Accounts payable process
End-to-end accounts payable automation: what to automate and what not
Automating accounts payable end to end means that every supplier invoice is captured, read, validated and matched against its purchase order and delivery note without anyone keying it in, so people only step in on the invoices that do not match, on approvals and on payment. Not everything should be automated: supplier onboarding, bank account changes and disputes remain human work.
The process in six stages
What gets automated and what does not, stage by stage
| Stage | Automated | Still human | In ininvoice |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Capture | Collect the invoices arriving in the mailbox; separate invoices, purchase orders and delivery notes | Scan invoices that still arrive on paper; download those from supplier portals | Yes: connected mailbox (read-only) and manual upload |
| 2. Reading and validation | Read header and lines without templates; check tax ID, base, VAT, withholding and reverse charge; detect duplicates | Review illegible or incomplete documents | Yes: PDF, image, scan or photo. XML e-invoices: in development |
| 3. Matching | Match every line against the purchase order and delivery note and apply the tolerance | Settle the difference with the supplier (credit note, corrected invoice) | Yes: line by line, with the difference in euros |
| 4. Approval | Route every invoice that does not match, or has no purchase order, to whoever has to decide | Decide: approve, reject or ask for clarification | Yes: from the dashboard, with each invoice's history |
| 5. ERP posting | Prepare the validated data in a format the ERP imports | Import the file into the ERP and post | Yes: CSV or Excel export the ERP can import |
| 6. Payment | Generate payment runs on the due date | Decide what is paid and when; verify bank accounts | No: payment is executed by the ERP or the bank |
What should not be automated
- Supplier bank account changes. The most common accounts payable fraud does not forge the invoice: it changes the account the payment goes to. A bank account change is confirmed through a channel different from the one that requested it.
- Onboarding new suppliers. Tax ID, legal name and bank account are verified once, by hand; after that the system can recognise the supplier on every invoice.
- High-value invoices without a purchase order. There is nothing to compare them with; someone with authority over that spend approves them.
- Supplier disputes. Claiming a credit note or negotiating a price is a conversation, not a rule.
Want to see it with your own invoices? Request a demo with your own invoices
What needs to be in place before automating
- Purchase orders for recurring purchases. Without a purchase order there is no automatic matching, only manual approval.
- Recorded receipts. A delivery note signed at the dock that never reaches anyone does not exist for matching.
- One entry point for invoices per company or per group, so nobody posts the invoices that land in their own inbox.
- A tolerance that has been decided and written down, not one that results from not deciding.
One month of invoices through the process (synthetic data)
Example built for this guide; it does not correspond to any real company.
A company with two legal entities receives 3,000 supplier invoices in a month. This is how they move through the process:
| Step | Invoices | What happens to them |
|---|---|---|
| Received | 3,000 | All are read and validated |
| Held as possible duplicates | 24 | A person confirms or dismisses each one |
| Without a purchase order | 720 | Go to manual approval |
| With a purchase order, matching | 1,800 | Ready to approve, no manual matching |
| With a purchase order, not matching | 456 | Held with the line and the difference in euros |
Touchless invoices are 1,800 of 3,000 (60%); measured on invoices with a purchase order, 1,800 of 2,256 (80%). The gap between the two figures is the 720 invoices without a purchase order, and those are not reduced by an accounts payable tool but by putting those purchases on a purchase order. The team goes from looking at 3,000 invoices to looking at 1,200, each with the reason already written.
Where ininvoice fits
ininvoice covers stages 1 to 4 and prepares stage 5: it collects invoices from the mailbox or by manual upload, reads them line by line without templates, validates tax data, holds possible duplicates, matches them against the purchase order and delivery note with the organisation's tolerance (by default a line is held if it exceeds EUR 1.50 or 2%), and lets you approve, reject or ask for clarification from the dashboard. Validated invoices are exported as CSV or Excel the ERP can import. It is not an ERP and does not execute payments. It works without an implementation project and is up and running in 24–48 h.
Frequently asked questions
What does automating accounts payable mean?
Supplier invoices are collected, read, checked against the purchase order and the delivery note and made ready to post without anyone typing them in or reviewing them one by one. People still approve every invoice and decide on the ones that do not match and the ones without a purchase order.
What is a touchless invoice?
An invoice that arrives, is read, is matched and reaches the approver with nothing left to check, because everything matched. Its share depends mainly on how many purchases have a purchase order and a recorded delivery note.
Do I need to change ERP to automate accounts payable?
No. Automation works before the ERP: it receives, reads and checks invoices, and hands over what has been validated. With ininvoice, the hand-over is a CSV or Excel file the ERP can import.
What should never be automated?
Changes to a supplier's bank account, onboarding of new suppliers and approval of high-value invoices without a purchase order. Those are the points where fraud gets in, and they should always go through a person.
Does ininvoice pay the invoices?
No. ininvoice leaves the invoices checked and, once approved, ready to export to the ERP; payment is executed by the company from its ERP or its bank.
Want to see it with your own invoices? Request a demo with your own invoices