Purchase Order Matching
Use Purchase Order Matching to match one invoice to one approved purchase order. Matching mode is two-way. To match the all of the following must be true:
The purchase order must be Open or Partially Billed
The vendor and currency must match
The invoice amount must fit the remaining balance unless a tolerance is allowed.
Purchase Orders and PO Matching are separate pages on the same navigation line. They are available when purchase orders are turned on for the company.
Access
In Emburse Spend, select Accounts Payable in the left navigation, then select PO Matching.
When Manage AP Settings permissions are turned on, the PO Matching page is available. See Get Started with Accounts Payable.
| Permission | What you see on PO Matching |
|---|---|
| Submit Invoices | Invoices you uploaded. |
| Approve Invoices | Invoices you uploaded and invoices for your direct reports. |
| Manage AP Settings or View All Invoice Activity | The company list of invoices. |
Purchase Orders and Matching Settings
Users with Manage AP Settings set these controls before matching starts. Select the Settings gear icon in the top-right corner, then select Accounts Payable > Purchase Orders & Matching. Changes apply to new matches.
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Matching mode | Two-way compares one invoice with one purchase order. |
| Automatic readiness (skip Confirm Match for eligible auto-matches) | When it is on, a high-confidence match moves to Ready for Submission without Confirm Match. The invoice is not submitted for approval. Select Submit for Approval to send it to the Approval Queue. |
| Allow No PO Required | When this is on, an uploaded invoice can wait in Invoice Intake while the purchase order is created and approved. A missing purchase order does not block that invoice. |
| Block matching for inactive vendors | Invoices from inactive vendors are not matched automatically, and Confirm Match stays unavailable. |
| Maximum percentage over remaining balance | The percentage an invoice can exceed the remaining purchase order balance. |
| Maximum absolute coverage | The dollar amount an invoice can exceed the remaining balance. This setting only applies when tolerance is turned on. When both this amount and the percentage are set, the lower limit applies. Zero means no tolerance. |
| Allow overbilling override | When it is on, an invoice within the maximum percentage or absolute coverage over the remaining balance (whichever is lower) can continue. The invoice shows a tolerance warning. The full invoice amount still commits when it is submitted. |
| Block currency mismatches | Block currency mismatches is the default. An invoice in one currency cannot match a purchase order in another. For example, a GBP invoice does not match a USD purchase order. |
Upload an Invoice from a Purchase Order
Upload the invoice from an Open or Partially Billed purchase order, or upload it from Invoice Intake. Either path uses the same optical character recognition (OCR) and intake review. During OCR, the invoice is checked for a purchase order number.
- On an Open or Partially Billed purchase order, select Upload Invoice, or upload the invoice from Invoice Intake.
- Wait for OCR to finish, then review the invoice in Invoice Intake.
- Select Submit for Approval. If the purchase order still needs to be matched, the invoice moves to PO Matching. Open it there.
A suggested match is high confidence when the purchase order number on the invoice matches one purchase order, or when the invoice was uploaded from that purchase order. The vendor, currency, amount, and line checks are separate. They do not set the confidence.
An invoice lists purchase order PO-10482, and one Open purchase order uses that number. PO Matching suggests that purchase order as a high-confidence match.
The same invoice is billed to Acme Supplies, but the purchase order vendor is Acme Office. The suggested match stays high confidence because the purchase order number matched. The vendor check still fails until you select Change PO and choose an Open or Partially Billed purchase order for Acme Supplies, or correct the invoice vendor.
If you instead selected Upload Invoice on PO-10482, that invoice also receives a high-confidence suggestion for PO-10482, even before OCR reads the purchase order number from the file.
Match Checks
PO Matching runs these checks before you can submit the invoice. Select Change PO when the suggested purchase order is wrong.
| Check | What must be true |
|---|---|
| Purchase order | The purchase order is Open or Partially Billed. |
| Vendor matches | The invoice vendor and the purchase order vendor are the same. |
| Currency matches | The invoice currency and the purchase order currency are the same. This release does not convert currency. |
| Invoice is within the available PO balance | The invoice amount fits the remaining balance. One purchase order can be billed by more than one invoice until that balance is used. The check lists the PO total, the amount already billed, the remaining balance before this invoice, the invoice amount, and the projected balance after submission. |
| Line items match | The invoice lines are compared with the purchase order lines. A mismatch is a warning. You can still confirm the match and submit for approval. |
When Match Fails
When Submit for Approval is unavailable, the page shows Cannot submit until then. The message below it says why:
If the message is Confirm the PO match before submitting for approval, the checks passed. Select Confirm Match, then select Submit for Approval.
If the message names a failed Match Check, find that check in Match Checks and fix it.
Change the Purchase Order
Use Change PO when the invoice vendor does not match the purchase order vendor.
- Select Change PO.
- Select an Open or Partially Billed purchase order for the same vendor.
- Enter a reason for the change. The reason must be 10 to 200 characters.
- Select Change PO.
A purchase order can be billed by more than one invoice until its remaining balance is used. For example, a purchase order approves $200, and the first invoice for $100 leaves $100 remaining.
Assume the following settings:
Allow overbilling override is On
Maximum percentage over remaining balance is 5%
Maximum absolute coverage is $10.
Five percent of $100 is $5, which is lower than $10, so the most a second invoice can exceed the remaining balance is $5.
| Second invoice | Allow overbilling override | Result |
|---|---|---|
| $105 (over by $5) | On | Allowed. The invoice shows a tolerance warning, and the full $105 commits when it is submitted. |
| $106 (over by $6) | On | Blocked. The overage is more than the $5 limit. |
| $105 (over by $5) | Off | Blocked. Any amount over the remaining balance is blocked. |
Confirm the Match and Submit
When Automatic Readiness is off, you must confirm the match yourself. When Automatic Readiness is on, a high-confidence match is already marked ready for submission, and you skip Confirm Match.
Only the uploader can submit invoices.
Review the checks on Details.
-
Select Confirm Match.
Confirm Match locks the invoice to that purchase order and sets the status to Ready for Submission.
Select Submit for Approval to send it to the assigned approver.
The approver reviews the invoice in Approval Queue. The Details tab shows the linked purchase order and the match status from submission.
After the Invoice Is Approved
The purchase order moves to Partially Billed while balance remains, and to Fully Billed when the invoices have used the full amount.
Select Audit History on the invoice and on the purchase order. to view Entries listed in time order. They include the invoice upload, sending the invoice to PO matching, confirming the match, and, after the payment is released, the payment handoff. Processed invoices are listed in Invoice History.