Often purchasing is divorced from the handling of supplier invoices, because the accounts system is used to register invoices. Procurement should be handled as a process in the same system for reasons of control, and correct allocation to items such as nominal codes and tax. Supplier invoices should always carry a genuine company issued Purchase Order number, and if not available, current open PO’s can be accessed so the invoice can be allocated correctly. Dependent on volume, supplier invoices can be approved in the finance department against set system rules, or passed back electronically to the PO creator who may be in the best position to decide on full payment, or request a credit note, dependent on the individual purchase situation.
With users able to view all related documents to a PO (including delivery notes, and other supporting material) and custom workflows for invoice approval in place, approved supplier invoices can be exported for payment as a CSV file, for onward import to an accounts system for payment (or credit).