whether by email, EDI, or uploaded PDF, our system automatically extracts every line item using intelligent document parsing. It then cross-references the invoice against the original purchase order and the corresponding receiving records in your system, checking items, quantities, and prices across all three documents in seconds.

When everything matches, the invoice is approved and routed for payment according to your authorization rules. When discrepancies are found, the system flags the specific line items that do not match, generates a clear summary of the discrepancy, and routes it to the right person on your team for review. Instead of your AP team spending 15 to 30 minutes manually comparing documents for every invoice, they only spend time on the exceptions that genuinely require human judgment. This means faster payment cycles, fewer errors, and significantly less labor spent on routine verification.

Our automated matching works seamlessly with invoice automation workflows and integrates directly with the PDF purchase order processing systems we build for our clients. Whether you are processing 50 invoices a month or 5,000, the automation handles the volume at the same speed and the same accuracy, giving your accounts payable team the confidence that every payment is verified and every discrepancy is caught.